The Rhine Crossing: Operations Plunder & Varsity | March 1945

In March 1945, the 21st Army Group, commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, closed up to the River Rhine in Western Germany. On the night of the 23/24 March, the Army Group launched an offensive to establish a bridgehead on the East bank of the river; involving both ground and airborne troops, this offensive was on a scale not seen in the North-West European theatre since the invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

This documentary is dedicated to the memory of Major General Thomas Rennie, G.O.C. 51st Highland Division
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- The Pilgrimage, Ck Martin
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*NO PART OF THIS VIDEO MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM (REACTIONS OR RE-UPLOADED) WITHOUT THE PRIOR PERMISSION OF THE CREATOR*
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Documentary Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction & Build-up
04:32 - Op Plunder, Br Second Army
09:24 - Operation Varsity
12:28 - Op Plunder, US Ninth Army
15:23 - The Aftermath

[livethforevermore]

I am super proud to announce the release of an eBook project I have been working on over the past few months!
This book is part one of a series that will cover the histories of every Division that was active in the British Army from September 1939 – January 1947. Part one covers the Armoured & Cavalry Divisions.

The histories in the book cover a Divisions full story, from its formation to disbandment, and everything in between, including movements, actions, planned moves, key dates, commanders etc. Also included is a full outline of a Divisions movement in the U.K. and in the post-war period, two topics that are often overlooked in the historiography of the British Army. For some of the Divisions, such as the 9th Armoured, 10th Armoured and the 1st Cavalry, this is the first time in over 80 years that their war chronicle is told in full.

If you are interested and would like to purchase a copy of the book, be sure to check out the link below:

[scottc]

My Granddad died during Operation Veritable and is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery. I still have letters he wrote and his medals.

[davidcorbett]

My father was at that crossing with the Royal Ulster Rifles. He had fought at Dunkirk and D Day prior to that. He never talked about any of it, he died in 1969 of cancer RIP

[alomaalber]

I knew many of the Rangers in that unit as older gentlemen, they taught me much and noted they trained in the UK before the event. A history note, some had grappling hook and rope that day, Others free climbed, one helped briefly by his pocket knife. He noted there were shots from above at them WHILE climbing. Factor that in! They would all be supportive of any documentary or additional history presented. And... they taught joie d'vivre to me. ENJOY your days! Cheers and God bless them all!

[ArbutusWVI]

My father was a member of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and made his only combat jump participating in Operation Varsity. He was 20 yrs., 2mos. at the time. 1 Can Para went on to stop the Red Army from advancing westward beyond Wismar Germany, which later came under Soviet control regardless, because of political agreements by the big 3 war leaders. Dad died in 1995.

[lindapetzing]

This is an excellent summary. Thank you for publishing. My late father was a medic with 35 FDS, a small party of which crossed with 51 Highland Div to form 30 Corps Casualty Evacuation post on the enemy bank near Rees. They were under small arms fire for about three days and took casualties. His CO Captain Esmonde was awarded the MC for his actions in saving many casualties. Prior to set up of the post he drove his jeep, loaded with sandbags over the site to check for mines!

[alexanderleach]

Great video. One of the greatest military history channels on Youtube.

[RangaTurk]

Check out David H Lippman's article 'Across The Rhine' in the August 2013 edition of WWII History magazine. Gaps in the line at Wesel opened up because the town was so badly flattened and the defending German troops were found in such a state of shock hiding in cellars, sometimes in groups of over a dozen. Wesel was so badly damaged that the British commando's maps were useless, as half of it was a moonscape of bomb craters no doubt worse than was found at Caen after the battles there and arguably worse than the state Stalingrad was left in during February 1943. Refer to the photos in the article.

[auldflyer]

Excellent presentation, very informative, should be part of the curriculum in all U.K. schools but alas it's not PC to talk of or teach about real heroism.

[colinmartin]

My father was part of the assaulting British forces, manning 25pdr artillery. Young people today tell me that they are ashamed of I say what about the sacrifice in WWI to save Belgium and the sacrifice in WWII to destroy Nazism?

[markpaul-ymwg]

Video making doesn't get any better than this.Splendid job, Ole chap.

[richardw]

Superb as usual. One of, if not the best, Military History channels on YouTube. Thank you for the time and effort it takes to put these together.

[Mosey]

My Pop crossed the Roer and the Rine. He said the artillery barrage was so heavy it caused some guys to crack. He was with the 30th Infantry 120th Regiment and he had been through several bombardments at Mortain, operation Cobra and throughout there advances. He landed about 6 days after D-Day and fought through into Germany . My Uncle is working on a book I hope he’s able to publish it.

[hannibalx]

Thank you for not putting music... I'll have to revisit this later to fully digest it. High level strategy.

[kiwifruit]

Thanks for covering this, it goes overlooked and is really interesting

[fghjjjk]

My Grandad and the rest of 1st battalion Cheshires were part of this after changing from a machine gun outfit to an infantry Cheshires crossed the Rhine in support of the 1st Commando Brigade at Wesel after the latter had made a surprise crossing of the Rhine. They advanced under a terrific barrage of 1, 500 guns to form the spearhead of the British assault. By 2 am on 24 March their first objective, the town of Wesel, was captured and 350 German prisoners had been taken.

[paulaustin]

The time and dedication for these video's is ridiculous, Fair play brother

[lib]

A very good summary and most appreciated.

It's nice to see someone mention the Canadian involvement (often overlooked) in WW2 vids. A few minor comments on the make up of Plunder: 9th Cdn Inf Bde was in the assault across the Rhine. Also, First Cdn Para Bn was part of UK 6 AB Div (as they were in D Day as well). They were in Hill's 3rd Bde which was the first to be dropped. Now, when talking 'big hand-small map manoeuvres' where the basic elements are divisions, it's easy for a mere bde and an independent para bn to be inconsequential. But, to us, they represent a real source of national pride for a small nation. Following the crossing, exploitation force also contained 4 X Cdn divs.

First Cdn Army at the time of Op Veritable marked the greatest number of soldiers ever commanded by a Cdn general. With UK I and XXX Corps att, along with the Polish Div etc, Harry Crerar commanded 450, 000 troops. Of that, only 175, 000 were actually Cdn. An event unlikely to ever happen again.

[spazz]

So love the detail of the videos! Thank you!

[donkeene]

Thank you for posting this. Your video filled in some missing gaps in some research my brother and I have done. Our father was with the 36th Calvary (US) attached to the US Ninth Army. He and the 36th crossed the Rhine at Wesel with some "shared" equipment from the British.