Operation Plunder

Part of the Western Allied invasion of Germany of World War II

Men of the U.S. 89th Infantry Division cross the Rhine River in assault boats under German fire.

Date	March 23-24, 1945
Location	North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Result	Allied victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom

Canada

United States

Nazi Germany

Commanders and leaders

Bernard Montgomery

Johannes Blaskowitz

Operation Varsity was the airborne component of Plunder

Beginning on the night of March 23, 1945 the 21st Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery launched Operation Plunder, as a part of a coordinated set of Rhine crossings. The crossing of the River Rhine was at Rees, Wesel, and south of the Lippe River by the British Second Army, under Lieutenant General Sir Miles C. Dempsey (Operations Turnscrew, Widgeon, and Torchlight), and the United States Ninth Army (Operation Flashpoint), under Lieutenant General William H. Simpson. The First Allied Airborne Army conducted Operation Varsity airborne landings on the east bank of the Rhine in support of Operation Plunder, consisting of U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps, the British 6th and the U.S. 17th Airborne Divisions.

Preparations (accumulation of supplies, road construction and the transport of 36 Royal Navy landing craft) were hidden by a massive smoke screen from 16 March. The operation commenced on the night of March 23, 1945. It included the Varsity parachute and glider landings near Wesel, and Operation Archway, by the Special Air Service. The landing areas were flooded, deserted farmland rising to woodland.

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