Rhine

(proper noun)

A European river that begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps, forms part of the Swiss-Austrian, Swiss-Liechtenstein border, Swiss-German and then the Franco-German border, then flows through the Rhineland and eventually empties into the North Seain the Netherlands.  Its crossing was critical to the eventual victory of the Western Allies in Europe during World War II. 

Related Terms

Examples of Rhine in the following topics:

  • The Allied Drive Toward Berlin

    • By the end of the month, Allied forces were close to the Rhine's west bank.
    • With a large number of men captured, the stubborn German resistance during the Allied campaign to reach the Rhine in February and March 1945 had been costly.
    • Third Army had been fighting through the Palatinate, to "take the Rhine on the run."
    • In the Allied 6th Army Group area, the US Seventh Army assaulted across the Rhine in the area between Mannheim and Worms on March 26.
    • Having crossed the Rhine, both Army Groups fanned out into the German hinterland.

  • German Immigration

    • Many communities acquired distinctive names suggesting their heritage, such as the "Over-the-Rhine" district in Cincinnati and the "German Village" in Columbus, Ohio.

  • Converging Military Fronts

    • In February, the Soviets invaded Silesia and Pomerania, while Western Allies invaded Western Germany and closed to the Rhine river.

  • The European Theater

    • Also in February, the Soviets entered Silesia and Pomerania (today's Poland), while Western Allies entered western Germany and closed to the Rhine river.
    • By March, the Western Allies crossed the Rhine north and south of the Ruhr while the Soviets advanced to Vienna.

  • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

    • Other major exercises that followed included Exercise Grand Slam and Exercise Longstep, naval and amphibious exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, Italic Weld, a combined air-naval-ground exercise in northern Italy, Grand Repulse, involving the British Army on the Rhine (BAOR), the Netherlands Corps and Allied Air Forces Central Europe (AAFCE), Monte Carlo, a simulated atomic air-ground exercise involving the Central Army Group, and Weldfast, a combined amphibious landing exercise in the Mediterranean Sea involving American, British, Greek, Italian and Turkish naval forces.

  • Robber Barons and the Captains of Industry

    • The term derives from the medieval German lords who legally charged tolls on ships traversing the Rhine without adding anything of value.