The Allied crossing of the Rhine was the big story of March 1945. For the British it was going to be the last big operation of the war and Monty saw to it that the preparations were thorough, involving boats, airborne and a huge concentration of troops, tanks and artillery.
It was imagined that all the bridges over the Rhine were down. However, late in the day on 8 March the astonishing news broke that US troops had captured intact a bridge over the mighty river. The Germans had delayed blowing the Ludendorff Bridge at

Remagen, between the cities of Bonn and Coblenz, until the last moment in order to allow as many of their retreating soldiers across to the east bank as possible. Unfortunately for them , the demolition charges failed to ignite properly, leaving the bridge damaged but still standing. First Army US troops bravely rushed across to establish a first bridgehead in the German heartland.
Despite German shellfire, the bridgehead was rapidly reinforced under the cover of a powerful air 'umbrella' and US columns were soon probing deep into Germany. The Luftwaffe tried to bomb the bridge and enemy frogmen came down the river and attempted unsuccessfully to plant explosives on the structure's supports. In the middle of the month the damaged bridge collapsed into the Rhine but not before thousands of Allied men, tanks and vehicles had crossed into Germany.
It was a different story at Cologne, 35 miles to the north of Remagen. The city had long been a regular target of RAF bombers since 1941 and was the scene of the first 'thousand bomber raid' on 30 May 1942.

Above: A painting of Cologne being bombed by the RAF (National Archives - Art of War).
Left: Cologne Cathedral still stands amidst the ruins of the city.
Right: The Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine at Remagen.

By March 1945 over 13,000 houses in the city had been damaged or destroyed and the Hohenzollern Bridge was down in the river (see photograph on page 243. However, Cologne's distinctive twin-spired cathedral led a charmed life; like St Paul's in London it was surrounded by rubble and broken buildings yet miraculously remained largely undamaged as can be seen in the photograph here.