| Original caption: “United States First Army at Remagen Bridge before four hours before it collapsed into the Rhine.” In this view, United States Army Engineers attempt to stabilize the Ludendorff Bridge after multiple near misses by artillery, aircraft, and V-2 rockets. Many of the men in this photo died when the bridge collapsed at 1500 Hours on March 17, 1945. You can see the wooden planks the Nazi Germans laid over the railroad tracks prior to the bridge’s capture on March 7, 1945. The Ludendorff Railroad Bridge was built by Russian Prisoners of World War I from 1916 – 1919. The 1,200 foot (365 meter) bridge was accessed from a tunnel through the Erpeler Ley, a 600 foot (180 meter) basalt cliff that the Nazi Germans were fortifying with artillery and anti-aircraft guns in 1945. The 4 stone towers had fighting loopholes and could accommodate a battalion. The bridge had cavities for demolition charges, but the French occupied the Rhineland until 1936, and filled the cavities with concrete. After capturing the right bank of Cologne on March 7, 1945, The 9th Armored Division detailed Lieutenant Colonel Leonard Earl Engeman (October 6, 1906 – July 11, 2002) to capture Remagen. Lieutenant Karl H. Timmermann (June 19, 1922 – October 21, 1951) led A Company, 27th Armored Infantry Battalion discovered the intact bridge and was ordered to assault it. He and his men ran across, cutting demolition wires. Major Hans Scheller (September 7, 1913 – March 14, 1945) attempted to blow the bridge, but only damaged it. Timmermann and his men, after they took cover, continued across. Sergeant Alexander Albert Drabik (December 28, 1910 – September 28, 1993) was the 1st American soldier to make it all the way in 15 minutes. None of Timmermann’s men were hit. This was the 1st time since the Napoleonic Wars that foreign soldiers had crossed the Rhine. American engineers fixed the damage as best they could. Führer und Reichskanzler (“Leader and Reichchancellor”) Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) was furious that the bridge stood, and ordered the execution of Scheller and 3 others for dereliction of duty. The bridge was attacked by the Heer, Luftwaffe, and V-2 rockets, but withstood all attempts to bring it down by fire. On March 17, 1945, about 200 men, mostly engineers of the 276th Engineer Combat Battalion and the 1058th Port Construction and Repair Group, were attempting to stabilize the Ludendorff Bridge. Scheller’s order for demolition had resulted in damage to 1 span but not the other – that forced the undamaged span to carry the weight of 25,000 American soldiers and thousands of vehicles in the 10 days the bridge was operated in American hands before collapsing. Lieutenant Colonel Clayton A. Rust (December 29, 1916 – December 7, 1991), the Commanding Officer of the 276th Engineer Combat Battalion, barely survived the bridge collapse. Major William C. Carr (September 3, 1910 – March 17, 1945), the Commanding Officer of the 1058th Port Construction and Repair Group, died. Rust later recalled, “No one alive can say why the bridge collapsed,” Colonel Rust said later. “The bridge was rotten throughout, many members not cut had internal fractures from our own bomb-ing, German artillery, and from the German demolitions.” “The bridge was extremely weak. The upstream truss was actually useless. The entire load of traffic, equipment and dead load were supported by the good downstream truss…It is my opinion as an engineer the collapse occurred as the result of vibrations caused by numerous possible sources, i.e., air compressors, one crane, a few trucks, several electric arc welders, hammering, and finally, but important, the not insignificant concussion of heavy artillery recently emplaced in the town of Remagen…I believe that, as the vibration continued, the condition of the previously buckled top chord was aggravated to such an extent that it buckled completely under a load which of course it was not designed to carry.” The engineers of the 276th Engineer Combat Battalion and the 1058th Part Construction and Repair Group lost 7 killed, 22 missing whose bodies were never recovered and 3 who subsequently died of wounds — a total of 32 who gave up their lives; 93 others working on the bridge were injured when thrown into the icy waters of the Rhine by the sudden collapse. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0842.jpg |
| Image Size | 623.54 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2912 x 2351 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | March 17, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Remagen |
| State or Province | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NLR-PHOCO-A-837(156) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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