Liveblogging World War II: March 23, 1945: Operation Plunder
Beginning on the night of 23 March 1945, Operation Plunder was the crossing of the River Rhine at Rees, Wesel, and south of the Lippe River by the British 2nd Army... and the U.S. Ninth Army.... XVIII U.S. Airborne Corps, consisting of the British 6th Airborne Division and the U.S. 17th Airborne Division, conducted Operation Varsity, parachute landings on the east bank in support of the operation....
The first part of Plunder was initiated by the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division, led by the 7th Black Watch at 21:00 on 23 March, near Rees.... At 02:00 on 24 March, the 15th (Scottish) Division landed between Wesel and Rees. At first, there was no opposition, but later they ran into determined resistance from machine-gun nests. The British 1st Commando Brigade entered Wesel. The U.S. 30th Division landed south of Wesel. The local resistance had been broken by artillery and air bombardment.... U.S. casualties were minimal. German resistance to the Scottish landings continued with some effect, and there were armoured counter-attacks. Landings continued, however, including tanks and other heavy equipment. The U.S. forces had a bridge across by the evening of 24 March. Operation Varsity started at 10:00 on 24 March, to disrupt enemy communications....
The Allied operation was opposed by the German 1st Parachute Army.... Unable to withstand Allied pressure, the 1st Parachute Army withdrew northeast toward Hamburg and Bremen, leaving a gap between it and the German 15th Army in the Ruhr. Joseph Goebbels... on 24 March... began his diary entry with, 'The situation in the West has entered an extraordinarily critical, ostensibly almost deadly, phase.' He went on to note the crossing of the Rhine on a broad front, and foresaw Allied attempts to encircle the Ruhr industrial heartland. On 27 March, command of the 1st Parachute Army was passed to General Günther Blumentritt.... Although Blumentritt had strict orders from Supreme Command to hold and fight, from 1 April, he managed a withdrawal with minimal casualties, eventually withdrawing beyond the Dortmund-Ems Canal to the Teutoburg Forest...
