BREAKING THE SIEGFRIED LINE Rhineland, February 1945

This second volume inevitably overlaps with the author’s earlier Reichswald study, yet they remain rigorous and clearly written operational histories. Covering the opening phase of the 1945 Rhineland Campaign, they shift focus to the Rhine floodplain, where rising waters forced 3rd Canadian Division—the “Water Rats”—and 15th Scottish Division to fight through villages, dykes, and mud-bound defenses toward the Siegfried Line. Despite misjudging Allied intentions, German forces resisted the Guards Armoured Brigade and 79th Armoured Division as they breached anti-tank obstacles. Horrocks’s commitment of 43rd Wessex Division and 8th Armoured Brigade caused severe congestion, though British forces soon secured devastated Kleve amid German counterattacks.