The U.S Army Corps of Engineers had 150 years of experience in national wars and in statutory assignments prior to entering World War II (Beck, Bortz, Lynch, Mayo, Weld, 1985). The engineers tend to have a high esprit de corps, they consider themselves to be elite specialists. Engineer units have a rich history dating back to World War II, whether their military occupation skill was bridge, construction, or combat engineer. They conducted numerous amounts of training on different fighting aspects such as mobility, counter-mobility, and survivability. The engineers played important roles in many World War II battles. Their roles included the breaching of the heavily fortified Siegfried Line, also known as the “West Wall”, which protected
…show more content…
Along with the construction of pillboxes, the West Wall also contained natural terrain such as water, forests, and defiles. When open spaces presented themselves, the German constructed “Dragon Teeth”, to protect them from Allied tanks (Beck et al., 1985). The West Wall was considered impregnable. It had more than 3,000 concrete pillboxes, bunkers, and observation points constructed (Pike, 2011). On 11 September 1944, two task forces, Task Force 1 and Task Force 2, along with 3rd Armor Division meet at Eupen and camped for the night. The following morning at 0800, a reconnaissance force from Task Force 1, which consisted of infantry, tanks and engineers, headed toward the German border. Shortly before 1500, the main body meet up with the reconnaissance group and ran into the first line of defense of the Siegfried Line. It consisted of tank ditches and steel I-beams protruding out of the ground. The Allied tanks fell back for the night. During that night, 13 September 1944, the infantry began working its way behind the pillboxes (Beck et al., 1985). Once the …show more content…
Hitler ordered the destruction of the bridge in order to keep the Allied Forces from advancing. On 7 March 1945, an American recon team reached a hill overlooking Remagen. When they discovered the Ludendorff Bridge still standing, they launched a full scaled assault (“Capturing the Bridge at Remagen, 1945”, 2008). As the Allied Forces approached the bridge they began to take heavy machine gun fire. The German Army blew the bridge, once the charges were ignited the explosion happened. Nevertheless, the demolitions failed to destroy the bridge, and once the dust clear both forces knew the bridge had to be captured. At that moment, two American engineers ran down the sides of the bridge under heavy fire from the Germans. While running down the sides, they were cutting the wires and dropping the explosive charges into the river (Parfitt, 2007). The engineer could not located the wiring fuse, that would have completely destroyed the bridge. Only minutes later, three engineers came on to the bridge and found the 500-600-pound bomb correctly wired, but the fuse had blown outside the charge. When the discovery of the bomb was made, and the Allied Forces realized the explosive would not detonate, the rest of the forces came across the bridge. One of the major factors to completely capture the bridge, was the machine gun
Along with the construction of pillboxes, the West Wall also contained natural terrain such as water, forests, and defiles. When open spaces presented themselves, the German constructed “Dragon Teeth”, to protect them from Allied tanks (Beck et al., 1985). The West Wall was considered impregnable. It had more than 3,000 concrete pillboxes, bunkers, and observation points constructed (Pike, 2011). On 11 September 1944, two task forces, Task Force 1 and Task Force 2, along with 3rd Armor Division meet at Eupen and camped for the night. The following morning at 0800, a reconnaissance force from Task Force 1, which consisted of infantry, tanks and engineers, headed toward the German border. Shortly before 1500, the main body meet up with the reconnaissance group and ran into the first line of defense of the Siegfried Line. It consisted of tank ditches and steel I-beams protruding out of the ground. The Allied tanks fell back for the night. During that night, 13 September 1944, the infantry began working its way behind the pillboxes (Beck et al., 1985). Once the …show more content…
Hitler ordered the destruction of the bridge in order to keep the Allied Forces from advancing. On 7 March 1945, an American recon team reached a hill overlooking Remagen. When they discovered the Ludendorff Bridge still standing, they launched a full scaled assault (“Capturing the Bridge at Remagen, 1945”, 2008). As the Allied Forces approached the bridge they began to take heavy machine gun fire. The German Army blew the bridge, once the charges were ignited the explosion happened. Nevertheless, the demolitions failed to destroy the bridge, and once the dust clear both forces knew the bridge had to be captured. At that moment, two American engineers ran down the sides of the bridge under heavy fire from the Germans. While running down the sides, they were cutting the wires and dropping the explosive charges into the river (Parfitt, 2007). The engineer could not located the wiring fuse, that would have completely destroyed the bridge. Only minutes later, three engineers came on to the bridge and found the 500-600-pound bomb correctly wired, but the fuse had blown outside the charge. When the discovery of the bomb was made, and the Allied Forces realized the explosive would not detonate, the rest of the forces came across the bridge. One of the major factors to completely capture the bridge, was the machine gun