Operation Plunder

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Operation Plunder
Part of the Western Allied invasion of Germany in the Western Front of the European theatre of World War II
U.S. 89th Division crossing the Rhine under fire
Date 23–27 March 1945 (1945-03-23 – 1945-03-27) Location Lower Rhine region, Germany Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom  United States  Canada	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Bernard Montgomery Miles Dempsey William H. Simpson	Johannes Blaskowitz Alfred Schlemm
Units involved
21st Army Group British 2nd Army U.S. 9th Army 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade[1]	Army Group H 1st Parachute Army
Strength
1,284,712 men 5,481 artillery pieces[2]	69,000 men 45 tanks
Casualties and losses
United Kingdom 3,968 casualties[3] United States 2,813 casualties[3] 6,781 casualties total	16,000 captured[3]

Operation Plunder was a military operation to cross the Rhine on the night of 23 March 1945, launched by the 21st Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. The crossing of the river was at Rees, Wesel, and south of the river Lippe by the British Second Army under Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey, and the United States Ninth Army under Lieutenant General William H. Simpson.

The Battle of the Rhine was crucial for the advancement of the Allied advance into Germany, and was planned by Monty (the king of set-piece operations) as a three-army assault, including an airborne assault, a five-thousand-gun artillery barrage, and Anglo-American bombers. Thousands of tons of supplies were brought forward including huge amounts of bridging equipment.^[4]

The First Allied Airborne Army conducted Operation Varsity on the east bank of the Rhine in support of Operation Plunder, consisting of U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps, the British 6th and the U.S. 17th Airborne Divisions.

Operation Grenade in February by Simpson's Ninth Army and Crerar's Canadians was also expected to prepare the ground.^[5]

Preparations such as accumulation of supplies, road construction, and the transport of 36 Royal Navy landing craft, were hidden by a massive smoke screen from 16 March. The operation commenced on the night of 23 March 1945. It included the Varsity parachute and glider landings near Wesel, and Operation Archway, by the Special Air Service.