First Across the Rhine: The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion in France, Belgium, and Germany

Recounts the adventures of the U.S. soldiers who led the way to the Battle of the Bulge

Pergrin's sterling battalion endured its baptism of fire in the Normandy breakout in the summer of 1944, played an important role in the Battle of the Bulge and in March 1945 opened the way for the climactic drive into Germany by building the first Allied bridge across the Rhine. Aside from the colonel's beaming pride in the courage and technical skill of his men, what makes this memoir of war, written with military historian Hammel, special is that the 291st battalion kept running into heavy-duty combat situations for which it was organizationally unprepared. The battalion found itself directly in the path of the German spearhead at the start of the Bulge and, in one of the European theater's crucial delaying actions, destroyed bridges, planted mines and defended roadblocks in the face of oncoming tank columns. Three months later, called on to construct an 1100-foot pontoon bridge at Remagen, the 291st accomplished a seemingly impossible task in 32 hours, despite fierce opposition. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Why did the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion stand its ground during the Battle of the Bulge when many combat and support outfits broke and fled? According to Pergrin, former commanding officer, pride, morale, training, and leadership caused the 291st to be named the premier engineer battalion in Europe in World War II. The battalion built the first bridge over the Rhine in the face of murderous enemy fire. Their stubborn stand during the Bulge enabled the U.S. First Army to reform and decisively counterattack. The 291st's part in the Bulge has been described in Janice Holt Giles's The Damned Engineers (LJ 7/70) and in the G.I. Journal of Sergeant Giles, which she edited ( LJ 5/1/65). Pergrin's work traces the history of the battalion from its formation and training through the campaigns in France, Belgium, and Germany. An exciting, well-written book that belongs in every World War II collection.
- Stanley Itkin, Hillside P.L., New Hyde Park, N.Y.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.