The March 1945 crossings, by Patton and Montgomery's forces, gave the Allies beachheads with which to invade Germany.

A bridge, just more than 1,000-feet-long, was intact over the Rhine River. It shouldn’t have been. The Nazis had been busy blowing up every crossing over the river in an attempt to slow down the ...

General Eisenhower had hoped to crush Nazi resistance in the west in front of the Rhine. Field Marshal ... had a 20-mile stretch of the river’s west bank. Three bridges were still standing ...