Granville.
The port of Granville was captured on the 3rd July 1944 and was the first port taken after the breakout. As the tonnage target rose, on the 25th of August the 1058th Port Construction and Repair Group went to Granville to prepare additional coaster berths. It was to operate entirely as a coaling port.
The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen.
The Germans had certainly tried to knock out the Ludendorff bridge and a team from the 1058th PC & RG undertook the heavy steel work on the bridge and they were soon making good progress. Lt Col, Clayton A. Ross was walking over the bridge accompanied by his Exec Officer when about halfway across he heard a sharp crack. It was a rivethead shearing. The whole deck trembled, dust rose and the next moment he was in the water. The center span was twisting and buckling, then it fell into the water along with the adjacent spans. In the collapse of the bridge 6 members of the 276th EB were killed and 11 missing along with 60 injured. The commander of the 1058th PC & RG, Major Carr was killed; 7 of his men were missing and 6 injured. A German demolition charge some days earlier had weakened the bridge, but the immediate cause was thought to be the vibrations from German and US artillery fire. Within 3 days the US engineers had built and opened a class 40 floating Baily bridge to replace the Bridge at Remagen!
The Roosevelt Bridge.
The 1058th were involved in construction of this road bridge over the Rhine and Lippe rivers and named after the president who had died less than a week before it was built.
