The Engineer Who Held the Bridge — Alone

At Remagen, Germany, on March 7, 1945, the Ludendorff Bridge was the last intact bridge across the Rhine. German engineers rigged it with explosives to demolish it as American troops of the 9th Armored Division approached. But a combination of factors — damaged firing wires, weak explosives, and the fact that the Germans had already removed part of the charge for use elsewhere — meant only a partial detonation occurred. When the Americans reached the bridge, a combat engineer from Company C, Sgt. Alex Drabik, led the first charge across. He and his squad ran through the partially demolished structure, under fire from both sides of the river, and secured the opposite end. The bridge stood long enough for 8,000 troops to cross, effectively accelerating the end of the war in Europe by weeks.