Pontonnier

The teams of pontonniers are units of the military Engineering charged to set up on rivers of the Pont S in order to allow the crossing of those Ci by the Armée S.

This mission of military Engineering proves to be essential in the mobile warfare, where the most mobile weapons (tank S, Infanterie motorized or mechanized) must be able to be freed from all the natural obstacles to achieve their tactical goals. Thus each Panzerdivision German had a battalion of pontonniers.

During the Second world war, the majority of the bridges consisted of boats, tires or to hard hull, which were used to support the spans or became the vehicles or infantrymen.

But the installation of the boats was a difficult and complex operation, especially when they were thus done in first line under enemy fire. Thus of new materials were conceived to facilitate and accelerate this spot. The EFA (Machine of crossing of before) is a motorized bridge able to be spread in a few minutes. Moreover of the barges, related to trailers can act as vats or connected between them of bridge. And in order to guarantee a maximum autonomy the majority of the light vehicles (armoured recognition, transport of troops) are amphibious, the tanks crossing the rivers in immersion, and can be freed from bridges set up beforehand by the genius.

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