Download or read book Crossing the Rhine written by Lloyd Clark and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 491 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The fighting spirit of Allied paratroopers comes through with exciting clarity” in this account of two separate invasions of Germany in World War II (Kirkus Reviews). A main selection of the Military Book Club In September 1944, as the Allies drove across Europe after Normandy, British field marshal Bernard Montgomery launched Operation Market Garden to secure the lower Rhine—Germany’s last great natural barrier in the west—and passage to Berlin. Though Allied soldiers outnumbered Germans two to one, they suffered devastating casualties and were forced to retreat. Then, in March 1945, Montgomery orchestrated another airborne attack on the Rhine, called Operation Plunder. This time the Allies overwhelmed the German defenses, secured the eastern bank, and began their final march into the heart of the Third Reich. Including detailed maps and personal accounts from those on both sides of the battle, this “vivid war story” examines Allied attempts to breach Germany’s borders, and illustrates how lessons learned from failure helped form the second plan of attack—and seal Germany’s defeat (Publishers Weekly).

Download or read book Four Hours of Fury written by James M. Fenelon and published by Scribner. This book was released on 2019-05-21 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this viscerally exciting account, a paratrooper-turned-historian reveals the details of World War II’s largest airborne operation—one that dropped 17,000 Allied paratroopers deep into the heart of Nazi Germany. On the morning of March 24, 1945, more than two thousand Allied aircraft droned through a cloudless sky toward Germany. Escorted by swarms of darting fighters, the armada of transport planes carried 17,000 troops to be dropped, via parachute and glider, on the far banks of the Rhine River. Four hours later, after what was the war’s largest airdrop, all major objectives had been seized. The invasion smashed Germany’s last line of defense and gutted Hitler’s war machine; the war in Europe ended less than two months later. Four Hours of Fury follows the 17th Airborne Division as they prepare for Operation Varsity, a campaign that would rival Normandy in scale and become one of the most successful and important of the war. Even as the Third Reich began to implode, it was vital for Allied troops to have direct access into Germany to guarantee victory—the 17th Airborne secured that bridgehead over the River Rhine. And yet their story has until now been relegated to history’s footnotes. Reminiscent of A Bridge Too Far and Masters of the Air, Four Hours of Fury does for the 17th Airborne what Band of Brothers did for the 101st. It is a captivating, action-packed tale of heroism and triumph spotlighting one of World War II’s most under-chronicled and dangerous operations.

Download or read book Montgomery s Rhine River Crossing written by Jon Diamond and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2019-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the Normandy break-out, the Allies' headlong dash east came to a halt in the autumn with the ill-fated MARKET GARDEN operation and over-extended supply lines short of the Rhineland. After repulsing the Nazis' daring Ardennes offensive, Montgomery's and Bradley's Army Groups cleared the Reichwald and Rhineland and closed on the Rhine. With both sides aware of the strategic significance of this physical barrier the stakes could not have been higher. Eisenhower's plan involved a vast airborne assault by General Ridgway's XV11 Airborne Corps (codename VARSITY) and the simultaneously coordinated river crossing by Monty's 21 Army Group codename PLUNDER with Dempsey's British Second Army and General William H. Simpson's US Ninth Army. This superbly illustrated and researched book describes the March 1945 assault crossing involving naval amphibious craft, the air and artillery bombardment and diversionary attack by the British 1st Commando brigade at Wesel. In concert with VARSITY and PLUNDER, Patton's US Third Army Group crossed further south. As a result of this triumph of strategic planning and tactical execution, the fate of Hitler's 'Thousand Year Reich' was finally sealed.

Download or read book Across the Rhine written by Franklin M. Davis and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Rhine Crossing written by Patrick Henry Timothy and published by . This book was released on 1946 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Rhine Crossing, which was almost completely an "engineer show," is an excellent illustration of the work of our engineers in Europe. With the possible exception of the Normandy beaches, the Rhine River presented the most formidable natural obstacle in western Europe. From the standpoint of troops and equipment involved, the assault crossing of the Rhine was the largest military operation in history. It is questionable whether the vast extent and scope of the engineer studies and plans prepared in connection with an operation of this magnitude will ever be adequately described. This pamphlet attempts only to outline the work of the engineers of the Twelfth Army Group in preparation for the Rhine crossing, and to indicate the major accomplishments during the actual operation. However, an operation of such gigantic proportions could not have been successful without full cooperation from all arms and services. Emphasis will also be placed on the unique features of this undertaking. For instance, the idea of employing the Navy on the Rhine was conceived by engineers of the Twelfth Army Group and for the first time in history a part of our Navy was transported several hundred miles overland and launched on an inland waterway to support a river crossing. Contents include the situation, problem, preparation, and the actual crossing. -- Abstract.

Download or read book Operation Plunder written by Tim Saunders and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2007-03-26 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This WWII history and battlefield guide examines the Allied push across the Rhine with maps, photos, and informative text. By late March of 1945, the advance through Europe had brought Allied forces to Hitler’s doorstep. Second British Army and Ninth US Army were poised to carry out an assault crossing of the Rhine. In the British part of the operations, Field Marshal Montgomery’s best assault divisions were assembled to carry out the British and Canadian part of the attack between Emmerich and Wesel. A commando brigade and two Scottish divisions carried out the initial assault under cover of darkness and a tremendous bombardment on the evening of March 23rd. They fended off the German first Parachute Army, and by dawn they had established a bridgehead. During the following morning 6th British Airborne Division dropped around Hamminkeln, in the immediate rear of the Germans, in an operation codenamed VARSITY. By March 27th, after some heavy combat, the Allies were prepared to launch their final drive to the Baltic. The Rhine crossing, though by no means the final battle, sealed the fate of Nazi Germany. This comprehensive guide provides essential information on historic sites along with maps and photographs.

Download or read book The Bridge at Remagen written by Ken Hechler and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 1957 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This blow-by-blow account tells the true story of the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge that crossed the Rhine--a successful mission that saved thousands of American lives and spearheaded the invasion of Nazi Germany. Reissue.

Download or read book First to the Rhine written by Mark Stout, Harry Yeide and published by . This book was released on with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the Allied forces--the U.S. 6th Army Group and French 1st Army--that landed in southern France on August 15th, 1944. The book follows the action from the French beaches to the Vosges Mountains, where the first Allied penetration along the entire Western front reached the Rhine River. First to the Rhine covers the vicious fighting during the German Nordwind counteroffensive in January 1945 and the French-American offensive to clear the Colmar Pocket. It then pursues the forces of the Third Reich across the Rhine to their ultimate destruction. Unlike the forces landing in Normandy, these American divisions were hard-bitten veterans of the war in Italy, and, in the case of the 3d Infantry Division, North Africa. The French units included many veterans of the Italian campaign and comprised Frenchmen and Africans in almost equal numbers. As the campaign went on, the French ranks were swelled by tens of thousands of Free French Forces of the Interior, the famous maquis. The German forces arrayed against the Allies included the famed 11th Panzer Division, an Eastern front veteran known as the "Ghost Division," which would hit the Allied advance time and again only to slip away before it could be pinned and destroyed. This is the harrowing story First to the Rhine tells, from the strategic plane-down through the corps, division, and regimental levels to the personal experience of the men in combat, including the likes of Audie Murphy, Americas most decorated infantryman of the war. The book features little-known battles, including one at Montelimar, when an ad hoc American armored command and the 36th Infantry Division came within a hairs breadth and several days of hard fighting of cutting off the entire German 19th Army. This is the first popular work in English to explore the French role in the fighting and the relationship between the U.S. Army and the French forces fighting under American command.

Download or read book Rhine Crossing written by James W. Stock and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Allied armes penetrate German territory and Nazis counterattack in the climactic phase of World War II.

Download or read book One More River written by Peter Allen and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Operation Varsity written by Tim Saunders and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2008-07-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Spring 1945 the outcome of the war was ritually certain but the mighty River Rhine still stood in the way of the Allies. Eisenhowers strategy was to guarantee a crossing in the Ruhr area by allocating the main effort to Montgomerys 21st Army Group. Montys task was to envelope and take out the last German war production and open the way onto the North German Plain.On the morning of 24 March 1945 the Normandy veterans of 6th British Airborne Division were to land just three to six miles in front of XII Corps, within supporting distance of their artillery, with the aim of linking up with the ground forces on day one. First in were the two parachute brigades, who benefited from the numbing effect of the Allied bombardment but by the time 6th Airlanding Brigade came in aboard their gliders, the German anti-aircraft gunners were recovering and, on the DZs, resisting and even counter-attacking the British and Canadian paratroopers.Casualties were heavy, not least because the Airlanding Brigade were gliding in amidst an Armoured kampfgruppe. Despite their presence, the glider infantry of the Ox and Bucks and the Ulster Rifles took their bridges and the Devons fought a desperate battle for the key village of Hammelkeln.By evening, despite heavy losses, General Bolss 6th Airborne Division had linked-up with XII Corps, the airborne objectives had been taken and the gateway onto the North German Plain and final victory was open.

Download or read book The Last Offensive written by Charles B. MacDonald and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-07-27 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Includes maps) Recovering rapidly from the shock of German counteroffensives in the Ardennes and Alsace, Allied armies early in January 1945 began an offensive that gradually spread all along the line from the North Sea to Switzerland and continued until the German armies and the German nation were prostrate in defeat. This volume tells the story of that offensive, one which eventually involved more than four and a half million troops, including ninety one divisions, sixty-one of which were American. The focus of the volume is on the role of the American armies - First, Third, Seventh, Ninth, and, to a lesser extent, Fifteenth - which comprised the largest and most powerful military force the United States has ever put in the field. The role of Allied armies - First Canadian, First French, and Second British - is recounted in sufficient detail to put the role of American. armies in perspective, as is the story of tactical air forces in support of the ground troops. This is the ninth volume in a subseries of ten designed to record the history of the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations. One volume, The Riviera to the Rhine, is the final volume to be published.

Download or read book The Rhine Crossings 1945 written by Ken Ford and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A highly illustrated account of the crossings of the great river, which Churchill called 'The last great heave of war'. No invading army had crossed the Rhine since Napoleon's in 1805 and the task fell to Field Marshal Montgomery's 21st Army Group in 1945. Opposing them were the forces of a failing fascist regime, including battalions of old men and boys, strengthened by several formations of crack troops including paratroopers and Panzer Grenadiers. With an elaborate description of the combined Allied attack, second in magnitude only to the Normandy invasion, this book charts the history of the last great set-piece battle of the war that ultimately brought the defeat of Hitler's Nazi regime one step closer.

Download or read book World War II Glider Pilots written by and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 1991 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Decision at Strasbourg written by David P Colley and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Decision at Strasbourg relates the remarkable and largely unknown story of Lt. General Jacob Devers' lost opportunity to launch a bold attack into the heart of Nazi Germany, which may have won the European war in late 1944, six months before Victory-over-Europe (V-E) Day in May 1945.

Download or read book Patton written by Carlo D'Este and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1996-09-27 with total page 1028 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Patton: A Genius for War is a full-fledged portrait of an extraordinary American that reveals the complex and contradictory personality that lay behind the swashbuckling and brash facade. According to Publishers Weekly, the result is "a major biography of a major American military figure." "This massive work is biography at its very best. Literate and meaty, incisive and balanced, detailed without being pedantic. Mr. D'Este's Patton takes its rightful place as the definitive biography of this American warrior." --Calvin L. Christman, Dallas Morning News "D'Este tells this story well, and gives us a new understanding of this great and troubled man."-The Wall Street Journal "An instant classic." --Douglas Brinkley, director, Eisenhower Center

Download or read book The Guns at Last Light written by Rick Atkinson and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 897 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The magnificent conclusion to Rick Atkinson's acclaimed Liberation Trilogy about the Allied triumph in Europe during World War II It is the twentieth century's unrivaled epic: at a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his bestselling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted how the American-led coalition fought through North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now, in The Guns at Last Light, he tells the most dramatic story of all—the titanic battle for Western Europe. D-Day marked the commencement of the final campaign of the European war, and Atkinson's riveting account of that bold gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows. The brutal fight in Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster that was Operation Market Garden, the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and finally the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich—all these historic events and more come alive with a wealth of new material and a mesmerizing cast of characters. Atkinson tells the tale from the perspective of participants at every level, from presidents and generals to war-weary lieutenants and terrified teenage riflemen. When Germany at last surrenders, we understand anew both the devastating cost of this global conflagration and the enormous effort required to win the Allied victory. With the stirring final volume of this monumental trilogy, Atkinson's accomplishment is manifest. He has produced the definitive chronicle of the war that unshackled a continent and preserved freedom in the West. One of The Washington Post's Top 10 Books of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2013