Rhineland
Rhineland
Riyadh
Category="Provinces of Prussia"Category="Regions in Germany"The Rhineland (Rheinland in German) is the general name for the land on both sides of the river Rhine in the west of Germany. A geographical term originally, it has also acquired some political and cultural connotations, becoming a political entity as the Prussian Rhine Province (also known as Rhenish Prussia), and continuing in the names of the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia.The name 'Rhineland' also refers to the area of Germany occupied by Entente forces, then demilitarised under the Treaty of Versailles (see below: ).
Geography
Some of the bigger cities in the Rhineland include Saarbrucken, Krefeld, Aachen, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Koblenz, and Wuppertal.The political entity
The Rhine Province was created in 1824 by joining the provinces of Lower Rhine and Jülich-Kleve-Berg. Its capital was Koblenz; it had 8.0 million inhabitants (1939). In 1920, the Saarland was separated from the Rhine Province and put under French administration. In the same year, the districts of Eupen and Malmedy were made part of Belgium (see German-speaking community of Belgium). In 1946, the Rhine Province was divided up between the newly-founded states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.Today, the German region of Rhineland consists of the states of Saarland, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. It is one of the prime German industrial areas, containing significant mineral deposits (coal, lead, lignite, magnesium, oil and uranium) and easy water transportation. Agriculture is also important and there are highly valued vineyards in the Rheinpfalz and Rheingau
Following the First World War
Following the Armistice of 1918, Allied forces occupied the Rhineland as far east as the river with some small bridgeheads on the east bank at places like Cologne. This lasted until the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 (formally ending World War I) specified the de-militarization of the entire area to provide a buffer between Germany on one side and France, Belgium and Luxembourg (and to a lesser extent, the Netherlands) on the other side. Allied forces then, more or less promptly, withdrew.In violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles, Nazi Germany reoccupied the Rhineland on March 7, 1936. The occupation was done with very little military support and could easily have been stopped had it not been for the Appeasement mentality of post-war Europe. The remilitarization of the Rhineland was very popular with locals, because of a resurgence of German nationalism and harboured bitterness over the French occupation of the Rhineland until 1926.
The 1945 military campaign
In early 1945, after a long winter stalemate, military operations by the Allied armies in Northwest Europe resumed with the goal of reaching the Rhine river. From their winter positions in The Netherlands, the First Canadian Army reinforced by elements of the Second British Army, under General Henry Crerar drove through the Rhineland beginning in the first week of February 1945. Operation Veritable lasted several weeks, with the end result of clearing all Germans from the west side of the Rhine river. An operation by the First US Army, Operation Grenade, was planned to coincide from the River Roer, in the south. This was delayed for two weeks however, by German flooding of the Roer valley.On March 7, 1945 a company of armored infantry of the US 9th Armored Division captured the last intact bridge over the Rhine at Remagen. General George Patton's Third US Army would also make a crossing of the river the day before the much anticipated Rhine crossings by 21st Army Group (First Canadian Army and Second British Army) under General (later Field Marshall) Bernard Montgomery in the third week of March 1945.
Operation Varsity was a massive airborne operation in conjunction with Operation Plunder, the amphibious crossings. By early April, the Rhine had been crossed by all the Allied armies operating west of the river, and the battles for the Rhineland were over.
In the British and Canadian armies, the term "Rhineland" often refers only to fighting west of the river in February and March 1945, with subesquent operations on the river and to the east known as "Rhine Crossing". Both terms are official Battle Honours in the Commonwealth forces.