Remagen

Lore & Background

The Roman Empire built a border fort at Rigomagus (or Ricomagus), west of the Rhine. This was about 12 miles north of the site of the first bridge ever built across the Rhine (at Neuwied). The fort was one of a series built by Drusus. Other Roman construction survived, including a gateway. Remagen appears on the 4th century Peutinger Map. Local legend says that in 1164 a ship carrying relics from Milan to Cologne was stopped in the river until the remains of Saint Apollinaris were put ashore. These remains were interred in a chapel which had been part of the Roman fort, which became the basis for a church bearing his name. The Ludendorff Bridge was built during World War I, designed by Karl Wiener. During Operation Lumberjack, on 7 March 1945, troops of the U.S. Army's 9th Armored Division reached the bridge and captured it. The bridge collapsed on 17 March 1945, killing 18 U.S. Army Engineers. According to another source, a total of 28 U.S. engineers were killed and 93 were injured. A pontoon bridge had by then been built across the river. In 1945, the U.S. built one of the Rheinwiesenlager enclosures close to Remagen. Several thousand prisoners are estimated to have died in the various camps, including 1,212 buried in the Bad Bodendorf Cemetery.

In Their Own Story

The first round hit the railing two inches from my helmet. I didn't flinch. You don't flinch on the Remagen. You dig your boots into the wet steel grating, you feel the whole span shudder like a struck bell, and you keep walking. Behind me, the sky is the color of rust. Ahead, the far bank is a smear of smoke and the black shapes of men who don't want me to reach them. The Rhine roars sixty feet below, brown and indifferent. I plant my rifle stock against my shoulder, squeeze, and take one more step forward. The bridge groans. I don't stop.

Reader's Guide

Overlooking the west bank of the Rhine just north of the city centre is the Apollinariskirche. It has an observation deck that is only open to parishioners on Sundays. Pedestrians reach the church via a dirt trail that passes a series of roadside monuments representing each of the fourteen Stations of the Cross. The church grounds contain an outdoor crypt and an abbey. Further down the river is one of the many castles along the Rhine, perched even higher than the Apollinariskirche. The historic railway station at Rolandseck about 5 km north of Remagen now houses the Arp Museum. The 19th century railway station was transformed into a cultural venue. Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann and Franz Liszt gave concerts there. George Bernard Shaw staged his plays there. The young poet Guillaume Apollinaire fell in love there. Musicians such as Martha Argerich, Stefan Askenase, and Yehudi Menuhin, artists such as Hans Arp, Oskar Kokoschka and Günther Uecker, and performers such as Marcel Marceau have all appeared there.

Did You Know?

• The Ludendorff Bridge was the only one of the 22 road and railroad bridges over the Rhine still standing when U.S. forces captured it in March 1945.
• The bridge collapse on 17 March 1945 killed 18 U.S. Army Engineers; another source says 28 were killed and 93 injured.
• The best-known work on the battle for the bridge is 1957's The Bridge at Remagen by American author Ken Hechler.
• In 1968 David L. Wolper produced an American motion picture, The Bridge at Remagen, which depicts historical events but is fictional in all other aspects.
• Mayor Hans Peter Kürten initiated a memorial; by selling small pieces of the bridge stones in synthetic resin, he realized more than 100,000 DM in sales profits by 1978.