WWII Dramatic footage of River Crossing, 29th Crosses Roer, Germany, 1945, Jülich

US 29th Division Crosses Roer River, Germany, 1945, Jülich

Video is in the Public Domain.

US Army Signal Corps footage of the crossing of the Roer River in Germany in February, 1945 ("29th Division Cros.ses the Roer", 23 February 1945, LIB 3278, 111, ADC, 1868, Source: AFCF (M-1310-1313), Film: ARCH MP & APC MP, 821' silent.

On 23-25 February 1945, the 84th and 29th Divisions, with the support of several engineering units, crossed the Roer River. This necessitated building foot-bridges for soldiers and later pontoon bridges for tanks and vehicles. This footage shows the shelling the towns (Jülich was a major crossing city and was completely destroyed) before the crossing, infantry crossing the river in boats and clearing out enemy resistance in the territory, the building of foot-bridges (several bridges were built, destroyed by German artillery, and rebuilt several times) and the building of heavy-pontoon bridges.

A detailed analysis of the crossing, along with recently-recorded, first-hand testimonies from veterans involved, is given in the book Finding Granddad's War:

http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Granddads-War-Jeffrey-Badger/dp/1593313217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275495401&sr=8-1

Видео WWII Dramatic footage of River Crossing, 29th Crosses Roer, Germany, 1945, Jülich канала Jeffrey Badger