Viewing this YouTube video of a Russian float bridge destroyed by artillery, I find myself puzzled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYlg8ClPEns
For background, mid 1960’s I was an enlisted man in the 814th Engineer Company (Float Bridge), Pioneer Kaserne, Hanau, Germany. We were assigned to V Corps. During that assignment I participated in many exercises building both float bridges and float ferries.
These are old scanned black and white pictures from that time.
The long bridge in one photo was across the Rhine River near the site Patton’s Army crossed in WWII. The shorter bridge was across the Donau (Danube) in the dead of winter. This was under a smoke screen.
All of the pictures show some of the complexity of a float bridge operation. In our one company we had some 112 vehicles.
The Russian were using what we called mobile ferries or a variant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ratKBu2cRp0&ab_channel=HD1080ide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nh_feflEx0
Just the short bridge across the Donau was a 16 hour exercise. A mobile ferry company should have been able to do it in an hour or less if they have their shit together.
Back to the day. Not under direct artillery fire. Armor and infantry standing by to immediately cross the bridge to seize and control the terrain on the enemy side was the order of the day.
The realities of military bridging cannot have changed much. The Romans built a floating bridge across the Rhine. All that has changed is speed.
7 comments:
I'm not clear on your point.
Was that pontoon bridge under construction or finished project when hit?
EdB
Sorry for the lack of clarity. Looked to be nearly complete or complete but was taken out by artillery. Not a cannon cocker expert but it looks like direct fire, that is to say, the shooters could clearly see the target instead of firing on co-ordinates. Either way, poor tactics on the part of the Russians.
I hadn't heard they took out a bridge like that, but if I had, I would have immediately thought of you.
DrJim
Thanks for the thought. From Barcelona to Moscow, an advancing army in Europe will encounter an obstacle requiring special bridging equipment on an average of every fifty miles if memory serves.
Thanks for the clarification.
That had to be some cold/wet/nasty work... And the design is quite a bit different from what y'all did.
Ed B
You are welcome.
Old NFO
You are correct. Our floats had multiple air chambers and need truck mounted air compressors (230 cu ft min) to inflate. We had steel tread way instead of bulk which speeded things but it was still a labor intensive job.
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