Over 10 days in the spring of 1945, Army Engineers expedited the invasion of Germany by daringly capturing a bridge across the Rhine. On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Remagen Bridgehead, 7-17 March 1945, let's talk the #history of the event. (Thread)
It had been nine months since D-Day, and Allied forces had just crossed the German border. The last natural barrier to driving deeper into Germany was the Rhine. /2 
The Allies had systematically bombed bridges up and down the river for months, so the discovery of the intact WWI-era Ludendorff Bridge at the town of Remagen was a big surprise. /3
After realizing retreating German forces detonated but failed to destroy the bridge, engineers quickly started cutting wires and removing a thousand pounds of unexploded demolitions under a steady bombardment from German artillery. /4
Engineers then started repairing the bridge's railway and planking so that tanks could move across. /5
Over the next ten days, the Germans made several concerted efforts to destroy the temporary bridges constructed across the Rhine and the Ludendorff itself. /6
On March 17 the Ludendorff Bridge finally collapsed while two hundred soldiers from the 276th Engineer Combat Battalion and 1058th Engineer Port Construction and Repair Group were still desperately working to maintain it. /7
The bridge collapse ultimately killed twenty-eight soldiers and injured sixty-three others; of those who died that day, eighteen were missing and likely drowned in the frigid swift-moving river. /8
By that time, five American divisions were able to cross the Rhine in support of Operation Plunder, the large-scale British push across the river farther north in late March. /9
To read more about this event, and to see more photos, visit this page from our Office of History: go.usa.gov/xdAaS /10
The film shown in this thread comes from the National Archives and Records Administration. Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps Film 111-CB-4R1-3. /11
The rare color images in this thread of collapsed Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, and other bridging operations across the Rhine taken by COL H.F. Cameron, Jr., 164th Engineer Combat Battalion, March - April 1945. /12
Thank you for reading, and for taking some time to reflect on these Engineers of the past. Essayons. /13
