ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Operation VARSITY, 21 Army Group’s crossing of the Rhine, rivalled Operation OVERLORD in size. Yet while the opening of the Allied campaign in the summer of 1944 is widely written about, there are few books covering the events around Wesel nine months later; the battle that marked the beginning of the end of the war in Europe. This book covers the American part of the Operation, codenamed FLASHPOINT, Ninth US Army’s crossing of the river south of Wesel during the early hours of 24 March 1945 and the subsequent desperate battle with 116th Panzer Division in the Wesel Forest. The American part of XVIII Airborne Corps’ operation is also covered. The British and Canadian part of the operation, including the crossings at Xanten and Rees, the Commando raid on Wesel and the British landings around Hamminkeln are covered in a companion volume by Tim Saunders.
Airborne troops, the revered elite of the Allied forces, are widely written about and feature in many modern films but the daylight landings between Wesel and Hamminkeln, where British and American paratroopers and gliders landed on top of the German anti-aircraft gun positions, are rarely covered. So while the 101st Screaming Eagles and the 82nd All American Airborne Divisions are the favourites of many historians, the exploits of the 17th Airborne Division, nicknamed Thunder from Heaven, are largely forgotten. Hopefully, this book will redress the balance and visitors to the battlefields of Europe will take a little time to understand why the crossing of the Rhine should be remembered.
Somewhere in England – C47 Skytrains each with a Waco glider tethered alongside.
Ready to go.
Several people helped me to collect information for this book, and my research would have been incomplete without their assistance. All the staff at the US National Archives in Washington DC, made me feel particularly welcome and did what they could to make sure that my visit to the USA was both productive and enjoyable, however, a number of people deserve a special mention. David Giodarno, gave me a invaluable tour through the printed documents and continued to keep an eye on my progress as work developed; his assistance was invaluable. Beth Lipford’s guided me through the archives indexing system and made sure that I received the documents I wanted, while Holly Reed made available the photographs I required in the stills department. Tom McAnear also worked hard to find and copy the maps I wanted in the cartography room. They all made sure I had the documents I needed before my departure date; customer service is certainly uppermost in the minds of the staff at the NARA.
Back in the UK I would like to thank Roni Wilkinson at Pen and Sword for initially suggesting the idea and drawing together my words and illustrations to produce the book you hold in your hands. Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to my teenage son Alex who is rapidly becoming as interested in discovering the battlefields as I am; let us hope that his generation witness another sixty years and more of peace across Europe.
Chapter 1
Allied troops returned to the continent, dropping from planes and gliders or hitting the coast in landing craft on 6 June 1944, in one of the largest operations of the Second World War, Operation OVERLORD. Little did anyone know that a similar sized operation, again involving landing craft and airborne troops, would herald the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany nine months later as Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s 21 Army Group crossed the Rhine between Arnhem and Düsseldorf.
Following the collapse of the German Armies during the Battle of the Falaise Gap in August 1944 and the subsequent advance across France and Belgium, it looked as though the war could be over in a matter of weeks. As the Allies raced towards the German border, the main problem facing their Supreme Commander, General Dwight D Eisenhower, was keeping his Armies supplied. Huge stocks of ammunition, fuel and food were mounting along the Normandy coast but both 21 Army Group’s commander, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and 12 Army Group’s commanding officer, General Omar Bradley were in danger of outstripping their supply lines.
Hitler had issued orders to the garrisons holding the ports along the northern coast of France to hold out as long as possible to give the engineers time to destroy the harbour facilities needed by the Allies. Throughout July and August 21 Army Group failed to take a major port before explosives had ravaged it, leaving the Allies reliant on the Red Ball Express, endless columns of lorries carrying supplies across France. But the overland route was reaching the limit of its range. As winter approached, the Allies’ problems would mount as bad weather and high seas threatened to close the temporary harbours along the Normandy coast. Hopes for a deepwater port facility were raised at the beginning of September when Antwerp fell into Montgomery’s hands. However, German troops still held the forty-mile long Scheldt Estuary linking the city with the sea.
Eisenhower was forced to prioritise his plans to accommodate the supply situation in the face of rivalry between his two Army Group commanders. On the Allies’ northern flank, 21 Army Group had charged across Belgium to the Dutch border and Field Marshal Montgomery was confident that Fifteenth Army Group was on the verge of collapse. Meanwhile, General Omar Bradley was anxious to exploit the successes on his own front in the Rhineland. First US Army was heading towards Bonn and General Courtney Hodges hoped to force a way across the Rhine and seize the Saar coalfields beyond. Meanwhile, General George Patton’s Third US Army had advanced to the south of Luxembourg and was rapidly closing in on the river near the city of Koblenz.
All three commanders wanted to spearhead the way into Germany but the limitations of the supply lines meant that Eisenhower could only sanction one offensive and after careful consideration he adopted Montgomery’s plan for a single narrow thrust across Holland. First Airborne Army would lead the attack, dropping three airborne divisions between Eindhoven and Arnhem, to capture the bridges across canals and rivers on the road to the Neder Rein (the Dutch name for the Rhine). An armoured column would advance through the corridor of airborne troops and cross the Rhine at Arnhem, opening the way into northern Germany. The plan was bold and surprise was the key to the operation’s success.
On the afternoon of 17 September planes and gliders filled the skies over Holland heralding the start of Operation MARKET GARDEN and within hours many of the bridges were in Allied hands. After the initial surprise, German troops in the area reacted far quicker, and with far greater numbers, than intelligence sources had suggested and by the end of the first day the operation had begun to falter. The 101st (Screaming Eagles) and 82nd (All American) Airborne Divisions faced fierce counter-attacks as they fought to keep the road, which soon became known as Hell’s Highway, between Eindhoven and Nijmegen. The anticipated rapid advance towards the Neder Rein never materialised leaving the 1st Airborne Division outnumbered, outgunned and isolated on the north bank of the river around Arnhem. After attempts to relieve the beleaguered British paratroopers failed, the survivors withdrew across the river, leaving 21 Army Group holding a narrow salient. The attempt to cross the Rhine by surprise had failed; the next time Montgomery planned an operation to cross the river he was going to be prepared.
General Dwight Eisenhower, discusses 21 Army Group’s future plans with Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
Hopes for a rapid drive into northern Germany had been crushed and Eisenhower faced a long winter as the supply situation deteriorated. Over the next three months British and Canadian troops fought to clear the Schelde estuary to open Antwerp while the Americans fought fierce battles for ‘Bloody’ Aachen and the Hürtgen Forest, putting pressure on the slender Allied supply lines.
As the German Armies consolidated their positions along their border, Eisenhower’s generals proposed new plans for the advance into Germany. While Montgomery wished to continue where Operation MARKET GARDEN had ended, Bradley’s plan for a pincer movement through the Rhineland was chosen, leaving Montgomery in a subsidiary role while the First and Third US Armies advanced towards the Rhine.
The dual offensive left the rest of General Bradley’s line on the defensive, stretched thinly in some sectors such as the Ardennes, an area of wooded hills in southern Belgium. Although General Bradley’s headquarters thought it was highly unlikely that the Germans would counter-attack, on 16 December three Armies struck the American lines with large armoured formations in Hitler’s last gamble to turn the tide of the war.
After overrunning large parts of the American line, the panzers advanced rapidly through the Belgian forests, while the poor weather stifled the United States Air Force. As the Germans pushed deep into the Ardennes, the GIs began to fight back and heroic stands at places such as St Vith and Bastogne helped to slow the panzers as reinforcements moved forward to stem the breakthrough. After a week of panic the skies cleared and Allied air superiority helped the soldiers on the ground turn the tide, bringing Sixth Panzerarmee to halt short of their first main objective, the River Meuse. By the end of December the crisis had passed and while Bradley’s men fought to reduce the huge bulge in their line, plans were underway for a return to the offensive.
The start of 1945 brought new challenges as the First and Third American Armies drew close to the Siegfried Line but once again there were differences of opinion on how to enter Germany. Eisenhower wanted to try to trap thousands of German troops behind the Siegfried Line and decided to renew a pincer attack with Montgomery taking the leading role. While 21 Army Group advanced south between the Maas and Rhine rivers, General Hodges’ First US Army would push north towards Bonn.
The Allied offensive began at the beginning of February but hopes for a rapid breakthrough were quickly dashed by poor weather and First US Army’s offensive moved forward at a snail’s pace. The advance came to an abrupt standstill in front of the Röer when German engineers sabotaged reservoirs along the river, turning it into a raging torrent.
As the Allies slowly cleared the west bank of the Rhine, Eisenhower could not avoid the economic problems facing Germany as he considered his options for crossing the river. By March 1945 the Ruhr on Germany’s north-west border was the powerhouse for Hitler’s armaments industry. Before the war the area had produced over half of Germany’s coal and steel but once the Russians had seized Silesia in the east and the Seventh US Army had captured the Saar on the French border, it was Hitler’s only source of raw materials. Eisenhower’s new plan was for 21 Army Group to lead the final assault into Germany, crossing the Rhine north-west of the Ruhr near the town of Wesel; the attack would be the beginning of a drive deep into northern Germany.
GIs hug the ground for cover during Ninth Army’s advance to the Rhine. 111-SC-335574
The main highway bridge across the Rhine on Ninth Army’s front lies in ruins on the outskirts of Wesel. 111-SC-323577
While 21 Army Group planned for the final thrust into Germany, a dress rehearsal was taking place on Ninth US Army’s front. On 28 February landing craft crowded with men, closely followed by amphibious tanks, crossed the Röer River and marked the start of Operation GRENADE. As Allied troops began to advance east towards the Rhine Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt wanted to withdraw behind the river and regroup but Hitler was adamant that no one would retreat; every inch of Germany had to be fought for. The Führer’s order bore no relation to the true situation and as resistance collapsed, large parts of von Rundstedt’s Armies fell back across the river ahead of the Allies. In the panic that followed thousands of soldiers were cut off on the west bank as they clung onto their positions.
Hopes for a crossing over the Rhine were dashed each time the Allies drew close to the river as German engineers successfully destroyed dozens of bridges in the face of the advancing troops. All along the Rhine magnificent structures, some hundreds of years old, toppled into the swirling waters as carefully prepared explosives detonated when the last German soldier had crossed.