Here’s some info & some pics from a re-enactment event I attended a few weeks ago:

The Bridge at Remagen

The Ludendorff Bridge was originally built during World War I as a means of moving troops and logistics west over the Rhine to reinforce the Western Front. The bridge was designed by Karl Wiener an architect from Mannheim. It was 325 metres long, had a clearance of 14.8 metres above the normal water level of the Rhine, and its highest point measured 29.25 metres. The bridge carried two railway tracks and a pedestrian walkway. During World War II, one track was planked over to allow vehicular traffic.

The capture of the bridge

The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen—the last standing on the Rhine—was captured by soldiers of the U.S. 9th Armored Division on 7 March 1945, during Operation Lumberjack. On 7 March 1945, soldiers of the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, led by Lieutenant Karl H. Timmermann, from West Point, Nebraska, approached the bridge, and found it standing. The first American soldier across the bridge was Sergeant Alex Drabik; Lt. Timmermann was the first officer across.

Although the bridge’s capture is sometimes regarded as the “Miracle of Remagen” in U.S. histories, historians debate the strategic importance of the capture of the bridge at Remagen. General Eisenhower said that “the bridge is worth its weight in gold”. However, few U.S. units were able to operate east of the Rhine ahead of the main crossings in the south, under Generals Patton and Bradley, and in the north, under Field Marshal Montgomery (Operation Plunder). Ultimately, only a limited number of troops were able to cross the Rhine before the bridge’s collapse. However, the psychological advantage of having crossed the Rhine in force and in pursuit of the retreating Wehrmacht improved Allied morale while communicating disaster to the retreating Germans.

In the immediate days after the bridge’s capture, the German Army Command desperately attempted to destroy the bridge by bombing it and having divers mine it. Hitler ordered a flying courts-martial that condemned five officers to death. Captain Bratge, who was in American hands, was sentenced in absentia while the other four (Majors Scheller, Kraft and Strobel, and Lieutenant Peters) were executed in the Westerwald Forest.

Soldiers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked long hours to stabilize and repair the bridge (with American combat troops stationed to guard the bridge sometimes shooting out their worklights to minimize visibility of their position to the enemy). To increase traffic capacity, the engineers also laid pontoon bridges upstream and downstream of the Ludendorff Bridge. However, despite the best U.S. efforts, on 17 March 1945, ten days after its capture, the Bridge at Remagen succumbed to the cumulative damage from German bombing and collapsed, killing twenty-eight soldiers of the Army Corps of Engineers. However, because the pontoon bridges and other secured crossing points had supplanted the bridge, its loss was neither tactically nor strategically significant. Still, the Ludendorff Bridge remained important as the first point at which Allies crossed the Rhine.

PHOTOS

Lots more pics can be found here & the official site for the event is here.

I hate how so many people jumped on the band wagon that Dawn is a fraud before they ever allowed her a forum to defend herself. I’m a personal friend of Dawn, so naturally I will defend her. People who are bashing Dawn forget to realize the expense of legal fees, corporation fees, phones, & misc. to maintain a charity . Guess who swallowed any losses & upstart fees to Wrestlers Rescue? DAWN!!!! What ever profits that trickled in with ebay sales, auctions, went in to some holding account. I know for a fact that Steve Williams was sent approximately $5000.00 to help off set mounting medical expenses prior to his untimely death. I know an additional $2000 was donated in conjunction from the Cauliflower Alley Club.

I am very upset that everybody who is associated with Dawn was lumped in as thieves or con artist on various message boards without anybody asking for a statement or any proof. To my knowledge, only one person in the wrestling business decided to distance them self based on the recent negative article that was circulating.

When Dawn filed for the 501(c)(3) paper work to become a non profit charity it needed a corporate structure to be shown in the paper work. This is why I am listed as secretary. I started all of that paperwork before having it out sourced to an attorney to be completed.

The 501(c)(3) filling is a long tedious headache of paper work to fill out and file. I believe it took Dawn almost a year to have it all sorted & filed. The actual 501(c)(3) company is listed as Pro Wrestling Releif, (Dawn already had Wrestlers Rescue LLC organized and filed as a for Profit so we could begin the work that needed to be done.). I know Dawn personally shelled out a few thousand dollars in filing the 501(c)(3) paper work & the lawyer fees that took to complete it. As a 501(c)(3) they are eligible for tax free status and grants.

My participation within Wrestlers Rescue consisted of signing for free at Dawn’s convention, raffling a gift basket at the Paul E Normous memorial show, agreeing to be on the cancelled cruise, & helping Dawn gather the 501(c)(3) paper work [which was completed by a lawyer]. Various people accused me and others of having our hands in the cookie jar, despite NEVER handling or having any access to any money. I guess asking me about my participation would be too much of an oversight. To my knowledge, the participation of most wrestlers was either volunteering their services & donating memorabilia in order to be used for fund raising purposes. To call any wrestler a thief would be grossly inaccurate, since we never handled the financial aspects of the charity.

Like I stated earlier, Dawn will release a statement showing her innocence & the lack of research done in the many malicious articles. My personal feelings are a friend defends each other until there is proof that shows that they are guilty. I’m defending Dawn until I see proof that she misappropriated funds. I believe in Dawn based on the character of her as a person, rather then just blindly throw accusations without her side of the story.

Missy Hyatt
1st Lady Of Wrestling

Check out my bio on 1stlahrecon.com – I am Ottilie Louise von Tonn

Lucky Cannon

Rookie for Season 2 of NXT!

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On Friday Night RF VIDEO conducted another wild interview for our Face Off Series with Missy Hyatt and the Honky Tonk Man. What do you get when you put a couple that never holds back when you turn the camera on? A off the wall interview that will have you glued to your TV set for the entire length of the DVD. The interview starts off with Missy Hyatt asking HTM some questions that she wanted to ask for a long time. She did her homework as she had a ton of questions for him about his early days pre WWE. She asked him a lot about working in Memphis and the golden years during the territories. I quickly took over when she was done and asked them both about current events. You want to hear about what really happened with TNA and the HTM? Why is there heat with him and Bubba. What do they both think TNA needs to do to work. Both have some messages to Dixie Carter, Hogan and Eric Bischoff.

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AND ALSO COMING TO LITTLE ROCK IN JUNE…SUMMERCLASH!!!!!!!!

The Metroplex in Little Rock is the scene for Friday night, June 25th and TCW’s Sumemrclash. One  of the matches that will sneak up on you is the continuation of the feud between Maila Hosaka and Goddess of Wrestling Athena. After their last match in Clarksville, one would hope that they would have settled down a bit, but Commissioner Tom Simon is taking no chances. He is bringing in a special guest referee for their rematch – none other than The First Lady of Wrestling, Missy Hyatt! Hopefully, Missy will be able to handle the two wildcats this time!

http://www.traditionalwrestling.net

“Summerclash” – Little Rock, AR – Little Rock Metroplex – 8:00 p.m.

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