One More River: The Rhine Crossings of 1945

by Peter Allen

1980 Scribner hardcover, Peter Allen (The Yom Kippur War). The crossing of the Rhine during WWII.

Genres: History, Military History, World War II, Germany, Military Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1980

About the author

Peter^^^^^Allen writes on war

Reviews

[Mike]

3 Stars for a comprehensive and meaty book on the efforts to get across the Rhine in 1945. The book starts out with the Huertgen Forest campaign and carries through the Battle of the Bulge briefly with additional commentary on the adjoining battles all along the Allied Front.
Some battle accounts stand out like this one on the Americans at Huertgen:
Great jagged chunks of concrete hung grotesquely from the contorted reinforcing rods that were all that remained of the enemy pillbox. The flotsam of battle lay everywhere-helmets, gas masks, empty ration cans, field jackets covered with blood. Trees exploded with horrifying cracks sending long splinters whirling amongst the advancing American infantry. Mortar bombs and grenades blew gaping craters in the forest floor, Spandaus screeched and hammered forcing the GIs to crouch behind fallen trees or grovel in hollows filled with sodden autumn leaves. An American barrage crashed out in reply and seconds later the woods around the German positions erupted in smoke and flame. For ten minutes round after round slammed into the forest then, suddenly, the shelling ceased. Whistles shrilled, commands were shouted, the GIs scrambled to their feet and staggered forward. Private Hooper from Pennsylvania remembers running along with the rest of his battalion from the US 28th Infantry Division, desperately tired and frightened, eager to throw himself into the next trench. He came across a discarded boot and angrily kicked it aside, then froze in horror and retched as he saw the bloody foot sticking out.

Much time spent on Montgomery and his plans to get across the Rhine, always couched as his selfless desire to prevent the Russians from gaining access to Schleswig-Holstein and the Danish Peninsula and his desire to cut off the Ruhr factories. Of course he would also need to get to Berlin before the Russkies to make sure the Allies got the credit they deserved. Nothing for himself, mind you. The battle to get to the Rhine was given to the Canadians with British support. As it turned out the Brits did much of the fighting, and the combined British and Canadian forces wound up drawing off most of the effective German forces, which allowed the Americans to have a much easier time when they approached and crossed the Rhine. Overall, the weather and ground conditions for the British and Canadians were a horror. But they had effective ways to fight the static defenses of the Siegfried Line:
The defences had been planned early in the war and designed to resist attacks by infantry and conventional armour. To overcome them the specialist armour attached to 152nd Brigade moved forward to put into operation what was called ‘The Drill’. Here, as in similar situations elsewhere, Churchill gun tanks moved in, first firing smoke shells, to isolate the target pillbox from its supporting strong-points, then firing HE into the embrasures to soften them up and force the defenders to keep their heads down. An AVRE from 1st Assault Brigade, Royal Engineers, then closed in to fire its 290mm Petard mortar, loaded into the front of the short barrel from a hatch in place of the co-driver’s position. The Petard hurled its 40-lb ‘Flying Dustbin’ blowing in the already weakened embrasure. The coup de grace was then administered by the dreaded Crocodile of 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry which sent a flaming jet of fuel through the shattered embrasure. After this devastating and concerted attack which often lasted fifteen minutes, it was rarely necessary to repeat the performance at the other pillboxes. No matter how heroic the defenders, few dared to face the Crocodile.

The bridge at Remagen was actually not all that helpful as it was between the planned British and American crossing sites and each thought the Remagen bridgehead would draw off needed support. In the end, the Allies crossed at multiple points with greater or lesser success. A good, if not always riveting account of the last great battle. What comes clear is the overwhelming Allied advantage in men and equipment and how the great waste of German equipment in the Ardennes made the follow-on defense much harder for the Germans---and easier for the Allies.

[Dimitri]

A workmanlike account of dates, units and movements.
Has some eyewitness accounts inserted, culled from barely pensioned brains.
But it takes 250 pages to get to the Rhine & less than that to become tedious.

[Bill V]

This book is an average read. It lacks statistics and numbers and is a lot of narrative. While there are 6 maps, there is no measurement scale to them and many locations mentioned throughout the book are not found. I did gain a perspective on Montgomery that I hadn't really known before. The book also explains that this offensive employed an airdrop after the offensive had already begun. It was the first time any airdrop had ever been used in this manner. I hadn't considered that before.

[Carl]

This work covers the western Allied campaign to advance up to and across the River Rhine, during 1944-45, following the aftermath of Operation Market Garden. While the book covers the final six months of the war in general, the main focus is on the operations launched, during this period, by the British 21st Army Group (which, for the most part, comprised of American, British, and Canadian formations), under the command of Field Marshal Montgomery.

It is a well-researched work containing a wealth of primary and secondary sources, but no footnotes. Allen quotes both Allied and German personal, details the ever-increasing meddling from Hitler that confounded German strategy, and the infighting between the Allied general staff even though they were able to somehow fight a joint campaign without fracturing the alliance. Interesting, even though only published 30 years ago, Allen details what we now know as "Colossal Cracks" - the operational method employed by Montgomery in order to defeat the Germans and avoid heavy casualties - and points out that ironically the same approach (at least for crossing the Rhine) was used by the American commanders including Patton. Allen also discusses the overall strategy of the campaign, doing so with well-balanced opinions and analysis that does not come down as either "pro-Monty/narrow front" or "pro-Ike/broad front".

[William]

Completely unnecessary to spend three first chapters lecturing about the Ardenne forest and other unrelated topics to the Rhine crossings. It's a long book that includes a few interesting bits information.