Ten Minutes To Save A Bridge The bridge—large and ugly—and the river loomed ahead. Floor plankings had been laid over the tracks on the bridge to convert the span from railroad to vehicular traffic. The river ran swift and deep between the towering cliffs. No one knew the strength of the enemy on the other side of the river or just when the explosions would be touched off. Lt. Timmermann gathered his forces near the bridge, gave them instructions. It was 1550. In the face of murderous fire, the 27th Armd. doughs had just 10 minutes to cross the river if the Germans were running on schedule. As the men started onto the bridge, a heavy blast rocked the span two-thirds of the way across. The attacking platoon halted momentarily, then took off again when it saw the three spans still standing. Three members of the 9th Armd. Engr. Bn.—1st Lt. Hugh Mott, Nashville, Tenn.; Sgt. Eugene Dorland, Manhattan, Kan.; S/Sgt. John Reynolds, Lincolnton, N.C.—dashed onto the bridge to cut the demolition wires. All hands, especially the engineers, worked with a speed never attained before. As the doughs rushed ahead, engineers cut all the wires below the bridge deck, preventing the Nazis from touching off a 40-pound charge planted on the crossbeams underneath. Next, engineers raced across to the far side of the bridge to cut the main cable. Sgt. Dorland squeezed the cable with a pair of small pliers but couldn't even dent it. Without hesitating, he fired three shots into the cable with his carbine, smashing the line completely. Ninth Armd. men later learned how close they came to disaster. Engineers located one 500-pound charge of TNT about two thirds of the way across the river. Its cap had gone off but the charge failed to explode. Lt. Mott and his two sergeants also found 350-pound charges, which had not been set off, in the piers. One of the cables leading to the main charge had been severed, possibly by artillery. While engineers were hard at work, doughs dashed across the bridge, firing as they went. Enemy fire didn't disturb them nearly as much as the thought that the bridge might be blown up at any minute. It was a long drop to the river. The leader of the first platoon, T/Sgt. Joseph Delisio, New York City, silenced the machine gun fire from the right tower by rushing up the stairs and capturing the two-man crew. Sgt. Mike Chinchar, Rochelle Park, N.J., assisted by S/Sgt. Anthony Samele, Bronx, N.Y., and Pfc Artus Massie, Patterson's Creek, W.Va., took care of the machine gun in the left tower. They threw the gun into the Rhine and took the gunner prisoner. Now, infantrymen received covering fire from the towers. First across the Rhine was Sgt. Alexander A. Drabik, Holland, O., who was closely followed by Pfc Marvin Jensen, Slayton, Minn. On their heels were Samele, Delisio, Chinchar, Massie, S/Sgt. Carmine J. Sabia, Brooklyn; Pfc Martin Reed, Assaria, Kan.; Pvt. Joseph K. Peoples, Warrenton, N.C. Reaching the east end of the bridge, Drabik and several others cut to the left. Some moved into the railroad tunnel while the remainder, led by Lt. Emmet Burrows, Jersey City, N.J., started up a steep basaltic cliff to wipe out snipers in a house on the cliff. The climb was so steep that the men used shrubbery and trees to pull themselves up. After clearing out the snipers, Burrows and his men underwent a terrific artillery and mortar shelling. The hill later was called "Suicide Cliff" and "Flak Hill." A complicated command problem developed for Gen. Hoge at the time of the crossing. The III Corps had not yet received word that the Remagen bridge had been captured and sent down orders for the 9th to move south across the Ahr River. By driving swiftly along the west bank of the Rhine, the 9th could link up with Third Army forces and prevent thousands of Germans from crossing the Rhine to the south. But the division already had troops on the east bank of the Rhine and needed all its forces for the bridgehead operation. Gen. Hoge held those troops on the east bank while he contacted Maj. Gen. John W. Leonard, Toledo, O., division commander. The decision to hold the bridgehead will live in military history. It brought highest praise from Allied commanders. Gen. Hoge had sensed every hazard. German forces across the river were an unknown quantity. This could well be a trap. Artillery might knock out the bridge after the division had crossed over. The reward seemed worth all risks. An Allied bridge across the Rhine would be of immense strategic and tactical importance. It might be a blow from which the Germans never could recover. Gen. Hoge, with full confidence in his troops, obtained authority from Gen. Leonard to stick with the bridgehead and to expand it. "A moment for history" was Time Magazine's comment later. While awaiting III Corps confirmation of the decision, CC B prepared to spring its might on the bridgehead as Combat Command A was ordered to relieve CC B's south column at Sinzig. On the north, the 89th Cavalry Recon Sqdn. (Mecz.), relieved 1st Bn., 310th Regt., 78th Div., which had been attached to the 9th. Third Corps ordered an all-out fight to build up the bridgehead as soon as it was informed of the Rhine crossing. CC A was instructed to hold the bridgehead over the Ahr River. Foot troops—doughs who could dig in and hold their positions—rushed across the bridge. A heavy fog cloaked the span that first night as the first tanks started across about midnight. They were Shermans of the 14th Tank Bn.; the roadway wasn't wide enough for the new Pershings. Sgt. William. J. Goodson, Rushville, Ind., commanded the first tank to span the river. A serious threat to the over-all operation loomed when a tank destroyer from the 656th TD Bn. slipped into a hole in the bridge flooring, then balanced precariously on two beams. Because of the delicate balance, the vehicle was unable to use its own power to extricate itself. Meanwhile, armored reinforcements, sorely needed to repel the inevitable German counter-attacks, were prevented from crossing. Commanders worked feverishly to remove this obstacle. For a time they considered dumping the tank destroyer into the river but decided against that move because it might further damage the bridge. Meanwhile, foot troops continued to make progress. Moving with extreme caution, salvage crews finally towed the TD from the bridge, enabling men and vehicles again to pour across the bridge in an unending stream.