Ludendorff Bridge

The Ludendorff Bridge (known frequently by English speaking people during World War II as the Bridge at Remagen) was a railroad bridge across the Rhine River in Nazi Germany, connecting the villages of Remagen and Erpel between two ridges of hills flanking the river. Remagen is located close to and south of the city of Bonn.

At the end of Operation Lumberjack (1 through 7 March 1945), the troops of the American 1st Army approached Remagen and they were much surprised to find that the bridge was still standing.

The Luddendorf Bridge was notable for its capture on 7-8 March 1945, by the U.S. Army during the Battle of Remagen of World War II. This enabled the U.S. Army to establish a bridgehead on the eastern side of the Rhine.

The capture of this bridge was an important event of World War II in Western Europe because this was the only significant bridge still standing over the Rhine from the West into the heartland of Nazi Germany. Since it was a railroad bridge, this bridge was also strong enough that the U.S. Army could cross it immediately with heavy tanks and artillery pieces and trucks full of military supplies. Once the bridge was captured, the troops of the Wehrmacht began strenuous efforts to destroy or damage it, or to slow the U.S. Army's use of it. Among other things the Wehrmacht used heavy artillery and V-2 rockets against the bridge and it also sent frogmen at night to sabotage it. However, these were discovered and shot by American sentries using strong floodlights.

At the same time, the U.S. Army worked to protect and reinforce the Ludendorff Bridge by expanding their bridgehead into a perimeter large enough that the Germans could no longer attack the bridge with artillery or rockets. U.S. Army Air Forces fighter planes also kept a strong defensive umbrella over the bridge to keep the Luftwaffe from attacking it in desperation. U.S. Army military engineers and their technicians worked strenuously to reinforce the bridge, welding in many tons of reinforcing beams to repair it from its ongoing battle damage and overwork.

The ensuing battle between the U.S. Army and the Wehrmacht continued for more than a week. This battle including a huge, ongoing artillery duel, a desperate air battle between the American and German air forces, and the use of some V-2 rockets against the American bridgeheads.

Units of infantry troops, artillerymen, and tank soldiers scrambled along the Rhine Valley for both the Americans and the Germans along the entire valley area along the Rhine while both sides reacted to the capture of the bridge and its failure to be destroyed by German explosives experts. One effect of those troop movements was that the Americans were able within two weeks, to establish other crossings of the Rhine by using their pontoon bridges at several other places along their front on the Rhine. This complicated the defense for the Wehrmacht by threatening to cut off and surround parts of it against the Rhine, exposing it to aerial bombing and cutting off its meager supplies. All of this hastened the end of German resistance along the Rhine, forced many Germans to surrender, and opened the door for the U.S. Army to overrun the industrial areas of the Ruhr Valley, etc.