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

And happen they do. Totally unexpectedly, the Americans will seize an intact bridge across the Rhine at Remagen on March 7. Its location is well to the south and east of the Ruhr. The Americans will then move troops across the river and secure the bridgehead. This means that the American forces in the center suddenly become more capable of advancing into Germany and flanking the Ruhr from the south than can Montgomery from the north. As fate decrees, it will take another three weeks before Montgomery’s forces can cross the Rhine in the north. And in the next forty-eight hours after Montgomery crosses, the Americans will also have crossed the Rhine in two more places to the south. Then, in another five days, the Free French Army will cross the Rhine farther east, near its headwaters.