January of 1945 began the great push to cross The Rhine River by the Allies into the heartland of Germany.

The war abroad for The Third Reich was coming to an end and the majority of German troops were retreating to defend the homeland.

Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, nicknamed "Smiling Albert" and Field Marshal Walther Model were Hitler's two commanders in charge of preventing the pending invasion of Germany.

The only thing still standing between Germany and the approaching combined seven armies of America, Britain, Canada, and Russia, were its natural defensive waterways, primarily The Rhine River.

The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen was the last standing span over the Rhine and was captured by American soldiers of the U.S. 9th Armored Division on March 7th 1945, during Operation Lumberjack.

The Rhine River became the focal point for the invasion. Engineers were given the daunting task of constructing bridges across the Rhine to replace the hundreds of bridges destroyed by the retreating German forces.

Massive loads of supplies had been brought in by every means available, from boxcars to semi-trailers. They were loaded with bridge girders, marker buoys, concrete and iron anchors, and piles of rope.

American and British Engineers accomplished near miracle results by constructing nearly 100 bridges across the Rhine by March of 1945 with fierce German soldiers still battling from across the river and the Luftwaffe launching as many raids as their feeble numbers could muster.

U.S. Lieut. General George S. Patton Jr. and his counterpart on the British side Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery were both eager to invade and were mustering an invasion to rival Normandy.

Montgomery, or "Monty" which was his nickname was preparing to launch "Operation Plunder" which commenced on the night of March 23rd 1945.

"Operation Plunder" was the crossing of The Rhine River at Rees, Wesel, and south of the Lippe Canal by the British Second Army, under Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey and the U.S. Ninth Army.

Crossing The Rhine River was an amazing and unprecedented achievement for the brave and resourceful engineers that created crossing points for infantry and tank divisions to carry the war to Germany on their own soil.

The two wily and tough German commanders, Kesselring and Model were prepared by order of "The Fuhrer" to fight for every meter of German territory, and that's exactly what they did.

Over four-million allied troops crossed into Germany over the Rhine and U.S. General George S. Patton, nicknamed "Old Blood and Guts" pushed the hardest.

Allied "War Birds" launched massive air strikes and the combined troops of seven armies hammered the Germans and captured one city after another, as valiant German warriors fought with desperation, but Hitler refused to accept surrender.

Field Marshal Walther Model's forces were eventually decimated and fearing if captured he would be turned over to the Russian's for execution, took matters into his own hands and committed suicide.

Field Marshal Albert Kesselring on the other hand was taken prisoner on May 6th 1945 and later tried as a war criminal at Nuremberg. His death sentence was later commuted and he was released from prison in 1952.

The combined allied forces did indeed have to fight for every meter of German soil until German soldiers realized the futility of fighting and began surrendering by the thousands.

Operation Plunder was a success and Monty and Old Blood and Guts helped finally end the war in Europe and defeat the Nazi's once and for all.

The engineers who toiled and died to built the bridges across The Rhine River deserve only the highest praise for their bravery and ingenuity.

reference: Across The Rhine by Franklin M. Davis Jr. 1980.