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dreaded barrier, now proved so vulnerable. Unit histories for the period reveal no lack of such
statements as: "... to Battery C (of the 457th AAA AW Battalion) went the distinction of being the first
AA Battery in the Third Army to cross to the east bank. …"; "This hospital unit (the 16th Field Hospital)
was the first Third Army Hospital across the Rhine River. …"; and so forth. Whatever discussion might
arise among rival units between XII Corps, there was little doubt that XII Corps itself was again first
among Third Army units of its type to roll across the Rhine. VIII Corps, northernmost of Third Army's
three Corps, launched its assault two days after that of XII Corps. And XX Corps' initial attack in the
center of the Army line had not even started by the time XII Corps headquarters itself was rolling into
the by-then secure and massive XII Corps bridgehead, – and aiming for Darmstadt, Frankfurt, and the
very heart of Hitler's Reich.
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