HIstory Cologne, Germany - Cpl. Luther E. Boger, Concord, N.C., skytrooper, reads a warning sign in the street. This street leads to the Rhine River and is under observation of the Germans who occupy a stronghold there. Cpl. Boger is with the 82nd Airborne Division. 4 April 1945. The German tank is burnt out and the torsion-bars have been destroyed by the immense heat of the fire.
Allied troops captured the western part of Cologne on 6th-7th March 1945. The German army still held the eastern shore of the Rhine and attacked the Allies with artillery. The rest of Cologne was captured between 12th and 15th April 1945. Until the 16th April a strip of about 500m along the shore had been declared as a restricted area and the cathedral was just within this zone.
