08-27-2012, 05:32 PM
Oh, that's hard
About swimming across the Rhine: The (main) problems are flow, ships and temperature. If you only want to cross the river, no matter where, the flow is nearly secondary. Today ships are the biggest danger for swimmers in the Rhine, but in March 1945 I assume there were none. But the Rhine is cold in March, between 5 and 11 degrees the last years. Unfortunately I don't have data for 1945. Even in summer "our" life savers wear neoprene wet suits when they have to swim in the Rhine, but of course they don't have a Nazi army behind them. I think your dad could have managed it, but if he had to pull Gidrie I doubt.
Christoph
I see you have got the answer while I was still writing