Montgomery Bridge Germany

[Citroman]

By coïncidence i heard that my uncle was detached by the dutch army to the REME  for helping building a bridge over the Rhine near Wesel. I was a very long Bailey bridge. That was build in 45/46 and stayed in use till 1953.

Here some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ex-boy]

That certainly is quite a bridge and thank you for posting the pictures. I suspect your father was attached to the Royal Engineers rather than REME, as they were the usual bridge builders.

Edited January 9, 2022 by Ex-boy
Added ‘s’.

[Citroman]

I think you are right and it was my uncle... ;-)

[Morris C8]

I do have a few original photos of this bridge and the Patton Bridge but they look the same

Edited January 10, 2022 by Morris C8

[Morris C8]

Some Photos of bridges being put up from my collection in Germany it has some of your bridge and others.

[Citroman]

Thanks, nice pics, there was story of an other bridge near Rees (germany) several kms west of the Wesel bridge. But i think that was build a lot later.

Im Belgium there have been several Bailey bridges over canals that were still in use in the late 80s. One was in bad condtion. Several diagonal bars under the road deck were broken. And lots of rust would fall on your head if a car passed over it. 😉 

Edited January 10, 2022 by Citroman

[Morris C8]

Some of the guys that made the bridges of a RE unit

[B series]

 The Montgomery Bridge is an impressive structure and there must be hundreds of Bailey bridge panel sections used because it appears to be 12 panels across bridge width, and it is a long bridge. I wonder how many years this bridge was in use?

At war end there must have been so many bridges that needed rebuilding, and until that happened some other ideas were tried to facilitate either crossing rivers or transporting cargo along waterways. Somewhere I have photos taken in Germany or Holland in 1945 showing barges / ferries powered by British army Ford / Willys 4x4 vehicles using the drive from rear axles to power propellers, or if I remember correctly 3 vehicles with rear wheels driving a large paddle wheel arrangement. I guess the barges and vehicles would have been modified by the RE.

 

 

 

[Citroman]

The bridge over the Rhine was in use till 1953. Later my uncle was ordered to Zeeland. A lot of dikes were damaged by the battle for the Schelde river. He said they used a lot of DUKWs and Terrapins. I have never heard of the last though. I am not shure if the the RE helped in the rebuild too?

Edited January 13, 2022 by Citroman

[john1950]

Terrapins were an 8 wheeled amphibian designed by Thornycroft, powered by 2 Ford V8ts I think. Used late in the WW2.  

[B series]

The Morris Commercial / Thornycroft Terrapin was a unusual vehicle design, and in my opinion over complicated compared with a GMC DKUW.  The Terrapin had twin engines driving 4 axles. The leading axle was positioned so that the wheels were not on the ground when on road driving. This feature was to allow for better water egress over river banks etc, but it meant that there was a lot of front over hang when turning corners as the turning radii was determined by the 2nd axle.

The Terrapin was not a common vehicle, in fact I suspect that the majority of British army soldiers never saw one in the flesh, but someone took some time to construct a sand casting and made at least one model made from cast aluminium. Maybe it was made by Thornycroft?

This model is cast aluminium with brass propellers and weighs 0.7kg

It has no markings, and I don't know it age, but I have owned it for several decades. I have not seen another like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Citroman]

Nice model,

I did some research in the Zeeland archives and found some pictures. They are from the liberation off the island of Walcheren. At the battle of the Schelde.

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by Citroman

[B series]

Hello Citroman,

They are some nice clear period photos of a Terrapin in service. It looks a difficult vehicle to use on the road, and  loading it with cargo must have been difficult.  I imagine a set of ladders would have been part of the vehicle equipment. Would be nice to see one working in water, I assume the water level would be at the top of the tyres.

I wonder why the British invested in the design of this vehicle, when I would have thought that "unlimited" supplies of the DUKW could have been available which was a tried and tested design and produced in volume and therefore low price.

I have travelled often  in the area of Vlissengen Flushing / Middelburg /Goes very flat and a nice area to visit, but I was not aware of the WW II history.

Tot ziens

 

 

 

[wally dugan]

l have found the whole subject of the battle of the SCHELDT most interesting for personal reasons as my fathers war ended in the town of MIDELBURG thanks to a German mortar he recalled that  been showered by cobles when the rounds hit the tops of the dykes. I took him back and he stood in front of tower in the center of the town and we stayed in the hotel opposite across the square

[Citroman]

The terrapin with the P registration is on the Middelburg market square. Last year they released a new movie on the battle of the Schelde

Edited January 15, 2022 by Citroman

[chrisgrove]

The aluminium model shown above is a model (to be honest, not a very good one), of the Mk 2 Terrapin which had a single cargo hold and the driver more or less at the front.  Very very few of these were made and to the best of my knowledge, none were used in action.  The Mk 1 Terrapin, which was indeed used in small numbers and can be seen in the pics above, had the driver more or less in the middle of the vehicle with two cargo holds, one ahead of, and one behind the driver. 

Chris

[Rootes75]

1 hour ago, Citroman said:

The terrapin with the P registration is on the Middelburg market square. Last year they released a new movie on the battle of the Schelde

I watched 'The Forgotten Battle' on netflix earlier this week! It was a good film with plenty of period vehicles used and the storyline is very moving.

[Citroman]

I did find this picture of a wreck on an other forum. They say It is in John Belfield's collection at Narre Warren.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by Citroman

[Citroman]

Did find another 2 pictures from Zeeland.

 

[Citroman]

And an other

 

[Citroman]

Two more Terrapin pictures in Zeeland turned up.

 

[Enigma]

Terrapin, a good example of weird and wonderful engineering.