CAPTURED FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD BOYS who were members of the “Air Guard.” On 28 March First Army troops were closing up along the upper Lahn River. Infantry divisions quickly followed the armored spearheads to mop up enemy pockets of bypassed troops and to clear the areas which had been taken in the rapid advances. In six days the shallow Remagen foothold had been expanded to a lodgement area sixty-five miles deep. The advance to Kassel continued.] [Illustration: GERMANY CROSSING THE RHINE NEAR WORMS, GERMANY. U. S. Seventh Army troops crossed the Rhine near Worms at 0230 on 26 March. These forces met small arms and scattered mortar fire while crossing and, after landing on the east bank of the river, met stiff enemy resistance north of Worms. South of Worms the troops reached the far shore with little opposition but as they moved eastward the resistance increased. Two panzer counterattacks were turned back during that morning. By evening of 26 March the bridgehead had been expanded to an area of fifteen miles wide and seven miles deep.] [Illustration] [Illustration: GERMANY A DUPLEX-DRIVE TANK (DD tank), with its flotation device raised, entering the water (top); flotation device after being lowered (bottom). The canvas flotation device made the tank vulnerable to mines and objects floating in the water.] [Illustration] [Illustration: GERMANY GERMAN PRISONERS being marched westward across the Rhine as troops of the Ninth Army move eastward into Germany (top). Enlisted men at their .50-caliber Browning machine gun HB M2, alert for enemy aircraft (bottom). The Ninth Army was to attack south of Wesel with its main bridging area at Rheinberg.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE TOW ROPE BEING ATTACHED TO A GLIDER as the First Allied Airborne Army prepares to take off for landings east of the Rhine in the 21 Army Group area. The mission of this army was to break up the enemy defenses north of Wesel and deepen the bridgehead to facilitate the link-up with the ground forces. The airborne troops took off from bases in England and France and converged near Brussels. The troops began landing on 24 March 1945 at 1000 and during the next three hours some 14,000 troops were transported to the battle area by over 1,700 aircraft and 1,300 gliders.] [Illustration: FRANCE PLANES AND GLIDERS loaded and waiting to take off for the landings east of the Rhine (top). Aerial view of planes and gliders before the take-off (bottom). Losses were comparatively light for an operation of this size. Under 4 percent of the gliders were destroyed and fifty-five aircraft were lost.] [Illustration] [Illustration: GERMANY