Suzan

What is there to see here? I have laerned that my father fought here in
WWII, so it holds some personal interest. I have visited the town's
website, and am now wondering if we should detour (about and hour) from our
plans in the Rheinland. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who
has visited.

Devil

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 10:47:43 -0400, Suzan wrote:

    > What is there to see here? I have laerned that my father fought here in
    > WWII, so it holds some personal interest. I have visited the town's
    > website, and am now wondering if we should detour (about and hour) from our
    > plans in the Rheinland. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who
    > has visited.

Is that the "one bridge too far" place?

Lennart Petersen

"devil" <> skrev i meddelandet
news:...
    > On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 10:47:43 -0400, Suzan wrote:
    > > What is there to see here? I have laerned that my father fought here in
    > > WWII, so it holds some personal interest. I have visited the town's
    > > website, and am now wondering if we should detour (about and hour) from
our
    > > plans in the Rheinland. I would be interested in hearing from anyone
who
    > > has visited.
    > Is that the "one bridge too far" place?
No , one too bridge too far was at Arnhem , Netherlands.
Contrary to that real troubleful event was the Remagen bridge a big success.
Most bridges over Rhine was blown up to prevent the allied forces to cross
the river into main Germany. For some odd reason one bridge at Remagen was
left and could be used for the crossing after some battle.
It remains a question of why it was left. Some sources have claimed that
German officers preferring the west allied to the Russians left it by
purpose.
Hitler ordered some executions due to the failure at Remagen.
AFAIK the original bridge isn't left as it collapsed some time after the
crossing, but at that time it was easy to establish other crossings.

Dave Smith

devil wrote:

    > On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 10:47:43 -0400, Suzan wrote:
    > > What is there to see here? I have laerned that my father fought here in
    > > WWII, so it holds some personal interest. I have visited the town's
    > > website, and am now wondering if we should detour (about and hour) from our
    > > plans in the Rheinland. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who
    > > has visited.
    > Is that the "one bridge too far" place?

No. That was Arnhem, more specifically, Oosterbeeke.

Jmw

We went there on vacation several years ago and thought it worthwhile. There
is (or was then) a museum there and a small gift shop built in the remains
of the bridge. The museum was nicely done and IIRC the display legends were
in English. It was a bit out of our way to see it, but I am glad we did. I
would think if your father had fought there, it would be well worth your
time. We were there in early June and were the only ones visiting. I am not
sure it is a big tourist draw.

Janet


"Suzan" <sewillcox@NO_SPAMcomcast.net> wrote in message
news:...
    > What is there to see here? I have laerned that my father fought here in
    > WWII, so it holds some personal interest. I have visited the town's
    > website, and am now wondering if we should detour (about and hour) from
our
    > plans in the Rheinland. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who
    > has visited.

Arwel Parry

In message <>, devil
<> writes
    >On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 10:47:43 -0400, Suzan wrote:
    >> What is there to see here? I have laerned that my father fought here in
    >> WWII, so it holds some personal interest. I have visited the town's
    >> website, and am now wondering if we should detour (about and hour) from our
    >> plans in the Rheinland. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who
    >> has visited.
    >Is that the "one bridge too far" place?

No, that was at Arnhem in the Netherlands. The bridge at Remagen was
captured intact, though it collapsed into the Rhine some weeks later
from the damage received in the battle, though by then the Allies had
got well over the river.

There's a 1969 movie "The Bridge at Remagen" starring George Segal,
Robert Vaughn, and Ben Gazzara, which tells the story and no doubt will
appear on your TV eventually!
See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064110/combined for details.

Keith Anderson

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 19:15:54 +0100, Arwel Parry
<> wrote:

    >In message <>, devil
    ><> writes
    >>On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 10:47:43 -0400, Suzan wrote:
    >>> What is there to see here? I have laerned that my father fought here in
    >>> WWII, so it holds some personal interest. I have visited the town's
    >>> website, and am now wondering if we should detour (about and hour) from our
    >>> plans in the Rheinland. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who
    >>> has visited.

For my sins, I worked a while back on Rhine and Moselle river cruises
and gave commentary about what could be seen of Remagen from a passing
ship.

Obviously the bridge featured, and with mainly elderly people on board
it was the major topic - but there are also some pleasant
half-timbered houses in some of the side streets plus a massive
Romanesque church. A little outside the town is the
"Apollinariskirche" perched up above the riverside. It was built in
the 19th century by Ernst Friedrich Zwirner, the neo-Gothic architect
who put the spires on Cologne cathedral. In fact, the spires of the
Apollinariskirche are miniature versions of the Cologne spires. From
what I've read, Zwirner got all the best architects of his age to
contribute to the church..................having said all this, I hope
you can (a) gain access and (b) that if you do, you're impressed!
    >>Is that the "one bridge too far" place?
    >No, that was at Arnhem in the Netherlands. The bridge at Remagen was
    >captured intact, though it collapsed into the Rhine some weeks later
    >from the damage received in the battle, though by then the Allies had
    >got well over the river.
    >There's a 1969 movie "The Bridge at Remagen" starring George Segal,
    >Robert Vaughn, and Ben Gazzara, which tells the story and no doubt will
    >appear on your TV eventually!
    >See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064110/combined for details.

Rsl

I was a soldier in the US Army of Occupation in Germany. I was officially
awarded (as a souvenier I suppose) an Army Service Medal that has the
Remagan Bridge on one side, and Fujiyama on the reverse. I visited the
Remagen area. I would not detour to visit this area if I had anything else
to see.
"Suzan" <sewillcox@NO_SPAMcomcast.net> wrote in message
news:...
    > What is there to see here? I have laerned that my father fought here in
    > WWII, so it holds some personal interest. I have visited the town's
    > website, and am now wondering if we should detour (about and hour) from
our
    > plans in the Rheinland. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who
    > has visited.

Rsl

No. That was a reference to the Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery-designed
DISASTER operation called "Market Garden" which was in the Netherlands.
"devil" <> wrote in message
news:...
    > On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 10:47:43 -0400, Suzan wrote:
    > > What is there to see here? I have laerned that my father fought here in
    > > WWII, so it holds some personal interest. I have visited the town's
    > > website, and am now wondering if we should detour (about and hour) from
our
    > > plans in the Rheinland. I would be interested in hearing from anyone
who
    > > has visited.
    > Is that the "one bridge too far" place?

Tim Harrison

If you have extra time and a car I would recomend going to the bridge. It
is a couple miles from the train station.

Remagen is about half an hour's drive from Koblenz along highway B9. I
usually start my Rhine drive in Bonn and end in Bingen.

The museum was closed last time I was there (Feb 03),
but there are plaques with the history of the bridge and all the American
and German units that were involved in the battle. It was built during the
First World War to send troops to the Western Front.

Tim

"Suzan" <sewillcox@NO_SPAMcomcast.net> wrote in message
news:...
    > What is there to see here? I have laerned that my father fought here in
    > WWII, so it holds some personal interest. I have visited the town's
    > website, and am now wondering if we should detour (about and hour) from
our
    > plans in the Rheinland. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who
    > has visited.