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N0KFQ > TODAY 30.03.12 00:38l 46 Lines 2027 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 20062_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Mar 29
Path: IZ3LSV<IK2XDE<DB0RES<DK0WUE<7M3TJZ<ZL2BAU<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120329/2209Z 20062@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.49
Mar 29, 1945:
Patton takes Frankfurt
On this day, Gen. George S. Patton's 3rd Army captures Frankfurt,
as "Old Blood and Guts" continues his march east.
Frankfurt am Main, literally "On the Main" River, in western
Germany, was the mid-19th century capital of Germany (it was
annexed by Prussia in 1866, ending its status as a free city).
Once integrated into a united German nation, it developed into a
significant industrial city_and hence a prime target for Allied
bombing during the war. That bombing began as early as July 1941,
during a series of British air raids against the Nazis. In March
1944, Frankfurt suffered extraordinary damage during a raid that
saw 27,000 tons of bombs dropped on Germany in a single month.
Consequently, Frankfurt's medieval Old Town was virtually
destroyed (although it would be rebuilt in the postwar
period_replete with modern office buildings).
In late December 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, General
Patton broke through the German lines of the besieged Belgian
city of Bastogne, relieving its valiant defenders. Patton then
pushed the Germans east. Patton's goal was to cross the Rhine,
even if not a single bridge was left standing over which to do
it. As Patton reached the banks of the river on March 22, 1945,
he found that one bridge_the Ludendorff Bridge, located in the
little town of Remagen_had not been destroyed. American troops
had already made a crossing on March 7_a signal moment in the war
and in history, as an enemy army had not crossed the Rhine since
Napoleon accomplished the feat in 1805. Patton grandly made his
crossing, and from the bridgehead created there, Old Blood and
Guts and his 3rd Army headed east and captured Frankfurt on the
29th.
Patton then crossed through southern Germany and into
Czechoslovakia, only to encounter an order not to take the
capital, Prague, as it had been reserved for the Soviets. Patton
was, not unexpectedly, livid.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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