Heroes: the Army
A
Special Tribute to the Men of:
Co.
F., 405th Regiment, 102nd Division (2nd Battalion)
European Theater of Operations
The Allies Drive for the Rhine
From an article in LIFE magazine, March 12,
1945
Since December the U. S. First and Ninth Arimes had
been building up strength behind the swollen little Roer River. On
Feb. 23 they let it go with a stunning night barrage. The Germans at
the river were quickly overpowered. Beyond the river the rigid
framework of their Rhineland defense began to break down. A week
after the first gun had been fired at the Roer, the Ninth had arrived
at the Rhine opposite Dusseldorf. The men of the Ninth exchanged
shots with the Germans on the other side.
Lieut. General William H. Simpson, commander of the
Ninth, hd been waiting for this drive to the Rhine. If the river was
to be crossed by his army, the smooth crossing of the Roer was a
battle rehearsal. For weeks the muddy little stream had been an
obsession with the men of the Ninth. They prepared and planned to
cross it early in February, in coordination with drives by the
Canadians and General Patton's Third Army. But on the eve of the
crossing the Germans opened the gates in the big earth dams of the
upper Roer, partly flooding the cabbage land of the lower valley.
General Simpson was forced to postpone the crossing while his
engineers calculated when it would be possible.
The
engineers, watching the flood dimish, told the general the crossing
could be made on Feb. 23. The Ninth began to get ready again. The men
and tanks and portable sections of pontoon bridges moved up to the
river. At 2:45 A.M. the barrage began and a smokescreen drifted over
river to cover the crossing.
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As
the morning sun shines through the open roof of a house in
Julich, Ninth Army infantrymen dash across Roer under German
mortar and machine-gun fire.
The
U. S. Breakthrough Begins with the Crossing of the Roer: The
Ninth Army's crossing of the Roer was a short, violent
struggle against the Germans and the river. Forty-five
minutes after the night barrage had begun, assault boats and
amphibious tractors started across in a great wave. In some
of the boats were combat engineers, ferrying cables to moor
their pontoon bridges in midstream. It was an excruiating
few hours for the engineers. The flood had lessened but the
current was still swift and strong. Runaway boats and
pontoons careened downsteam crashing into the bridges as
they were being built. As the work went on the Germans kept
up a blind but deadly machine-gun and mortar barrage through
the smokescreen. But in spite of diffculties there were two
footbridges across the Roer in the morning. Later the
engineers put in bigger bridges for trucks and
tanks.
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Click on image to see larger
view
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Click on image to see larger
view
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On
another Roer footbridge lies the body of an American soldier
who was hit by German mortar-shell fragments when he was
only 50 feet from east bank.
The
hardest crossing on the Ninth Army front was made by teh
veteran 29th Division of julich, which appears on the far
side of the river on the opposite page.
The wreckage along the Roer at Julich was
reminiscent of Normandy. All of Julich except the ancient
moated citadel was taken by afternoon, freeing the 29th to
join the power drive across the Cologne plain. But even
after the entry into Julich, the crossing of the Roer were
places of danger. The Germans still had the river under
observation and shelled it heavily. The little bridge above
and the dead soldier on it were principals in a grisly
little drama which is unfolded on the following
pages.
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Caption on
the following sequence of images read as follows:
Life Photographer George Silk Records Grim Little
Incident of U. S. Combat Engineers at One of the Roer Pontoon
Bridges.
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1
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On the east bank of the Roer, engineers edge
toward a little picket of Germans left behind by the main
advance. The Germans were sniping at the engineers on the
bridge.
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2
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Some
of the Germans walk out holding their hankerchiefs as white
flags. The others, still undecided about surrendering, were
killed when they fired a few halfhearted shots at the
engineers.
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3
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Two
engineers herd the prisoners back to the bridge. Just after
LIFE's George Silk made this picture, one of the prisoners
pulled a live grenade out of his pocket and tossed it to the
ground.
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4
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Dazed men stagger after exposion. The German
who threw grenade lies dead (center). Two men at the left,
one on the ground, are badly wounded. Silk was hit in
leg.
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5
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Walking across the bridge under guard, one
of the prisoners hesitates as he picks his way over the body
of the dead American shown in the picture on the proceeding
page.
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6
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Stretcher-bearers bringing back one of the
men wounded in the grenade explosion step carefully over the
body. (remainder of text missing)
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7
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Cut
by a mortar shell, the bridge swings downstream.
Stretcher-bearers with another wounded man stand helplessly
over the body on the bridge. Man in middle stands stunned by
accident.
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8
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A
splash of foam by the bridge marks where one of the men has
dived in to help the stretcher-bearers, who are trying to
keep the wounded man from falling into the
river.
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9
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A
pontoon capsizes when the fourth man climbs on to help the
stretcher-bearers and the wounded man. On the west bank in
the background other men look on transfixed.
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10
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As
the bridge rights itself, one of the stretcher-bearers pulls
wounded man out of the water. The other floats downstream on
a pontoon broken loose. the dead man still lies on the
bridge.
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11
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Motorboat comes up and the man who had been
floating away on pontoon climbs in at right. Man who had
dived in and had been hanging on to bridge, now climbs out
of water in center.
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12
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Everyone is taken aboard except the dead
man. Bigger bridges had been built upstream, so little
bridge was left swinging with dead man for the rest of
day.
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[Note: The preceeding article/photographs ran in
"LIFE" magazine on March 12,
1945 Vol. 18 No. 11., pp. 25-29. The photographer was George Silk who
recorded this small portion of the overall battle. Edward Souder has
kindly supplied World War II Stories -- In
Their Own Words the materials depicted on
this page.
Interesting note -- Ed Souder points out that the
images depicted in this article were unique in the fact that for
first times they depicted American dead -- which up to this point was
never done. The issue was moral back home.]
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George Silk in image taken at age 23 or
24
George Silk
Born: (Date and Location?)
Died: 23 October 2004 (Location?)
Mr. Silk's memory as well as
his work will be sadly missed by all who are students of
World War II. He truly was a member of "America's Greatest
Generation."
The remarkable
images depicted on this page of the history of the 102nd
Division, were taken by Mr. George Silk. Mr. Silk was a
combat photographer who was assigned to cover the Roer River
Crossing. This page is dedicated to his memory.
A very sad
note. George Silk was one of the premier photographers for
Life
magazine. His
specialty was sports photography; but he was a real artist
with his camera. Sadly, Mr. George Silk passed away on
October 23, 2004.
A special
"Thank You" is extended to a close family friend, Mr. Ed
Parker for contacting us and telling us of the passing of
Mr. Silk as well as allowing us the use of Mr. Silk's
photograph.
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Co. F., 405th Regiment -- Kitchen History
Stories:
Gene
Greenburg, Sgt., Co. F., 405th Reg. -- Gene's World War II
Diary
Jim
Hansen, Sgt., 2nd Lt., Co. F., 405th Reg. -- Jim Hansen
Remembers
Bob
Herrick, 2nd Lt., Co. F., 405th Reg. -- From the Roer to the
Rhine
Edward
L. Souder, Pfc., Co. F., 405th Reg. -- Going Off to
War
Additional
Stories Currently in the Works...
Interested in some background
information?
Check out the related links below...
United
States Army, 102nd Infantry Division
102
Infantry Division
History
of the 102nd Infantry Division
Attack
on Linnich, Flossdorf, Rurdorf - 29 Nov -- 4 Dec
1944
Gardelegen
War Crime
Gardelegen:
April 13, 1945:
Massacre
at the Isenschnibbe Barn
American Battle Monuments Commission: WWII Honor
Roll
National World
War II Memorial
Information and
photographs were generously provided to World War II
Stories -- In Their Own Words by Mr. Edward L. Souder
of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Original Story submitted on 7 September
2002.
Story added to website on 16 September 2002.
Story updated on 17 January 2005
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