Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 20, 1994 TAG: 9402130201
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by STEPHEN CAPALDO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Originally published in 1957, "The Bridge at Remagen" has been considered a classic of military history. Author Ken Hechler, now West Virginia Secretary of State, tells the dramatic story of the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine River by American forces on March 7. 1945. The book was filmed in 1969.
Hechler's book has recently been reprinted and expanded. The new edition contains 70 new combat photographs, a chapter on the movie, a poem about the capture of the bridge, a copy of a 1945 West Virginia newspaper account of the event, postscripts on Remagen today and the soldiers who fought there, as well as an update on the author himself.
"The Bridge at Remagen" gives a blow-by-blow account of the first crossing of the Rhine by an invading army since Napoleon. As Gen. Eisenhower's Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Walter Bedel Smith said, the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen was "worth its weight in gold," and Gen. George C. Marshall noted that the crossing "became a springboard for the final offensive to come."
Remagen was a small village on the east bank of the Rhine between Cologne and Coblenz. No one was expecting it to be the location of an event that would change the course of World War II and, eventually, the history of the world. The American command in France was sure that there would be no bridges left across the Rhine. They assumed that the Germans would have destroyed all of them.
On the morning of March 7. 1945, soldiers of the 9th Armored Division of the U.S. First Army reached Remagen and found, to their astonishment, a bridge still standing in the narrow valley below them - a bridge that would pave the way toward the collapse of Hitler's regime. Brigadier General William Hoge, despite his orders, decided to seize it.
The unit given this dangerous mission was Company A, 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, under the command of Second Lieutenant Karl L. Timmerman. Timmerman, the 23 year old son of German immigrants, was from West Point, Nebraska. Even as he was preparing to cross the bridge, a tremendous explosion shook it. The thought of a second explosion was drowned out by continuous machine gun fire from the German Army at the eastern end of the bridge.
What followed was one of the greatest feats of World War II.
Lt. Timmerman guided his men across the bridge and by 4:00 that evening, they were building up their bridgehead. Within 24 hours, 8,000 men had crossed the mighty river.
The events before, during and after the crossing of the bridge are expertly documented, using both American and German points of view in "The Bridge at Remagen." I strongly recommend it to any person; students of history, World War II veterans, anyone who reads for entertainment or education.
As President Eisenhower said of the soldiers at Remagen at a special White House ceremony for them, "For me, it always typified one thing: the dash, the ingenuity, the readiness at the first opportunity that characterizes the American soldier."
- Stephen Capaldo is a student at Gap Mills School in Monroe County, WV.
by CNB