Roer River

Generator Opn in Roer River Crossing. CMLHO. (3) 83d Cml Smoke Generator Co, Notes on Roer River Screening, Koslar, Germany, 23 Feb 45, n.d. 

CmlO )och Div Rpt on Roer River Smoke Screen, Schophoven, Germany, Feb 45, n.d. This... 

Combat Observer XIX Corps to CG ETOUSA, 28 Feb 4y, Observers Rpt No. (Roer River Crossing). 

Feb 4, sub Rpt on Smoke Opns, 23d, 24th, 25th Feb 4Si Roer River Assault and Crossing. 

The XVI Corps plans for the Rhine operation called for a 2-division crossing in the vicinity of Wallach, Mehrum, and Milchplatz. Naval craft were available for the initial assault and the engineers were ready to bridge the Rhine, a task which they anticipated would be no more difficult than that of bridging the Roer River under flooded conditions. After the crossing, the Ninth Army was to drive eastward, contain the enemy in the Ruhr pocket to the south, and maintain contact with the British Second Army on the left. 

In another February operation the 87th Battalion supported VII Corps in the First Army attack across the Roer River in the vicinity of Diiren. Early in the month the battalion s four mortar companies, two attached to the 8 th Division and two to the 104th, moved into firing positions on the west side of the river. Here they waited for two weeks. The Germans, before relinquishing control of the area, destroyed the sluice valves of the Roer River dams. The raging waters of the river rose five feet, forcing postponement of the attack until 23 February. 

Roer River Bridge Behind a Smoke Screen... 

By the end of January 1945 the Allies had regained the ground lost during the enemy s Ardennes offensive. In February the 12th Army Group prepared for attack along the Roer and Sauer Rivers, an attack whose impetus would carry to the Rhine. This latter obstacle, the last great defensive barrier for the enemy, was surmounted in March. After that, victory was but a matter of time. 

Much of the fighting of February and March Involved river crossings. The Roer, the Erft, the Sauer, the Moselle, the Rhine—these were the larger rivers which blocked the American forces in their drive to the east. The chemical mortar battalions, by both smoke and high explosive missions, provided valuable support in this series of important operations. 

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