ALLIED TRANSPORT CROSSES BAILEY BRIDGES ON THE ZUIDWILLEMSVAART CANAL AT NEDERWEERT [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: ALLIED TRANSPORT CROSSES BAILEY BRIDGES ON THE ZUIDWILLEMSVAART CANAL AT NEDERWEERT [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: A70 200-5
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: 12th Corps' assault across the Noordenvaart (?) and Wessem Canals towards the Maas entails extensive bridge building.
  • Description: From the Zuidwillemsvaart (Bois le Duc) Canal's east bank at Nederweert, the cameraman surveys a Class 40 Bailey ("Nederweert") bridge built by 12th Corps Royal Engineers, with a Class 12 Bailey ("Saddle") bridge assembled by 756th Field Company RE to carry traffic over its sunken entrance on the opposite bank and a second Class 40 Bailey ("Spurs") bridge constructed by 756th Field Company RE on an old bridge partly-demolished by the Germans. A CMP wireless (?) truck emerges at "Nederweert Bridge's" exit while an MP on point duty guides a jeep and a Bedford wireless truck across "Saddle Bridge" in the background. The cameraman surveys "Spurs Bridge" and the bridge it is resting on and the missing span (more or less complete) lying on the canal's west bank. On the west bank, a 49th (West Riding) Division Morris Quad tractor approaches "Nederweert Bridge" (note the signboard carrying 12th Corps emblem, the tactical number of the corps RE unit that built the bridge, its map reference and bridge classification) while a Bedford QL lorry, a jeep and civilian cyclists use "Saddle Bridge".
  • Access Conditions: IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-11-20
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Army Film Unit (Production company) Johnson, John Norman (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: Holland, southern (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 98 ft.; Running time: 1 min.
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Summary: 12th Corps push on the shrinking German bridgehead west of the Maas in southern Holland. Remarks: an effective illustration of the problems posed by the Dutch combination of canals and polder land on a highly mechanised army's lines of communications and a testimony to the endeavours of the Corps of Royal Engineers.
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    A70 200-5

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