German army engineers; other mines were put into the Rhine to negligible effect. On 13 May, the British put in the Rhine near Soufflenheim, reported by General Victor Bourret, the Fifth Army commander, to have caused damage to the barge barrier protecting the bridge at Karlsruhe. Several pontoon bridges were damaged and river traffic was temporarily suspended between Karlsruhe and Mainz. By 24 May, over had been released into the Rhine, Moselle and Meuse rivers. On 9 June, Andre-Gaston Pretelat, commander of 2, ordered the fluvial mines to be sent down the Rhine to delay a German attack on the Maginot Line. RAF Bomber Command mine dropping began between Bingen and Koblenz and into canals and river estuaries feeding the Heligoland Bight but few mines were laid by aircraft before the Battle of France ended; any damage caused could not be measured. Aftermath In Assignment to Catastrophe (1954), Edward Spears, the representative of Churchill to the French Prime Minister, who had first mooted the mining of German rivers in 1939, quoted Churchill from Their Finest Hour (1949) that, Footnotes References Books Newspapers External links Norway, 1940 World War II operations and battles of Europe Mine warfare Military operations of World War II involving Germany Battle of France Riverine warfare Naval battles and operations of World War II involving the United Kingdom