The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (170 page)

“
the enemy is completely disorganized
”: Ninth Army war diary, March 4, March 5 (“
unwise
”), and March 27, 1945 (“
time out for tea
”), William H. Simpson papers, MHI, box 11; OH, William H. Simpson, 1971, Thomas R. Stone, SOOHP, MHI (“
Don’t go across
” and “
selfish idea
”);
LO
, 178; Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
, 677 (“
industrial wilderness
”).

GRENADE
was over
:
LO
, 184;
VW
, vol. 2, 277.

Despite the staggering losses
:
LO
, 171 (“
heavy heart
”).

C
HAPTER
11: C
ROSSINGS

The Inner Door to Germany

Into the Rhineland they pounded
: William A. Carter, “Carter’s War,” 1983, CEOH, box V, XIII-25; Thompson,
Men Under Fire
, 54 (“
other sort of war
”).

German refugees trudged away
: corr, Thor Smith to family, March 13, 1945, Thor M. Smith papers, HIA, box 1; Ed Cunningham, “The Battle of the Bulge,”
Yank
, March 2, 1945, in
Reporting World War II
, vol. 2, 585; war diary, Lasky, “Military History Stood on Its Head,”
Berlin Journal
14 (spring 2007), American Academy of Berlin, 20
+
(“wir folgen”); Botting,
From the Ruins of the Reich
, 3 (“Krieg weg!”); Gander,
After These Many Quests
, 313–14 (“
In Memoriam
”
notices
); Heinz,
When We Were One
, 156 (“
They stood facing
”), 261 (
tossed bread
); Simpson,
Audie Murphy, American Soldier
, 212 (“
fodderland
”).

As two dozen British, Canadian, and American divisions
: Fraser,
And We Shall Shock Them
, 390; “Report of Rhine River Crossings,” May 1945, FUSA, Office of the Engineer, NARA RG 407, Miscl AG records, ML #887, box 19135 (
three corps abreast
); Sylvan, 319 (“
impossible not to be elated
”);
LO
, 114–15, 240, 252; White,
Conquerors’ Road
, 33 (“
bullshit wagon
”); 4th AD combat interviews, March–Apr. 1945, NARA RG 407, Miscl AG records, ML #857, box 19133 (
tank and howitzer shells
); corr, A. C. Gillem to wife, Feb. 25, 1945, Alvan Cullom Gillem, Jr., papers, MHI, box 7 (“
On the road yesterday
”); Friedrich,
The Fire
, 122–24; William A. Carter, “Carter’s War,” 1983, CEOH, box V, XIII-6 (“
most totally destroyed city
”); Henry L. Barr, “Infantry Living Conditions in Combat Area,” n.d., Columbus WWII Round Table Collection, MHI, box 1 (
Doors torn from their hinges
).

“
Everything smelled
”: Carpenter,
No Woman’s World
, 257; White,
Conqueror’s Road
, 42–43 (“
rat hunt
”); Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 235 (“
lovely play of light
”); corr, P. B. Rogers to family, March 7, 1945, Pleas B. Rogers papers, MHI (“
certainly scorched
”).

“
The cattle, so numerous
”: Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 230–31.

“
Every house seemed to have
”: Thompson,
Men Under Fire
, 35.

“
vast stocks of sugar
”: Martha Gellhorn, “
Das Deutsches Volk
,”
Collier’s
, May 26, 1945, in
Reporting World War II
, vol. 2, 675.

Here was a world of Dresden plates
: White,
Conquerors’ Road
, 20–21; Nickell,
Red Devil
, 154 (
boiled eggs
); Bourke-White,
Portrait of Myself
, 262–63 (
motherhood medals
); Thompson,
Men Under Fire
, 145 (
Christian texts
); Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 356–57 (
Dutch or Belgian
); Martha Gellhorn, “
Das Deutsches Volk
,”
Collier’s
, May 26, 1945, in
Reporting World War II
, vol. 2, 671 (“
No one is a Nazi
”).

Here too was a world to be looted
: Robert E. Walker, “With the Stonewallers,” n.d., MMD, 111 (“
We’re advancing
”); memo, ONB to GSP, “Misbehavior of Allied Troops,” May 7, 1945, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 13 (“
processed
”); memo, FUSA IG, Apr. 23, 1945, NARA RG 338, First Army AG gen’l corr, box 220 (
Leica cameras
); Wellard,
The Man in a Helmet
, 224–25; Marshall,
A Ramble Through My War
, 226 (
medieval grave
); memo, W. B. Smith to ONB, March 20, 1945, NARA RG 331, E 1, SGS, box 11 (
floorboards
); Schrijvers,
The Crash of Ruin
, 205 (
mine detectors
); Heinz,
When We Were One
, 233 (
women’s dresses
); Kessler,
The Battle of the Ruhr Pocket
, 45 (“
Lootwaffe
”); Christen T. Jonassen, “Living Conditions in the E.T.O.,” 1987, Columbus WWII Round Table collection, MHI, box 1, 2 (“
two shooting
”); Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 253 (“
German cars by the hundred
”); Adams, “Operations of an American Military Government Detachment in the Saar, 1944–45,”
Military Affairs
(autumn 1955): 121
+
(
motorcycles, typewriters
); Gander,
After These Many Quests
, 312 (“
unhindered shoplifting
”).

“
drunken, end-of-the-world carnival
”: Schrijvers,
The Crash of Ruin
, 171.

“
First I took a hammer
”: Linderman,
The World Within War
, 244.

“
I did not feel sorry
”: Thompson,
The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe
, 260.

Allied commanders also found themselves
:
LO
, 330 (“Bitte, schlafen mit”); Thompson,
The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe
, 261 (“
ogling
”); Willoughby, “The Sexual Behavior of American GIs During the Early Years of the Occupation of Germany,”
JMH
(Jan. 1998): 155
+
(“
$65 question
”); Kennett,
G.I.: The American Soldier in World War II
, 213 (“
Don’t play Samson
”); Stafford,
Endgame 1945
, 128–29 (“
To frat
”); Schrijvers,
The Crash of Ruin
, 183 (“
copulation without conversation
”); D’Este,
Patton: A Genius for War
, 653 (“
Tell the men of Third Army
”).

General Hodges ordered champagne
: Sylvan, 322; Friedrich,
The Fire
, 221–25 (
only 10,000
); Hitchcock,
The Bitter Road to Freedom
, 182–89 (“
charred corpse
”).

Volksstrum pensioners fought
: Cooper,
Death Traps
, 257; Margry, “The Battle for Cologne,”
AB
, no. 104 (1999): 2
+
(
cavalry charge
); Janet Flanner [Genêt], “Letter from Cologne,” March 31, 1945,
New Yorker
, in
Reporting World War II
, vol. 2, 664–68 (“
scarlet garbage
”).

Hodges on Wednesday, March 7
: Margry, “The Battle for Cologne,”
AB
, no. 104 (1999): 2
+
;
LO
, 191.

“
The Rhine. I didn’t know
”: David Pergrin, 291st Engineer Bn, “The Remagen Bridgehead,” 1983, CEOH, box X-26, folder 2, 19; “Combat Engineering,” historical report no. 10, Aug. 1945, CEOH, box X-30, 148–49 (
150 glaciers
); Michael George Mulhall,
The Dictionary of Statistics
, 515 (
fifteenth-largest
);
LSA
, vol. 2, 373 (“
short sea voyage
”); “Forced Crossing of the Rhine, 1945,” historical report no. 20, Aug. 1945, CEOH, box X-32, folder 20, 1 (“
fordable
” and
eleven miles an hour
); Dziuban, “Rhine River Flood Prediction Service,”
Military Engineer
(Sept. 1945): 348
+
(
floods had been the highest
); Tooze,
The Wages of Destruction
, 651 (
relatively unpolluted
); ALH, 178 (
wreckage clogged its bed
); corr, H. L. Ismay to W. B. Smith, Dec. 30, 1944, LHC, 4/29/15 (“
another D-Day
”).

Plans to jump the Rhine
: “Forced Crossing of the Rhine,” Dec. 1945, CE, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #547, 4; “Rhine River Crossing,” Jan. 26, 1945, ETOUSA, CEOH, box X-24A, folder 2; OH, Franklin F. Snyder, “Water Resources: Hydraulic and Hydrology,” 1995, CEOH, 5, 45, 57 (
engineers in Vicksburg
); Dziuban, “Rhine River Flood Prediction Service,”
Military Engineer
(Sept. 1945): 348
+
(
radio broadcasts
and
Grenoble);
Abrams,
Our Secret Little War
, 62–63 (
170 models
).

River-crossing schools on the Loire
: “Forced Crossing of the Rhine,” Dec. 1945, CE, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #547, 10–12;
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: A History
, 145; Henry F. Pringle, “Weapons Win Wars,” n.d., CMH, 2-3.7 AB.B, 201–2 (
Boatyards
); “Supply: Oversea Theaters of Operation,” 1945, NARA RG 319,
Global Logistics and Strategy, 1943–1945
background files, 2-3.7 (
nested and crated
);
We Bought the Eiffel Tower: The Story of the General Purchasing Agent, European Theater
, 1949, MHI, 60, 174–75; OH, Alan G. Kirk, Sept. 22, 1945, NARA RG 38, CNO, box 15, 3–4 (
up the Albert Canal
); Davis,
Across the Rhine
, 8 (
bulldozers
);
IFG
, 318; Karig,
Battle Report: The Atlantic War
, 394–96 (“
festooned with treetops
”).

By early March, forward depots
: Henry F. Pringle, “Weapons Win Wars,” n.d., CMH, 2-3.7 AB.B, 201–2 (
2,500 outboard motors
); Davis,
Across the Rhine
, 8 (
1,100 assault boats
).

Just such a bridge still stood
: Hechler,
The Bridge at Remagen
, 3, 49–53; Zaloga,
Remagen 1945
, 35. Some locals referred only to an adjacent subterranean gallery, used as an air raid shelter, as the Dwarf’s Hole (
http://www.herrlichkeit-erpel.de/EnglischeVersion/Bruecke03_eng.htm
).

Local aesthetes complained
: author visit, Friedensmuseum Brücke von Remagen, June 18, 1996.

Retreating German soldiers
: Steinhoff et al.,
Voices from the Third Reich
, 410 (“
cannons being pulled
”); Hechler,
The Bridge at Remagen
, 44–45 (
fractured command architecture
);
LO
, 214 (
Model had promised
).

Sixty zinc-lined boxes
:
LO
, 213; “The Ludendorff Railway Bridge,”
AB
, no. 16 (1977): 2
+
; Kenneth W. Hechler, “The German Reaction to Remagen,” OCMH, July 1957, NARA RG 319, R-series, #101, 6.

“
Do you see
”: OH, John W. Leonard, 9th AD, CG, March 16, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI 300, box 19081.

At 8:20
A.M.
: Reavis, “Crossing of Rhine Remembered,”
Stars and Stripes
, March 8, 1995, 1; Hechler,
The Bridge at Remagen
, 79 (“
There is no glory
”).

Now Lieutenant Timmermann would prove
: Hechler,
The Bridge at Remagen
, 88;
LHD
, 201 (“
Do you know what the hell
”); corr, L. E. Engeman, CO, 14th Tank Bn, to JT, Apr. 5, 1964, JT, LOC MS Div,
LHD
, box 10 (
locomotives with steam up
).

As three platoons descended
: Hechler,
The Bridge at Remagen
, 98;
LHD
, 202; Hechler,
Hero of the Rhine
, 18–20.

Shortly before two
P.M.
a dark geyser
: OH, Karl Timmermann, Murray Deevers, William M. Hoge et al., 27th Armored Inf Bn, March–Apr. 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI (“
chicken dinner
”); Hechler,
The Bridge at Remagen
, 104–5 (“
before they blow it
”).

Barely half a mile away, pandemonium
:
LO
, 217; Hechler,
The Bridge at Remagen
, 112–13 (“
Everybody lie down
”).

With a doleful boom
: “Report of Rhine River Crossings,” May 1945, FUSA, Office of the Engineer, NARA RG 407, Miscl AG records, ML #887 (
fourteen hundred pounds
); “Engineers at Remagen,” n.d., 7, and OH, Sears Y. Coker, 9th Armored Engineer Bn, March 11, 1945, JT, LOC MS Div,
LHD
, boxes 9 and 10;
LO
, 230.

Reprieved, Timmermann and his men
: OH, Karl Timmermann, Murray Deevers, William M. Hoge et al., 27th Armored Inf Bn, March–Apr. 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI 300, box 19081.

By late afternoon, Company A
: ibid.; OH, George P. Soumas, 14th Tank Bn, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI 300, box 19081; “Report of Rhine River Crossings,” May 1945, FUSA, Office of the Engineer, NARA RG 407, Miscl AG records, ML #887 (
GIs blew apart
);
LHD
, 210; Hechler,
The Bridge at Remagen
, 128; Kenneth W. Hechler, “The German Reaction to Remagen,” OCMH, July 1957, NARA RG 319, R-series, #101, 7 (“
Inform them
”). There is no evidence that this particular message reached a higher headquarters.