The battle of the bridgehead across the Rhine from Remagen has been very much a gunners╒ battle for the past 48 hours with the Germans doing everything they can with their artillery to interfere with the Allied traffic crossing the Rhine and American gunners, engaged in counter-battery fire to try to silence the German batteries.
To-day there have been some heavy-calibre shells falling in the bridgehead which suggests that the Germans have brought up some of their very heavy guns on railway mountings ╤ a form of artillery in which German gunners have always specialised.
A heavy gun on a railway mounting has considerable advantages in mobility and need never fire more than a round or two from exactly the same place which makes it extremely difficult for the gun to be located and counter-measures taken in time.
On the other hand, the ceaseless attacks by the Allied air forces on the German railway system in and around the Ruhr must make the transport of heavy guns and, what is more, the very heavy loads of ammunition required to feed them an increasingly difficult and hazardous task.
In spite of the fact that the Germans have succeeded in hitting with artillery the bridge at Remagen, which they failed to destroy with dynamite, so far no irreparable damage has been done and the bridge continues in use. With every day that goes by and allows more reinforcements to be sent across the Rhine to strengthen the forces holding the bridgehead on the far bank the bridge itself becomes less important to the success of Allied operations.
