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Returning German Troops Cross the Rhine at Cologne (November 1918)

This photograph shows returning troops from the Western Front crossing the Rhine bridge at Cologne-Deutz. Two armies of 700,000 to 800,000 passed through the city between November 23 and December 3, 1918, and were welcomed by food stations and streets decorated with flags and banners. For the city, run by workers’ and soldiers’ councils at the time, the number of troops passing through represented a logistical challenge. The city center was closed to traffic and the distribution of alcohol was forbidden in order to avoid violent conflicts. Just a few weeks after the returning German troops passed through, the first regiment of occupying British troops marched into Cologne as a part of the Allied occupation of the Rhineland.

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Returning German Troops Cross the Rhine at Cologne (November 1918)

© Bundesarchiv