BL-24 - Flipbook - Page 131
A TIME TO REMEMBER
launched their 昀椀nal desperate attack
in the Ardennes, the “Battle of the
Bulge”, but by January 1945, they
were spent: Hitler’s last gamble
in the West had failed. The Allies
pushed eastward until they reached
the western bank of the River Rhine,
Germany’s last great natural barrier.
The Rhine was not just another river.
It was deeply symbolic of German
identity, a line the Germans vowed
would never be crossed: and it was
400 yards wide.
But Montgomery, commanding 21st
Army Group, had other ideas. His
plan, known as Operation Plunder,
would send the British 2nd Army
and the U.S. 9th Army across the
Rhine near the industrial town of
Wesel, while airborne troops would
seize a bridgehead in a daring assault
codenamed Operation Varsity.
To cross the river and breach the
heavy German forti昀椀cations, the
British 2nd Army amassed 120,000
tonnes of ammunition, engineer
stores, and special equipment.
More than 60,000 combat engineers
would participate in the assault,
equipped with bridges, pontoons and
specialist assault tanks, supported
by 5,500 artillery pieces, anti-tank
and anti-aircraft guns, and rockets.
As Montgomery’s briefed his
commanders:
“21st Army Group will now cross the
Rhine. The enemy possibly thinks
he is safe behind this great river
obstacle. We all agree that it is a
great obstacle; but we will show the
enemy that he is far from safe behind
it. This great Allied 昀椀ghting machine,
composed of integrated land and air
forces, will deal with the problem in
no uncertain manner.
“And having crossed the Rhine,
we will crack about in the plains
of Northern Germany, chasing the
enemy from pillar to post. The swifter
and the more energetic our action,
the sooner the war will be over, and
A map of Operation Plunder, March 24-28, 1945
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ISSUE 24
that is what we all desire; to get
on with the job and 昀椀nish off the
German war as soon as possible.
Over the Rhine, then, let us go. And
good hunting to you on the other
side.”
By mid-March 1945, Montgomery’s
forces were arrayed along the Rhine’s
western bank preparing for the assault,
well protected by Allied control of the
skies, for the Luftwaffe was a spent
force.
The Germans opposing them were the
battered remnants of General Alfred
Schlemm’s First Parachute Army; they
were exhausted, but still dangerous.
They dug in along the eastern bank,
determined to make the British and
Canadians pay dearly for every yard
of progress.
As darkness fell on 23rd March, the
silence was broken and the night sky
erupted in 昀氀ame. British and Canadian
guns delivered one of the heaviest
bombardments of the war, pounding
