European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 24, 1950, Darmstadt, Hesse                                March 1950 the stars and stripes Page 5 operation plunder begins As forces Bridge Rhine by Howard Katzander stars and stripes staff writer Spring arrived in Germany an schedule in West of tie Rhine a Bright Sun shone on the ruins of unmatched since the Days of warmed the Little crowd which gathered to watch a strange vehicle Nego the twisting approach to a temporary Bridge on a Hilltop in the vehicle was specially built to carry a an lev 45 feet Long and 14 feet fore and Ike crosses Rhine makes history first by Jules Grad stars and stripes staff writer Allied Forward com Mand March Eisenhower today became the first Allied supreme com Mander in history to Cross the Rhine River into Germany d urine a on Surprise flight to see he Ruhr bound Eisenhower visited the Iii and Vii corps with it Gen Omar Itab army up and Courtney commander of the 1st signalling the Driver of the prime were men in Navy dungarees and army one of a boy from the hummed the tune of Maivold spiritual jus one More River to the Wae the last Barrier Between the Allied armies and the German Arsenal in the last line of before the rolling westphalian Plains Lead ing to the Gates of ready to Cross that Barrier and breach that line was the biggest Allied army Ever assembled on one front in in his report to the combined chiefs of Gen Dwight supreme Allied expeditionary tells How reinforcements of americans and French had brought the total Force to men for the and As Allied strength had enemy strength had unenviable position the enemy now found himself in an unenviable Eisen Hower he As we had and attempted to elected to stand and fight West of the and the results had been disastrous to beaten in the open Fielland behind his own he now in no condition to hold fast in the defensive line to which he had been compelled to mis Powers of resistance had been reduced by increasing Short Ages of ammunition and Oil which resulted from our attacks against his War his losses in Battle bad been and these inevitably caused a deterioration in the morale of All but armoured units put up Strong resistance elite the is and the armoured divisions were for the most part made up of fanatical nazis whose Faith in the cause they served could be shaken by Little less than annihilation yet the time was soon to come when even their com realizing the fruitless Ness of further would surrender their units rather than see their men slaughtered to no the front that these troops were required to defend ranged for Well Over 400 already troops of the 1st army were across the Rhine at while those of the 3d army had a considerable Bridgehead at Between Wiesbaden and the presence of these two forces within the enemy defensive area considerably limited his Freedom of the plan of operation As the Rhine assault was involved the use of three under command of Field marshal Bernard the British 2d army on the left and the 9th army on the right were to attack Over the Rhine in the North Between Reinberg and a Soldier top stand guard Over thousands of germans Cap tired in the Ruhr the pm enclosure was set up near Rema Nail troops gave of fight to assist the British in their and the 17th an div and the British eth an div were to be dropped North and Northwest of after the ground assault was it being the Hope thereby to increase the element of the Canadian on the British left was to follow the Brit ish at Rees after establishment of the Bridgehead there and secure to for construction of another Bridge the air Force previously had been Given the task of cutting communications from to accomplish an air plan similar to that used for the invasion of the continent was drawn up on a rough running from Bremen to the Rivine Ait there were 18 vital Railroad Bridges and Hie destruction of would Cut every principal rail connection Ruhr to the remainder of the 40 major blows Between 21 and March 40 major blows were struck Art these in the course of which the Raf for the first time used its monster bombs with devastating air operations reached their Peak Between March 21 and March during which american and British based in Western Europe and flew More Schaa sorties against including one attack by 150 bombers and five groups of which flew Miles from their bases in Italy to attack Berlin and return to their Fields the crossing of the Rhine was treated As an amphibious operation in the fullest involving naval bombs dropped on German cities by Raf As Well As military since the army engineers were unable to Cope with the tasks that were in Eisenhower Calls the Cross ing the largest and most difficult amphibious operation since landings on the coast Oje the Width of the the nature of its currents and the ability of the enemy to demolish dams thus creating artificial were some of the problems on Page 8f 1 Allied airborne Landing on Rhine successful by Andy Rodney stars and stripes staff writer March Ait borne landings on the East Bank of the Rhine by the 6th British and 17th an divisions is a Complete Brig Gen Floyd 1st Allied an of said the immediate objective of securing the High ground across the River from 2lst army up troops Between Wesel and Recs has b e c n with this High ground Ini Allied the River May lie bridged with out being Emder observed enemy the 17th div loaded on the continent and the 6th div came from the British Parks