How the German Western Front Collapsed
Soldiers of the U.S. 9th Army walk down the street of a captured town in the Rhineland. February 1945.
General situation
After the failure of the Ardennes offensive (The Ardennes Lesson for Americans) The USA and England were going to resume the offensive and transfer military operations to German territory. The situation was favorable. The Soviet fronts were delivering blow after blow along the entire front line from East Prussia to Hungary, diverting the last combat-ready German units and all possible reserves.
As a result of the Alsace-Lorraine Offensive (Operation Northwind), when the Germans attempted to advance in the Strasbourg area in January 1945, the 19th German Army was surrounded. The Colmar "sack" was created, which the Americans and French destroyed by February 9. The remnants of 4 German divisions were surrounded and captured. The remainder of the 19th Army, having suffered heavy losses, retreated to the right bank of the Rhine. The Allies reached the Rhine from Basel to Strasbourg.
Volkssturm militiamen at an MG 34 machine gun in a pillbox of the defensive line on the Saar River
The German armies, exhausted by the unsuccessful offensive in the Ardennes and in the Strasbourg area, retreated to their initial positions. In the process, they lost many men and equipment, and the divisions were not restored. The reserves were used up. The troops were short of ammunition, fuel, artillery, anti-tank weapons. Morale fell. Initiative was lost. Hope for a major success in the Western theater that would force England and the United States to negotiate with Germany was lost.
The German Headquarters transferred the best units to the Russian Front. In particular, the 6th was transferred to Hungary. tank SS army. The number of German divisions on the Western Front was noticeably reduced. Their combat quality also deteriorated. Secondary units were stationed here, divisions that had been routed in the East were being restored. They were replenished with militiamen (old men, teenagers), of limited fitness.
At the same time, the USA and England continued to strengthen their armies in Europe and had about 1945 divisions by the beginning of 90. By the end of January 1945, the allies had completely restored the situation in the Ardennes. The Anglo-American command and troops had already gained serious experience and mastered the skills of modern warfare.
Allied plans
The British and American plans for future operations in Germany differed radically. The British leader Churchill and his field marshals Montgomery and Brooke insisted on a decisive offensive north of the Ruhr with a transition to defense in other areas. The British wanted to break through deep into Germany as quickly as possible and capture Berlin faster than the Russians.
The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, American General Eisenhower, in his report of January 20, 1945, presented to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, proposed his previous plan: 1) first defeat the enemy west of the Rhine and reach the Rhine line; 2) seize bridgeheads on the Rhine; 3) defeat the enemy east of the Rhine and develop an offensive deep into Germany in the north and south. The main directions of the offensive were Frankfurt am Main and Kassel, from the lower reaches of the Rhine north of the Ruhr to the North German Plain.
American M4 Sherman tanks, covered by infantry, reach the eastern side of the Ludendorff railway bridge over the Rhine. The bridge was captured by the American army on March 7.03.1945, XNUMX, from the city of Remagen (west bank of the Rhine).
Specific plans for military action were considered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 30 January to 2 February in Malta, where Churchill and Roosevelt met before arriving in Crimea.
In the end, the American proposals prevailed. They decided to attack along the entire front, reach the Rhine, force it, creating bridgeheads in the lower and middle reaches of the Rhine. To strike north of the Ruhr, to cut off the Ruhr industrial region, and to Koblenz, Frankfurt-am-Main, and from there to Kassel.
In Italy, the Allied forces held the front and prepared an offensive in case the Nazis withdrew their main forces. It was planned to transfer several divisions (Canadian and British) from the Italian Front to the Western Front in order to hand them over to Montgomery, the commander of the 21st Army Group.
The British troops in Greece were supposed to restore the previous monarchical regime, that is, to suppress the main forces of the Resistance, where leftist, communist movements and parties predominated.
The decision of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on February 2 was approved by Roosevelt and Churchill. At the same time, the British Prime Minister returned to his previous ideas and reminded everyone that the Allies might need to launch a broad offensive in the south of Europe to occupy a large part of Austria and as many areas as possible, cutting them off from the Russians.
It is worth noting that Eisenhower continued to act cautiously, overestimating the German forces. He believed that the Germans held strong positions between the Moselle and the Rhine and retained the ability to launch strong counterattacks (as in the Ardennes). Meanwhile, the Wehrmacht's combat capability on the Western Front had noticeably declined.
Roosevelt and Churchill at the Malta Conference
German defense
The Allied forces needed to break through the Siegfried Line, a system of German permanent fortifications built in 1936-1940 in western Germany, on the border with Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. The line was over 600 km long and 35 to 100 km deep. The most fortified part, covering the Saarland, was the section from Moselle to Karlsruhe.
Hitler's propaganda declared the Siegfried Line impregnable. Hitler considered the West Wall "a miracle of German technology." But this was an illusion. After the capture of France in 1940, the fortifications were effectively abandoned, weapon and the equipment was removed and used elsewhere. In 1944, the line began to be restored. New fortifications were built, but these were mainly light field, temporary fortifications.
The Germans had nominally up to 65 infantry and 8 tank divisions on the Western Front, but they had almost no full-fledged divisions left. The divisions were bled dry in battles and were not replenished sufficiently. There were not enough armored units or armored vehicles.
The destroyed command tank Pz.Bef.Wg.IV of the Hudel battle group of the 130th Tank Training Regiment, included in the 11th Panzer Division, at the collection point for captured equipment in the Remagen area. The battle group was commanded by Major Helmut Hudel, commander of the 130th Tank Training Regiment.
The troops that occupied the line were largely undermanned, lacked experienced soldiers (old men, young men, those of limited fitness) and could not fully resist the allied units. There were almost no permanent garrisons. There was an acute shortage of anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery. The supply of ammunition and equipment, as military production in the Third Reich was lost, was constantly falling. The enemy had colossal superiority in the air.
In general, the Third Reich simply could no longer fight on two fronts. All remaining reserves and resources were already thrown into the defense of the Berlin direction, the capital of the Third Reich.
After the transfer of the main forces of the 6th SS Panzer Army to the Eastern Front, there were 7 armies left on the Western Front. Army Group G of P. Hausser: the 19th Army defended the Upper Reich, the Stuttgart direction, the 1st Army covered the area between the Rhine and the Moselle. Between the Moselle and the Meuse on the line of Trier, Roermond, the 7th Field Army, the 5th Panzer and the 15th Field Army, which were part of Army Group B of Field Marshal Model, occupied the defense. Army Group X of General J. Blaskowitz included the 1st Parachute Army on the Meuse and the 25th Army on the Lower Rhine.
The Rhine Bridge (Rheinbrücke) between the cities of Ludwigshafen am Rhein and Mannheim, blown up by German troops on March 20, 1945.
Meuse-Rhine operation
The Allied offensive began on February 8, 1945. The first attack was made by Montgomery's 21st Army Group - the 1st Canadian, 2nd British and 9th American armies (29 divisions). The 1st Canadian Army, striking south of Arnhem and the 9th American Army northeast of Venlo, from the Ruhr River, were to break through the enemy's defenses and occupy territory west of the Rhine. In the center, the 2nd British Army was advancing to the east.
The 12th Army Group of O. Bradley – the 1st, 3rd and 15th American armies (24 divisions) was to attack in the center in the direction of the cities of Cologne, Remagen, Koblenz, Oppenheim, and the Saar region – from the territory of Belgium and Luxembourg. The 6th Army Group of J. Devers – the 7th American and 1st French armies (21 divisions) was to attack on the Upper Rhine, from the territory of Alsace.
The 1st Canadian Army on the left wing of the front began to advance towards the Rhine. The advance was slow, hampered by the rugged terrain and bad weather. It snowed heavily in January, and a thaw set in at the beginning of February. The Meuse and Rhine overflowed widely, and when the waters subsided, the area was swampy. The movement of heavy equipment and transport was greatly complicated, in places impossible.
Aerial photography of the German city of Wesel after the bombing. During the Allied raids aviation On February 16, 17 and 19, 1945, 97% of the city's buildings were destroyed.
The Canadian offensive was to be supported by the American army. However, on February 9, the German command ordered the floodgates to be opened and the dams on the Ruhr River to be blown up, which forced the Allies to postpone the start of the offensive of the 9th American army for two weeks. The 2nd British army also entered the battle.
The advance of 10 allied divisions was held back by only one German division. It had suffered heavy losses already during the artillery preparation, and the allies successfully penetrated its defenses. However, numerous minefields, muddy roads, swampy territory, and fierce resistance from the Nazis prevented the Canadians and British from advancing quickly. In addition, the Germans quickly transferred reinforcements - parachute units. Therefore, there was a stubborn struggle for the western part of the Reichswald forest. The battles continued until February 13, when the Canadians took Kleve and reached the rear of the German defenses in the Reichswald.
Montgomery expected the Americans to support him in the south, but their advance was delayed for two weeks. The Americans waited for the water level on the Ruhr to fall. During this time, the Germans were able to transfer all their reserves to the northern sector of the front, and by February 14, the Canadian army was confronted by nine German divisions, including two tank and three airborne.
British gunners load a Land Mattress rocket launcher in the Reichswald. February 1945.
German defense breakthrough
The Canadians advanced very slowly, passed the Reichswald, took Goch and began to force the Meuse south of Gennep. They managed to break through the enemy's defenses only when the American 9th and 1st Armies began their offensive. Only a few weak divisions of the 15th German Army defended the American front; all reserves had been transferred to the north.
Therefore, the Americans immediately began a successful offensive. On February 23, the Allied forces crossed the Ruhr and by February 26, they had expanded the bridgehead. For some time, the Americans were held back by three German divisions, removed from the front of the 1st Airborne Army. But this was not enough. Neither in the south nor in the north were the German units strong enough to stop the superior enemy forces.
On February 26, the Canadians again struck the paratroop army, which had directed its main attack southeast of Kleve. Driving a tank wedge into the Nazi defenses, the Allies reached the area south of Xanten on March 8 after fierce fighting.
On March 2, the 9th American Army reached the Rhine in the Neuss area and east of Krefeld, and turned its main forces north. On March 3, the Americans occupied Geldern, where they joined up with units of the 1st Canadian Army, which were advancing from the north.
Hitler forbade the troops to retreat from the western bank of the Rhine. He ordered them to fight to the death. But this could not change the situation. The Allies surrounded the troops of the 1st Airborne Army, to which were added the remnants of the 15th Army, thrown back to the north. By March 5, the Americans occupied the western bank of the Rhine from Neuss and Orsoy and began to push the Germans back to Wesel.
The German paratroopers fought desperately and held Xanten until March 8, covering the last remaining crossing over the Rhine in the Wesel area. On March 9, the remnants of nine German divisions were trapped in a small bridgehead at the bridge. On the night of March 9, they retreated to the east bank and blew up the crossing.
“Not once during the entire war,” Montgomery noted, recalling the so-called Reichswald battles, “did enemy units put up such fierce resistance as the paratroopers in the battle for the Rhineland.”
British sailors in LCA landing craft take part in the construction of a pontoon bridge across the Rhine at Xanten. March 1945.
Breakthrough to Cologne
The 1st American Army was pinned down at the Urft Dam. Allied aircraft tried to destroy the powerful dam to prevent the Germans from regulating the water level in the Ruhr, but without success. The ground offensive was slow. Only on February 10 did the Americans take the dam. But at the very last moment, the Germans managed to open the floodgates. As a result, the river overflowed, delaying the advance of not only the 9th American Army, but also the 1st.
Meanwhile, the American 3rd Army had pushed the enemy back from the Our River beyond the Kyll River. On February 23, the 1st Army was able to resume its advance. The 1st Army, consisting of three army corps, consolidated its battle formations on the northern flank, placing large forces in a narrow area in order to break through to Cologne. Then the 1st Army was to advance to the southeast in order to, in cooperation with the 3rd Army, overthrow the entire enemy front on the Moselle.
American soldiers at an Opel 4 on Christophstrasse during the battle for central Cologne. In the background are M4 Sherman tanks and an M4 Pershing tank (center) of the 26rd American Armored Division. March 3, 6
The Germans were only able to temporarily hold back the Americans at the Erft River. The tank divisions thrown into battle were destroyed by Allied aviation. Thus, the last attempt to parry the breakthrough of the American armies failed. The remnants of all the broken units on this and other sections of the front are withdrawn beyond the Rhine. Of the units of the 5th Tank Army, only pitiful scraps retreated beyond the Rhine.
The northern flank of the American army was rapidly advancing toward Cologne. The Americans believed that a difficult and lengthy battle for the city lay ahead. Large forces were allocated for the assault. But the city fell quickly, since insignificant forces were allocated for the defense of the city. The few battalions of the Volkssturm could not ensure the defense of Cologne.
On March 5, the Americans began the battle for Cologne and captured its left-bank part. The Germans blew up all the bridges across the Rhine in the city, and the Americans took the right-bank part of Cologne only by April 12.
The 1st and 3rd American armies, advancing through the Eifel mountain plateau, captured the city of Trier by March 5, crossed the Mosel, Saar, and Kyll rivers, and by March 10 completely cleared the left bank of the Mosel. The remaining units of the German 7th Army retreated beyond the Mosel between Koblenz and Trier and attempted to gain a foothold there in order to cover the rear of the 1st German Army.
Cologne after the Allied bombing. The destroyed Hohenzollern Bridge and part of the railway station are visible in the picture.
The Fall of the Rhineland
As a result, the Allies defeated the enemy on the western bank of the Rhine and captured a number of bridgeheads. On March 7, the American 9th Tank Division from the 1st Army captured a railway bridge near the city of Remagen, which the Germans had not managed to blow up. The Americans immediately crossed to the right bank of the Rhine and consolidated their positions there. The Germans did not have the forces at hand to immediately throw the enemy into the river. In one day, the American command was able to transfer five divisions across the river.
When the German 11th Panzer Division, which had just crossed the Rhine at Cologne, approached, the Americans had already dug in. All attempts by the Nazis to eliminate the bridgehead failed. In the following days, the Germans tried to destroy the bridge with long-range artillery and aviation. On March 17, the bridge was destroyed, but the Allies had already built a temporary crossing over the Rhine.
Hitler was furious, believing it was treason. A special court martial was set up under the chairmanship of General Hübner, who was given unlimited powers. Many officers were sentenced to death for alleged inaction and cowardice, which allowed the enemy to seize the entire bridge, occupy and hold the bridgehead.
Soldiers of the American 1st Infantry Division, keeping close to the walls of houses, march through the German town of Remagen as German artillery shelled the town from the Rhine River. March 16, 1945
On March 22, the 3rd American Army crossed the Rhine by boat near the town of Oppenheim.
On March 23–24, the 2nd British, 1st Canadian, and 9th American armies captured a bridgehead in the Wesel sector. Here, on March 24, the Allies carried out a large-scale landing: 1700 transport aircraft and 1300 gliders participated in the operation. The landing aircraft and gliders were accompanied by 900 fighters, and another 2100 fighters patrolled the landing area. At the same time, 2500 heavy and 820 medium bombers attacked airfields, bridges, and other targets in northeastern Germany during the landing.
A dead paratrooper of the American XVIII Airborne Corps hangs from a tree near the German village of Hamminkeln. On March 24, 1945, thousands of paratroopers were dropped in Germany between the city of Wesel and the village of Hamminkeln (Operation Varsity).
The landing force, numbering 21 men, was dropped by parachute or glider. The paratroopers captured a number of settlements and a forest area north of Wesel. About 3500 enemy soldiers and officers were taken prisoner. Anti-aircraft fire and other enemy weapons killed 160 men, wounded 500 and went missing 840. The Allies lost 53 aircraft and 50 gliders.
A wrecked CG-4A glider of the US 437th Transport Group on the outskirts of the German city of Wesel.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Allied Commander-in-Chief Dwight D. Eisenhower and British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, commander of the 21st Army Group of the Western Allies, watch Allied troops crossing the Rhine near Wesel. March 24, 1945
At this time, battles were also taking place on the southern flank. The 7th American Army, which had been reinforced by several divisions that had arrived from the United States, tied down the German 1st Army with its attacks. Stubborn battles in the Forbach and Saarbrucken area tied down a strong enemy group. When the 1st American Army broke through to Koblenz in March and turned toward the Moselle, the German command had to withdraw significant forces from the 1st Army from the front to support the remnants of the 7th Army on the Moselle line.
It was clear to the German command that further defense of the Saarland was impossible. The 1st Army was in danger of complete defeat. It was necessary to evacuate all troops beyond the Rhine. The commander of the Western Front, Field Marshal von Rundstedt, and Model tirelessly reported to Hitler about the need to make a difficult decision and save the army.
The commander of the 7th Army, Brandenberger, himself asked for several divisions to help him strengthen the defense on the Moselle or to allow his troops to retreat beyond the Rhine. On March 18, Rundstedt was removed from command and replaced by Luftwaffe Field Marshal Kesselring. Hitler ordered the troops to fight in their previous positions.
A British medium cruiser tank A34 Comet Mk.1 of the 11th Armoured Division on the march near Wesel, Germany. March 1945
Soldiers of the 89th Infantry Division of the Third U.S. Army cross the Rhine River in a DUKW-353 amphibious vehicle near Oberwesel. March 26, 1945.
On March 15, Patton's 3rd American Army launched three powerful attacks. In early March, a large bridgehead was created south of Trier, in the fight against which the 1st German Army suffered heavy losses and used up its last reserves. From this bridgehead, the Americans broke through to the south and southwest. Two other strike groups advanced in the area of Zell, Cochem, and north of Koblenz to break through the front of the German 7th Army, and then, together with the 7th American Army, finish off the German group between the Moselle and the Rhine.
The blow of Patton's army was so strong that it could not be stopped. By March 19, American tanks were in Kaiserslautern. In many places, German units were bypassed, blocked and destroyed. The retreat to the east began too late. The remnants of the units that managed to avoid the "cauldrons" were attacked from the north, where the Americans were breaking through to Worms. Units of the 7th German Army were caught in a "cauldron" between the Moselle, Rhine and Nahe rivers.
At the same time, American aviation was destroying the retreating enemy columns from the air. The roads were clogged with the remnants of retreating units, motor columns, and fleeing population. After Patton's tanks reached Ludwigshafen and the 7th American Army advanced from the south, intercepting the Pirmasens-Landau highway, only a narrow corridor remained through which the Nazis retreated to the bridgehead fortifications in the Germersheim area and west of Karlsruhe.
By March 25, the remnants of the German army had retreated beyond the Rhine. Patton's 3rd Army captured a bridgehead west of Darmstadt. On March 26, the American 7th and French 1st Armies captured a bridgehead near Mannheim on the Upper Rhine.
As a result of the operation, by March 25, Anglo-American troops had reached the Rhine on a broad front and captured a number of bridgeheads on its eastern bank. Over the course of several days of fighting, the bridgeheads were expanded, and then the Allies crossed the Rhine with large forces. Germany's de facto Western Front collapsed.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and British Army commanders after crossing the Rhine in an American-made LVT-2 amphibious armored personnel carrier. Churchill is accompanied by Chief of the British Imperial General Staff Field Marshal Alan Brooke (second from left of Churchill), Commander of the British 2nd Army Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey (to the left of Churchill), and Commander of the 21st Army Group of the Western Allies British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery (second from right behind Churchill). March 25, 1945.
At this time, the Allied air force, which had complete air superiority, carried out intensive strategic bombing of Germany. The Allies destroyed entire cities, including historical, cultural centers of the German world that did not have military garrisons or military production facilities.
This was the strategy of the Anglo-Americans. They launched their strategic aviation at full power to destroy the enemy remotely, to bring him to his knees with the help of air terror. Previously, Britain and the United States used the so-called "gunboat diplomacy" - they showed their complete naval superiority, forced into unequal treaties. Now the time had come for air armadas that destroyed Japan and Germany (often peaceful cities) to intimidate the population and leadership of the states. This was a lesson for the Soviet Union, as well as the future testing of nuclear weapons on Japanese citizens in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (which had no military significance).
The ruins of Dresden, destroyed by Anglo-American bombing in February 1945.
The German city of Cologne, destroyed by Anglo-American bombing. In the center is the famous Cologne Cathedral, which was kept relatively intact by the Allies because it was a good landmark for the bombers.
To be continued ...
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