Soldiers crossing the Rhine River at Cologne Germany

US Army Foot Soldier's personal photograph of solders crossing the Rhine River at Cologne, Germany 1945.

US Army Foot Soldier's personal photograph of soldiers crossing the Rhine River at Cologne Germany. The soldiers crossed the Rhine River on a wobbly pontoon boats. They carefully stepped over the little boats. Water sloshed over their feet with every step. One mistake and they would topple. The pontoons were, wiggly, wet and uneven, and the roaring Rhine River rolled swiftly along underneath. The Cologne Cathedral with its two spires was where the photographer noticed a hole near the top of one of the spires. That was all the damage that he could see. It was standing in the middle of mounds of ruins. The US pilots were so accurate that they destroyed the surrounding area in air raids, but left the cathedral standing nearly unharmed. Cologne was overtaken in two days.