The ensuing airdrops, which began on 29 April,[37] marked the beginning of what was to become a colossal American-led effort to put war-torn Europe back together again.[38]. Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – 13 May 1943) was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Unfortunately, Hobbs had not fully taken into account the nearly nonexistent road network in front of the XVI Corps bridgehead. [18], Montgomery had originally planned to attach one corps of the U.S. 9th Army to the British Second Army, which would use only two of the corps′ divisions for the initial assault. [6], In addition, there was the matter of the Ruhr. With spectacular thrusts being made beyond the Rhine nearly every day and the enemy's capacity to resist fading at an ever accelerating rate, the campaign to finish Germany was transitioning into a general pursuit. Additional losses in the Rhineland weakened the German Army, leaving few troops to defend the east bank of the Rhine. As its forces approached Leipzig, about 60 mi (97 km) south of Magdeburg and 15 mi (24 km) short of the Mulde River, the 1st Army ran into one of the few remaining centers of organized resistance. The American general felt that if a sufficiently strong force could be thrown across the river and significant gains made, then Eisenhower might transfer responsibility for the main drive through Germany from Montgomery's 21st Army Group to Bradley's 12th. By the early spring of 1945, events favored the Allied forces in Europe. Some areas were stoutly defended while in others the enemy surrendered after little more than token resistance. At first this was done informally with occupants evicted immediately and taking with them few personal possessions, but the process became standardized, with three hours' notice and OMGUS personnel providing receipts for buildings' contents. [27], The final tally of prisoners taken in the Ruhr reached 325,000, far beyond anything the Americans had anticipated. German resistance, initially rather determined, dwindled rapidly. With Montgomery allowing use of the Wesel bridges to the 9th Army for only five out of every 24 hours, and with the road network north of the Lippe under 2nd Army control, General Simpson was unable to commit or maneuver sufficient forces to make a rapid flanking drive. Nowhere, it seemed, were the Germans able to resist in strength. This is known as the "Central Europe Campaign" in United States military histories. [32], Initially, the opposition in the 6th U.S. Army Group's sector was stiffer than that facing the 12th U.S. Army Group. It said Germans had to give all weapons to the Allies. [5], As these three army groups cleared out the Wehrmacht west of the Rhine, Eisenhower began to rethink his plans for the final drive across the Rhine and into the heart of Germany. Saved from en.wikipedia.org Faced with trying to make rapid advances through dense forest on rutted dirt roads and muddy trails, which could be strongly defended by a few determined soldiers and well placed roadblocks, the task forces advanced only about 2 mi (3.2 km) on the 25th. A German holdout force of 70,000 in the Harz Mountains—40 mi (64 km) north of Erfurt—was neutralized in this way, as were the towns of Erfurt, Jena, and Leipzig.[31]. During the Western Allied invasion of Germany in April 1945, the airfield was seized by the United States Third Army, and used by the USAAF 354th Fighter Group which flew P-47 Thunderbolts from the aerodrome (designated ALG R-82) from late April until the German capitulation on 7 May 1945. By the early spring of 1945 events favored the Allied forces in Europe. [12], On 21 March, Patton ordered his XII Corps to prepare for an assault over the Rhine on the following night, one day before Montgomery's scheduled crossing. All had been unceremoniously repulsed by the vastly superior Allied forces. By the end of March, the Supreme Commander thus leaned toward a decision to place more responsibility on his southern forces. The Allied invasion of Germany started with the Western Allies crossing the Rhine on 22 March 1945 before fanning out and overrunning all of western Germany from the Baltic in the north to the Alpine passes in the south, where they linked up with troops of the U.S. Fifth Army in Italy. The crossings would be preceded by several weeks of aerial bombing and a final massive artillery preparation. To the south in the Saar-Palatinate region, Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's 3rd Army had beaten the German 7th Army and the German 1st Army. U.S Airfields in Europe as of 8 May 1945. Although Montgomery's drive was still planned as the main effort, Eisenhower believed that the momentum of the American forces to the south should not be squandered by having them merely hold the line at the Rhine or make only limited diversionary attacks beyond it. [20], To the south, the discovery of a defensive gap in front of the 30th Infantry Division fostered the hope that a full-scale breakout would be possible on 25 March. Unfortunately, because of pressure from the Germans in the northern part of the 2nd Army bridgehead, the British were having trouble completing their bridges at Xanten and were therefore bringing most of their traffic across the river at Wesel. [9], When American or other western soldiers arrived in a town, its leaders and remaining residents typically used white flags, bedsheets, and tablecloths to signal surrender. By the end of 28 March, General Hodges′ 1st Army had crossed the Lahn, having driven at least 50 mi (80 km) beyond the original line of departure and capturing thousands of German soldiers in the process. The Allied line along the Rhine stretched 450 mi (720 km) from the North Sea to the Swiss border. Since the Allied armies on the Rhine were more than 300 mi (480 km) from Berlin, with the Elbe River, 200 mi (320 km) ahead, still to be crossed it seemed clear that the Soviets would capture Berlin long before the western Allies could reach it. These bold actions eliminated the last German positions west of the Rhine. The officer in charge of the unit capturing the area, typically a company or battalion, accepted responsibility over the town. [3] The Allies wanted to capture the industrial Ruhr area.[4]. The 12th U.S. Army Group commander said that American troops could cross the Rhine anywhere, without aerial bombardment or airborne troops, a direct jab at Montgomery whose troops were at that very moment preparing to launch their own Rhine assault following an intense and elaborate aerial and artillery preparation and with the assistance of two airborne divisions. By attaching an infantry regiment of the 104th Infantry Division to the armored division and following the drive closely with the rest of the 104th Division, the VII Corps was well prepared to hold any territory gained. [21], The 1st Army's drive from the Remagen bridgehead began with a breakout before dawn on 25 March. It began with the crossing of the River Rhine in March 1945, with forces fanning out and overrunning all of Western Germany until their final surrender on May 8, 1945. France  United States Western Allied invasion of Germany. At Worms, about 25 mi (40 km) south of Mainz, the 7th Army's XV Corps established a bridgehead, which it consolidated with the southern shoulder of the 3rd Army's bridgehead early the next day. As soon as Patton had received the orders on the 19th to make a crossing, he had begun sending assault boats, bridging equipment, and other supplies forward from depots in Lorraine where they had been stockpiled since autumn in the expectation of just such an opportunity. Veritable - Grenade - Plunder - Varsity - Ruhr Pocket - Amherst. The Allied invasion of Germany started with the Western Allies crossing the Rhine on 22 March 1945 before fanning out and overrunning all of western Germany from the Baltic in the north to the Alpine passes in the south, where they linked up with troops of the U.S. By the early spring of 1945, the Allied forces in Europe were doing well. A heavy bombing campaign by USAAF and RAF forces, known as the "Interdiction of Northwest Germany", designed primarily to destroy the lines of communication and supply connecting the Ruhr to the rest of Germany had been underway since February. With the 79th Infantry Division meeting fierce resistance to the south, General Simpson's only recourse was to commit some of his forces waiting on the west bank of the Rhine. The Germans had 214 divisions on the eastern front in April.[5]. Late on 26 March, the 8th Armored Division began moving into the bridgehead. Tactical commanders hastily enclosed huge open fields with barbed wire creating makeshift prisoner of war camps, where the inmates awaited the end of the war and their chance to return home. But two days later, on 15 April, they had to abandon these hopes. The U.S. III Corps, in the center, did not commit its armor on the first day of the breakout, but still made a gain of 4 mi (6.4 km). Final positions of the Allied and Soviet armies, May 1945. After attempting to strike a deal whereby he would surrender only to the western Allies—a proposal that was summarily rejected—on 7 May Dönitz granted his representative, General Alfred Jodl, permission to effect a complete surrender on all fronts. into the Lagerlechfeld area in early May 1945 during the Western Allied Invasion of Germany and seized the airfield with little or no opposition. The appropriate documents were signed on the same day and became effective on 8 May. As the first boats reached the east bank, seven startled Germans surrendered and then paddled themselves unescorted to the west bank to be placed in custody. Despite the Russian proximity to Berlin, they argued that the city was still a critical political, if not military, objective. The airborne operation in support of the 21st Army Group's crossing of the Rhine was probably not worth the risk. Montgomery's forces were to secure Bradley's northern flank while Devers′ 6th U.S. Army Group covered Bradley's southern shoulder. On the morning of 10 April, the 12th U.S. Army Group's drive to the Elbe began in earnest. [6], Also focusing Eisenhower's attention on the southern drive was concern over the "National Redoubt." On 29 March, the 1st Army turned toward Paderborn, about 80 mi (130 km) north of Giessen, its right flank covered by the 3rd Army, which had broken out of its own bridgeheads and was headed northeast toward Kassel. By attaching mechanized infantry units to armored divisions, they created a hybrid of strength and mobility that served them well in the pursuit warfare through Germany. At the very beginning of 1945, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, General Dwight D. Eisenhower had 73 divisions under his command in North-western Europe, of which 49 were infantry divisions, 20 armored divisions and four airborne divisions. German Field Marshal Walter Model—whose Army Group B was charged with the defense of the Ruhr—had deployed his troops heavily along the east-west Sieg River south of Cologne, thinking that the Americans would attack directly north from the Remagen bridgehead. Also on 28 March, elements of the U.S. 17th Airborne Division—operating north of the Lippe River in conjunction with British armored forces—dashed to a point some 30 mi (48 km) east of Wesel, opening a corridor for the XIX Corps and handily outflanking Dorsten and the enemy to the south. Eisenhower—supported by the American Chiefs of Staff—disagreed. Kesselring had shown he was good at defending land in the Italian Campaign. These advances on the Eastern Front destroyed experienced German troop groups. Here the Germans turned a thick defense belt of antiaircraft guns against the American ground troops with devastating effects. Thus all three armies of the 12th U.S. Army Group were in a fairly even north-south line, enabling them to advance abreast of each other to the Elbe. Thousands of prisoners were being taken every day; from 16–18 April, when all opposition ended and the remnants of German Army Group B formally surrendered, German troops had been surrendering in droves throughout the region. [16], Plunder called for the Second Army to cross at three locations along the 21st Army Group front—at Rees, Xanten, and Rheinberg. By 13 April, the 9th Army had cleared the northern part of the pocket, while elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps′ 8th Infantry Division reached the southern bank of the Ruhr, splitting the southern section of the pocket in two. Should the U.S. political leadership direct him to take Berlin, or if a situation arose in which it became militarily advisable to seize the German capital, Eisenhower would do so. [19], For the American crossing, the 9th Army commander—General Simpson—had chosen the veteran 30th and 79th Infantry Divisions of the XVI Corps. 1. They frequently remarked on its accuracy and the swiftness of its target acquisition—and especially the prodigious amount of artillery ammunition expended. [22], A task force of the VII Corps′ 3rd Armored Division, which included some of the new M26 Pershing heavy tanks, spearheaded the drive for Paderborn on 29 March. On the Western Front the Allies had by January turned back the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. From 18–22 March, Patton's forces captured over 68,000 Germans. Captured German soldiers were impressed by the US artillery. Gen. Emil F. Reinhardt—met Maj. Gen. Vladimir Rusakov of the Russian 58th Guards Infantry Division at Torgau in the first official link-up ceremony. [20], In addition to the poor roads, the 30th Division's breakout attempts were also hampered by the German 116th Panzer Division. Still, by 11 April 7th Army had penetrated the German defenses in depth, especially in the north, and was ready to begin its wheeling movement southeast and south. [6], For several reasons, Eisenhower began to readjust these plans toward the end of March. After losing this battle, Hitler had no strength left to stop the powerful Allied armies. The same day, in response to the 3rd Army's robust showing in the Saar-Palatinate region, and to have another strong force on the Rhine's east bank guarding the 1st Army's flank, Bradley gave Patton the go-ahead for an assault crossing of the Rhine as soon as possible. The U.S. VII Corps, on the left, had the hardest going due to the German concentration north of the bridgehead, yet its armored columns managed to advance 12 mi (19 km) beyond their line of departure. On 7 March, Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges's 1st Army had captured a bridge over the Rhine at Remagen.[6]. After driving east nearly 100 mi (160 km), this corps was to meet elements of the 1st Army near Paderborn, completing the encirclement of the Ruhr. After the reduction of the Ruhr Pocket, the main thrust east would be made by Bradley's 12th Army Group in the center, rather than by Montgomery's 21st Army Group in the north as originally planned. The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theater of World War II. Soldiers posted copies of Eisenhower's Proclamation No. It also said people could not go out at night or travel. German resistance everywhere was sporadic, and the hastily mounted counterattacks invariably burned out quickly, causing few casualties. Even before the encirclement had been completed, the Germans in the Ruhr had begun making attempts at a breakout to the east. 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