Operation Plunder

1944: Overlord · · Dragoon Mons · Market Garden · Scheldt estuary · Aachen · Hurtgenwald Queen · · · Ardennes Alsace-Lorraine

1945: North Wind Blackcock · · Colmar · Veritable · Grenade · Lumberjack · Undertone · Plunder · Würzburg · Nuremberg · Ruhrkessel

Operation Plunder was during the Second World War in March 1945 by British, Canadian and American troops carried out crossing the Rhine between Emmerich and Wesel. The main attack came in the British section between Wesel and Rees. The Rhine crossing north of the Ruhr formed, along with the American crossing of the Rhine at Remagen the basis of the Ruhr boiler.

The operation of the 29 divisions were involved, included the Operation Varsity and Operation Flashpoint.

Starting position

The planning of the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force Dwight D. Eisenhower saw originally for the fighting in the German empire a major advance on the left flank by the North German Plain to Berlin before, which should be undertaken by the British 21st Army Group under the command of Bernard Montgomery. The in this context to bypass the Siegfried Line and the Rhine to obtain a transition early undertaken aimed at Arnhem Operation Market Garden had failed in September 1944. As a result, should be enforced first reaches right down the front of the Rhine and then a transition through the 21st Army Group. This procedure was delayed by many factors:

• The battle in Hurtgenwald took a long time (October 6, 1944 to February 10, 1945 ) and ended with no clear success,
• The Battle of the Bulge the Germans ( from 17 December ) meant that the Western Allies had to withdraw in other sectors of the front troops; as well as the
• Company North Wind (December 31, 1944 to January 25, 1945; Alsace and Lorraine),
• The battle in the forest kingdom ( 7 to 22 February 1945) took longer and was more lossy than planned,
• The crossing of the Roer could only begin on February 23, because German troops had changed by opening the weirs and blowing up a water tunnel in the Rur Rur Lake into a raging river and the Rurauen in marshy swamp in which tanks could not move, and finally
• The very long and cold winter 1944/45: On many days, it was so cloudy that the Western Allies their air superiority could not play.

Finally, it was completed in the 21 Army Group on 10 March 1945 near Xanten the pincer movement on the left bank of the Rhine from the 1st Canadian Army, reinforced with 2 parts of the British Army, to the east or southeast and by the 9th U.S. Army had been carried out to the north. Thus, the left bank was completely in Allied possession.

Already on March 7, it was in the 12th U.S. Army Group unexpectedly succeeded without a fight to take with the intact railroad bridge at Remagen a crossing of the Rhine and form a bridgehead. This, together with the fact that Soviet forces were already close to Berlin, to a change in the weighting of Eisenhower's plan aimed at increasing the participation of the two southern army groups on further rise. However, the urgency of the Rhine crossing of the 21st Army Group was retained. The last more intact stayed bridge at Wesel was blown up by German troops on 10 March. The Army Group therefore had to fight as expected the crossing of the Rhine. The extensive preparations for this were immediately initiated for concealing smoke was also used more widely.

Course

Operation Plunder began 13 days after the withdrawal of German troops across the Rhine. The 51st ( Highland ) Division opened at 21:00 Clock of March 23, 1945 the fighting. All three brigades were supported by floating tanks to 9:45 clock crosses the Rhine at Rees, but the fighting continued on until the afternoon. In preparation for surgery, the population of the area occupied by Allied troops west of the Rhine cities had already been evacuated to Bedburg -Hau, has been clouded the left bank of the Rhine and started the construction of temporary bridges. On the right bank of the Rhine -standing units of the Wehrmacht fired especially with artillery without regard to the opposite side of the river.

The Rhine crossing at Wesel started at 22:00 clock. After the Royal Air Force had bombed the city (air attacks on Wesel ), crossed the Royal Marine Commando the Rhine 46. Reinforced by the American 17th Airborne Division took to the fights until the next evening. In the meantime, the 15th Scottish Division had set of Xanten and secured against low resistance, the banks of the Rhine at Bislich. On March 24, ended up as part of Operation Varsity troops at Hamminkeln to disrupt the German supply routes. Yet on March 25 the temporary bridges were used.

Already on 27 March were the fighting of Operation Plunder, for the most part complete.

On 24 March 1945, the Operation Flashpoint began. She had the goal to build on the right side of the Rhine between Wesel and Walsum a beachhead; it was headed by General William H. Simpson, commander of the 9th U.S. Army. During the 30th U.S. Infantry Division between Wesel and Möllen attack, the 79th Infantry Division concentrated on the section between Möllen and Walsum. On the German side was General Alfred Schlemm with the 1st Parachute Army.

Follow

The successful crossing of the Rhine by the operation, the Allied forces were able to include a large proportion of remaining in West Germany Wehrmacht units in the Ruhr pocket.

Winston Churchill

On March 25, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery visited the Headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, where they both sat with three or four U.S. generals and half a dozen American soldiers in Wesel with an infantry landing craft across the Rhine and spent 30 minutes in enemy territory.