| PLant-Pilot. Thanks for that and to Gerry for his description of bridging under fire. Now the picture you put up, is about as perfect a picture of a Bailey as you could get. But if you think about it. The Bailey was so good that it would be difficult to improve on the original design.
Gerry, you talked about bridging under direct enemy fire, One of the worst experiences we had in all the assaults we took part in, was on the Escaut Canal at Petite Brogel, the sprint was on to get to Arnhem, and as soon as the Canvas Assault boats arrived we had to go,,for it was deadly urgent, That was an assault crossing that made Dantes Inferno look like a birthday party.
1am in the morning of a pitch black night, against a determined SS rearguard armed with damn near everything. To make matters worse, the Canal had steep concrete sides that we had to drag the heavy canavs boats up, before we could get them in the water. met with withering fire from explosive "cannon" shells that rattled the concrete sides. mortars and a Mc gun firing down the canal. A truly terrible night that will remain with me for the rest of my life, left some good friends behind there.
Sapper |