Embracing Our Military
Arsenal History Minute | Ludendorff Bridge
Special | 1mVideo has Closed Captions
Arsenal History Minute | Ludendorff Bridge
Arsenal History Minutes from March 2023
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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Embracing Our Military is a local public television program presented by WQPT PBS
WQPT is a public media service of Western Illinois University
Embracing Our Military
Arsenal History Minute | Ludendorff Bridge
Special | 1mVideo has Closed Captions
Arsenal History Minutes from March 2023
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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Embracing Our Military is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
(dramatic music) - On seven March, 1945, the Ninth Armor Division of the US First Army had been rapidly advancing towards Orion River to unexpectedly find that the Ludendorff Bridge had not yet been destroyed by the Germans.
The Germans knew the importance of the bridge and had rigged it with over 6,000 pounds of explosives.
Fortunately, only some of the charges detonated.
American forces quickly took the bridge.
The strategic status of the bridge forced the Germans to employ all types of weaponry from their arsenal, including V2 rockets, railroad guns, 600 millimeter mortars and a huge air campaign to try to destroy the bridge.
The US proceeded to deploy the highest concentration of anti-aircraft weapons in the Second World War to secure the bridge.
The Americans counted 367 German aircraft attacking the bridge.
The capture of the Bridgehead at Remagen on 24 March dramatically shortened the war.
(dramatic music)
Embracing Our Military is a local public television program presented by WQPT PBS
WQPT is a public media service of Western Illinois University