When the Rhineland Campaign ended the Allied Expeditionary Force numbered over 4,000,000 men organized into a well-balanced military machine, with combat elements ready to strike the final blow against the disintegrating enemy forces. On 21 March 1945 the First U. S. Army held a bridgehead across the Rhine about twenty miles wide and eight miles deep and had six divisions on the eastern bank of the river, while the remaining Allied troops were prepared to cross in their respective zones. [Illustration: BELGIUM DEEP SNOW SLOWED MILITARY TRAFFIC. With the completion of the Ardennes-Alsace Campaign the Allies again began their advance to the Rhine after having been delayed for six weeks.] [Illustration: GERMANY AND FRANCE RIFLEMEN moving through snow-covered, wooded terrain (top). A 105-mm. howitzer M3 firing in support of the infantry advance (bottom). On 24 January the First U. S. Army was to begin an attack to breach the West Wall and secure the high ground in the vicinity of Blankenheim, while part of the Third Army was to attack with its left wing to cover the First Army. The rest of the Third Army front was to begin an aggressive defense.] [Illustration] [Illustration: BELGIUM AND GERMANY ADVANCING THROUGH THE SNOW, men wearing camouflage suits blend in with the snow-covered ground, while those without white suits stand out plainly (top). Infantrymen waiting in their snow-covered foxhole for an artillery barrage which will start an offensive (bottom). On 7 February 1945 the attack was halted with both the First and Third Armies deep in the enemy’s fortified zone.] [Illustration] [Illustration: BELGIUM FRONT OF AN M24 LIGHT TANK showing its 75-mm. gun, newer type track, and torsion bar suspension. When the offensive halted attention was given to attacking the Roer dams. The enemy took advantage of the wooded country, deep valleys, many streams, poor roads, and the fortifications of the West Wall in an effort to halt the advance. Bitter fighting developed but by 2 February the U. S. forces had reached a point within two miles of Schleiden. On 8 February the Canadian First Army struck the German forces west of the Rhine, the first of a series of attacks that were to destroy the enemy.] [Illustration: FRANCE SARREBOURG SARRE RIVER NIEDERLEUKEN BEURIG SAAREBOURG AND THE SARRE RIVER AREA. This picture is typical of the rolling, wooded country, broken by river and deep valleys, through which Allied troops advanced during the fighting along the German frontier. The area was important during the Lorraine campaign since the enemy forces might join the German troops striking northwest from the Colmar pocket, or at least threaten the rear of the U. S. Seventh Army.] [Illustration: FRANCE