The American capture of the Bridge at Remagen

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In today’s blog we are going to discuss the battle for the Remagen Bridge

This bridge has quite a remarkable story. Both the Allies and the Germans tried to destroy it and despite taking heavy damage from both sides, the bridge would remain standing. Tragically as we will discuss later, coming down on its own on the 25th of March 1945.

The Remagen Bridge is called the Ludendorff Bridge named after the German General Erich Ludendorff. Built in 1916, to supply German troops on the Western Front during the First World War. The bridge was built during war time and to protect it against capture, the bridge engineers pre-drilled holes at strategic points, so if the bridge was to fall into enemy hands it could be easily destroyed. Following the end of the First World War the Rhineland was demilitarised and the French took control of the area and filling these pre-drilled holes in with concrete.

In 1936, Hitler retook the Rhineland and control of the Ludendorff bridge, marching German soldiers into the demilitarised zone, a flamboyant violation of the Versailles Treaty but neither the French or the British had any desire to try and stop Hitler out of fear it could start another war.

German troops reoccupy the Rheinland.

In perhaps a sign of things to come, in 1938, the bridge had 60 zinc lined boxes attached to strategic points, each box capable of containing 3kg of explosives, the system was designed to detonate all at once. It was expected, by pre-preparing the bridge for demolition, it would require minimal preparation should the bridge need to be destroyed.

Several bridges were prepared in such a way and on October 14th, 1944, the Mulheim Bridge in Cologne was destroyed after an American bomb hit one of these pre-prepared explosive box’s setting of a chain reaction destroying the bridge. Enraged by this mishap, Hitler ordered the engineers responsible for the bridges wiring to be court-martialled and all pre-prepared explosives on other German bridges be disarmed and the explosives stored nearby.

New orders meant bridges were only to be re-wired when the enemy were within a certain distance (8km) and only to be destroyed by written order. The new orders created a lot of confusion and fear amongst German engineers who were afraid of being court-martialled. This is important in explaining why the Ludendorff bridge was still intact when the American 9th Armoured Division arrived at Remagen.

By March of 1945, the German Armies in the west were in complete disarray. The failed push through the Ardennes in the Battle of the Bulge, cost the Germans greatly in manpower and equipment but showed they were not yet ready to surrender and remained a formidable and dangerous enemy. Hitler irrationally refused any retreat and for the German Armies to recapture lost territories west of the Rhine. This left German units scattered in an often-untenable position to stop the allied advance. Those who could, fell back across the Rhine River, this natural obstacle had acted as a traditional defence against enemy invasion from the west as far back as the Roman invasions 2,000 years prior.

Operation Lumberjack

Operation Lumberjack was the US operation to capture the key cities of Cologne and Koblenz. Once they had reached the Rhine though, US forces where to hold their positions while British Field Marshal Bernhard Montgomery launched Operation Plunder, a meticulously planned operation to cross the Rhine in the North.

As luck would have it though, it would be the US that would cross the Rhine first.

The 9th Armoured Division of the US First Army was tasked with scouting the town of Remagen. Nicknamed the “Phantom” division as the unit had been repeatedly reported by the Germans to have been destroyed encountered weak and sporadic resistance.

On the morning of March 7, Lt. Col. Leonard Engeman was stunned to look through his binoculars and see the Ludendorff bridge still intact with German troops of the 15th Army still retreating across. Lt. Karl Timmermann, who had been born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1921 was tasked with leading an advance force, which included some of the new M26 Pershing tanks, into the town to capture the bridge.

Lt. Timmerman

German resistance on the towns outskirts was fierce and made Timmermans progress slow. Eventually reaching the foot of the bridge around 3:15pm in the afternoon. As US forces began to make their way across, German engineers detonated the bridge explosives. The bridge shook tremendously and plumes of smoke lifted in the air, but the bridge remained intact.

Sgt. Dabrik

Multiple explanations have been given as to why the bridge was not destroyed. We know not all of the explosive detonated and whether or not this was because of poor explosives, the bridge having been wired, un-wired and re-wired or perhaps good old-fashioned luck, we will never know.

The explosions though did render the bridge impassable to tanks and Timmerman along with his infantry sprinted across the bridge cutting wires wherever they saw them to prevent any further detonation attempts. Sergeant Alexander A. Drabik was the first American and first foreign soldier since Napoleons Armies to cross the Rhine. Once across the US established a bridgehead and engineers got to working repairing the damage to allow the tanks to cross.

The situation for the Germans was chaotic at best. Last minute changes in command and the capture of the General Rothkirch the commander of defences at Remagen had accidentally wandered into US lines the night before.

The bridge commander Captain Bratge, commanded a group of 1,000 poorly trained and ill-equipped soldiers. The bulk of the force was made up of 500 Volksturm, the rest were 180 Hitler Youth, 125 engineers, 200 Luftwaffe ground crew together with other patched together infantry units.

Maj. Scheller

Command of the bridge was given to Maj. Scheller who arrived at 11:20am, a few hours before the Americans. As US forces approached the bridge, Batge wanted to blow the bridge but needed written approval from Scheller who was at ground level trying to co-ordinate a cohesive defence. Even trying to convince mixed units still crossing in retreat to stay and defend the bridge but most sped away.

Scheller realised the situation was hopeless and began preparation for detonation but a young Lt. Karl Peters begged for more time to allow his anti-aircraft crews which were equipped with the new and top secret Henschel Hs 297 rocket launchers to cross, so as not to allow these weapons to fall into the hands of the US.

Once across, Captain Karl Friesenhahn the chief engineer responsible for the detonation requested written permission from Batge but he could not provide the order as he had not yet received the written order from Scheller. This fastidious attention to detail bought the Americans crucial time who by the time the written order had been received were already on the bridge.

Inside the Remagen tunnel

Once the US were across the bulk of the German force took refuge in the tunnel along with hundreds of civilians from the town. US troops threw in grenades and fired into the tunnel accidentally killing and wounding civilians. Pressure from the towns people to surrender ultimately lead Batge to surrender.

Scheller, escaped through the rear of the tunnel and travelled by bike to the German command centre informing them the bridge had fallen intact. Hitler was outraged and put together kangaroo courts to court-martial those thought to be responsible. Maj. Scheller was sentenced to death and executed for failing to destroy the bridge, although he had only arrived on the scene 2 hours before the US forces. Lt Karl Peter’s was also executed, although he was nothing more than a passer-by trying to get his experimental anti-aircraft guns across the bridge. It was claimed his delay in crossing hindered the bridges detonation. Capt Batge was sentenced to death in absentia, as he had surrendered to the Americans.

The executions sent shock waves through the Wehrmacht and even saw German soldiers blow up bridges unnecessarily even destroying bridges important to the Germans own war effort as they were fearful of execution if the bridges were to fall into enemy hands.

US anti-aircraft defences at Remagen

In the ten days following the capture of the Ludendorff bridge, Hitler ordered it to be destroyed and the German military threw everything they had at it. Counter attacks to retake the bridge failed miserably. US intelligence intercepted German communications which seemed to signify a large troop build-up but these forces where only sizeable on paper. The severely weakened German forces only managed to put together mixed units. These units suffered unnecessary casualties and result in over 11,000 German troops being captured.

The German Luftwaffe led multiple air-raids to destroy the bridge including the use of the Messerschmitt 262A, the first jet powered aircraft to no avail. Desperate to destroy the bridge, Hitler approved the use of the V2 rockets which landed as close as 200 meters. The US mounted their largest anti-aircraft defense of the entire war to protect the bridge with 5 anti-aircraft battalions.

The Karl-Gerät 60 cm mortar was fired on the bridge on March 20 without any effect. Even attempts to float barges filled with explosives down the river failed.

Collapsed Ludendorff Bridge

The bridge would ultimately collapse on the 17th of March, 1945, as the result of metal fatigue from the strain of the allied advance and relentless bombing, weakened the bridge. The collapse resulted in the deaths of 33 US engineers and injured 63 soldiers who were on the bridge at the time.

By this time though the bridge had served its purpose. By the time the bridge collapsed US engineers had built two heavy adjoining steel bridges and were able to advance 25,000 troops across the Rhine and capture over 19,000 German soldiers before the breakout on March 25th.

The resulting capture of the Ludendorff bridge has led both US and German military authorities to agree the capture of the bridge shortened the war. The Ludendorff bridge was not rebuilt after the Second World War and all that remains of the site today are the twin towers on either side. On the western bank is a museum detailing the battle for the bridge with a strong emphasis on peace.

Ludendorff Bridge today

Let me know your thoughts about the battle for the Remagen Bridge, do you think its capture shortened the war?

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