Скачать или смотреть How a “Crazy” Bridge Design Let the Allies Cross Every River in Europe

In the frozen winter of 1942, a quiet British engineer named Donald Bailey built a bridge so simple that soldiers could assemble it by hand — and so strong that it carried tanks across every river from Normandy to Berlin. From its first test under the sodium lamps of a Tees Valley workshop to its unstoppable march across Europe, the Bailey Bridge became the silent engine of Allied victory — a design of bolts, geometry, and human persistence that transformed warfare and rebuilt the modern world. Drawn from field reports, Royal Engineers archives, and postwar assessments, this account follows how one “crazy” idea in a cold shed became the most successful military engineering design in history.

Sources: Royal Engineers Museum; British National Archives (WO 205/1164, WO 204/9478); Imperial War Museum Film Collection; Bailey Bridge Field Manuals (War Office 1943–1945); British Pathé Engineering Series.

#WW2 #WWII #MilitaryHistory #WorldWar2 #BridgeEngineering #AlliedVictory