General Eisenhower had hoped to crush Nazi resistance in the west in front of the Rhine. Field Marshal von Rundstedt, however, observing the Allied power arrayed against him, ordered a withdrawal behind the big river. It was a choice of two evils. Rundstedt's decision meant that the vital industries of the Ruhr would be brought into the front lines—the forward areas exposed to immediate shellfire, and the whole valley to eventual cross-river attack.
Feint & Wheel. Lieut. General William Simpson's Ninth Army feinted at Cologne, which lies on the Rhine's west bank and around which the Nazis had organized their...
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