March 24-25, 1945 — Crossing the Rhine all but assured Germany’s coming defeat
March 24, 2025
March 27, 1045 — Phil and his men luxuriated in hot water, flush toilets, soft toilet paper, and warm, clean, comfortable beds
March 27, 2025March 26, 1045 – Phil and his 30th Infantry steamrolled eastward through the German countryside
Under cloudy skies at Lampertheim, five miles inland from the [Rhine] river, the regrouped enemy offered the most resistance of the day.[1]
Phil’s 3rd Battalion met 500 German infantry supported by 88s, Flakwagens, and armor, all determinedly holding out.
Phil’s company knocked out a complete battery of 88-mm guns, and his bazooka men destroyed two tanks that attempted to counterattack their positions. The hard fight ended when the town finally fell at 1300 hours.
After taking Lampertheim, the 3rd Battalion took out four more 76-mm anti-tank guns, clearing the woods east of the city and securing high ground. Approximately 300 enemy prisoners were taken.
With the 1st and 3rd Battalions spearheading forward movement, the 30th boarded trucks and raced nearly forty miles to seize bridges across the Main River at Wörth-am-Main, a town of several thousand only forty miles southeast of Frankfurt.
In just two weeks after crossing the Franco-German border, the regiment’s rapid advance to the Main River covered 130 miles.
While passing through village after village, Phil was surprised to see anything white—bedsheets, nightgowns, and even panties—hanging out of the windows, just like in France. It looked like wash day back in Italy.
Equally shocking was that Nazi swastikas were nowhere to be found.
The glum German citizens who lined the streets and sidewalks stared menacingly at the incoming troops. Some glared in open hostility. Others appeared to be in a daze, as if they were finally waking up to the fact that they’d been told a string of lies on the radio by Hitler and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels about how well the Germans were doing and how victory was inevitable. They gave the GIs no trouble at all, however.
Phil leaned over to his Jeep driver. “Not quite as friendly as the French, eh?”
The 30th rolled eastward, steamrolling through the German countryside. Towns where German soldiers resisted were leveled by artillery and tanks; those that surrendered were left unmolested.[2]
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[1] Larimore, At First Light, 220.
[2] Ibid.
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