THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 7, 1995 TAG: 9503070439
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 123 lines
It was 50 years ago when a tired 19-year-old Norfolk soldier raced across the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, Germany, unaware that he and his buddies were making history by accelerating the end of a horrible war.
The only thing Charles Levitin was keenly aware of that day was dodging German bullets as he covered the length of the 1,069-foot steel railroad bridge, jumping over German bodies and blown-out timbers.
``We double-timed it the best we could. But, boy, we were whipped,'' Levitin said Monday as he recalled being part of the 25,000-man Allied invasion force that, for the first time, crossed the Rhine River to upset German defenses alongthe entire front.
The events of March 7, 1945, were quickly dubbed the ``Miracle of Remagen,'' a description Levitin can agree with. The episode also became a movie in 1968, called ``The Bridge at Remagen.''
It was a miracle that the methodical German army had failed to destroy a bridge over the Rhine, the most important natural obstacle to the Allied advance into Germany. An enraged Hitler ordered the execution of four officers in charge of the bridge.
It also was a miracle that the Allied troops, exhausted from a two-day forced march to get them there, had paused to rest before making the dash to the other side.
It was during that pause that German explosive teams ignited their charges, lifting the bridge off its foundation, but failing to destroy it. When the dust settled, the bridge was intact. No one knows why, but not all the charges exploded.
Many of the German soldiers fled into the railroad tunnel on the east end of the bridge. Others deserted.
The massive structure, with its tall towers at each end and steel railroad tracks, fell back into place.
The Americans used the bridge for 10 more days before it collapsed on its own. Twenty-eight American soldiers died in the fall and 63 were injured when they were thrown into the icy Rhine.
The Remagen bridgehead was psychologically devastating to Germany and probably shortened the war by at least a month, perhaps a week, thus saving thousands of lives, said Levitin.
``If you believe in miracles, it was truly God-sent. It changed the course of the ground war in Europe,'' he said.
``We took the bridge at 4 p.m., and by 6:30 p.m. the whole strategy of the war had changed.''
For Levitin, who would return to Norfolk to help operate his father's furniture store - D. Levitin and Son - the memories seem closer than a half-century ago.
When the mayor of Remagen sent him pieces of the bridge a few years after the event, Levitin didn't accept them, still harboring memories of the war.
``I was so disgusted, I threw it out. Might have been worth something now,'' he said.
Levitin attended Maury High School and worked as a copy boy for The Virginian-Pilot before volunteering for Army duty a month before his 18th birthday.
In November 1944, he was assigned to the 78th Infantry Division in France as a rifleman. He was assigned to Company I, 309th Regiment.
The Germans fought a holding action against the Americans, planning to circle their position and knock them out. But their plans were disrupted.
After the German forces were thrown back, Levitin's unit began moving northeast toward the Rhine and the heartland of Germany.
The regiment had been marching for days.
Suddenly, on March 5, they were turned back south and for the next 18 hours, at a forced-march pace, they moved toward Remagen.
``It was the only time . . . that we turned around and went back,'' said Levitin. ``We knew something unusual had happened. All the forces had been redirected to that bridge.''
When the soldiers of the 9th Armored Division, after fighting their way through the valleys of the Eifel region, reached a plateau above Remagen on March 7, they saw the bridge rising before them. German troops and civilians were pouring across it in retreat. Violating his instructions to proceed down the Rhine, Gen. William M. Hoge ordered his men to take the bridge.
It was left up to Lt. Karl Timmermann, then 28, to lead the charge. But his troops begged to wait until they had caught their breath.
It was a fortuitous bit of insubordination. As they sat and smoked, the men heard a ``whoosh'' as 660 pounds of dynamite lifted the bridge from its stone piers.
By the time Levitin reached the fog-shrouded Remagen after long hours of walking and no hot food, he recalled an amazing sight of men and vehicles stretching for miles, with MPs directing traffic. As they crossed the bridge at double-time, it was strewn with bodies.
``But we hardly noticed them, or gave them a second glance. We were tired and the Germans were dive-bombing and shelling us.''
There was no real opposition on the bridgehead across the Rhine. The Germans had withdrawn to foothills to the east.
For Levitin, it was a short-lived victory. Four days later, after he had been ordered to check out the third-floor of a house, a dive-bomber ended his combat experience by blowing up the house beneath him.
He next remembered awakening in a Paris hospital. He eventually recovered, was transferred to a signal corps unit and wrote news releases out of Frankfurt about soldiers heading home from the war.
Historians estimate that taking the bridge saved 10,000 Allied lives, plus 30,000 more who would have been injured, Levitin said.
The Ludendorff Bridge, named for the German Army chief of staff, was opened in 1918 during World War I to move troops and supplies to the Western Front. It has not been rebuilt.
``The people of Remagen never did like it,'' said Levitin. ``It blocked their view of that beautiful river.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
The 1,069-foot Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine at Remagen, Germany,
before U.S. troops captured it from the Germans on March 7, 1945.
U.S. soldiers work at the site of the collapsed bridge. When it
fell, 28 Americans died and 63 were injured, thrown into the icy
Rhine.
Color photo by Martin Smith-Rodden, Staff
Charles Levitin of Norfolk was there. The tired 19-year-old soldier
was aware only of the German bullets that day 50 years ago. He
couldn't know the significance of the event.
Color map
KEYWORDS: WORLD WAR II by CNB