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Show REP. LAURENCE J. BURTON In politics and war, the word "if" looms large: "If we had been there; "if" such and such had done that; "if" we had not told someone this; "if" only he had received the word; and so on. One of my friends in the House of Rep. Ken Hechler, a Democrat from West Virginia. We differ politically on some things, but we share in common com-mon the fact that we were both history and political science sci-ence professors in "real life." But, differences aside, he's just a nice guy. He has authored a book entitled en-titled "The Bridge at Remag-en," Remag-en," and has sold the movie rights to Hollywood. The picture pic-ture was recently shown in Utah. Ken was stationed with the III Army Corps during World War II as one of four official army historians on combat status and was a few miles from the spot when one of the most fantastic "breaks" of the war came for our side . . . capture of the bridge at Remagen. That is the story of his book and the movie. The river Rhine was a major geographical obstacle to the advancing ad-vancing allies and one which the Germans planned to use as a point of stout defense. Without With-out a bridge across the formidable for-midable obstacle the continuing invasion of the Reich would have to be by amphibious assault, as-sault, a prospect not relished by allied commanders. When the electrifying news was flashed to headquarters that one of their units had captured cap-tured a bridge and crossed the Rhine, Mr. Hechler rushed to the scene. He recognized the news as a major turning point in the war. In his book he relates talking personally to many men at the bridge; he found that it was Lieutenant Karl Timmermann who led the first Americans across the shaky bridge. Ken immediately crossed the bridge himself and found the tall Nebraskan shaving in a bombed-out house on the east bank. The Lieutenant expressed wonderment about all the excitement. ex-citement. Meanwhile tanks and thousands of troops were pouring pour-ing across into the Hinterland. The Germans had attempted to destroy it with dynamite, then artillery, and finally bombs On the wall of the house where Hechler met Timmermann Timmer-mann WAR n nlnniip with tVin words, "If God is with us, then who can be against us? Later he discovered the same inscription was on the wall of another building where five German officers had been sentenced sen-tenced to death for failing in their responsibility to "blow" the Bridee at Rematren. 49,000 Germans were taken prisoners." Mr. Churchill sent Ike the following message: "Warmest congratulations on the great victory won by the allied armies ar-mies under your command . . . No one who studies war can fail to be impressed with the admirable speed and flexibility of the American armies." A great victory . . . but what "if"? He writes, "In Remagen I pondered the tremendous significance sig-nificance of that first word 'if. God was surely smiling on Karl Timmermann and his men that day." Being a history "buff", I wanted to make some historical histori-cal comparisons for myself between be-tween what Hechler had to say and what others have said, so I pulled General Einsenhower's volume, "Crusade in Europe," off the shelf. He said of the event: "This was completely unforseen. We were across the Rhine, on a permanent bridge; the traditional defensive barrier to the heart of Germany was pierced. The final defeat of the enemy, which we had long calculated cal-culated would be accomplished in the spirng and summer campaign cam-paign of 1945, was suddenly just around the corner." Winston Churchill in the sixth volume of his account of the war wrote: "The First U. S. Army found the railway bridge at Remagen partly destroyed des-troyed but still usable. They promptly threw their advance guard across. other troops quickly followed, and soon over four divisions were on the far bank and a bridgehead several miles deep established . . . and |