Operation Plunder
Operation Plunder

Author: Tim Saunders

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2007-03-26

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 1783460792

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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.

The Rhine Crossings 1945
The Rhine Crossings 1945

Author: Ken Ford

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2011-03-15

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13: 184603826X

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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.

Crossing the Rhine
Crossing the Rhine

Author: Lloyd Clark

Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

Published: 2009-10-13

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 155584815X

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“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).

Onslaught on Hitler's Rhine
Onslaught on Hitler's Rhine

Author: Patrick Delaforce

Publisher: Fonthill Media

Published: 2017-05-17

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13:

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Operation Plunder was Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s swan song. It is rarely mentioned in the Second World War history books, and when it is, both American and British military historians dismiss it as being ultra-cautious. Monty was by nature a cautious commander with dwindling manpower resources. Operation Market Garden in September 1944 had not been successful in achieving a major lodgement over the Rhine. Monty knew that Hitler regarded the Rhine as his final barrier, and his storm-troopers and paratroops had fought like demons for four weeks in February/March 1945 defending the Siegfried Line in Operations Veritable and Blockbuster. Presumably they would continue to defend their own country to the bitter end. So, in command of a British, a Canadian and an American army Monty ensured by very careful planning, including a huge airborne drop in Operation Varsity, that the great onslaught would be furious, quick, ruthless and highly successful. And so it was. Patrick Delaforce fought in Blockbuster, Plunder and all the river battles in his armoured battle group, which reached the Danish frontier just before Stalin’s Cossacks.The book is part of a Fonthill trilogy by Delaforce: Monty’s Rhine Adventure (Market Garden); and Invasion of the Third Reich (the campaign after Plunder). Illustrations: 194 black-and-white photographs and maps

Montgomery's Rhine River Crossing
Montgomery's Rhine River Crossing

Author: Jon Diamond

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2019-10-30

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 1526731746

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“Highly recommended . . . excellent maps, [a] large number of black and white images, and detailed coverage of the subject.” —AMPS After the Normandy breakout, the Allies’ headlong dash east came to a halt in the autumn with the ill-fated Market Garden operation and overextended 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.