I wasn’t intimidated by the German advance

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We had stopped the enemy before he could reach the Mars now he could either abandon his winter offensive or try to maintain the Bulge in order to slow down our Advance Field Marshal model endeavored to forget the Battle Cry to ANP with which he had tried to Rally his

Troops on the offensive only a fortnight before we have succeeded he wrote in his new year’s address to his troops trying to find some justification for the battle of the ardenas in frustrating the enemy’s planned attack on our homeland however this was too unconvincing an Ali it could not justify the losses suffered

By the Germans in the unsuccessful offensive in the ardenas disrupt our plans and force us to delay the offensive at best for a few weeks the enemy managed only at the cost of losing the offensive power of 24 divisions rapid withdrawal from the ardines ledge could still save the Germans reserves

Sufficient to defend the line along the Ry River however in instead of abandoning the territory captured in the ardenas and occupying the sieg fried line the German command decided that it could hold us off the in SE fried line all along the western front was still intact except for our 165 kilm wide

Indentation near reken simple Common Sense demanded that the enemy should occupy the seed fried line with a minimum number of troops and gather reserves for the subsequent defense of the line along the Ry River however a sound milit assessment of the situation was set aside in favor of the fanatical

Claims of Hitler who demanded the defense of every inch of the Sacred land of the Reich without considering that such tactics could prove to be empty fanfair as a result the enemy abandoned the r that most reliable defensive Frontier in all of Western Europe in order to fight recklessly to the end

West of that River his Endeavor to delay us for a few weeks longer in the ardenis led to the collapse of the entire Western Front as soon as the Germans had entrenched themselves on the ardenis Bulge and gone on the defensive the forests Mountains snow and washed out

Roads which had helped us to hold back the enemy’s Advance now turned against us our new found initiative however surpassed the advantages that the weather and terrain had given the enemy these two weeks in the ardenis were my only experience of defensive Warfare and I was very glad when at last we were

Again on the offens in all Ranstead held the initiative for only 11 days a pleasure too brief considering the sacrifices it cost him now that the dream of antp had faded and the hopes of stopping the Allies had dissipated the morale of the Germans plummeted and the enemy moved despondently along his usual

Road of retreat henceforth there was no going back to the offensive for him the insufficient Road Network in the ardenis forced the enemy to limit himself to transporting only ammunition and fuel to supply the German tanks that had broken through troops were ordered to forage for their own food until they reached

Antp where fabulous stores of War materials accumulated by the Allies were waiting to be plundered however the sparely populated ardenis did not allow German foragers to deploy and the forward field Depot of American troops managed to capture only 40,000 Russians first DV then bastor finally cold and starvation it was bitter food for

Soldiers who had been promised Victory and plentiful American supplies an irritated prisoner of war from the 6th SS Panzer Army growled angrily when he heard the name of his army Commander under interrogation sepit he said sharply he wouldn’t even make a butcher SRI had joined the army in 1914 before which he

Had been a butcher’s Apprentice he joined Hitler in 1923 and 5 years later joined the National Socialist Party in 1932 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in the SS forces and became commander of Hitler’s bodyguards in contrast to the enemy whose morale had been shattered our

Troops were eager to fight despite the blows they had received when the fifth Rangers Battalion in need of 50 soldiers appealed to the rear units of the first Army with a call for volunteers a waterfall application fell on it volunteers totaled about 1,000 men in 16 January the armies of Hodges and patton

Joined on the cobblestone streets of yilis although not a month had passed since the day when Von Rad’s columns entered this small town I still remember this sleepy little place on a hillside 16 km from Bastone where the asphalt road to Lee passed through down in the

Ravine below a Sor Mill hummed with the soaring of tall straight trunks of ardess Pines two parallel rows of stone Cottages lined either side of the Le road which only in one place was crossed by a road running from west to east to deprive the enemy of the possibility of

Using this road our heavy bombers destroyed the town bulldozers clearing Patton’s Way North to join the first Army piled the smoldered stones of the ruins of ofal into craters formed by Allied Air Raids a simple poor and humble little town no one bothered to Liv in it was destroyed only because it

Was located on one of the unremarkable Crossroads these Crossroads turned offerless into a target of Greater strategic importance than any Town 50 times its size in the evening of 17 January first Army rejoined 12th Army group however the ninth Army remained under Monty’s command because Eisenhower had promised the British Field Marshal

To leave him this Army to participate in the offensive on the reinland I begged Eisenhower to return the ninth Army to me if only for 24 hours this would allow us to complete the entire cycle and after the elimination of the ardenis it bulge to reassemble All American formations under American command but

Ike replied that he is already completely exhausted in the fight with the British demanding the appointment of Montez commanderin-chief of the land forces he said that he was not going to again enter into bickering with the British just to appe the wounded ego of the Americans that the ninth Army will

Remain in the 21st Army group until we do not force the Rind Simpson having leared of Ike’s decision called me on the phone from MRI look Brad he said laughing what can you do to save us if it goes on like this the British will think that we were given to them along

With the goods under the Lend leas there’s nothing we can do I replied Ike has already given his word you better take care of your English pronunciation you’re going to need it for a while the enemy counteroffensive as a strategic operation ended in total failure the Germans not only failed to achieve their

Ultimate objectives beyond the Meuse but also paid extremely dearly for the delay of our winter offensive according to our intelligence enemy losses for a month of fighting exceeded 250,000 people including more than 36,000 prisoners more than 600 German tanks and self-propelled guns were left to rust in the Arden’s forests even German Aviation

Shared the defeat of runet making the only and last attempt to support the actions of ground troops on one January ging organized the most powerful air strike of the entire campaign in Europe at first German Fighters took more than 125 Allied aircraft by surprise and destroyed them on Belgian airfields but

Allied fighters who took to the the air in flocks that day destroyed according to Pilots 200 German aircraft by the end of the day at the time when the enemy was withdrawing from the ardenas the pitiful remnants of its last reserves in the West in the central section of the

Soviet front the Red Army again went on the offensive it began on 12 January with a crushing artillery preparation 5 days later on 17 January Soviet troops entered Warsaw which had been To The Ground by the Germans in retaliation for General bur omari’s Uprising that began

On one August over the 63 days of the uprising more than 250,000 poles had risen to fight the Germans in Warsaw while Red Army troops waited quietly in warsaw’s suburb plague just a few kilometers to the east on 22 January Soviet troops crossed the border into celesia and reached the Oda River

The next day Hitler hastily gather gathered all that remained of the sixth SS Panza Army of General Dietrich and urgently transferred this Remnant by Railway to Hungary where the immediate threat of a breakthrough of the German front however if in our intelligence reports Army septia was listed as a tank

Army of five divisions but now from this formidable Force remained a mere Shadow the last German reserves that could have held off the onslaught of Russian divisions had been used up in the ardenis Hitler’s failure in the denas not only hastened the defeat of the Germans on the Western Front but also

Brought closer the collapse of Hitler’s Army on the Eastern Front undermining the morale of the German people as a result of the crushing defeat in the ardenas was more important than its strategic impact on the new Russian offensive firstly weapons on which the Germans had long pinned their hopes

Proved unable to change the course of the war now they could no longer hope for a lightning strike true the German people except for the most hardened fanatical Nazis had long since lost faith in Victory but before the Arden’s battles many believed that if Germany could achieve stability on the Western

Front it could force the Allies to make A Separate Peace this would allow the wear to throw all its last reserves against the Soviets however faint this hope had been it was now gone too realizing that their days were numbered the Germans were desperately trying to come to terms with the overwhelming

Thought that a tragic end was inevitable not so long ago entering a snout and Duran our troops found extinct towns abandoned by the population now all the way to the Elby we marched under an arch of white flags unlike Hitler the Germans had become remarkably prudent and the

Voice of reason was forcing them to hang sheets out of their Windows as a sign of their Readiness to surrender at the end of January when the enemy gave up the last Shad of the ardenis Bulge and withdrew to the SE freed line nine more German divisions were transferred to the

Russian front but even after this run steady still had 80 divisions against our 71 many German compounds suffered heavy losses were poorly trained and understaffed but all these shortcomings were largely offset by the fortifications of the SE fried line except for a small section of 65 km

Where we broke through to the RoR River this powerful defensive line remained intact from arnam to the Swiss border two months later during breakfast with Churchill at Eisenhower’s headquarters in Reams In The House of the king of champagne Ike and I had to prove the difficulty of overcoming the SEI line

For unlike the French who had miscalculated their Maginot Line the Germans knew how to capitalize on their investment in few Americans at the time realized the large German Ground Forces still confronting us on the Western Front despite the lesson we had learned in the ardenis we retained our September

Illusions it seemed to us that we had defeated the remnants of the German Army when a delegation from the war production committee visited Us in January I was asked whether the Arden’s offensive by the Germans would prolong the War I replied that it would not except in the minds of some people the

Arden offensive could only surprise those who thought we had finally defeated the Germans in September I explained it would be good if the ardenis convinced these people at least that the German could still kick us pretty hard American troop losses for the month of fighting were about 1/4 of the losses

That according to our data suffered by the Germans we lost 59,000 men in combat including 6,700 killed and 33,400 the remaining 18,000 900 men were listed as missing in action although it was assumed that most of them were surrounded during the German breakthrough and taken prisoner these

Were mostly soldiers from units of the 106th and 28th divisions most of them liberated by Allied Forces from prisoner of war camps at the end of the war When The War Ministry announced that the combat losses for the month of the German offensive in the ardenis exceeded

Those of any previous month it did not see fit to add that many more divisions had taken part in the battle of the ardenis in the month preceding the German breakthrough our losses were expressed as 46,800 men and no more than 17 divisions were involved in the fighting on 17

January we threw into battle 27 American divisions this was almost four times the number of American divisions then fighting in Italy and exceeded also the total number of American divisions involved in the Pacific Theater of War but if our losses were great the enemy’s losses were much greater moreover our

Losses were less than if the Germans had struck us on the plains of cologne or if they had brought their reserves into the battle when we approached the r seen pursuit of the retreating American troops in the ardenas the enemy came under our fire especially devastating

Was the fire of our shells with radio fusers which exploded in the air soldiers of the fourth division still not forgetting the losses suffered in the gerin forest such a change of roles gave a lot of pleasure there was a time when we had a hail of shrapnel raining

Down on our soldiers while the Hans were holed up in their holes explained Colonel Lanham an undersized but well-trained officer a poet in command of the 22nd Infantry Regiment in the ardens we just sat in the trenches on tin cans and hit the Hans as soon as

They came near us I don’t know what it was like in other areas but in ours the Germans fought well we made sure they were brave Soldiers by the end of January we had eliminated the Ard bulge and approached the SE fried line the first Army was concentrated on a narrow

Front between the Gin forest and Ste Fighters while the ninth Army positioned itself to the left occupying part of hodges’s section on the ru River Patton pulled the main forces of the third Army to the strip of enemy fortifications running along the emborg border to the Moselle the front of Patton’s third

Corpse stretched 50 kilm South of the Moselle and in the vicinity of SAR Lon had joined the front of army group diversa of the 47 American divisions operating on the Western Front 21 divisions were squeezed in the narrow area between the gerin forest and the mo I wanted without reducing the pace of

The offensive to break through the seeg fried line overcome the eil massive and break through the passage to Bon and the reindeer despite the fact that this direction was rugged terrain it offered two great by striking in a direct line to Bon we could get rid of the loss of time

Inevitably associated with the regrouping of forces necessary to organize an offensive in any other area two the way through the Eiffel allowed us to BU past the dams on the rhor River from the south and reach the rine without engaging imp Ed battles for the possession of the dams we had already

Suffered losses in two previous offensives in the area of the dams and I wanted to avoid a third however Montgomery was not slow to make adjustments to our plans in the early days of November when we began the winter offensive Eisenhower promised that in the event that the first and

Ninth armies by the end of the year did not come to the operational space he will withdraw the ninth Army from the 12 12 Army group and transfer it to Monty for the offensive north of the ruer river now Monty caught Eisenhower on the word and referring to the impending

British offensive opposed my proposal to send the first Army through the he insisted that Hodges return to the position on the ruer river which he held before the battle of the ardenas from this point Hodes was to advance on the dams with the task of ensuring that Simpson forced the river having taken

Possession of the dams the first Army crossed the ruer and covered the right flank of Simpson’s ninth Army moving towards the Rind Eisenhower had no choice and had to give in to Monty’s demands not only did we fail to reach the line that we were supposed to occupy

By one January but our Advance towards the AFL was slowed by snow drifts up to 2 m thick in addition our first strikes on the SE fried line did not yield any results only in the neighborhood of aan in the upper R this line had had already

Been broken through as a result on 4 February the Allied High command ordered the 12th Army group to stop the offensive in the Eiffel and move the first Army North to the same positions along the Rue river which it occupied in December although I was not at all

Smiling at the prospect of advancing in the direction of the dams nevertheless I could not but recognize that Ike was right in his decision by switching the first Army to the northern direction we could combine our for forces with the British and make a concerted strike

Directly south of the ru Basin in the direction of the Rin the Red Army offensive deprived Germany of the industrial areas of celesia and the enemy more than ever depended on the ru Basin in the rudar the Germans were successfully repairing the destruction caused by Allied bombers and showing

Marvelous initiative and Ingenuity had even achieved an unprecedented level of tank and aircraft production if Monte he had managed to break through to the Rind he would not only have deprived the enemy of the possibility of using this important Waterway but would also have been able without much difficulty to

Conduct artillery fire on the factories which were densely dotted 15 kilm strip of terrain on the East Bank of the Rind since the offensive of the first Army was to precede the general offensive Monty Eisenhower suggested that I move the command post of the Task Force Headquarters from luxemborg to the North

In Nama an ancient Fortress City located in the bend of the Meers 100 kilomet West of the German Border in Luxembourg I was 10 minutes from Patton’s command post and two hours from Hodges although nemma was only an hour and a half from the first Army’s command headquarters it

Was a three-hour drive from the third Army’s headquarters in Luxembourg I protested but Ike insisted on moving my command post as he was Keen that we should be closer to Monty’s Command Post in Holland for two months we were quartered in the picturesque Choda near which overlooked the my Cliffs during

This time I saw Monty only three times we spoke frequently by telephone except during the periods when we were traveling rapidly through France and so could do perfectly well without personal meetings it was not until the end of January when the American newspapers came to us in Luxembourg that we saw the

Hysteric tone in which the high command had given information to the Press during the ardenis fighting from September onwards Hansen asked me to set up a press camp at the headquarters task force but I invariably declined the offer I did not consider it advisable to organize press conferences halfway

Between the Army Headquarters where correspondents were available and the Allied High command which organized press conferences on a theaterwide basis at the same time Montgomery did not scatter his correspondence across the armies as we did but concentrated them at the headquarters of the 21st Army group as a result the British at press

Conferences the results of the actions of the Canadian and British armies reported to correspondence in a generalized form the value of information received by the American Press was reduced due to the inability of Correspondence assigned to the armies to understand the interdependence of the combat actions of different armies and

To present a general picture of the situation in this case the headquarters of the armies often disoriented correspondence as each headquarters was imbued with local patriotism and jealous of the successes of their neighbors to the best of my knowledge correspondents receive very scant and sketchy information at a press conference at the

Supreme headquarters of the Allied expeditionary force in Paris as a result the actions of our group of army is in the November and December offensives subordinated to a single plan turned into two unrelated campaigns on the pages of American newspapers I have not forgotten the sad experience of the ardenis battles when

The newspapers were infiltrated with incorrect information that exaggerated the danger of our position wishing to avoid a repetition of such cases in the future I reconsidered my point of view regarding the organization of a press Camp under the headquarters task force I informed the Supreme headquarters of my

Intention to set up such a camp in namia a few days later we were visited by Eisenhower to whom my proposal seemed suspicious he did not raise the matter until late in the evening after a game of bridge which we played intermittently I thought that captain second rank Harry Butcher of the naval

Reserve had probably planted a seed of doubt in the soul of his Patron otherwise Eisenhower would never have doubted the sincerity of our intentions as Eisenhower’s press Chief butcher was clearly worry of our attempting to use the press in our disputes with Monty or worse of substituting the Allied High

Command for the information press I assured Ike that we only wanted to help correspondents to objectively report military events and for this purpose we were going to organize a daily press conference with a summary of the general situation in the operations group of the headquarters andhow was satisfied with

My explanation and gave his consent to tell you the truth Mike explained I was not at all frightened by the ardines offensive of the Germans until I read about it in an American newspaper according to the plan Montgomery’s offensive in the Rand palatinate was to consist of two

Successive phases it was assumed that in the first stage Monty’s Canadian Army would advance southwards from niman along the plane between the Meers and the it was believed that the Canadians would come to the rear of seid’s line where its fortifications faced the muu and cut off the enemy garrisons in front

Of the British second Army once the Canadians began to build on their success Simpson was to strike across the ruha river and Advance Northeast to the Rind which flows past the ru Basin so with access to the Rind he had the opportunity to direct artillery fire on the rouer factories until montg could

Gather his forces and force the Rind while Simpson was advancing towards dorf we had to cover his right flank with the forces of the first Army hodgers hodges’s task on the ru river river was first to occupy the heights between the Earth and Rin rivers and then to cover Simpson until the ninth

Army reached the West Bank of the r opposite dusel dorf once the ninth Army was firmly entrenched the first Army was to resume its Advance southwards towards cologne having taken possession of this city famous for its Cathedrals the first Army moved further south along the banks

Of the Rind and cut off the German forces west of the rine the influx of replenishments was still not sufficient to allow me to go on the offensive with the forces of all three armies so Patton was ordered to consolidate in the positions he occupied on 8 February the

Allied offensive began which in 30 days was to end with the destruction of German forces West of the Rind the first Canadian Army rushed out of Nishan while Simpsons Army bided its time on the ruha river Hodes ordered hubner to seize the dams and gain a foothold on this River

Frontier by 10 February the fifth corpse had captured the dams on the ru River and drove the Germans into the dense forests east of the river but before leaving the dams the Germans blew up the locks muddy streams of water rushed into the river valley the river overflow flow

The water Rose above the flooded banks by almost a meter the sudden Thor caused the melting of the mass of snow in the effil mountains and soon dozens of turbulent streams of water rushed into the flooded River division commanders of the first and Ninth armies stretched along the banks of the ruer cautiously

Looked at the muddy and turbulent stream and prayed to God that the commander of the army group postponed the offensive until the flooding ends fearing that the forcing of the river would not end in Failure both armies decided to wait until the water receded but now our

Intentions were quite clear and I feared how the enemy might not strengthen his front in this section of the troops transferred from eiel where Patton was instructed to sit in defense there George probed the seek fried line with battle reconnaissance he did this not in preparation for a major offensive but

Simply because he could not sit still for the third Army defense was a most undesirable kind of fighting now having obtained Eisenhower’s approval I ordered Patton to launch an offensive on the a this offensive was to be conducted by forces sufficient to restrain the enemy in this area and prevent him from moving

Some of his formations to the ruer river however the forces involved in the offensive were not to be so large as to raise Monty’s objections replenishment of units involved in this operation with a limited purpose could be realized at the expense of the first and ninth

Armies so far trampled on the ru River Satan was to break through the fortifications of the SE fried line and north of the mosle leisurely reached the kill River a mountain stream running through Germany parallel to the border with Luxemburg about 20 kilm from the border here pattern was to create a

Bridge head on the East Bank of the river for a future offensive by large forces to the rine but this offensive was not to begin until Monty had firmly established himself on the West Bank of the r opposite the ruhar factories setan trying to disguise the violation of

Written orders of the Allied High command instructing him to adhere to defensive tactics called the actions of the third Army at eel active defense his staff officers naely believed they were deceiving Ike’s headquarters at verses moreover there were rumors that I was allegedly involved with Patton in the conspiracy however my Disobedience to

The order of the high command was purely pretend as Eisenhower was in agreement with our plan although neither Patton’s staff nor my staff did not know about it despite Montgomery’s objections Eisenhower shared my opinion he also believed that before attempting to force the rign with a large force it was

Necessary to reach the West Bank of that River along the entire length of the Allied front although ik still did not reject our plan to force the Rind in the area of Frankfurt and cover the ruhar on both sides nevertheless in the Allied High headquarters was a widespread

Opinion that Monty in competition with me occupies a more favorable treadmill but even if Monty had got his way and insisted on an offensive in One Direction east of the Rind my view of the need to reach the r on a broad front remained valid for even if we had to

Concentrate the main forces in the north holding a small force of the rest of the front to the Swiss border we still have to occupy such a line on which the enemy could not strike us at preemptive strike and thus frustrate our plans for this purpose I argued there was no better

Frontier than the rine Ike agreed with me he also thought it absolutely necessary to clear the Germans from the West Bank of the Rind before forcing it no less tempting was the opportunity to destroy the German troops in the reinland palatinate by February 85 German divisions were operating west of

The R if we managed to encircle and Destroy This grouping the enemy would have no forces left to organize a stable defense on the East Bank of the rine our most important task was not the capture of Berlin or any other city but the destruction of the German Army for once

The we arm Mar forces had been defeated it would not have been difficult for us to seize other enemy installations while waiting for the RAR to re-enter the banks I impatiently measured my steps in the corridor of the Baroque Palace which housed our Command Post at namur my work room was the

Ornate drawing room of the provincial governor on a frescoed wall between two groups of smiling cherubs hung a huge 7 m High map of the setting a crystal candle Abram hung above my desk and as I paced around the map a magnificent oriental rug muffled my footsteps the

City of namur had been the headquarters of the forward section of the communication zone until our arrival Al that headquarters had willingly surrendered its claim to the city and seeded its place to the task force of my headquarters Eagle tuck said the officers of the communications Zone when

We occupied the city taking advantage of our privileged position as Superior headquarters you should have been called Eagle tuck I’ve been to Nea before once returning to Luxemburg from first Army Headquarters I spent an evening at the hotel house Camp which housed the headquarter of the forward section of

The communication Zone I remembered the name of this hotel well it was already dark and we stopped in the middle of the street to ask some Soldier for directions to the H Camp Hotel Soldier was confused but suddenly a hunch struck him did they really organize such a camp here the cold

Winter of 1944 caused the Belgian inhabitants of namir a lot of trouble the Belgian government which was following on the heels of the liberation armies immediately introduced a monetary reform to get rid of the devalued paper money that the enemy was using to undermine the nation’s prosperity and

Enrich its speculators at the same time price and wage controls were established within a year this firm stand taken by the Minister of Finance Camille gut had borne fruit while the rest of Europe was in the grip of economic chaos Belgium was on its way to Revival a week passed

But the water level in the ruhu did not drop so we decided to wait another week in the meantime there were signs of the enemy amassing forces in front of the front of the ninth Army either to choose one of two things either to go on the offensive in flood conditions or to

Expose ourselves to the risk of encountering strong enemy resistance at that time I was painfully worried about any delay because every day that past reinforced the false impression that the enemy had cracked Us in the Ard more sever cly than was actually the case in strategic terms the postponement led to

The loss of an opportune moment for an offensives the Red Army had finally launched a successful defensive after a three-month Hiatus that had lasted during our battle in the ardenas if only we could coordinate our offensive with the Soviet strike we would deprive the enemy of the opportunity to maneuver his

Reserves between the eastern and western fronts although General bull chief of operations of the Supreme headquarters of the Allied expeditionary forces back in January returned from Moscow with the happy news of the upcoming Soviet offensive never Eisenhower doubted that the Russians managed to get to the West

Bank of the Oda during the winter offensive still the bull report inspired faith that the Soviet troops going on the offensive will weaken German resistance on the Western Front if these hopes did not come true if the Germans weakened their defense in the West our Frontline troops did not notice it we

Contin to receive all information about the Red Army from the BBC broadcasts but at the end of February we had the opportunity to communicate with Soviet diplomats for one day one day the Soviet ambassador to France came to visit us in neyar to present us with Russian orders

For operation oal after the official ceremony at the palace of the governor of the province the Ambassador Mr Alexander balov a bureaucratic looking man spent the evening with us at the Chateau denor next morning I invited him to a secret meeting at headquarters we familiarized the Soviet Ambassador with

The disposition of our troops and the plan for the completion of the Rand pinate campaign turning to Paris with Colonel a Drexel bidd from the Supreme headquarters of the Allied expeditionary Force balof spoke admiringly of the reception he had received emphasising that we had kept no secrets from him and

Promised to report our Hospitality to Marshall Stalin however these Praises did not prevent me 5 years later from taking an honorable place on the list of anglo-american warmongers compiled by the Soviet leaders if I could have foreseen this result then in 1945 I would have felt much more

Confident for the British and American newspapers made a fuss about bov’s Presence at our secret staff meeting for several days I feared that my action would be misinterpreted in Washington stain 11an Allen reassured me by saying don’t worry Brad when the Federal Bureau of Investigation begins its probe we

Won’t let you off the hook at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday 22 February the decision was made to force the ruer river at dawn the next morning the river still had not entered the banks but we could delay no longer it had been 22 days since Eisenhower had shifted the direction of

Our main strike now we were not advancing on the eiel but in the direction of the ruro river if we had been allowed to advance through the AEL we would have been well on our way to the Ry each new day of delay allowed the enemy to pull up forces and it became

Clear that further strengthening of the defense by the Germans in this area could derail our entire plan even now I feared that the war would drag on until September 1945 and that it would reach its highest point in the summer battles in late July and August if we wanted to force the

Rind at the end of spring we could no longer chill at the ru meanwhile the advance of Monty’s Canadian Army down from nich M byp passing the SE fried line where the front of Dempsey’s Army was facing it was soon halted in 14 days of offensive fighting the Canadians

Advanced less than 32 kilomet overcoming stubbor enemy resistance on terrain eroded by heavy rains and flooded by the Germans until Simpson did not force the ruhar river and went to the rear of the defending German troops the commander of the Canadian Army General crer could not count on the fact that the Germans

Weakened resistance in the area between Duran and julich where the Muddy Waters of the roofer flowed over the rocky bottom Simpson preparing to force the river concentrated 10 divisions including three armored divisions on his right haes pulled up three Corps with 14 Visions the seventh corpse Collins was

To force the RAR 23 February at the same time as the ninth Army the third and fifth cors forced the river echol after the seventh core each division was to cross the ruer following the division on its Left Flank and land on the bridge head occupied by the latter having

Landed on the Eastern Bank of the ru the division would move to the right and return to its offensive line we drew up such a plan of attack to allow Hodges to dispense with forcing the rashar on a wide front he could cross the lead division of the third corpse to the

Bridge head occupied by Collin’s last division then turn it to the right thus widening the bridge head until all the divisions of the third and fifth corpse had been crossed with this method of attack the first Army carried out a deep in Road in its line with the seventh

Corpse covering the flank of Simpson’s ninth Army which was turning towards dorf to join the Canadians advancing South we struck a 40 kilm strip along the ruer River from Duran to linich and by noon had the first pontoon Bridge across the river the lores crawled slowly along the

Gates that had been laid in the woods on the approaches to the river and rolled over the narrow metal belts of the Pontoon bridge on rubber rafts after an unusually harsh winter the snow began to melt rapidly 6 weeks ahead of schedule and our heavy trucks smashed the crushed

Stone highways that had been laid out in the the woods many kilometers of asphalted paved highways sank into mud and even first class highways became impassible swamps 5 days had passed since we had forced the ruer and the German troops were beginning to show the first signs of fatigue on 28 February

Simpson broke through from his pre-bd fortification and three days later joined up with the British second Army at geldon while some of the formations of his ninth Army were Advan Ving towards the Rin CH Collins was advancing towards the Earth the small muddy river between the rou and the rine once on the

Earth he was to make a halt before advancing on the heavily bombed city of Cologne on 3 March I ordered Hodges and patton to launch a surprise offensive thanks to which for 10 days of Rapid Advance we cleared the entire territory of Rand palatinate north of the mzelle

River valley and took 49,000 Germans as prisoners since since then the enemy has never again been able to mend all the gaps on the Western Front the fast moving campaign west of the Rind was carried out strictly on schedule with the Precision of a well practiced drill it was an instructive example of

Exemplary maneuver if I were asked which campaign during the entire War I am most proud of as a soldier by profession I would not hesitate to point to it all actions west of the Rind were to be carried out in two successive phases and for each of them the Army group

Headquarters developed a detailed plan of action one while Hodges went to the Rind between dorf and cologne Patton was to prepare for an offensive from his Bridge heads east of the kill River two after Simpson reached the rine AES would turn Collin’s corpse toward cologne and

The main body of his army would move rapidly Southeast and join Patton’s columns making their way to the rain as for Patton his task was to Advance through the mountainous region of AEL then make a rush to coins where at the Confluence of the Melle into the Rin

Rose a statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I on Horseback the first phase of the campaign proceeded at a Brisk Pace by five March the seventh corpse had reached the Rin south of dorf and Paton on the East Bank of the kill River was impatiently awaiting the signal to attack three armored divisions were on

Standby to join the third Army’s 80 km to rush to the Rind I ordered the armies to begin the second phase of the campaign and left for rims the next morning to discuss future plans with Ike the next day Churchill was expected for lunch and Ike asked me to stay and wait

For the arrival of the British prime minister Churchill arrived shortly before the luncheon began he was in the uniform of a colonel I’ve had enough of the aviation uniform he said as if to explain the reason that made him change his uniform he took a leather cigar case

Out of his inside pocket lit a cigar and took a brandy and soda without waiting to be served Churchill had visited Simpson the day before and now spoke enthusiastically about the rapid advance of the ninth Army Eisenhower could again treat us to Fresh Chesapeake oysters that Steve early had sent him Marshall

Brook and I declined our share I CED contentedly and quickly divided our portion among the rest of the guests not forgetting himself the conversation turned to Churchill’s trip to the Troops and the British prime minister spoke of the amazing advances in Weaponry that the Allies had made during the wave

Years however his admiration for the new weapons was somewhat overshadowed by the thought that we might have to use them against a nation defeated and disarmed in this world war he said we already have an advantage in the next War for it will have created new weapons while we

Are trying to use old weapons even tedar the pilot nodded his head in agreement after hearing the prime minister’s prediction that the day was not far off when the modern heavy bomber would be completely obsolete Churchill said that jets would eventually replace manned aeroplanes and then Britain he added

Would become a huge bazooka aimed at aggressors who dared threaten Europe now perhaps the day will come Churchill continued when in order to start a war it will be enough to go into the cabinet break the glass over the switch put the arrow on the scale against the state to

Be bombed and press the button I remember President Roosevelt hinting 18 months earlier that we would have an atomic bomb although I was eager to know the status of this invention I did not dare to ask even Eisenhower about it over lunch Churchill defended his policy in Greece where British troops were

Actively supporting the Greek government against alas eh which was dominated by communist s Churchill’s policy was sharply attacked by the English newspapers the London times and the Manchester guardian and much of the American Press which Churchill remarked picked up on what the two papers wrote but we shall never he slammed his

Fist on the table never wherever it happens sit back and watch In Cold Blood as a minority imposes its will on a helpless majority he scorned the Resurgence of the Communist threat to the West and urged us not to believe the tricks of Stalin whom he called Uncle Joe at the

Time I like most Americans took for granted the wartime Legend of Soviet heroism but Churchill had long been hostile to the Communists many years before the war he sharply rebutted objections to his policies and compared himself to a giant roseros with a sharp horn and thick hide muy peace this horn

He said will always be pointed as at the enemy even if my whole hide were pinned like Arrows with critical remarks on 6th March as Hodes turned his ninth Armored Division southeastward across the Earth Patton cut into the German defenses Beyond The Kill River on the operational

Map in the palace in nir where our Command Post was located the Blue Front Line stretched in a sharp wedge towards the Rind it was hug gaff’s fourth Armored Division breaking through towards kaben in two days the division had cut 56 kilometers into the enemy’s rear along the forested Eiffel mountains

But the width of the wedge was no wider than the width of the motorway on which the tanks were moving this gaffy offensive was the boldest and most daring tank attack of the entire war on the Western Front meanwhile to gaff’s left Patton threw the 11th Armored Division into action ordering it to

Advance in line with the fourth division on 8 March the tank car Columns of both divisions joined up a few kilometers west of the Rind encircling the German troops Left Behind the Germans north of the mzelle were now cut off from the Rind in the Eiffel mountains German

Units scattered in confusion as American tanks raced full speed toward the Rind raising panic in the German rear further north Collins’s seventh corpse turned south from dorf to Cologne where its tanks made their way through the streets of a city reduced to piles of rubble by some miracle the old Gothic Cathedral

Survived Beyond its two spires the Waters of the rain flowed past the collapsed trusses of the Hindenburg Bridge the retreating German troops had blown up the 1 and a half kilomet long span of the bridge as our units cautiously approached the outskirts of the city only four gloomy Towers

Remained standing over the ruins of the bridge like a tombstone moving from the Smoky factory town of ice gchen Major General John Leonard’s ninth Armored Division skirted the dense forests of Ken heading for the river Aya at the point where this mountain stream swiftly flows into the bend of the rine halfway

Between cologne and kab 10 kilometers North on the East Bank of the Rind close to the town of Remagen was a group of plastered houses a single track Railway Bridge crossed the rine at this location by the evening of 7 March under a fine drizzle the seventh armor division

Approached the r River one of the division’s combat commands turned South to seiz a bridge head on the other side of the mountain stream in the fifth corpse offensive strips the other combat command Brigadier General William hogis headed for the r now the enemy on the

West Bank of the r could no longer mount an organized rep German troops fleeing to the Rind found themselves in a desperate situation when their vehicles were stopped on the roads for lack of fuel as our tanks passed one town after another the inhabitants shut the windows

Of their houses tightly and hung out white sheets all along the Rind from dorf to Cobin about two dozen heavy Bridges were blown up by bombing teams and collapsed into the water the bridges at Dil dorf were blown up just as American vanguards were approaching from

The West a bridge head on the East Bank of the Rind was our Dream but we had lost all hope of capturing even one Bridge intact I had already resigned myself to the necessity of forcing the river while still in England that evening I returned to the command post

When the curtains on the windows were already closed Major General bull Eisenhower’s chief of operations was waiting for me here he had just arrived from the Supreme headquarters of the Allied expeditionary Force intending to ro command decided to take four of my existing 26 divisions and transfer them

To devors for the invasion of the saand suddenly there was a phone call hajes was calling me from Spar mrad said Courtney and from his calm voice could not assume that he had good news Brad we’ve captured the bridge the bridge you mean you captured the Bridge Over the Rind

Intact yes Hodges replied Leonard captured the bridge at Remagen before the Germans blew it up well done Courtney I said wek make a wide Gap here have you moved your soldiers to the other side with all the speed we can muster he said tuab is setting up the

Transport with the sailors and my Engineers are building a couple of pontoon bridges across the river to the bridge head I walked over to the map dragging a long cord behind me get everything you can to the other side Courtney I said and make a strong defense of the bridge head it will

Probably take the German a couple of days to gather his strength and Str strike you I hung up turned to Bull and clapped him on the shoulder triumphantly now it’s your turn pink Courtney crossed the rine over the bridge bull squinted and looked at me through his un rimmed glasses he sat

Down in front of the map and shr okay Brad you’ve captured the bridge but what do you need it for you can’t go on the offensive at Remagen anyway that’s not in the plan no to hell with a plan I said a bridge is a bridge and it could

Be damn useful to us wherever it is R just shook his head the plan was to force the r north of the row with a large Force Under Monty’s command after all of Monty’s demands are satisfied the Allied High command could also agree to an offensive in the auxiliary Direction

But in this case the third Army could receive permission to force the Rind between Main and Carl shui in fact this forcing of the Rind in the auxiliary Direction was essential to to the operation for the two-pronged encirclement of the ru here which I had been advocating since last September it

Is true that Eisenhower had not yet made a final decision to limit the forcing of the Rind in One Direction only that is the forces of Monty but in the Supreme headquarters of the Allied expeditionary force was dominated by English influence most of the officers of the Supreme headquarters were so favorably disposed

Towards Monty’s proposal that the the only possible plan for forcing the Rind in their view was reduced to Monty’s proposed offensive but although bull thought it desirable to force the Rind in the South even he shared the British point of view he was therefore firmly convinced that there was no room in the

Plan for a bridge at rern what the hell do you want us to do I asked for us to step back and blow up the bridge didn’t answer anything I connected with Eisenhower who was in Reams to get confirmation of the order I had given to hodgers the news of the

Bridge delighted Ike oh it Brad he said take everything you need to the East Bank but by all means anchor yourself there we had dinner and returned to headquarters in the evening my officers greeted the news of the capture of the bridge with joy considering it our

Victory but bull was not amused to him Remagen was only an unfortunate hindrance to the Fulfillment of the elaborate plan of the Supreme headquarters of the Allied expeditionary Force but I’m not suggesting that we abandon your plan I urged him only let us use this bridge to move four or five

Divisions to the East Bank maybe you can use them for a diversionary offensive or maybe we’ll reinforce with them our covering group advancing south of the ruer either we have already made Crossing we’ve crossed the r and now that we have a bridge head for God’s

Sake let us use it look Brad you’ve crossed the Ry but where do you go from here what are you going to do on the other side would you like me to show you I said I led bull to a geographical map of West Germany illuminated by fluorescent lights north of the ruhar

Sapper selected points where Monty Was preparing to force the Rind with a large force and make the jump to the plains of West failure 320 km to the South between Mains and Carls through here the r flows through the valley and here we chose points for forcing from where we

Expected to begin the offensive to bypass the ru from the south between the northern and southern sections of the forcing the rine flows through a Rocky Gorge and here it is difficult to choose a place to cross to the right Bank of at least one division beyond ragen the forested

Heights of the Wester massive made it difficult to advance eastwards but 40 km south of reagen at Kens being began the Valley of the River LAR which went East crossed the Wester world and came out to gissen and through gon passed the direction of our strike from Frankfurt

To cover the Rue from the South if Hodges was able to reach the motorway 10 kilm East of the ragen bridge he could use it to skip South into the valley of the riveron and then turn East to geen at gizon he would link up with Patton and together with him realize the

Coverage of the ru from the south rul studied the map running his finger over it at last he said I bet your boys made this map especially for me it was finished 6 months ago I objected when we were still at Verdon but you know our plans for forcing the Rind he said

Alluding to Monty’s proposed offensive and now you’re trying to change them change them damn it pink I couldn’t help the irritation boiling up inside me we’re not trying to change anything but now that we’ve jumped over the bridge I intend to use it but bull couldn’t

Believe I wouldn’t try to divert some of the forces from Monty’s front bike is with you in heart he explained but in mind he realizes the advantage of going north it was past midnight and I said goodbye to Bull and went to bed I could lean in favor of the northern Direction

But until March 15 he had not yet decided definitively how to strike on one or two directions it seemed to him that an ensive in the northern direction is the fastest way to deprive the enemy of the industrial resources of the ruha in addition he agreed with Monty that

The route to Berlin through the plains of West failure provides the greatest opportunity for maneuver Warfare in which we outnumbered the Germans but he also realized that if we limited our offensive from the East Bank of the Rind to One Direction only the enemy could concentrate large forces in our path in

A conversation with Eisenhower I did not particularly enthusiastic about the West philan Plains because although they were flat terrain they were crossed by many large and small rivers and canals I argued that the enemy could without much difficulty prevent or limit our advance in this neighborhood in the southern

Direction from Frankfurt to Castle which I propos to cover the ruha from the south was more rugged terrain than the direction of Monty’s strike and in addition the troops had to travel along the Route however this was not decisive as there were fewer obstacles in this direction when all the arguments for and

Against were made Eisenhower leaned towards the American Plan of two-pronged coverage of the rule despite the fact that his staff preferred the plan put forward by Monty offensive in One Direction among other things Eisenhower saw our plan as an opportunity to take an offensive in another Direction in

Case Monty failed with his offensive in the north however I Eisenhower ordered first of all to provide troops including airborne troops as well as fing equipment to the Northern Group under Mon’s command if in the South Patton had to force the Rind near Mains his forces would be limited to the American

Formations that would remain after all of Monty’s needs were met in 30 January the Joint Chiefs of Staff met on the island of Malta to prepare for the yelta conference at this meeting the British criticized Eisenhower’s decision to accept our plan for the bilateral coverage of the they suggested that the

Joint Chiefs of Staff instruct Eisenhower to concentrate forces in the northern direction under Monty Brook feared how Eisenhower would not concentrate in the southern Direction two large forces at the expense of Montgomery’s group however General Marshall sided with Eisenhower and rejected the British claim Marshall strongly opposed the plan to concentrate

All Allied Forces in one single Direction he insisted insisted that Eisenhower was given permission to force the Rind not only on the main but also on the auxiliary direction if the offensive Montgomery in the north will be stopped the Allies could switch their efforts to the auxiliary Direction

Because General Marshall forsaw that in the northern direction of the Germans will stubbornly resist particular fears he was inspired by their jet aircraft at the same time Marshall strongly objected to the fact that the Joint Chiefs of Staff to tell the Commanders at the fronts how to fulfill their tasks from

The very beginning of the war General Marshall was an advocate of genuine Independence of the commanders of troop Eisenhower’s representative Beetle Smith somewhat reassured the British announcing detail data on the number of troops to be allocated to Montgomery in the main Direction the headquarters of the 21st Army group making logistical

Calculations preceded from the fact that the group Montgomery advancing in the North should not exceed 21 divisions however the Supreme headquarters of the Allied expeditionary Force unhesitatingly ordered to increase this figure allocating Monte first 30 and then 36 divisions the southern covering force was limited to only about 12

Divisions the remaining Allied divisions on the Western Front were to take up defenses on the West Bank of the r one day after rigan was taken I received ERS from the Supreme headquarters of the Allied expeditionary force not to concentrate more than four divisions initially on the bridge Hood

This restriction was due to the fact that Monty proposed to give him another 10 divisions in case exceeded in breaking through the enemy defenses on the East Bank of the Rind I therefore instructed Hodges to extend the bridge head by about 1 kilometer each day just to prevent the enemy from entrenching

And mine the approaches to his front Hodes was to wait until Eisenhower made a decision regarding the forcing of the Rind by a large Force to the South if Eisenhower approved our plan for a two-pronged sweep Hodes was to advance in a southeasterly direction to link up with Patton’s forces advancing through

Frankfurt once linked the two armies were turned towards Castle to encircle the RAR from the south the Germans attempted to blow up the bridge at Ragan which was damaged by the enemy before hodges’s Brave tankers leapt across its boardwalk and disconnect connected the wires leading to the blasting charges

Seeing that we had captured the bridge the Germans opened artillery fire on it and bombarded it from the air to cover the bridge and speed up the transfer of troops to the bridge head sappers of the first Army put over the swollen Rin first Gage and then a pontoon Bridge its

Naval service units unloaded The Crossing vehicles from the huge trailers on which they had been delivered Overland from the English Channel and organized the transport of supplies across the rine so much anti-aircraft artillery was transferred to the bridge head that the density of fire was only half that of the anti-aircraft fire we

Had established at the Normandy Bridge head Upstream across the Rind were stretched barriers protecting the bridge from underwater and radio controlled mines patrols were posted on both sides of the bridge to ensure that enemy Sabers did not Infiltrate The Bridge as part of our columns barriage aerosats

Were raised in the air from Heights on both banks of the rine and depth bombs were dropped into the water to prevent enemy divers from approaching the bridge unnoticed enemy fighter bombers raided the bridge every day but fortunately their bombs fell into the water without causing damage on 9 March however a long

Range artillery shell hit the bridge damaging it traffic on the bridge was disrupted for 5 hours 2 Days Later a new shell struck the bridge finally on on 17 March the bridge swayed tilted and collapsed into the water more than two dozen sappers among the 200 men

Repairing the bridge at this point were crushed by the collapsed trusses many drowned falling into the icy waters of the Rind in the opinion of our Engineers the bridge could have been saved if only it had stood for another 24 hours however hajes had already established

Himself on the bridge head at remu he moved four divisions to this patch and expanded it by seasar a wide Motorway leading to Frankfurt at first the enemy’s reaction was delayed as a result he was able to concentrate only 20,000 men against this open wound in his side

The German command announced in its communique that three majors and one Lieutenant had been executed for not carrying out the order to blow up the bridge on the same day that reagin was captured bull arrived in neure however he did not arrive to prevent us from establishing a pre-bd fortification at

Ragin but to take some troops from us and hand them over to De who was to clear The Sire of German troop after Patton reached the maelle only the sayar Basin remained in enemy hands west of the Ry the SE fried line separated patch his seventh Army from thear although

Eisenhower would have preferred to First reach the r on the entire front and then begin to force it he still did not dare to postpone the day scheduled by Monty to start for in the Rind therefore the Supreme headquarters of the Allied expeditionary Force sought to allocate de’s forces necessary for the rapid

Seizure of the SAR take troops from the ninth Army could not as it was part of the grouping of Monty and enjoyed priority therefore we suspected that our helpless 12th Army group would again have to serve as a donor soon after the elimination of the ardenis Bulge we had

Already given deas three divisions for the offensive Ona we feared that in the event of another such creep on our forces we would be completely ex sanguinated and the forcing of the Rind in the southern Direction could be disrupted I for saww that de’s attempt to break through the secret line could

End in failure and suggested to Eisenhower to turn Patton’s troops to the South Patton could after crossing the maelle break into the sail Land from the north and cut off the enemy entrenched in the fortifications from the rear from the pre-bd fortification on the South Bank of the Melle near

Coblens third Army could strike in a southernly Direction go to the West Bank of the rine and cut the supply line of the enemy meanwhile in the vicinity of Tri on the border with luxemborg the third Army in the period of active defense cleared from the enemy triangle

South of the mzelle from this convenient springboard pattern could make a rush South to the rear of the sea ride line flanking its fortifications while desas struck them from the front as soon as I and how heard of my plan he gave me orders to proceed with its execution I

Immediately flew to luxemborg and outlined my plan to George Patton I found him cutting his hair in the retirement home in which he had set up his Command Center George summoned a second Barber and we discussed our plan while we were given a hot confess not only did this plan promise a risky

Operation bordering on The Adventurous to which Patton instinctively had a special predisposition but it also gave him the opportunity of dragging de’s Army group through the fortifications of the seide line at least we won’t have to sit around aimlessly Patton said while the high command decides whether we

Should force the Rind deas was if not hostile to our plan at least not enthusiastic about it he was frightened by the idea that the troops of the sixth Army group could intermingle with Patton’s Army advancing in his strip but the prospect of eliminating so powerful a fortified Frontier as the SE fried

Line was too tempting it could not be rejected and de grudgingly agreed it is clear that now when this operation was already being developed I could not go to further transfer to the sixth Army group devors of his compounds but bull demanded to give devors three more divisions and reinforcement units my

Objections made him Furious for the first Army is T to mount to an order to disarm he I told bull you know we can’t touch Simpson while he’s under Monty’s command and George needs all his divisions for the task south of the Melle I’m sorry pink but we can’t do

That bu was irritated by my refusal damn it but men like you are extremely difficult to deal with he said and I might add that you are becoming a more difficult man every day here however I remarked the high command has plenty of experience in in dealing with

Difficult people bull snapped back the 12th Army group is no more difficult to negotiate within the 21st Army group he paused not harder but believe me not easier I was angry at bullk harsh tone but I had to agree to the transfer of three divisions which he demanded

However I refused to give up the artillery divisions we needed them at Remagen now in the composition of my first and third armies remained only 27 division at the same time Monty clung tenaciously to the 12 divisions that had been allocated to Simpson’s ninth Army

To force the Rind in the South de had 11 American divisions not counting General deat dein’s French army Hodges on hearing of my concession to Bull rushed to me from Spa angry they’re taking everything away from me Brad he complained how can I make a move on

Remagen if they’re cutting me off at the route this is the last time Courtney I reassured hodies we won’t give up another Battalion fortunately bullk demand was indeed the last the pace of the fighting had quickened to such an extent that the Supreme headquarters of the Allied expeditionary Force no longer

Had time to create new obstacles for us as the third Army prepared to rush south from the bridge fortification on the South Bank of the maelle with the task of reaching the r near Mains Eisenhower could no longer postpone the long debated question of whether to cover the

Ruer on one or both sides smi’s question had been brewing for almost half a year now at the disposal of Montgomery for an offensive in the main Direction had already been allocated three armies the first Canadian second British and Ninth American however Montgomery was not enough he demanded that the Supreme

Headquarters created him a second Exelon of 10 divisions which he proposed to borrow from the first Army in view of this demand the Supreme headquarters at first and proposed to me to limit the grouping on the Remagen Bridge head to four divisions if the Supreme headquarters had satisfied Monty’s

Demand for 10 divisions only onethird Army would have remained under my command as a result Patton and I would probably have spent the remainder of the war in defense on the West Bank of the Rind fortunately Eisenhower did not fall from Montgomery’s bait he told him that

If these 10 divisions of the first Army would be moved to the northern Direction the headquarters of the 12th Army group would follow with them and take command of the first and Ninth American armies as soon as Montgomery learned under what conditions Eisenhower agrees to give him

10 divisions he preferred to stay with what he had and retain Monopoly command of the operation for the 21st Army group as a result we won the fight that lasted 6 months and Eisenhower was able to resolve the fiercest dispute of the entire War over the Tactical plan of

Action of the Allies from the Supreme headquarters of the Allied expeditionary Force came the order for the first and third armies to encircle the ru from the south over Bull’s objections remarin was to serve as a springboard for the first Army’s leap to the elb by 12 March the

Third Army had reached the mzelle all the way from its Confluence with the rine at Kens to the triangle at Tria where walk 20th core had established a bridge head on the flank of SE Freed’s line 18 days had passed since that rainy February morning when Simpsons and Hodes

Armies crossed the ruer in that time we have destroyed the enemy north of the Melle and west of the r the first and third armies captured 51,000 people and Montgomery’s troops in the north another 53,000 our rapid rush to the Rind took the Enemy by surprise morale of German

Soldiers was under undermined the German units surrounded without resistance surrendered to capture Hitler hoped that the defense of the Homeland will cause a morale boost and strengthen the Army and the people’s will to resist but the Consciousness that the war was lost acted depressingly on the German soldiers only the Fanatics continued to

Cling to any illusion but their ranks were rapidly thawing the process of disintegration proceeded with such rapidity that even the German commanders lost contact with their crumbling front one day a German corpse Commander drove up to a large group of apathetic soldiers and asked why they were not

Fighting the Allies only after an American military police soldier put his hand on his shoulder and invited him to join the crowd of soldiers did the German general realize that he was in a prisoner of war camp seson concentrated nine divisions for a swift invasion of the Saarland five divisions stretched

Along the Moselle River Valley from Lux Borg to the rine the remaining four crowded into the hilly Terrain in a triangle southeast of Tria not 24 hours after reaching their initial positions on the Melle the third Army stormed into the SE let devors get out of the way

Patton declared to me otherwise we will sweep him away with the hands sometime before this having met Patton in luxemborg I had asked him if the third Army was going to carry Crossing equipment with it during the rhin land Pals offensive indeed why not he replied

But I’ve already had most of it Stripped Away I haven’t forgotten the tenacity with which George clung to his pontoons during the ardenas when the question of changing the boundaries between the armies came up perhaps you ought to keep your Crossing gear on hand I said I want

You to cross the rine on the Move we must not stop to prevent the enemy from Gaining a foothold pulling up forces and giving us hell when we start to cross Simpson has already complained to me about Monty’s order to Halt on the West Bank of the rine when the ninth Army had

A full opportunity to force the river and overcome weak enemy resistance since then Monty’s spectacular preparations to force the Rind had attracted the attention of the enemy who had concentrated large forces in this area I foresaw that when advancing in the SAR Patton might encounter difficulties in

The hru mountains beyond the Moselle but this time I underestimated the swiftness and crushing impetus of the third Army’s bold offensive Hugh gaff’s fourth Armored Division was again in the Vanguard of the advancing Force before the enemy came to his senses the American tanks had already crossed the

Forested hok mountain range in two days hughy’s tank columns Advanced South to the nahi river near bad kresnik here Patton stopped them and brought in reinforcements in neyar my head quarters waited anxiously for Patton to push his column from Bad kresnik further east to the Rain from which it was only 40

Kilometers away why the hell did the old man stop complained one of the staff officers however I relied on George’s Keen sense of the situation Patton knows what he’s doing I replied wait a little while and you will see that I am right not a day later when

The enemy counter attacked us on the site at the fourth fed division but Patton who had time to pull up reinforcements and gain a foothold threw back the Germans and as if nothing had happened continued to advance it should be said that the intelligence before this nothing reported on the preparation

Of the Germans Counterattack but Patton fora it with that characteristic for him intuition which helped him to become a great Commander equally spectacular was Walker’s offensive from the Tria area he swept South past the concrete case of the SE fried line cutting them off from the rear before the operation began

Patent had given the 20th course two more divisions it was now the largest corpse of the third Army in the entire War 6 days later both groups of the third Army operating from the kabins and Tri Area joined south of the Nai River fleeing from American tanks overhanging

His flanks and breaking through to the rear the enemy abandoned the SE fried line and deas quietly LED his troops through it the rine in its middle course halfway between its Delta in the North Sea and its source in the Alps makes a sharp turn at mans and then enters a

Rocky Gorge and carries its Swift Waters along it to Bon between Manheim and Mains the banks of the river are gentle flowing Among The Meadows and plains of hessie providing an easy route to the industrial district of Frankfurt which was badly damaged by bombing along these Plains pattern directed his lead tank

Columns is on the morning of 23 March when I went down to breakfast the wide Windows of our dining room in the shatter dama were flooded with sunlight below the sambra was leisurely rolling its Waters into the broad seemingly lifeless Mayers to the north a formation of bombers leaving white ribbons of

Smoke in the air behind them was heading for the ruhar I had just finished my second cup of coffee when I got a call from Paton at his command post Brad don’t tell anyone but I’ve moved ni I’ll be damned if I did over the rine of

Course he replied last night I moved a division to the East Bank unnoticed but there are so few ganss here that it has not yet reached their Consciousness so don’t tell anyone we’ll keep it quiet for now and see what happens this message was confirmed at the morning meeting Patton’s young liaison officer

At 12th Army group headquarters Lieutenant Colonel Richard Steelman a native of Paris Kentucky solemnly handed me George’s written report steelman’s face Shone with delight it expressed The Pride felt by the third Army which quietly crossed the rine under cover of Darkness while in Montgomery defiantly accumulated forces preparing to force

The Rind in the north the report relayed by Steelman contained a number of ironic Illusions to Montgomery’s careful preparations without the aid of bomber aircraft smoke screens artillery preparation and airborne troops the third Army forced the Rin River at 2200 hours on Thursday 13 March the fifth infantry division crossed on rafts and

Assault Landing boats to the East Bank near the small village of oppenheim it was the first time in history that a modern Army had crossed such a significant body of water as the rine losing only 34 men killed and wounded in the process in the evening and called me

On the phone again rad he shouted into the receiver and his excited voice trembled now for God’s sake tell the world that we have forced the Rind today we shot down 33 airlanes trying to destroy our pontoon bridges let the whole world know that the third Army fored the r before Monty did