European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 6, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse A . Army observer on the Rhine a East Side looks Down on the Remagen Bridge in this photo taken by the . Army signal corps a week alter the 194s crossing. March 7,1945miracle at Remage by Don Tate staff writer now in Early March there was finally the River the fabled Rhine that stood Between the thrusting Allied sword and the heart of Hitler s Germany. Moving a great Force across the Rhine predicted supreme Allied commander Dwight d. Eisenhower where a such Crossings Are possible will be a tactical and engineering problem of the greatest such was the expert View 45 years ago this month As the allies began their final advances in world War ii. It was the time of 1,000-bomber raids on Berlin of burning cities and liberated concentration Camps of Adolf hitlers death rattling decree that the Battle should henceforth be waged without any consideration for the population of Germany. For the allies however there was first the dangerous business at the Rhine. This longest River in Western Europe was Germany a Moat against invasion from the West a River that could turn overnight from sweetly Placid to Swift and ugly Rushing Down from Mountain snows and Rains. It was eminently defendable analysts noted a natural Barrier which a if heavily armed a was Superior to any artificial Siegfried line especially in the winding stretches North of Bingen where dominating Bluffs aimed Down the throats of invaders daring to Cross it. Utilized properly defenders could make attackers pay the Price of a series of bloody Little Omaha beaches. Brooding Hilltop castles All along this stretch of River built in other Days for other warlords attested to the enduring logic of fighting from the High ground. Eisenhower and his commanders of course expected the germans to destroy All the Bridges it seemed the one elementary Given in a very iffy scenario. But it would t quite happen that Way. As always there was the Hitler Factor. The great starter of War was proving a blundering finisher. Buoyed by his Early successes Surprise attacks against flabby opposition the self diagnosed Genius of strategy had gone on to waste his armies in one epic bad decision after another either reinforcing too late or attacking recklessly in doomed adventures. After the Allied landings in Normandy wrote military historian Charles Macdonald in the lest offensive hitlers commanders urged him to let them withdraw behind the Rhine and make a stand there with the German army still Strong and inflamed with the will to crush invaders of the sacred soil of the fatherland. The Fuhrer hear of it exhorting them to cease their cowardly talk and to attack attack attack on the West Side of the Rhine. When the attacks failed he repeatedly ordered them to a hold at All costs Quot on what most of his professional soldiers were convinced was the wrong Side of the River. With his penchant for playing Napoleon it appeared to some observers that the finest secret weapon in the Allied Arsenal was the errant brainstorming of Adolf Hitler himself. Thus by the time Allied forces reached what should have been the formidable Rhine Hitler had gambled away most of its advantages his once thunderous military machine was a hollow rattling ruin ill prepared to defend much of anything. The Honor of the main Allied thrust across the River according to Eisenhower a timetable and due to British Field marshal Bernard Montgomery s fervent urging continued on Page 14 tuesday March 6, 1990the stars and stripes a a a Page 13 t
