1945 WWII 1146 Engineer Combat Group Pictorial Map of Bridges Built to Berlin

Building Bridges on the Road to Berlin.

This 1945 pictorial campaign map of the 1146th Engineer Combat Group makes bridge construction the central story of the Allied advance into Germany. Broad gray roads converge on the Rhine and continue toward Berlin, turning the engineers' work into the literal links connecting the campaign. Its record extends beyond Germany's surrender to the completion of the Elbe's Friendship Bridge in June 1945, documenting the transition from combat engineering to the restoration of communications. Mine detection, logging, roadwork, and construction depots surround the bridges, presenting victory from the perspective of the soldiers who kept the armies moving.

A Closer Look

The map dispenses with national boundaries and a continuous geographical background. Instead, three broad road-like bands connect a succession of illustrated crossings, meeting at the Rhine before continuing northeast to the Elbe. Bridges span blue waterways and green banks, making the bridges, rather than captured cities or battlefield positions, the principal milestones of the campaign.

Omaha Beach anchors the lower-left corner. (This is not a record of the Group's participation in the June 6, 1944, D-Day landings, but likely where the Group arrived in France). The historical panel at the lower right records activation at Camp Swift, Texas, on November 10, 1943; arrival in the United Kingdom on September 16, 1944; and arrival in France on October 2, 1944. Above it, an alligator accompanies the red castle emblem of the Corps of Engineers. The Ninth Army insignia occupies the opposite corner.

The heading identifies Colonel J. A. McCarty as commanding officer and names the associated units: the 250th, 252nd, and 1256th Engineer Combat Battalions and the 630th Engineer Light Equipment Company. Their inclusion gives the sheet the character of a collective service memorial. Its emphasis on recognizable jobs, equipment, and remembered hazards suggests an audience familiar with the Group's work, rather than readers seeking a conventional strategic account.

Building Bridges to Victory

The western branches record projects around Valkenburg and Meerssen, the Albert and Juliana canals, and the Maas, Wurm, Inde, and Roer rivers. Dates accompany many crossings, while small flags associate the route with France, the Netherlands, Britain, and the United States. Ruined buildings at Linnich and Venlo place the engineers' work within a damaged landscape. Several crossings carry paired dates, likely the start and end dates of each project.

The Rhine crossing occupies the central junction. Its pennant reads 'Pres. Roosevelt', and the accompanying dates are March 29 and April 18, 1945. The 1146th built the fixed highway bridge at Wesel with the three combat engineer battalions named in the heading, with assistance from other specialist units. Opened to truck traffic on April 18, it was named for President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945), who had died less than a week earlier. The neighboring Lippe crossing also appears on the map: the two rivers formed parts of the same substantial bridge-and-approach project.

Beyond the Rhine, the road crosses the Lippe, Weser, and Elbe-Weser waterway before reaching the Elbe. Here, the Friendship Bridge bears American and Soviet flags, a steel-pile annotation, and dates of May 11 and June 1, 1945. These dates place the project after the fighting in Europe had ended (V-E Day was May 8), demonstrating that the engineers' work continued into the occupation. The road nevertheless carries on to a burning Berlin labeled Alles Kaput. This final stretch is a pictorial statement of victory, not evidence that the Group fought its way into the German capital.

The Work Behind the Crossings

The surrounding vignettes explain what bridge building required. Stacked logs and squared timbers form a 'Bridge Dump', and a crane and a 'Boat and Ponton Salvage Depot' are nearby. Farther east, a truck works beside a gravel pit, and a pre-mix plant prepares material for road construction. A soldier fells timber, while another sweeps the ground with a mine detector. These scenes connect the completed crossings to the material supply, road maintenance, and clearance work that made them usable.

The dangers of that work remain visible. A soldier shelters in a position captioned 'Roer River Foxholes', and a broken autobahn bridge illustrates the obstacles left by destruction. The Germans appear twice: once as 'Bed Check Charlie', the notorious lone enemy plane that circled over Allied positions, and as Buzz Bomb (V-1) near Meerssen, marking 'Buzz Bomb Alley'. Together, these details preserve the working environment and remembered threats of the campaign.

Publication History and Census

The map is unsigned and bears no printer's or publisher's imprint. It is assigned to 1945, with its final Elbe project date establishing that the completed design cannot predate June 1 of that year. Cataloged examples are held in the World War II Service Maps collection at Texas A and M University and the World War II unit route maps collection at the Library of Congress.

Condition

Very good. Wear and toning along original fold lines.

References

OCLC 1366111118. Texas A and M University Libraries, G6081.S7 1945 .B75. Library of Congress, World War II unit route maps collection, 2024593503, folder 64. Beck, Alfred M., Abe Bortz, Charles W. Lynch, Lida Mayo, and Ralph F. Weld, The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany, 1985, p. 538.