Saturday 7 March 2020

operation lumberjack

On this day in 1945, during the Battle of Remagen, Allied forces unexpectedly captured the Ludendorff Bridge, by the United States Twelfth Army Group under the leadership of General Omar Bradley, that spanned the Rhein and enabled them to establish a bridgehead on the eastern shore—essential to the success of Field Marshal Montgomery’s Operation Plunder that hinged on the smoothly timed advancement of several flanks to carry out a decisive invasion of Nazi Germany and hastening its surrender. Under constant assault and bombardment by Nazi forces until its ultimate collapse ten days later, the crossing remained intact long enough to allow forces to gain a foothold in the strategically important territory, taking the Mosel, Eifel and Kรถln and preventing German units there from re-grouping and launching a counter-attack.