Battle of Remagen 1945
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 7 March 1945 – 25 March 1945 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1945 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Germany | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Western Allied invasion of Germany | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 50.5792, 7.2442 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
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 the Western Allies' planned crossing of the Rhine into the German interior by three weeks.
After capturing the Siegfried Line, the 9th Armored Division of the U.S. First Army had advanced unexpectedly quickly towards the Rhine. They were very surprised to see one of the last bridges across the Rhine still standing. The Germans had wired the bridge with about 2,800 kilograms (6,200 lb) of demolition charges. When they tried to blow it up, only a portion of the explosives detonated. American forces captured the bridge and rapidly expanded their first bridgehead across the Rhine, two weeks before Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's meticulously planned Operation Plunder. The U.S. Army's actions prevented the Germans from regrouping east of the Rhine and consolidating their positions.
The battle for control of the Ludendorff Bridge saw both the American and German forces employ new weapons and tactics in combat for the first time.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Remagen (revision 1373938625), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Western Allied invasion of Germany
Browse more: battles in Germany · Europe · World War II era battles