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.
American forces cross the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen on 8 March 1945
American troops cross the Ludendorff Bridge on 13 December 1918.
British tanks moving through the German town of Kevelaer on 4 March 1945
The Hohenzollern Bridge (center) in Cologne was destroyed after 1 March by German engineers before the Americans could capture it.
Western Allied invasion of Germany
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.
American infantrymen of the 55th Armored Infantry Battalion supported by an M4 Sherman tank move through a smoke filled street in Wernberg-Köblitz, April 1945.
The crossing of the Rhine between 22 and 28 March 1945
Douglas C-47 transport aircraft drop hundreds of paratroopers on 24 March as part of Operation Varsity.
On 25 March, after meeting Eisenhower, Churchill, General Simpson, Field Marshal Alan Brooke (head of the British Army), and Montgomery crossed to the German-held east bank of the Rhine in a landing craft