| An American soldier talks on an SCR-300 radio while a General Motors Corporation CCKW 2 1/2 ton truck crosses the Rhine on a tredway bridge between Remagen and Linz. The sign, “The First Across The Rhine Constructed By 291 Engr C Bn 988 Tdwy Co 998 Tdwy Co The Longest Tactical Bridge Built” was moved from the left side of the bridge to the right; it was mounted on a wooden frame stand. Although the Allies had crossed the border and entered Germany, they now faced a major obstacle: the Rhine River, the last line of defense before the German heartland. The river’s crossing points were fiercely guarded by the Heer (“Nazi German Army”). 1 such crossing was at the town of Remagen, where the Ludendorff Bridge spanned the river and ended at the village of Erpel. 1 of the major crossing points of the Rhine, the Ludendorff Bridge was the site of intense fighting. Because of the stiff German resistance, as well as an unsuccessful demolition attempt by Heer engineers that had nonetheless badly damaged the bridge, the American commanders decided not to wait for the Ludendorff Bridge to be secured before moving men and equipment to the eastern bank of the Rhine. American engineers soon received orders to construct a new bridge across the Rhine. As this order made its way down the chain of command, Colonel H. Wallis Anderson (October 2, 1890 – March 14, 1973), commanding officer of the 1111th Engineer Combat Group, directed the 291st Combat Engineer Battalion to construct the bridge, which was to be an M2 steel treadway bridge capable of sustaining the width and weight of tanks and other heavy vehicles. Colonel David E. Pergrin (July 26, 1917 – April 7, 2012), though initially dumbstruck by the “enormity” of the task laid before him, got his battalion to work immediately. Captain Bill McKinsey of Pergrin’s staff was plotting the bridge site by daylight the next morning and the advance elements, Company A to be precise, arrived shortly afterward. The remainder of the 291st continued arriving throughout the day and, working round the clock, they had the long floating tread-way ready to use 32 hours after beginning. The 291st, with the help of a platoon of the 299th Engineer Combat Battalion and the 988th and 998th Treadway Bridge Companies, began construction at 0830 Hours on March 9, 1945. The fanatical determination of the Germans to destroy the bridge was evident in the volume and intensity of fire received by the engineers as they struggled to span the river. The 291st and its fellow engineering units suffered numerous casualties and significant damage to their equipment, all as a result of constant German artillery barrages, occasional strafing by Luftwaffe aircraft, and even 1 incident where panzer units in Erpel laid down direct fire on the engineers and their construction site. Despite all these obstacles, Pergrin and his engineers completed the bridge, touching down on the east bank of the Rhine at 1710 hours on March 10, 1945, just under 36 hours after initial construction began. It was the 1st Allied bridge built across the Rhine, and remains the longest tactical bridge of its type ever assembled under enemy fire. The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion had greatly contributed to the success of the Allies against the Nazi Germans. It might have been done faster if the artillery fire had not been so heavy that 1 entire pontoon section of the bridge was blown out of the water and had to be rebuilt. But at 1700 Hours, on the afternoon of March 11, the 1st trucks of the 78th Infantry Division rolled across. It was the longest tactical bridge built in Europe during the entire war, and the 291st had another feather in their cap. To Malmédy and the Amblève Line they now added the 1st bridge built across the Rhine and the battle star of Remagen. They guarded the bridge until March 17. Saw their 1st V-2 rockets and the battalion headquarters narrowly escaped being buried by 1. Saw their 1st jet-propelled planes sweeping lightning-fast down the river. They witnessed the collapse of the Ludendorff Bridge and rescued many of the survivors, men caught on the bridge when it fell, as they floated down the stream to their tredway. They pulled them out of the river and carried them to their aid station and once again 291st medics gave aid to survivors of an unforeseeable incident. They lost 1 man killed at Remagen, Private Merion Priester, and had 18 men wounded, all by artillery fire. Colonel Pergrin later wrote, “When I reached the western approach again, I confirmed that the bridge, which had taken just 30 hours to drive from bank to bank, was 1,032 feet in length. This was by a considerable margin the longest tredway bridge built to that time. Until then, there were many who doubted the efficacy of this type of bridge at that length, but the war would yet produce even longer tredway bridges-thanks in part to some of our on-the-run innovations. However, our Remagen bridge remains the longest tactical bridge of its type ever built under enemy fire. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0856.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.63 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4147 x 3032 |
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| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | March 10, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Linz am Rhein |
| State or Province | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| 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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