Operation Flashpoint (March 1945)

Logistics Operation Flashpoint was the Ninth United States Army part of Operation Plunder, the crossing of the lower Rhine by the 21st Army Group during March 22–28 March 1945, in the last months of World War II, in which the Ninth Army established bridgeheads in the sector between Wesel and Walsum on the right bank of the Rhine.

Operation Flashpoint, under the command of William H. Simpson, involved an assault by the 30th Infantry Division (between Wesel and Möllen) and the 79th Infantry Division (between Möllen and Walsum), a sector defended by the 1st Parachute Army commanded by Alfred Schlemm.

On the night of 23 March, Company E and C constructed two preliminary treadway rafts over the Rhine, south of Wesel and opposite Spellen (now part of the town of Voerde).

Over 1152 feet of M2 treadway and 93 pneumatic floats were used in the project, which required just six hours and fifteen minutes to complete, setting a record for the size of the bridge.

Once the 8th Armored Division was across, the Ninth Army was able to break out of the bridgehead, push along the northern edge of the Ruhr Pocket, and link up on 1 April near Lippstadt with the First United States Army coming from the south, thus surrounding the German Army Group B under the command of Walter Model.