DEFENDING THE RHINE
By mid-March 1945, the armies of the Allied powers had finally pushed the Wehrmacht back to the river Rhine. The once-mighty Westheer (German Army in the West) had shot its bolt in the failed winter offensives in the Ardennes, Alsace and the Vosges. The Soviet Vistula offensive, launched on 12 January, was lunging closer to Berlin and sucking in the lion’s share of any last German reinforcements and reserves. Three German Heeresgruppen (Army Groups) were arrayed on the Western Front; H in the north, Walter Model’s B in the Ruhr, and SS General Paul Hausser’s G in the south.
“HE WAS FORBIDDEN ON PAIN OF DEATH BY BERLIN FROM WITHDRAWING A
