put until First Army reached the river. Patton was very reluctant to hold in place, and questioned the advisability to do so. Bradley explained that all available ammunition and reinforcements would go to First Army, since two armies could not be simultaneously supplied. Patton reluctantly accepted Bradley's explanation, but after that meeting he called together his three corps commanders, Manton Eddy of XII Corps, Walton H. Walker of XX Corps, and Middleton. He asked Eddy if he could ease forward and capture Trier, Walker if he could do the same with Bitburg and Middleton if he could take Gerolstein. All three commanders agreed to this, and within a few days all three had reached their objectives. Middleton was then asked by Patton to take his corps all the way to Koblenz on the Rhine River, which he did, and VIII Corps reached the river before any units of First Army arrived. Once the VIII Corps was at Koblenz, Patton took most of its divisions away for an operation with XII Corps further up the river at Mainz, leaving Middleton with some corps units (mostly artillery) and a single division, the 87th Infantry. Middleton asked Patton if he could take Koblenz with the 87th, eliciting a laugh from the army commander. Middleton pressed him to let him try, and with the commander's approval he was able to take the city, which only had about 500 defenders. Most of the other German troops were on the other side of the Rhine not wanting to get trapped between the Rhine and the Moselle Rivers. Once Koblenz was captured in mid-March 1945, VIII Corps was assigned a 25-mile front from Koblenz upstream (southeast) to beyond Boppard and the famous landmark, the Lorelei. Patton then gave Middleton the 89th Division and 76th Division for the river crossing. Middleton chose to cross the river near the Lorelei where the river was narrow, swift, and flanked by steep terrain, eliciting another laugh from Patton. Middleton knew there would be little German resistance there, and he was able to get the entire 89th across in one night using inflatable rafts, and then put a pontoon bridge in place by early morning. The 87th initially attempted to cross at Koblenz but met too much resistance there, compelling them to move further upstream closer to Boppard, where their crossing went smoothly. Within two days Middleton had all three of his