page_title: Battle of Remagen
section_title: Later history
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Remagen / Aftermath / Later history
caption_attribution_description: English: Site of former Remagen Bridge with remaining towers on the banks, view from northwest Deutsch: Blick von Nordwesten auf die ehemalige Ludendorff-Brücke und die noch stehenden Türme an den Ufern
context_page_description: The Battle of Remagen during the Allied invasion of Germany resulted in the unexpected capture of the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine. After capturing the Siegfried Line, the 9th Armored Division of the U.S. First Army had advanced unexpectedly quickly towards the Rhine. They were very surprised to see one of the last bridges across the Rhine still standing. The Germans had wired the bridge with about 2,800 kilograms of demolition charges. When they tried to blow it up, only a portion of the explosives detonated. U.S. forces captured the bridge and rapidly expanded their first bridgehead across the Rhine, two weeks before Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's meticulously planned Operation Plunder. The GIs' actions prevented the Germans from regrouping east of the Rhine and consolidating their positions.
  The battle for control of the Ludendorff Bridge caused both the American and German forces to employ new weapons and tactics in combat for the first time. Over the next 10 days, after its capture on 7 March 1945 and until its failure on 17 March, the Germans used virtually every weapon at their disposal to try to destroy the bridge.
context_section_description: The bridge was not rebuilt after the war but the standing towers were preserved. The towers on the western side of the Rhine have been converted into a memorial museum and are open to the public. Remagen and Erpel were re-built after the war, restoring much of their historic character. Reconstruction was completed in Erpel during 1968 during the same year the village celebrated its 1500-year anniversary.
  On the 17th anniversary of the capture of the bridge on 7 March 1962, a few veterans of both sides of the battle commemorated the event, attended by about 400 townspeople and students. On the fortieth anniversary of the battle, 130 U.S. veterans visited the bridge for a memorial service. On 12 September 1991, veterans of the American and German units were added to the "Golden Book" of the community of Erpel during a commemorative ceremony. On 7 March 1995, about 600 veterans and family members from the Allied and German forces observed the 50th anniversary of the bridge's capture. During the gathering, German residents thanked the U.S. service members present for winning the war. Gerd Scheller, whose father Hans Scheller had been executed by a drumhead court-martial, told attendees, "In the name of two postwar generations, I want to thank the Americans for acting as resolutely as they did on 7 March 1945."
  In interviews after the war, Captain Karl Friesenhahn, who had been in charge of the demolition charges on the bridge, stated that he had successfully tested the electrical circuits controlling the charges shortly before the Americans attacked. He ruled out sabotage and stated that the circuit had definitely been cut by American artillery.
  When the Ruhr Pocket was captured, the Allies had over 660,000 prisoners-of-war to care for, including as of 8 May 252,592 POWs in the Golden Mile (German: Goldene Meile) camp between Remagen and Niederbreisig. The prisoners were forced to sleep on the ground. They had no sanitation and little food or water. The camp was taken over by the French on 11 July 1945, but by the time they closed it 9 days later, a total of 1,247 inmates had died of dysentery, malnutrition and exhaustion.
  The son of Maj. August Kraft, who had been executed after a show trial for his alleged responsibility in allowing the Americans to capture the bridge, sued after the war to clear his father's name.
caption: The Rhine river and former site of the Remagen Bridge from the northwest
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