On March 12 1945 at 9:35 PM the 75th Infantry Division replaced the 135th Infantry Division in Rheinberg Germany. Rheinberg is a quaint little village on the west short of the Rhine just south of Wiesel on the opposite shore. There was a change of course for the Rhine River over the years, so Rhineberg isn’t as close to the river as it used to be. It was a walled city in medieval times and there are some remnants of the ancient walls that remain.
From the village center I decided to hike straight east towards the Rhine. There was a path between the church and a day care that lead to a wide open field. As I crossed the field I began to hear heavy traffic in front of me. The feeling that I might hike right to the waters edge just like in 1945 began to fade. I probably could have sprinted across that highway, but this fallen tree caught my eye. It must have been stuck by lightning or snapped in a very heavy wind because the tree was splintered like a toothpick.
With the fallen tree leaning forward, it looked like it was struggling to get back to its roots. To me it looks like a man leaning forward as he gets ready to run. So much of what I have been sketching is architectural, a church, a headquarters a village square, and I decided I can just observe nature as well. The times I feel I am truly walking in my father’s footsteps are these quiet moments wandering across a field or through the woods with my hiking boots getting wet from the dew, and navigating by the direction of the sun.
On the 24th of March the Rhine River crossings started. Code named OPERATION FLASHPOINT, the Ninth US Army’s assault was lead by General William H. Simpson. Montgomery’s 21st Army Group occupied the northern part of the Allied line, but it lacked adequate combat power to execute main effort operations on its own. The American Army was well equipped with plenty of supplies and artillery ire power. The two field armies with the British Second Army in the north and the Ninth US Army in the south, would cross the Rhine abreast at four crossing sites. A massive artillery barrage would precede the crossing, after which the war’s largest deployment of paratroopers in a single-lift, OPERATION VARSITY, would take place across the Rhine, just north of Wesel Germany.
The 290th Infantry, 75th Infantry Division, C-Company would cross the Rhine on March 26, 1945.