Bailey bridges Locations and names.

After some personal research with much help from you guys ive come to realise how important bailey bridges were during the war.
I thought maybe with all the knowledge and research as a group we could come up with a definate list with pictures and infomation to help people in the future with research?
What do you think?
I know some are pretty obvious i.e dempsey. But theres also alot of experimental bridges built on the run up to the rhine crossing.
Which i have pictures of.

 

A noble effort, but did you know that the Allies built 1,000’s of Bailey Bridges (and other bridges) throughout Italy, Europe and other theatres of war. I have been saving “Bailey bridge” builds by Canadian Troops, but to do this I have to go “page by page” in their War Diaries to find them….a huge effort. Some of my information is posted under “resources” on this site. I have researched a couple of RCE Field Companies war diaries and recorded each bridge they built (with as much info as I could determine) and other members on this site have helped by “adding” info they knew, to update my info.

Here is a link to ALL mention of Bailey Bridges on this site alone (by all members)

https://ww2talk.com/index.php?search/62578878/&q=Bailey+bridges&o=relevance

If you have “specific bridges” you’d like more info, I’m here to help (just post your request)…..but locating ALL of them a huge task and if you can do it, you’d have build a tremendous resource.

Good luck

Follow UP. Here’s a List from a Report on Bridges Build JUST in the Italian Campaign, you can see the magnitude of your task ahead?



And here’ s link to just ONE Canadian Engineer Company and the bridges they built…….doesn’t look to LARGE, but to do this one Company I had to go “page by page” through EVERY month of their War Dairies to find just this. There were TWO reels of information, each reel contains from 3000 to 5000 pages, had to look page by page (the site you get this from has NO search engine) NOT every page has this information, but you still have to look, if you truly want to find as much info on each bridge build.

AND, this does NOT INCLUDE, all the Bailey Bridges they build “in training”…..some which still exist in England. Now I would NOT include training bridges in any chart (in my opinion) as the units built them and tore them down ‘usually’ the same day….the information “exists” but were used to “train only”. After ALL this type of training an Engineer unit could sometime build a bailey in just a few hours (WHILE UNDER FIRE from the enemy).

Oh, and I almost forgot……if their War Diary said “Platoon or Section built a Bailey bridge BUT DID NOT give the location……I then went on the Division or Brigade War Diaries to look at the Operations Logs, which would sometime tell me WHERE this bridge was. This was usually “faster” as I now had a DATE I could work with to find the appropriate info. Even though I recommended not including training Bridges, in my information below I DID include 2 training bridges…..ONLY because I found them in the Diaries, and normally I’ll document ANYTHING I find on the subject I’m looking for.

16th Canadian Field Company, RCE - Bridge’s

I’m NOT trying to dissuade you, just pointing out how big this task would be, I know I don’t have enough years left in my life to make much of a dent in this type of project…..but if you do start it, I’ll share everything I have to date (and maybe work on more Canadian Units for you)

 

Yo,

Just to note - the original thread:

Finding location of a 'Bailey Bridge'

Regards ...

 

Yes, they built a lot, especially a lot of "smaller" ones over canals and streams.

But I have picked out all the Bailey bridges from my allied Rhine crossings. I've been working on the list for a very long time and it should slowly be complete.
However, I am always grateful for detailed data and corrections.




Bailey Bridges over the river Rhine in WWII (lined up from north to south):
Some bridges have been remodelled or renamed.


Contractors Bridge (Canadian):
Bailey Pontoon Bridge
Class 15
Built by:
34th Cdn Field Company RCE
96 PNR Coy
Construction: started at 2nd April 1945 at 0830
Completed: 3rd April 1945 at 1100B
Location:
Emmerich Höhe Martinikirchplatz / at "MR965602"
GPS:
51.829292594341084, 6.235666038199875



Melville Bridge (Canadian):
Bailey Bridge
Class 40
named after the chief engineer of 1st Canadian Army, Brigadier J.L. Melville
Built by:
Canadian Army:
40
96
1742
1743
1744
1745
1746
1319
32th Cdn Field Company RCE
33th Cdn Field Company RCE
34th Cdn Field Company RCE
11 PD PK
Length: 1,373 feet
Construction: At noon on March 31, Canadian engineers began construction of Melville Bridge
opened to traffic the next morning 1st April 1945
Location:
Emmerich at the level of Fährstraße
GPS:
51.82891284482887, 6.237997525731079




MacLean Bridge:
High-Level Bailey Pontoon Bridge
Class 40
Named in honor of Brigadier A. T. MacLean, former Chief Engineer of 1st Canadian Army Built by: Troops Engineers
Construction: Spring 1945
Length: 1656 Feet
Location:
at Emmerich Wassertor, slightly below "Autosteiger"
GPS:
51.82744348543702, 6.246138582460267




Blackfriars-Bridge = Uncle Stanley's Bridge:
Bailey Pontoon Bidge
Class 40
Built by:
2 Canadian C Tps Engineers
34 Royal Canadian Engineers
35 Royal Canadian Engineers
36 Royal Canadian Engineers
37 Royal Canadian Engineers
started: 26 March at 1000 hrs
completed: 28 March at 1200 hrs (hours taken 50);
Location:
north of Niedermörmter, about 200 metres downstream of Lambeth Bridge
GPS:
circa 51.754277891818134, 6.375469904560889




Lambeth-Bridge:
Bailey Pontoon Bridge at Rees
Class 15
Built by: 30 Corps Troops Engineers
started: 24 March 1945 at 1500
completed: 26 March at 0830 hrs (hours taken 41,5 - of which only 24 were worked)
Location:
North of Niedermörmter, at the level of the later Rhine-Bridge Rees-Kalkar (B67)
GPS:
51.75431605666751, 6.377096847215934



Westminster Bridge:
High-Level Bailey Pontoon Bridge
Class 40, in May: Class 30
Built by: 6 Army Troops Engineers
Construction: started 26 March 1100 hours, completed at 29 March at 1800 hrs (hours taken 79)
Length:
Location: between Rees and Reeserschanz / Niedermörmter
GPS:
circa 51°45'20.2"N 6°23'34.9"E



London-Bridge:
Bailey Pontoon Bridge
Class 40
The bridge was built to allow for a 4 meter variation in water level
Built by:
8 GHQ Troops Engineers
started: 25 March at 1700 hrs
completed: 26 March at 2300 hrs (hours taken 30)
Location:
between Rees and Reeserschanz / Niedermörmter
GPS:
51°45'18.4"N 6°23'46.2"E



Tyne and Tees Bridges:
The Tyne and Tees bridges were the longest military bridges ever (?) constructed and in addition to these monsters, an additional 500 temporary road and rail bridges were constructed
1945: Allegedly the longest military bridge in the world

Tyne-Bridge:
Bailey bridge / road bridge at Rees
Class 70
Built by:
(Northumberland) GHQ Troops Engineers
50th Northumbrian Division
Length: 4980 Feet
Opened: 1945-05-23

Tees Bridge:
steel piled Bailey bridge / railroad bridge at Rees
Class 40
Built by:
(Northumberland) GHQ Troops Engineers
50th Northumbrian Division
Length: 4980 Feet or 165? ?
Location:
between Rees and Reeserschanz / Niedermörmter
GPS:
approx 51°45'18.9"N 6°23'51.7"E



Sussex-Bridge:
Bailey Pontoon Bridge at Xanten
Class 12
(Was started at the same time as Digger (within 30 minutes) but was twice as long although and in two spans joined by a causeway)
Built by:
12 Corps Troops Engineers (less one company) with two companies 7 GHQ Troops Engineers under command.
Length: 1940 Feet
Location:
between Vynen and Haffen.
GPS:
51°42'44.7"N 6°24'59.7"E



Dempsey-Bridge:
Class 40 timber piled Bailey Bridge at Xanten
Length: 1260 meters / 4000 (?) feet or 4136 / 4156 (?) feet (different sources)
Started: 2 April 1945
Opened: 28 May 1945 (On March 29th and 30th the first 200 tons of material were unloaded), civilians were also allowed to use from 25 June 1945.
Closed: "In February 1946 a cargo barge tried to pass the bridge in the aforesaid manner, hit one of the piers next to the navigation channel and was then turned sideways by the strong current. It crashed into a number of wooden piers in the river. When tug boats tried to pull the barge clear of the bridge, a rope broke and the the stricken vessel crashed into the bridge once more. 150 metres of the bridge collapsed, the ship sank, one of its crew died and was never recovered. The damage to the bridge was so severe that repairs were not considered an option."
Built by:
a:
HQ 18 GHQ Troops Engineers
4 RC I. R. CP.
933 PC R. Coy
963 PC
104 Coy Pnr. Corps
7 (Netherlands) Coy P.C. (Three secs transferred to Rees on 21 April)
b:
HQ 4 PC & Gp R.E., with under command:
933 PC & R Coy R.E.
963 PC & R Coy R.E. (withdrawn 23 April)
IWT Det operating Sea mules
Fifty Italian D. Ps. from nearby camp were employed continuously under 807 Rd Constr Coy. A further 15 Italian D. Ps. were employed as carpenters on splicing, fixing and shoeing piles under 213 Fd Coy RE.
About 280 sappers worked to construct this bridge - included sappers of a Dutch engineer company. Additionally, 65 Italians - Ex-POW freed from German camps - were recruited. So told, german POW too.
Location:
About a hundred metres downstream of the Digger-Bridge
GPS:
51°40'13.5"N 6°28'38.2"E
51.670425, 6.477263




Digger-Bridge = Xanten Tactical Bridge = Xanten Bridge:
Class 40 Tactical Bailey Pontoon Bridge at Xanten
The first Bailey bridge over the Rhine was at Xanten, a 300m Class 40 Bailey Pontoon started on the morning of the 24th of March 1945 and completed soon.
Length: app. 1150 Feet
It took 31 hours to get the floating bridge ready for traffic – it was opened at at 16.30 hrs on March 25th
Built by:
7th Army Troops RE (britisch Royal Engineers)
Location:
Xanten Beek: at the level of "Fährhaus Steiger" - Bislich Marwick: at later ferry-Site "Dicker Fährkopp"
GPS:
51°39'59.0"N 6°28'52.8"E
51.666389, 6.481338




Sparrow-Bridge:
in 2 Versions:
Class 40 Bailey Pontoon Bridge at Xanten
The bridge was named „Sparrow Bridge“ to commemorate Sapper Cyril Victor Sparrow of 584 Army Field Coy. He was 26 years old when he was killed on March 25th, 1945.
Built by:
15 (Kent) GHQ Troops Engineers, assisted by onne Company of the Pioneer Corps.
opened: 3rd April, redesigned and reopened at 17th April. Built between 27th March and 3rd April 1945
Length: Version 1: 1713 Feet - 1796 Feet - Version 2: 2085 Feet
Location:
GPS:
51°39'55.0"N 6°28'58.3"E
51.665281, 6.482852




Floating Bailey Bridge (No. 3):
Class 40
Built by:
167th Engineer Combat Battalion
574th Engineer light Ponton Copany (less one platoon)
536th Light Pont Co
1117th Engineer Group
Length: 1415 or 1417 Feet long
Began at 260600, end at 071900 (37 or 38 hours)
completed: 27.03.1945
Construstion began at 0500 on D+2 and was opened at 1900 on D+3
Location: Wesel Harbor
GPS: 51°39'11.4"N 6°36'01.1"E




Montgomery Bridge:
Bailey Bridge
Built by:
14 Army Group R. E.
12 Corps Troops R. E.
262 Field Company R. E.
263 Field Company R. E.
280 Field Company R. E.
265 Field Park Company R. E.
112 WKSP. and PK. Coy. R. E.
116 RD. Const. Coy. R. E.
861 Mech. Eqpt. Coy. R. E.
965 I.W.T.Op.Coy
297 Coy. R. A. S. C. (G.T.)
1636 R.A.S.C.Pl. (F.B.E.)
1007 Coy. (G.T.) Belge
Length: 2032 Feet
Opened: 05.02.1946
Location:
between Büderich and Wesel, upstream to the destroyed Rheinbaben-Bridge, at the location of the Rossevelt Bridge
GPS:
51.64456798424998, 6.604872929444644




Floating Bailey-Bridge (No. 2):
Class 40
Ponton Bridge near Wallach / Pottdeckel
with two booms (built by 277th Engineer Combat Battalion):
Built by:
1143rd Engineer Combat Group, Headquarters and Headquarters Company
277th Engineer Combat Battalion
336th Engineer Combat Battalion
244th Engineer Combat Battalion
1370th Engineer Dump Truck Company
2733rd Engineer Light Equipment Company
Construction began: 0700 on D+2
Opened: 28. or 29. March 1945 = 0800 on D+5
Closed: 10. or 11. April 1945
Length: 1739 Feet or 1750 Feet? (changed construction?)
Location:
south of "Gut Pottdeckel" northeast of Wallach
GPS:
51°36'19.7"N 6°35'37.0"E
51.605463, 6.593607




Floating Bailey-Bridge (Class 40) (No. 1):
Built by:
1142nd Engineer Combat Group
Headquarters and Headquarters Company
172nd Engineer Combat Battalion
184th Engineer Combat Battalion
278th Engineer Combat Battalion
630th Engineer Light Equipment Company
145st Engineer Dump Truck Company
1503rd Engineer Water Supply Company
Detachment, 2nd Quartermaster Battalion (Mobile) (96 1/2-ton trucks)
Length: 1736 oder 1756 Feet
Opened: 29.03.1945 after 51 hours
Closed:
Location:
Mehrum
GPS:
51.56723224301747, 6.620502779866775




Floating Bailey Bridge (Class 40)
Length: ?
Opened: 17.04.1945 after 72 hours
Location:
between Orsoy (probably at the level of "Müschensteg" or north of "am Hafen") and "Walsumer Rheinaue"
GPS:
?




Gerow Bridge = Triumph-Bridge:
Class 40 Floating Bailey Pontoon Bridge
Built by:
15th Army
1133 Eng. C. GP
1285 Engineer Combat Battalion (British Army - Royal Engineers)
Length: 1534 or 1537 (or 1500) feet long (longest floating bridge on european theater " (?)
Completed: 28.04.1945
Location:
Rheinhausen Fährstrasse / Duisburg Hochfeld Werthauser Strasse
GPS:
51°25'04.7"N 6°44'07.2"E




Freeman-Bridge:
Class 24 that used floating pontoons constructed from US Naval Lighterage pontoons and a large navigation span
Rises & drops with the rise & fall of the Rhine.
Built by:
units of the Royal British Engineers
Length: 2391 Feet long, Bailey Bridge: 1700 ft long
Started building: June 45, finished Feb. 46.
opened: in early October 1945
Damaged in 1947 by a ship hitting it.
Location:
between Düsseldorf Inselstrasse and Oberbilk
GPS:
51°14'02.2"N 6°46'06.7"E




Ernie Pyle Bridge:
Bailey-Ponton-Bridge
Constructed by:
1288th Engineer Combat Battalion
1251st Engineer Combat Battalion
1133rd Engineer Combat Group
Length: 1500 Feet
Location:
Neuss Grimlinghausen / Volmerswerth
GPS:
51°10'51.9"N 6°45'12.7"E




Patton-Bridge:
Partly Bailey Bridge, partly a truss bridge in Cologne
Built by: 500 british Royal Engineer Pioneers and 900 german worker
Length: circa 400 Meter
Opened: 12.06.1946
Dismantling from 10.11.1951
Location:
at "Deutscher Ring" (today "Theodor-Heuss-Ring") at the level Bastei, circa at Rhinekilometer 689
GPS:
50°56'57.1"N 6°58'07.9"E




Amerikanerbrücke (local german name):
Bailey-Bridge / Heavy Ponton Bridge in Cologne
Owner: US Armee
Construction: April - May 1945 / 21. April 1945
Opened: Juni 1945
Closed: already in May, after completion of the pile bridge
Dismantling in September 1946
Location:
circa at Rhinekilometer 684; at the level Schönhauser Strasse / south of "Südbrücke"
GPS:
50°54'52.7"N 6°58'32.0"E




Hodges-Bridge = Bridge on Barges:
Two-way Bailey bridge on barges
2-way (Class 40)
1-way (Class 70)
Built by:
1110 Engineer Combat Group, First US Army
148th Engr C Bn
207th Engr C Bn
1264th Engr C Bn
631st Engr Light Equip Co
1368th Dump Truck Co
Det, LCVP Unit No 1
Det, 329 Harbor Craft Co
Length: 1180 feet
completed: 05. April 1945
Location:
Bad Godesberg
GPS:
50°41'35.8"N 7°10'26.1"E




Class 40 Floating Bailey Bridge:
Built by: 148th Engineeer Combat Battalion 10 days after the capture of the Ludendorf Bridge
Length: 1300 feet
opened: 20.03.1945
Location:
Erpel / Remagen at the level Church (St. Peter und Paul) (Rhinekilometer 634)
GPS:
50°34'50.8"N 7°13'39.7"E




Victory Bridge:
Class 40 Bailey Bridge
The bridge could be temporarily opened for shipping traffic
Location:
below the gauge house near the Prussian government building, on the site of the former ship's bridge
GPS:
50°21'32.6"N 7°36'24.9"E




Bailey Bridge (?):
Location:
maybe one at Oberwesel?
GPS:
?




Two-way floating Bailey Ponton Bridge:
2-way (Class 40)
1-way (Class 70)
Built by:
Third Army Engineers
178th Engr. C. Bn (under 1123rd Engr C Gp)
Length: 1520 feet
Opened: 05.04.1945 after 54 hours
Location:
about at the level of Salzstrasse in Bingen?
GPS:
?




Floating Bailey Bridge:
Fixed Bailey on pile bents with 520 feet center section on floating barges / semi permanent bridging
2-way (Class 40)
1-way (Class 70)
Length: 2220 feet
Built by:
1306th Engr Cs Regt (4 companies)
Opened: 12.04.1945 after 9 days
Location:
at Mainz-Budenheim / Walluf
GPS:
?




Bailey-Ponton-Bridge:
Class 40 / Class 70
Location:
Mainz, about at the level of the later "Diether-von-Isenburg-Straße" / Mainz Kastel
GPS:
50°00'31.3"N 8°16'26.5"E
50.008682, 8.274039




Floating Bailey Bridge:
Class 40
Built by:
178th Engineer C Bn
under 1123rd Engineer C Group
and maybe built by 145th Engineer Combat
Length: 942 feet
Opened: 31.03.1945 after 44 hours
Location:
approximately at the height of the later car ferry
GPS:
49.86642712983247, 8.353216584217694




Morse Baily Bridge on barges:
Location:
between Kehl and Strasbourg, probably on the site of the later "Brücke der zwei Ufer"
GPS:
48°34'08.6"N 7°48'13.3"E




Bailey-Bridge / Ponton-Bridge
Location:
Border triangle near Basel / Huningue
GPS:
?


I hope it helps,

Kai

 

Hi. Thankyou so much to take the time to reply. My post did come across to sound like an easy task, but i completley understand how proberbly near impossible the task is! Im going to give it a good go and am so thankful for all the help and imformation shared.
Your all just amazing.

 

Stuart, excellent. I’ll give you all the help you want (or maybe don’t want). I’ll send you all the Bailey Bridge information that I have on Canadian Units (so far). I’ll post them here, so that you can keep all the info you gather in one place……and so others can see it and either add to my info or use it themselves, if they wish.

Info coming, just have to find my files and send them to you.

Cheers

 

'Bubbles Bridge' bailey
Turnhout-Hasselt canal

210ft long
Built by
294th RE field company
Finished 10/7/1944

 

I’ll start posting my info now. I’m going to do it in separate posts for each Canadian Unit, so you can keep the information “together” for each.

Also, Engineer units were NOT the only units that built bailey bridges. The RCASC (royal Canadian Army Service Corps) ALSO had “Bridging Platoons” who either assisted the RCE or built bridges themselves. I have the war dairies for one (85th Bridging Platoons, RCASC) and I can’t post that here but I’ll give you a link to the info from my Dropbox account.

When you start your “spreadsheet” (I’m assuming), you may wish to make it searchable by Units, by Bridge Name (if it had one) by Dates, by locations, by “Country’s” etc……so if a person was searching for a specific bridge or date or name it can be found quickly

OK, next posts are info

 

5th Canadian Field Company, RCE

 

6th Canadian Field Company, RCE

 

16th Canadian Field Company, RCE

 

18th Canadian Field Company, RCE

 

20th Canadian Field Company, RCE

These next posts, I have NOT done a search or prepared a chart like the above posts, but it’s info that I have found and will post them under their Unit Name

Holland Bridge
This is the “plan” for the bridge from their War Diaries

 

10th Canadian Field Squadron, RCE

Italy

 

So the plan will be to do a spreadsheet for each country... in date order, with as much info and any links to the area of bridge. Was thinking maybe using google drive so i can invite people to ammend and add to it?

 

2nd Battalion, RCE

This was a “heavy construction unit’…but they did build bridges……Info from the History of the 2nd Battalion, RCE

Please note, that many of their bridges were built with the assistance of other units, in their write ups, they usually tell you “who was their” so to speak

 

Temujin.
Your research is amazing.
I think maybe the best way to start would be the basics. So a list of name, date, location.
Then from that add information, who built it, sizes, type ect ... what do you think?

 

I agree, I think I would list the type (floating, raft, bridge) and size (70Ft T/T Baily) in the original go.

In my info above, I tried to LIST ALL their bridges (repairs to existing civilian bridges, wooden bridges etc) so if you want Bailey’s only……I would just stick to those.

When you have a good start, you can then post it on this website as a “RESOURCE” and then update the Resource every once in a while. This way people can start using your work, and if they have more information it encourages them to send you the info to help you build the chart.

Just ask Kevin…..his Vehicle Census information is amazing, and he keeps getting PM from me when I find a new “tank name” or info……I think he gets tired of this “old guy” bugging him.

Just suggestions…….and you’ve fired me up…..I’m going to tackle one of the Canadian Engineer units in Italy next, as you know 2000 plus bridges built in Italy.

By the way, when I joined the Army in the early 70’s, the Bailey Bridge was STILL IN SERVICE, and I use to watch them build them at our Engineer Training Center……then they adopted the MGB, and I actually built those (which is similar in theory to the Bailey, just a different designed, and like the Bailey, designed to be built with ONLY manpower, if that is all you had)

In Division or Brigade exercises (held in Wainwright Alberta) all the Engineer Units would have a “field day” where they competed against each other in various Engineer Tasks……one being “ building a bridge”….each unit supplied a Team to do this (who had been training for months, but of course nobody admitted that to the other teams, who we’re doing the same)……and it was always a great contest…..even the American Engineer troops that attended our Camps would participate. (not very good bridge builders in my opinion, they got it done, but always the “last” to complete that task”). I think they relied to much on “mechanized bridges”, although fast (lays a bridge up to 26m in length in about 4 minutes)…….but you can’t cross a river that is 200 meters wide with that…..then they seem to rely on ‘floating bridges”, you drop in the water, they unfold, you link them together and “bob’s your uncle”. Make fast “rafts” also

Ok rambled on enough, I can’t remember what I had for breakfast, but I can remember in detail Bailey Bridges being built 55 years ago).

again good luck on this. And I promise, not to “ramble on” anymore

 

Edit: I’ve decided to start on the 20th Cdn Field Company RCE bridge building.

 

Would be very interested if you have further information on Canadian Rhine bridges and would like to share it. This would probably require a separate post, as not all of them were Bailey bridges. What do you think?

Kind regards,

Kai