OPERATION PLUNDER
In the spring of 1945, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery was appointed to lead the last great offensive in the West. Just beyond the east bank of the swollen River Rhine was Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, commanding around 80 rather depleted German divisions, in sturdy defensive positions. The Rhine was going to be a formidable obstacle at that time of year, but it wasn’t insurmountable. The Allies could deploy three armies in the coming offensive: the Canadian 1st, the British 2nd and the US 9th. With the right plan and equipment this final natural barrier could be successfully navigated and for Montgomery, the abject failure of Operation Market Garden the previous autumn could be consigned to history – not that he ever regarded it as a failure.
The Allies had already encroached the borders of Hitler’s thousand-year empire, but had been caught napping at the Battle of the Bulge, which was in effect Hitler’s last serious offensive in the West. With Allied composure restored at the beginning of February 1945, almost half a million soldiers, with over 1,000 guns and 34,000 vehicles, had assembled along a ten-kilometre front. They were prepared to remove the Nazis from the Netherlands and reach the Rhine. For the British and Canadian troops it was the largest operation since Normandy and it proved to be a tough fight, but Montgomery had achieved his goal. Now he prepared for the next mission.
The infamous bridge at Remagen had been taken intact by the US 9th Armoured Division between 7 and 8 March 1945. Apart from costing Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt his job, the capture of this bridge enabled US forces to establish their first foothold on the eastern side of the Rhine. Further north General William Hood Simpson’s US 9th Army held the west bank of the Rhine, from the south of
