Bridge in Germany; collapsed during the Battle of Remagen (1945)
"Bridge at Remagen" redirects here. For the film about the World War II battle for the bridge, see The Bridge at Remagen. For the battle itself, see Battle of Remagen.
The Ludendorff Bridge (sometimes referred to as the Bridge at Remagen) was a bridge across the river Rhine in Germany which was captured by United States Army forces in early March 1945 during the Battle of Remagen, in the closing weeks of World War II, when it was one of the few remaining bridges in the region and therefore a critical strategic point. Built during World War I to help deliver reinforcements and supplies to German troops on the Western Front, it connected Remagen on the west bank and the village of Erpel on the east bank between two hills flanking the river.
Midway through Operation Lumberjack, on 7 March 1945, the troops of the 1st U.S. Army approached Remagen and were surprised to find that the bridge was still standing.[1] Its capture, two weeks before Field MarshalBernard Montgomery's planned Operation Plunder, enabled the U.S. Army to establish a bridgehead on the eastern side of the Rhine. After the U.S. forces captured the bridge, German forces tried to destroy it many times.
It finally collapsed on 17 March 1945, 10 days after it was captured; 28 Army engineers were killed in the collapse while a further 63 were injured. Of those who died, 18 were actually missing, but presumably had drowned in the swift current of the Rhine.[2] The bridge, while it stood, and newly established pontoon bridges, enabled the U.S. Army to secure a bridgehead of six divisions, about 125,000 troops, with accompanying tanks, artillery pieces, and trucks, across the Rhine. Capturing the bridge hastened the war's conclusion,[3] and V-E Day came on May 8. After the war, the bridge was not rebuilt; the towers on the west bank were converted into a museum and the towers on the east bank are now a performing-arts space.
A 2020 poll of local people found that 91% favoured rebuilding the bridge; without it there is no river crossing for 44km (27mi), and few ferries. In 2022 plans were initiated to build a suspension bridge for pedestrians and cyclists. Local communities indicated an interest to help fund the project and an engineer was commissioned to draw up plans.[4]
History
Construction
American troops on the Ludendorff Bridge in 1918
Remagen is located close to and south of the city of Bonn. The town of Remagen was founded by the Romans about 2,000 years earlier. It had been destroyed multiple times and rebuilt each time. Under the Schlieffen Plan, a bridge was planned to be built there in 1912, as well as bridges in Engers and Rüdesheim am Rhein.
The railway bridge had three spans, two on either side 85 metres (279ft) long and a central arch span of 156 metres (512ft). It had dual tracks that could be covered with planks to allow vehicular traffic. The steel section was 325 metres (1,066ft) long, and it had an overall length of 398 metres (1,306ft). On the eastern bank the railway passed through Erpeler Ley, a steeply rising hill over 150 metres (490ft) high. The tunnel was 383 metres (1,257ft) long.[6][7] The arch at its highest measured 28.5 metres (94ft) above the water. Its main surface was normally about 15 metres (48ft) above the Rhine.[7]
The 4,640-tonne (5,110-short-ton) structure cost about 2.1 million marks when it was built during World War I. Since the bridge was a major military construction project, both abutments of the bridge were flanked by stone towers with fortified foundations that could shelter up to a full battalion of men.[6] The towers were designed with fighting loopholes for troops.[5] From the flat roof of the towers troops had a good view of the valley.[7] To protect the bridge, both an engineering unit and a military police unit were assigned to the site.
Protection
The designers built cavities into the concrete piers where demolition charges could be placed.[5] During the Occupation of the Rhineland after World War I, the French filled these cavities with concrete. It was one of the four bridges that were guarded by Americans during the occupation.
In 1938, after the Germans reacquired the Rhineland and control of the bridge, they attached 60 zinc-lined boxes at key structural points to the bridge girders, each capable of containing 3.66kg (8.1lb) of explosives. The system was designed to detonate all 60 charges at once. The engineers connected the charges in the piers and the zinc boxes by electrical cable protected by steel pipe to a control panel inside the rail tunnel under Erpeler Ley, where engineers could safely detonate the charges.[5] As a backup, engineers laid primer cord that could be manually ignited. They believed they could destroy the bridge when necessary with minimal preparation.[5]
On 14–15 October 1944, an American bomb had struck a chamber containing the demolition charges of the Mulheim Bridge in Cologne, destroying the bridge. German leader Adolf Hitler reacted by demanding that demolition charges on bridges could only be set when the enemy was within a specific distance, and only exploded by written order. He ordered those "responsible" for the destruction of the Mulheim Bridge court-martialed. This left officers responsible for destroying bridges, in the event that the enemy approached, nervous about both blowing it too soon and the consequences if they failed.[6] In keeping with Hitler's orders, by 7 March 1945, the charges on the Ludendorff Bridge had been removed and were stored nearby.[10]
Colour film from before and after the bridge collapse (March 14–17)
In March 1945, about 5,100 people lived in Remagen. On the western shore, the Allied bombing campaign had destroyed more than half of Erpel's buildings, including all the buildings between Erpel's marketplace and the bridge, which had been built during the 17th and 18th centuries.[7]
The Rhine near Remagen is about 300m (980ft) wide.[5] During Operation Lumberjack, on 7 March 1945, troops of the U.S. Army's 9th Armored Division reached the bridge during the closing weeks of World War II and were surprised to see that the railroad bridge was still standing.[1] It was one of very few bridges remaining across the Rhine, because the Germans had systematically destroyed all of the others in advance of the Allies' attack. Although the bridge was wired with demolition charges, the weak civilian-grade "Donarite" explosives damaged the bridge but failed to bring it down, and Allied engineers risked their lives manually removing the remaining charges before the bridge was captured.[1]
The ability to quickly establish a bridgehead on the eastern side of the Rhine and to get forces into Germany allowed the U.S. forces to envelop the German industrial area of the Ruhr.[1]:1430–1 Six Allied divisions crossed the damaged bridge, then it was closed for repairs, and a pontoon bridge that had been built across the river was used. The Germans sent several bombing missions to destroy the Remagen bridge; it collapsed due to cumulative damage from the unsuccessful detonation and the bombs on 17 March 1945, 10 days after it was captured.[8] The collapse killed 28 and injured 93[11] U.S. Army Engineers.
The unexpected availability of the first major crossing of the Rhine, Germany's last major natural barrier and line of defence, caused Allied high commanderDwight D. Eisenhower to alter his plans to end the war. Hitler's Nero Decree of 19 March ordered the destruction of any infrastructure that could aid the Allied advance, but the order was not carried out due to opposition from German generals and the rapid Allied advance.[1]:1432–4 Instead, U.S. forces advanced rapidly through Germany, and by 12 April the Ninth United States Army had crossed the Elbe.[1]:1434
Post World War II history
Former location of the Ludendorff Bridge in 1953The piers which had supported the Ludendorff Bridge were a navigation hazard and were removed in 1976.
After the war, the railway crossing was not deemed important enough to justify rebuilding the bridge. Parts of the land used for the approaching railway lines are now used as an industrial estate on the western bank and a park on the eastern bank.
Since 1980, the surviving towers on the western bank of the Rhine have housed a museum called "Peace Museum Bridge at Remagen" containing the bridge's history and 'themes of war and peace'.[12] This museum was partly funded by selling rock from the two piers as paperweights, the two piers having been removed from the river in the summer of 1976 as they were an obstacle to navigation.
In the middle of 2018, the two eastern towers of the bridge were announced to be for sale. Three bids were submitted, but due to the poor condition of the building and expected costs of approximately €1.4 million for its restoration, the sale was expected to be difficult.[13]
Plans were announced to rebuild a pedestrian and cycle bridge on the site of the original railway bridge in 2022.[4]
Gallery
The Ludendorff Bridge between 8 and 11 March 1945
The Ludendorff Bridge on 11 March 1945
The Ludendorff Bridge in March 1945, showing structural damage
The Ludendorff Bridge on 17 March 1945 four hours before its collapse
The Ludendorff Bridge on 17 March 1945 after its collapse
Collapsed Ludendorff Bridge with sign posted by the US Army: "CROSS THE RHINE WITH DRY FEET COURTESY OF 9TH ARM'D DIV"
The remains of the Ludendorff Bridge in 1950
The remains of the Ludendorff Bridge in 2006
The site of the Ludendorff Bridge, viewed from northwest
In popular culture
In the film It's a Wonderful Life, during the World War II montage, the narrator, Joseph, says of the character Marty Hatch, "Marty helped capture the Remagen Bridge."[14]
The bridge is featured in the 1996 DOS WWII strategy game Offensive. In the Allied campaign, it needs to be captured intact; in the Axis campaign, it needs to be destroyed to slow the Allied advance.
The final three missions in the 2004 PS2 game Call of Duty: Finest Hour ("Road to Remagen", "Last Bridge Standing" and "Into the Heartland") are based around the battle of Remagen, the second-to-last mission specifically based around the bridge.
The final mission in the 2017 video game Call of Duty: WWII involves the player in helping take the bridge.
Hechler Ken (1998). The Bridge at Remagen: The Amazing Story of March 7, 1945, the Day the Rhine River Was Crossed (3rded.). Novato, California: Presidio. ISBN978-0-89141-860-3.
Palm Rolf (1985). Die Brücke von Remagen: der Kampf um den letzten Rheinübergang: ein dramatisches Stück deutscher Zeitgeschichte (in German). Scherz. ISBN978-3-502-16552-1.
Dittmer, Luther A. (1995). Die Ludendorff Brücke zu Remagen am 7. März 1945: im Lichte bekannter und neuerer Quellen (in German). Institut für Mittelalterliche Musikforschung. ISBN978-0-931902-35-2.
Remagen is a town in Germany in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one-hour drive from Cologne, just south of Bonn, the former West German seat of government. It is situated on the left (western) bank of the river Rhine. There is a ferry across the Rhine from Remagen every 10–15 minutes in the summer. Remagen has many notable and well-maintained buildings, churches, castles and monuments. It also has a sizeable pedestrian zone with plenty of shops.
The 9th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army during World War II. In honor of their World War II service, the 9th was officially nicknamed the "Phantom Division."
Operation Plunder was a military operation to cross the Rhine on the night of 23 March 1945, launched by the 21st Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. The crossing of the river was at Rees, Wesel, and south of the river Lippe by the British Second Army under Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey, and the United States Ninth Army under Lieutenant General William H. Simpson.
In military strategy, a bridgehead is the strategically important area of ground around the end of a bridge or other place of possible crossing over a body of water which at time of conflict is sought to be defended or taken over by the belligerent forces.
The Bridge at Remagen is a 1969 DeLuxe Color war film in Panavision starring George Segal, Ben Gazzara, and Robert Vaughn. The film, which was directed by John Guillermin, was shot in Czechoslovakia. It is based on the nonfiction book The Bridge at Remagen: The Amazing Story of March 7, 1945 by writer and U.S. Representative Ken Hechler. The screenplay was adapted by Richard Yates and William Roberts.
The Siegfried Line campaign was a phase in the Western European campaign of World War II, which involved actions near the German defensive Siegfried Line.
The Ruhr pocket was a battle of encirclement that took place in April 1945, on the Western Front near the end of World War II in Europe, in the Ruhr Area of Germany. Some 317,000 German troops were taken prisoner along with 24 generals. The Americans suffered 10,000 casualties including 2,000 killed or missing.
The 9th Panzer Division was a panzer division of the German Army during World War II. It came into existence after 4th Light Division was reorganized in January 1940. The division was headquartered in Vienna, in the German military district Wehrkreis XVII.
The Colmar Pocket was the area held in central Alsace, France, by the German Nineteenth Army from November 1944 to February 1945, against the U.S. 6th Army Group during World War II. It was formed when 6th AG liberated southern and northern Alsace and adjacent eastern Lorraine, but could not clear central Alsace. During Operation Nordwind in December 1944, the 19th Army attacked north out of the Pocket in support of other German forces attacking south from the Saar into northern Alsace. In late January and early February 1945, the French First Army cleared the Pocket of German forces.
The 9th Engineer Battalion is a unit of the United States Army that deploys to designated contingency areas and conducts combat and/or stability operations in support of a brigade combat team. It is a divisional mechanized combat engineer unit, composed of three line companies and a headquarters company. Its mission is to provide assured mobility, counter-mobility, general engineering, and survivability support, with well trained sappers ready to deploy anywhere at any time. The unit's history spans service in 1917 in the US southwest, World War II in France and Germany, multiple deployments to the Balkans, and multiple deployments in support of the global war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is most famous for the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge across the Rhine River. As of 18 May 2015, the battalion exists as the 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion in Fort Stewart, GA under 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.
Operation Lumberjack was a military operation with the goal of capturing the west bank of the Rhine River and seizing key German cities, near the end of World War II in Europe. The First United States Army launched the operation in March 1945 to capture strategic cities in Nazi Germany and to give the Allies a foothold along the Rhine.
The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II. In preparation for the Allied invasion of Germany east of the Rhine, a series of offensive operations were designed to seize and capture its east and west banks: Operation Veritable and Operation Grenade in February 1945, and Operation Lumberjack and Operation Undertone in March 1945; these are considered separate from the main invasion operation. The Allied invasion of Germany east of the Rhine started with the Western Allies crossing the river on 22 March 1945 before fanning out and overrunning all of western Germany from the Baltic in the north to the Alpine passes in the south, where they linked up with troops of the U.S. Fifth Army in Italy. Combined with the capture of Berchtesgaden, any hope of Nazi leadership continuing to wage war from a so-called "national redoubt" or escape through the Alps was crushed, shortly followed by unconditional German surrender on 8 May 1945. This is known as the Central Europe Campaign in United States military histories.
The Battle of Remagen was an 18-day battle during the Allied invasion of Germany in World War II. It lasted from 7 to 25 March 1945 when American forces unexpectedly captured the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine intact. They were able to hold it against German opposition and build additional temporary crossings. The presence of a bridgehead across the Rhine advanced by three weeks the Western Allies' planned crossing of the Rhine into the German interior.
Sgt. Alexander Albert Drabik was the first American soldier to cross the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine river at Remagen, Germany in World War II during the Battle of Remagen. He led two other enlisted men across the bridge, running 398 metres (1,306 ft) while under fire, knowing that the demolition charges attached to the bridge could be detonated at any moment. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his action.
Karl Heinrich Timmermann was an American soldier and army officer.
Hugh Barbee Mott was a soldier in the US Army. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions as part of the 9th Engineer Battalion in the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge on March 7, 1945.
The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion was one of the most decorated engineer combat battalions of the United States Army during World War II, playing notable roles both in the Battle of Bulge and the Rhine river crossing at Remagen.
First Lieutenant John Grimball of Charleston, South Carolina, a young lawyer from Columbia, South Carolina, was commanding officer of Company A, 14th Tank Battalion during the battle to capture the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine on March 7, 1945. In the battle for the bridge over the Rhine, he led an understrength platoon of four of the newest heavy-duty T26E3 M26 Pershing tanks. Under his leadership, his unit played an instrumental role in capturing the last intact bridge across the Rhine, the only one of 22 road and 25 railroad bridges across the Rhine that the Germans had not yet blown up.
Major General John Millikin was a senior United States Army officer who served in both World War I and World War II. During the latter, Millikin commanded III Corps in General George S. Patton's U.S. Third Army during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.
The Battle of Cologne was part of Operation Lumberjack and refers to the Allied advance that took place from 5 to 7 March 1945, which led to the capture of the western German city of Cologne.
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