Crossing the Rhine River

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It turned out there was a very simple route to get to the Rhine River from Rheinberg Germany. Just south of Rheinberg is the town of Orsoy which has a ferry that crosses cars over the River. Since this is a narrow crossing site, my Air B&B host was convinced this is where my father would have crossed the Rhine. However I have a detailed military map that shows three crossing sites further north. I am convinced the 75th Infantry division would have crossed at the northern most crossing sites since records show that they were the northern most troops along the western edge of the Rhine. To the north of the 75th Infantry Division, Montgomery’s British Infantry Divisions began.

I stayed at an Air B&B in Alpen Germany and according to the military map I have that town was the division line between the British troops and the American Troops. I actually returned to Alpen Germany a second time when I realized the 75th Infantry had been just south of the town and very likely in the town.

I hiked to the ferry south of Orsoy Germany. A motorcyclist was the first to arrive to wait for the ferry. He waited a while for another motorcyclist and they compared their tricked out bikes.  Several cars lined up and then the ferry arrived from the western shore of the Rhine. The ferry kept sailing back and forth as long as cars lined up at the docking points. I considered sketching on the ferry but realized the trip would not have allowed enough time to get a sketch. The biggest landmark at the crossing site was a huge nuclear reactor on the western shore. That was certainly not at the river’s edge in 1945.

The 75th Infantry Division was in position on the western shore of the Rhine by March 13, 1945 in Rheinberg and Buderich Germany. Since the 75th Infantry Division was tasked with clearing the area between the Lippe River and the Lippe Canal, I decided that the most likely crossing sites would be at Buderich Germany. Buderich is famous for being the site where General Montgomery showed Winston Churchill  how the Rhine River crossings were proceeding. This  happened on March 25, 1945 one day after the 75th Infantry Division had already made the crossing.

On the day that the 75th Infantry Division made their crossing, a pontoon bridge was under construction near Wallach Germany where American heavy artillery was stationed. That bridge was completed at 4pm and it would have been the first bridge across the Rhine but a landing craft got swept up in the river’s current and it crashed into the structure, dismantling it. The 75th didn’t have the luxury of a bridge, they had to make the crossings in small landing craft.

On the 1945 Military map there is a place called Milchplatz. It isn’t a town, but rather a gravel mining company that is still in operation today. I found this out the hard way on one of my hikes east from Rhineberg Germany to get to the Ruhr River. I was making good progress when the Milchplatz mining facility blocked my movement east. Closed metal gates blocked the path east. Since it is private property, I abandoned the hike to the Rhine. If I was tenacious, I probably could have hiked around the large mining facility, but I didn’t want to hike off trail to accomplish that task. I just satisfied myself that I got very close to the southern most crossing site of the three in the 75th Infantry Division’s area of operations. I am convince that would have crossed further north.

The 75th on the military map was identified as a covering force. A covering force operates in conjunction with a larger force with the role of providing a strong outpost line, in this case to the north. The covering force is capable of operating independently of the main force. A covering force usually operated forward of the main force in offense or defense.

March 12, 1945: Rheinberg Germany, Fallen

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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.

March 5, 1945: Crossing the Roer River into Germany

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The 75th Infantry Division had to wait on the western side of the Roer River for several weeks because the Germans had destroyed a dam up river and flooded the entire river valley. The river ain’t that wide in peace time, maybe about 25 to 50 yards.

OPERATION GRENADE which was a push from the Rowe River to the Rhine River began on February 6, 1945, once the waters had subsided a bit. The 75th Infantry likely crossed the Roer south of Heinsberg and north of Geilenkirchen Germany. After studying maps of the area, I decided Hilfarth Germany fits in the sweet spot where the troops might have crossed the river.

A historical sign at Hilfarth pointed out that American troops used the bridge to advance over the Roer River. The bridge was partially destroyed but perhaps only passable by foot. The bridge was repaired and reopened to car traffic on May 18, 1949.

The 75th Infantry was part of the 9th Army Group under General William Hood Simpson. On March 1, 1945 the 75th Infantry was assigned to the XVI Corps as they advanced into Germany. by March 5, 1945 the 75th had advanced as far as Rheinberg Germany. C-Company commanded by 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken was among the most northerly of the American Troops with the British to their left in the north. The British push to the Rhine River from the Roer was known as OPERATION VERITABLE  The 75th took up a defensive position on the Rhine just south of Wesel Germany on the opposite side of the Rhine.

All of these movements seemed so abstract when I read them at first but once I followed the route and sat to sketch the Roer River, things fell into place and made sense to me. Once C-Company of the 7th Infantry got to the Rhine, they stayed behind the levies during the day and patrolled along the rivers edge at night. The goal of C-Company was to keep the Germans in the dark about when and where the 9th army would cross the Rhine River. If the Germans found any intelligence about the next crossing, then many American lives would be lost.

Margraten Netherlands: Morning Woman

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The Morning Woman stands at the end of a long reflecting pool in the court of honor at the Margraten Netherlands American Cemetery. The statue represents a woman who had suffered loss due to the war. She was sculpted by Joseph Kiselewski and he considered this statue to be his finest work. kiselewski was born to Polish immigrants in Minnesota. His first language was Polish and he was the 4th of 9 children. He was trained in Minnesota, New York Paris and Rome. He had a studio 9n NYC from 1929 to 1980.

On the walls on either side of the Morning Woman are long 8 foot high granite walls with the names of the missing. 1722 names are on those two walls. On a few names there are rosettes which mark the names of those who have since been recovered and identified. The names of the cities where the men lost their lives were engraved behind the Morning Woman. Cities where The 75th Infantry fought were in Venlo, Rheinberg, and the Ruhr. I now know the Dean Bergeron lost his life somewhere between the Rhine and Dortmund Germany.

Behind the Morning Woman is a tall memorial tower. Engraved 0n it is the following, “Each for his own memorial, earned praise that will never die, and with it the greatest of all sepulchers, not that which his mortal bones are laid, but a home in the minds of men.” Inside the tower is a chapel. The government of the Netherlands donated dozens of lights which seem to float high above in the setting.

Beyond the chapel is the burial area covering 65.5 acres divided into 16 plot sections. To get to the headstone of Dean Bergeron, I walked past thousands of white crosses. Once I found the right section, then I had to find the right row. It truly is overwhelming. The fall leaves were just beginning to fall. The maintenance crews were out mowing the lawn. I feared I might get in the way while I was sketching, but one of the staff approached and respected what I was doing.

Unique to this cemetery, the Dutch people have a program where families can adopt a grave site of one of the fallen. There is a waiting list of families and individuals who want to adopt a soldiers grave site. They bring flowers to the grave sites and research the soldier as a way to honor their sacrifice.

The visitor center at the cemetery had an amazing exhibit about the campaigns where these soldiers lost their lives through narrative text photos artifacts and a film. One woman from the office saw that I was trying to locate a particular soldier and she came 0ut to help me. With her help I located a Dean Bergeron quickly. Not all the soldiers from C-Company who died are buried at Margraten. Some were sent back to the states. I didn’t research all 24 of the men killed in action under the command of 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken. My goal for the day was just to identify one of the soldiers who rest at Margraten.

One of the museum panels at Matgraten was quietly removed by the Trump Administration. The panel detailed the contributions of black soldiers who converted an orchard into the cemetery it is today just using pick aces and shovels. When the cemetery was first initiated the bodies of white soldiers just kept coming and the black soldiers worked hard to keep up with the incoming dead. These black soldiers fought on two fronts. At home in America they faced racism and in the Netherlands they faced the grueling demands of keeping up with the bodies that had to be buried. The soldiers shed tears as they lowered their American brothers in arms into the ground. Now the memory of their service is quietly being erased.