Remagen Bridge in WWII Site of a strategic railway btridge - the Ludendorff Bridge - over the Rhine named after the WWI commander Erich Ludendorff. On 7th March 1945 members of the US 9th Armoured Division tried to seize the bridge just as German engineers prepared to blow it. The explosion damaged the bridge but left it still standing. Under cover of tank fire the riflemen reached the east bank to establish the first Allied bridgehead across the Rhine. The bridge collapsed 10 days later, but not before adequate tactical bridges were in place.