BONN

Bonn was a heavily populated area that was very important to the war. The city was in the military zone of British occupation. With the focus of the strategy being to reach the Rhine River it was a critical part of the maneuver. To accomplish this the Allies had to break through the west wall in the south and cross the Ruhr (Dutch=Roer) River on the north. The Germans had flooded the Ruhr Valley by opening the dams and it took nearly two weeks for the water to subsid4e. The U.S. Ninth and First armies crossed the Ruhr on February 23.