Title:BATTLE FOR THE RHINELAND PART 3: FINAL MOVES [Main Title]
Film Number:DRA 1563
Other titles:
Summary: Final part of a historical overview of the Battle for the Rhine, 1945.
Description: The battle started on February 8th, 1945 and ended 31 days later on March 10th. It was a converging attack to close the west bank of the Rhine between Nijmegen and Düsseldorf by the 1st Canadian and 9th US Armies of Field Marshal Montgomery's 21st Army Group. The three-part film concentrates on the Northern pincer and the operations of the 1st Canadian Army, which had British 30 Corps under command. Its plan was for a lightning blow in massive strength to blast a way through the German West Wall defences South-East of Nijmegen and race to the Rhine opposite Wesel in about three or four days. In the event British and Canadian troops experienced some of the toughest fighting of the North West European Campaign, something their commanders planned to avoid. The final offensive, Operation Blockbuster, was launched in still appalling conditions and at the Germans' strongest positions but it fared little better than Operation Veritable. Finally the pressure told and the Germans were forced to make an orderly withdrawal across the Rhine.The film ends with a discussion between two serving officers, one British and one German, members of a Rhineland Battle study group. They raise matters of particular relevance to the conduct of warfare in the North-West European Theatre today.
