Remembering Remagen Bridge: A Lesson in American Initiative

Townhall.com ^ | March 11, 2015 | Austin Bay

[Bogey78O]

Such men... The society that could create them must have been blessed.

[Hugin]

A slightly earlier crossing of the Rhine (off subject, but an amazing story).

The actual construction of Caesar's first bridge took place most likely between Andernach and Neuwied, downstream of Koblenz on the Rhine River. Book 4 (Liber IV) of his commentaries gives technical details of this wooden beam bridge. Double timber pilings were rammed into the bottom of the river by winching up a large stone and releasing it, thereby driving the supporting posts (or piling) into the riverbed. The most upstream and downstream pilings were slanted and secured by a beam, and multiple segments of these then linked up to form the basis of the bridge. Conflicting models have been presented based on his description.[1][2] Separate upstream pilings were used as protective barriers against flotsam and possible attacks while guard towers protected the entries. The length of the bridge has been estimated to be 140 to 400 m (roughly 460 to 1,300 ft), and its width 7 to 9 m (23 to 30 ft). The depth of the river can reach up to 9.1 m (30 ft).

The construction of this bridge showed that Julius Caesar, and Rome, could go anywhere, if only for a few days. Since he had over 40,000 soldiers at his disposal, they built the first bridge in only 10 days using local lumber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar's_Rhine_bridges

[Dutchboy88]

Good point...Patton was probably right. We should have kept on going.

[Captain Jack Aubrey]

I don’t know what that picture is of. It is not any bridge at Remagen. I went by there two months ago and it is exactly as described by a poster above. Ferry service gets cars across. The old shore side towers are there. The concrete piers in the river were removed in the 1950s.

I thought the movie The Bridge at Remagen was excellent, but not as good as A Bridge Too Far, about the bridge further north on the Rhine at Arnhem, the Netherlands. Outstanding movie.

[DFG]

bookmark

[The Antiyuppie]

“Ever wonder if the Germans knew the war was lost and wanted the Americans to advance as far east as possible rather than have the Russians occupy more German territory. Too bad those German engineers weren’t interviewed after the war. That is not to deny the heroism and courage of those young American soldiers.”

Agreed with the last part - but nonetheless an interesting thought.

[jmacusa]

Credit for making emergency repairs to the battle damaged bridge goes to the US Armys 291st. Engineer Combat Battalion under the command of Lt. Colonel David Pergin. He was one hell of a fine engineer and so where his men. It was a patrol from the 291st. who first found survivors wounded and dazed from having survived the infamous Malmedy Massacre in Dec.1944.

[yarddog]

That is actually fascinating. The 291st really got around. I just saw a program a few days ago about the 291st. they, more than anyone else were responsible for stopping Peiper during the Battle of the Bulge.

Their commander guessed correctly where the Germans were headed and time and again, blew bridges just before or just as he approached them. They said Peiper was heard to say “Those damned engineers”. when he was forced to retreat.

[octex]

Thanks for the posting, Kaslin.

Brought back memories of the movie about the bridge, but I’d never read anything about the real history before.

[Kaslin]

The last time we were stationed in Germany which was from 1977 to 79 we took a trip to Renagen with my sister in law who had come to visit us from Upstate New York. We went there were the bridge used to be. My husband picked a small rock up from the ground which he thought was from the bridge. I doubt though that it was

[ops33]

The Army of Occupation Medal, which was awarded for service in Berlin up until 1990, has the Bridge at Remagen on the front and Mount Fuji on the reverse