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On this day, March 17, 1945, the "Bridge at Remagen" collapsed.
Thu Mar 17, 2022: On this day, March 17, 1945, the "Bridge at Remagen" collapsed.
Battle of Remagen
American forces cross the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen on 8 March 1945
{snip}
Bridge fails
Combat Engineers repairing the Ludendorff Bridge on 17 March 1945 four hours before it collapsed
After months of aircraft bombing, direct artillery hits, near misses, and deliberate demolition attempts, the Ludendorff Bridge finally collapsed on 17 March at about 3:00 pm. From its capture 10 days before, over 25,000 troops and thousands of vehicles had crossed the bridge and the other two newly built tactical bridges.
The engineers working on the bridge first heard a long bang, like steel snapping, and then accompanied by the shrieking of broken metal, the center portion of bridge suddenly tipped into the Rhine, and the two end sections slumped off their piers.[19][100] About 200 engineers and welders were working on the span when it fell.
An aerial view of the Ludendorff Bridge after it collapsed on 17 March 1945. Two treadway pontoon bridges are visible to the north.
Lieutenant Colonel Clayton A. Rust, battalion commander of the 276th ECB, was on the bridge when it collapsed. He fell into the Rhine, was briefly pinned underwater, and then floated downstream to the pontoon bridge, where he was pulled out of the water. He later reported:
28 Army Engineers were killed in the collapse while a further 63 were injured. Of those who died, 18 were actually missing but it was presumed they had drowned in the swift current of the Rhine River{.}
Medics wait for casualties after the collapse of the Ludendorff Bridge into the Rhine on 17 March 1945.
{snip}
American forces cross the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen on 8 March 1945
{snip}
Bridge fails
Combat Engineers repairing the Ludendorff Bridge on 17 March 1945 four hours before it collapsed
After months of aircraft bombing, direct artillery hits, near misses, and deliberate demolition attempts, the Ludendorff Bridge finally collapsed on 17 March at about 3:00 pm. From its capture 10 days before, over 25,000 troops and thousands of vehicles had crossed the bridge and the other two newly built tactical bridges.
The engineers working on the bridge first heard a long bang, like steel snapping, and then accompanied by the shrieking of broken metal, the center portion of bridge suddenly tipped into the Rhine, and the two end sections slumped off their piers.[19][100] About 200 engineers and welders were working on the span when it fell.
An aerial view of the Ludendorff Bridge after it collapsed on 17 March 1945. Two treadway pontoon bridges are visible to the north.
Lieutenant Colonel Clayton A. Rust, battalion commander of the 276th ECB, was on the bridge when it collapsed. He fell into the Rhine, was briefly pinned underwater, and then floated downstream to the pontoon bridge, where he was pulled out of the water. He later reported:
The bridge was rotten throughout, many members not cut had internal fractures from our own bombing, German artillery, and from the German demolitions. The bridge was extremely weak. The upstream truss was actually useless. The entire load of traffic, equipment and dead load were supported by the good downstream truss...it buckled completely under a load which of course it was not designed to carry.
28 Army Engineers were killed in the collapse while a further 63 were injured. Of those who died, 18 were actually missing but it was presumed they had drowned in the swift current of the Rhine River{.}
Medics wait for casualties after the collapse of the Ludendorff Bridge into the Rhine on 17 March 1945.
{snip}