Urmitzer railway bridge

Urmitzer railway bridge
Official name	Rhine bridge Engers-Urmitz
use	railroad
Convicted	Neuwied – Koblenz railway line
Subjugated	Rhine
place	Urmitz - Neuwied ( Engers )
Entertained by	Deutsche Bahn
construction	Truss bridge
overall length	430 m
Longest span	188 m
height	9.4 m
start of building	1916, 1953
completion	1918, 1954
	location
	Map of the railway facilities in the greater Koblenz area

50.421636111111 7.5265722222222Coordinates: 50 ° 25 ′ 18 ″ N , 7 ° 31 ′ 36 ″ E

The Urmitz railway bridge or Rhine bridge Engers-Urmitz - built in the First World War as the Crown Prince Wilhelm Bridge and blown up at the end of the Second World War - has crossed the Rhine in its current form as a double - track truss bridge since 1954 between Urmitz and Neuwied on the Neuwied-Koblenz railway line .

history

A previous bridge was built for strategic military reasons between 1916 and 1918 under the name Kronprinz-Wilhelm-Brücke or Kronprinzenbrücke for short. It was named after the German Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia . Originally this bridge spanned the Rhine as a truss arch bridge . It was part of a bridge family made up of three similar, strategically motivated railway bridges over the Rhine. The other two bridges were the Ludendorff Bridge near Remagen and the Hindenburg Bridge near Rüdesheim .

During the Second World War , the Kronprinz-Wilhelm-Brücke was blown up on March 9, 1945 at around 7:30 a.m. by German pioneers, although hundreds of fleeing German soldiers were still on the bridge. With the destruction, the crossing to the right bank of the Rhine should be prevented for advancing American troops. The Wehrmacht soldiers fell into the ice-cold Rhine with their vehicles and horses. The number of victims could never be determined. The demolition was preceded by violent reactions within the Wehrmacht and the Führer Headquarters regarding the capture of the Remagen Bridge on March 7, 1945.

On May 7, 1945, an American bomber, documenting the effects of the previous air raids as part of the so-called " trolley missions ", crashed into the remains of the bridge while flying low. The 19 occupants of the aircraft were killed.

In 1953/54 the bridge was restored as a truss bridge. On the left and right of the railway bridge there is a footpath on which an accident occurred in August 2000 when a rider led her horse over it by the reins. A floor slab broke off at the side, and the horse fell into the river and swam almost unharmed to the bank.

In 2012, on the 67th anniversary of the destruction, a memorial stone was unveiled to the victims of the hastily demolished bridge.

American air raid on the Kronprinz-Wilhelm-Brücke in 1945
Entrance to the Urmitz railway bridge in 2009
Memorial plaque to the victims of the demolition of the Kronprinz-Wilhelm-Brücke in 2012
Detailed view of the Urmitz railway bridge