The Battle of Würzburg (31 March—6 April 1945) which ended up with the capture
Upper Franconia by
42nd Infantry Division ("Rainbow").
Battle
The defense of
Würzburg, under the leadership of
Otto Hellmuth and military leadership of the
Wehrmacht colonel Richard Wolf, represented the first serious resistance to the American division after crossing the
Rhine due to
Hitler's orders to put up fierce resistance. After
Hettstadt to the northwest of Würzburg had fallen to American forces, the German forces were forced to fall back to the right bank of the
Main River since reinforcements did not arrive as they were expecting.
US
artillery pieces took positions on the heights of
Nikolausberg
Nikolausberg is a northeastern borough of the university town of Göttingen, Germany. Its name derives from a legend according to which three pilgrims came to the church in 999 AD, of whom one left relics of Nicholas of Myra following his death t ...
and Katzenberg in order to bombard the city, while German artillery took position on the right bank of the Main River in Keesberg. On Monday at around 11:30 a.m., the Ludwigsbrücke was blown up, at around 4:45 p.m. the Alte Mainbrücke was blown up, and at around 5:15 p.m. the Luitpoldbrücke (now Friedensbrücke) was also blown up. Making all 3 main bridges in Würzburg impassable for American troops.
On the night of Tuesday some
GIs
A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing Geographic data and information, geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with Geographic information system software, sof ...
in the Ludwigsbrücke area crossed the Main River with some light boats, without any significant resistance, and on the following day the bridgehead was erected and expanded there. Though the troop movements eventually came under the fire of snipers posted in houses by Richard Wolf. Downstream (north) of the ''Old Main Bridge'' where one of the
pioneers built a
pontoon bridge on April 3 to transport light vehicles and infantry to the right bank of the Main River.
The heaviest
urban warfare took place on Wednesday and Thursday in the city center, which was in ruins due to
Allied bombing raids over Würzburg.
An attempted German counter-attack in the direction of the 3 main bridges failed due to the lack of armament and Würzburg fell to American forces.
On Friday, 6 April 1945, the last German units fighting in the outer districts fell and resistance ceased, marking the end of the battle.
References
Literature
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle of Würzburg (1945)
Würzburg
Würzburg
1945 in Germany
April 1945 events
March 1945 events
1940s in Bavaria