Rhineland

Medal of Honor · 04-11-2004, 12:05 AM

What was Rhineland, it is on the back of my grandfather's discharge paper under the 'Battles and Campaigns' section. Thanks.

Thomas McCall · 04-11-2004, 05:13 PM

The Rhineland was the industrial heartland of Germany with abundant supplies of coal and was an area of heavy industry. The Rhineland is situated around Dortmund, Essen and Dusseldorf.
It was the primary objective following the Normandy landings the area was encirled by the US 1st and 9th Armies in April 1945 finally falling on the 18th of April.

Medal of Honor · 04-11-2004, 05:23 PM

How could this be? My grandfather was in the 7th US Army.

Thomas McCall · 04-11-2004, 05:32 PM

He might have been attached to the US 1st or 9th Armies as the US 7th Army went to Alsace and Lorraine then on to Southern Germany.

Medal of Honor · 04-11-2004, 05:48 PM

Thanks!

angie999 · 05-11-2004, 09:07 AM

There may be some confusion here between the Rhineland and the Ruhr.

The Rhineland is the part of Germany between the Rhine and the German border.
US forces waged a long and sometimes bitter campaign here from September 1944 through to the Rhine crossings in 1945 and I would include such battles as the bloody Huertgen Forest in the campaign.

The US 7th Army entered the Rhineland area on their advance from the south, reaching beyond Worms and Mannheim before commencing their swing south to Bavaria.

After crossing the Rhine in 1945, the US 1st Army encircled the Ruhr from the south, while the US 9th Army, on the right flank of the British 21st Army Group, did so from the north, in a pincer movement to form the Ruhr pocket. Although the German forces in the pocket held out nearly to the end, with the Ruhr encircled the heartland of German coal and munitions production was cut off from the rest of Germany, thus hastening the end of the war.

Thomas McCall · 05-11-2004, 05:10 PM

Apologies I believed the Rhineland and Ruhr were the same.

Sorry

Kiwiwriter · 06-11-2004, 04:22 AM

All the American fighting in the area between the German border and the Rhine River, from the end of the Battle of the Bulge until the Rhine Crossing, is considered the "Rhineland" battle for service records and histories.

angie999 · 08-11-2004, 01:25 PM

An interesting online article:

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures.../rhineland.htm

04-11-2004, 05:13 PM	#2 (permalink)
Thomas McCall Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Carmarthen, Wales Posts: 131	The Rhineland was the industrial heartland of Germany with abundant supplies of coal and was an area of heavy industry. The Rhineland is situated around Dortmund, Essen and Dusseldorf. It was the primary objective following the Normandy landings the area was encirled by the US 1st and 9th Armies in April 1945 finally falling on the 18th of April. __________________ Gadair unig ei drig draw!- Ei dwyfraich, Fel pe'n ddifrif wrandaw, Heddiw estyn yn ddistaw Mewn hedd hir am un na ddaw. gan, R.Williams Parry

04-11-2004, 05:32 PM	#4 (permalink)
Thomas McCall Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Carmarthen, Wales Posts: 131	He might have been attached to the US 1st or 9th Armies as the US 7th Army went to Alsace and Lorraine then on to Southern Germany. __________________ Gadair unig ei drig draw!- Ei dwyfraich, Fel pe'n ddifrif wrandaw, Heddiw estyn yn ddistaw Mewn hedd hir am un na ddaw. gan, R.Williams Parry

04-11-2004, 05:48 PM	#5 (permalink)
Medal of Honor Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 7	Thanks! Last edited by Medal of Honor; 01-01-2007 at 07:44 PM.

05-11-2004, 09:07 AM	#6 (permalink)
angie999 Very Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: near Bristol, UK Posts: 1,551	There may be some confusion here between the Rhineland and the Ruhr. The Rhineland is the part of Germany between the Rhine and the German border. US forces waged a long and sometimes bitter campaign here from September 1944 through to the Rhine crossings in 1945 and I would include such battles as the bloody Huertgen Forest in the campaign. The US 7th Army entered the Rhineland area on their advance from the south, reaching beyond Worms and Mannheim before commencing their swing south to Bavaria. After crossing the Rhine in 1945, the US 1st Army encircled the Ruhr from the south, while the US 9th Army, on the right flank of the British 21st Army Group, did so from the north, in a pincer movement to form the Ruhr pocket. Although the German forces in the pocket held out nearly to the end, with the Ruhr encircled the heartland of German coal and munitions production was cut off from the rest of Germany, thus hastening the end of the war. __________________ Angie "History is lived forward but it is written in retrospect. We know the end before we consider the beginning and we can never wholly recapture what it was like to know the beginning only." C V Wedgewood

06-11-2004, 04:22 AM	#8 (permalink)
Kiwiwriter Very Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Newark, NJ, and Christchurch, NZ Posts: 2,431	All the American fighting in the area between the German border and the Rhine River, from the end of the Battle of the Bulge until the Rhine Crossing, is considered the "Rhineland" battle for service records and histories. __________________ "My intensity is intense." -- Roger Clemens "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." -- Winston Churchill. "I am not a hero. The heroes are all dead. I am a survivor." -- Sgt. William Guarnere, Easy Company, 506th Parachute Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Check out my little contributions to World War II history at my web pages: World War II Plus 55 or http://davidhlippman.wildbillguarnere.com

04-11-2004, 12:05 AM	#1 (permalink)
Medal of Honor Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 7	What was Rhineland, it is on the back of my grandfather's discharge paper under the 'Battles and Campaigns' section. Thanks.

04-11-2004, 05:23 PM	#3 (permalink)
Medal of Honor Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 7	How could this be? My grandfather was in the 7th US Army.

08-11-2004, 01:25 PM	#9 (permalink)
angie999 Very Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: near Bristol, UK Posts: 1,551	An interesting online article: http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures.../rhineland.htm __________________ Angie "History is lived forward but it is written in retrospect. We know the end before we consider the beginning and we can never wholly recapture what it was like to know the beginning only." C V Wedgewood

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