| 300,000 Düsseldorfers turned out to greet the 16.Artillerie-Regiment from Münster. The horse-drawn heavy artillery regiment was accompanied by a small aviation unit. They crossed the Skagarak Bridge, named for the World War I naval battle, and entered the city center. Here Düsseldorfer women give them bouquets of flowers. Hitlerjugend (“Hitler Youth”) distributed cigarettes. The 16.Artillerie-Regiment had a brass band lead the parade into Düsseldorf. The Heer (“Army”) troops were reviewed by the 6th Infantry Division Commander, Major General Walter Kuntze (February 23, 1883 – April 1, 1960); symbolically at the site of Albert Leo Schlageter’s (August 12, 1894 – May 26, 1923) execution for sabotage during the French occupation. The Nazis had turned Schlageter into a resistance hero against the French. Roads were choked late into the night with motorized troops, moving steadily toward their destinations. The soldiers, chiefly young recruits conscripted in recent months, apparently realized more than the populace the seriousness of their mission. They were grave, and unwilling to take part in the demonstrations. Yet a significant part of the Heer would always remain horse drawn, limiting their mobility. The Miami Herald reported, “Many German children today saw the goose-step for the first time. They seemed to like it.” Like all other Rhine bridges in Düsseldorf, the Skagerrak Bridge was blown up by the Wehrmacht on March 3, 1945, in order to delay the advance of the British and Americans across the Rhine. This cut off power for many Düsseldorfers for months until well after the war. The British built a temporary bridge that was damaged by a shipping accident in 1947. A more resilient temporary bridge opened for vehicular traffic in 1947 and pedestrian traffic in 1948. The current cable-stayed bridge, now named Oberkassel for the neighborhood to which it connects, opened in 1973. This photo was widely circulated and became the iconic depiction of the remilitarization of the Rhineland. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0520.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.31 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4652 x 3731 |
| Photographer | Stanley Devon |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | March 8, 1936 |
| Location | |
| City | Düsseldorf |
| State or Province | North Rhine-Westphalia |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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