Operation Vampire

'Vampire' was the Canadian crossing of the Rhine river in the area of Emmerich by Major General A. B. Matthews’s 2nd Division and Major General R. H. Keefler’s 3rd Division of Lieutenant General G. G. Simonds’s II Corps in General H. D. G. Crerar’s 1st Army, within the context of 'Plunder' (27/28 March 1945).

The operation was the left-hand component of 'Plunder', and was fought against elements of General Günther Blumentritt’s 1st Fallschirmarmee of Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz’s Heeresgruppe 'H' as the two divisions crossed the river just downstream of Rees and then diverged as the 2nd Division headed for Doetinchem in the Netherlands and the 3rd Division for Emmerich in Germany.