German Fighters Attacked the Bridge as Soldiers Crossed — Until an American Fighter Appeared

Описание: March 12, 1945. The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen is the most dangerous place on Earth. It is the only structure spanning the Rhine, a "mystic moat" separating the Allies from the heart of the Third Reich. Across its trembling wooden planks, thousands of American troops and Sherman tanks are funneling into Germany.

But the Luftwaffe has orders to destroy it at any cost.

High above, Captain Bob "Punchy" Powell of the 365th Fighter Group looks down at a terrifying paradox. To save the bridge, he must fly his propeller-driven P-47 Thunderbolt into the "Ring of Steel"—a concentration of 640 Allied anti-aircraft guns ordered to shoot anything that flies.

The enemy isn't just flying planes; they are flying the future. Powell is facing the Arado Ar 234 "Blitz," the world's first operational jet bomber, and the terrifying Mistel composite aircraft—a guided cruise missile steered by a suicide pilot.

This is the story of the first major jet-on-propeller battles in history. It is a story of physics against desperation, where American pilots had to dive at 500 mph into their own flak to catch an enemy that was faster, sleeker, and desperate to turn the tide of the war.

From the terrifying math of chasing a jet in a piston-engine plane to the final, groaning collapse of the bridge that changed the war, this is the defense of Remagen.

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