Richard Schneck, Rhens

The battles between the Lower Moselle and the lower Upper Middle Rhine Valley and the crossings of the US Army to Rhens and Brey

In March 1945, units of the 3rd US Army under General Patton crossed the Moselle and stormed towards the next objective, whose crossing became a significantly larger problem and led to considerable losses in their ranks. Only remnants of German divisions opposed them. Until the preparations for the river crossing, there were skirmishes in which American units quickly gained the upper hand. The US units were also significantly weakened due to losses. Due to the concentration of flak guns and machine guns, there were substantial casualties during the American forces' crossing of the Rhine.

Richard Schneck, a resident of Rhens since his early childhood, works as a lecturer, has been researching the history of his home region for over 25 years, and is a volunteer with the state archaeology. As a member of the veterans' association of the 87th Infantry Division "Golden Acorn," Richard Schneck spoke with soldiers of the unit on both sides of the Atlantic and was able to reconstruct the wartime events of 1944/45 in the Upper Middle Rhine through personal contacts in the USA via emails and phone calls. Two visits to the National Archives in College Park, Maryland (USA) were of great help in his research, the results of which he published in his 2016 book "Rhens at War."

The lecture series is moderated by Ulrich Linnemann, Bad Schwalbach, and Klaus D. Schoch, Wesel.
It is held under the patronage of the Mayor of Lahnstein, Mr. Lennart Siefert.

The lecture series takes place at the Sporkenburger Hof in Lahnstein.
Doors open for Get Together from 6:45 PM; start of the lecture at 7:30 PM.

Tickets are available for € 7.00 (no discounts) in advance online from Ticket Regional, at the Tourist Information Lahnstein at Salhofplatz, as well as at all other VVK locations of Ticket Regional or at the box office on the evening of the event. Please note the limited number of seats available.