It's refreshing to see the more mundane, deliberate side of running a war. Slowly, step by step, the army crosses the river and takes another step toward its objective. The MP at the end was a great character study.
The most shocking thing to me was, that at this point in the war, the US Army was able to use an armoured half-track not as a combat vehicle but as a supply carrier (11:02).
You’ll never see an operation like this again on the modern battlefield. There would be a swarm of drones taking out the bridge before the first pontoon was put in the water.
It looks like smoke generators, they dirty burn fuel to mask movements. The problem is the operation is dependent upon the winds, a slight breeze can shift depending upon the terrain, the suns heat, etc.
It's refreshing to see the more mundane, deliberate side of running a war. Slowly, step by step, the army crosses the river and takes another step toward its objective. The MP at the end was a great character study.
thanks for posting this stuff !
I live at Nierstein, German, where this Rhine crossing took place, only some hundred meters from my house. Great to see this footage now!
The most shocking thing to me was, that at this point in the war, the US Army was able to use an armoured half-track not as a combat vehicle but as a supply carrier (11:02).
You’ll never see an operation like this again on the modern battlefield. There would be a swarm of drones taking out the bridge before the first pontoon was put in the water.
If Hitler had watched this footage he would have had a meltdown! Thanks for the history.
And there were no horses!
@6:50 it looks like they are making that white smoke on purpose to screen their movements. Is that correct?
It looks like smoke generators, they dirty burn fuel to mask movements. The problem is the operation is dependent upon the winds, a slight breeze can shift depending upon the terrain, the suns heat, etc.