US-soldiers shooting with an anti-aircraft weapon, Remagen-bridge (SFP 186)

US-Army soldiers shooting with an anti-aircraft weapon. This weapon consisted of 4 parallel-mounted 50 cal machine guns – weapons that played a pivotal role in preventing the Germans to destroy the bridge of Remagen.
Hitler had ordered his troops to destroy all the bridges over the Rhine in order to prevent the Allied troops to cross the large river. But the 9th. blinded division of the US-Army secured the Ludendorff-bridge (Ludendorff-Brücke), also know as the bridge of Remagen (Brücke von Remagen). Before, German troops tried to destroy the bridge, but the explosives did not work. Some hours later, US-troops began to cross the river. Hitler, furious, ordered Göring to mobilize every available Luftwaffe aircraft to destroy the bridge, but all these missions failed.