Marching Orders: The Untold Story of How the American Breaking of the Japanese Secret Codes Led to the Defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan

by Bruce Lee

this great operation without fear of our flanks and without expending for purely defensive purposes more strength than we can afford.” (Emphasis added.) To Eisenhower, this means the entire front will be divided into three areas of operation. The first will be in the north where “hostile forces are to be defeated west of the Rhine and preparations made for a crossing north of the Ruhr.” The second will be in the center where heavy forces will drive on an axis of advance of Prüm–Bonn in preparation of crossing the Rhine “in support of the northern thrust.” The third area will be south of the Moselle where the “whole task is defensive unless opportunities (which now seem rather remote) later should open the Frankfurt area.” If this occurs, then Devers’s forces would also be able to advance across the Rhine.