The First United States Army launched the operation in March 1945 to capture strategic cities in Nazi Germany and to give the Allies a foothold along the Rhine.

The bridge finally collapsed at 3:00 PM on 17 March 1945 after ten days of aircraft bombing, direct artillery hits, near misses, and demolition attempts.

If successful, Lumberjack would capture Cologne, secure the Koblenz sector, and bring the 12th Army Group to the Rhine in the entire area north of the Moselle River.

They were to secure the region between Mosel and the Duren-Cologne and to destroy the German army's capability to fight in that area.

[3] From north to south, the attacking U.S. forces were confronted by Over 75,000 German troops were on the western banks of the bridge.

He also ordered that demolition explosives should not be laid in place until the very last moment, when the Allies were within 5 miles (8.0 km) of the bridge.

In the north, the First Army rapidly exploited bridgeheads over the Erft River, entering Euskirchen on 4 March and Cologne on the fifth.

Taking advantage of the breach, the Fourth Armored Division struck out on a 45 miles (72 km) drive to the Rhine in less than five days.

The Rhine was the last natural line of defense that the Germans hoped could be used to substantially resist the Western Allied advance.

[13] The capture of the bridge convinced the Allied high command in Western Europe that they could envelop the German industrial area of the Ruhr as opposed to focusing primarily on General Bernard Montgomery's plan, Operation Plunder, which would bring the British 21st Army Group across the Rhine into northern Germany.

The Allies were able to get six divisions across the Rhine before the Ludendorff Bridge collapsed ten days after it was captured on 17 March.

[18] Operation Lumberjack succeeded in clearing the Rhine north of Mosel of effective German forces.

Remagen created a dangerous and unpleasant abscess within the last German defenses, and it provided an ideal springboard for the coming offensive east of the Rhine.