Help needed: AFVs crossing a river

[Nabla]

Hello everyone!

I need a piece of advice for a scenario I'm making. Hypothetically, what kind of vehicles could the Germans transfer over a narrow river (width 20 meters) during one night (the possible constructions would also have to be built during the night)? I suppose that they would use a temporary bridge built of pontoons, or perhaps even a corduroy road if the river is very shallow.

How quickly could they build such a construction? What kind of pressure could it handle?

[Nabla]

Had to shamelessly bump a thread I started myself since no-one has answered.

To clarify the question I'd like to point out that I'm not trying to get AFVs to cross a river in CM. This is just background work for a scenario. I'm creating a situation in which German AFVs have been able to "sneak" across a river during the night. Now I just want to know if that was really possible at all.

[Berlichtingen]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Nabla:

Now I just want to know if that was really possible at all.<hr></blockquote>

20m wide? No problem assuming they have engineer support. You should be able to get as many tanks across as you want (in CM turns) during the night

[Michael Emrys]

Berli is almost right. "As many as you want" is perhaps a tad expansive, but assuming the usual divisional engineering resources, they would have put up a pontoon bridge (assuming that they don't have to avoid making noise) and while that was going on, have ferried up to, say, a company of tanks across using rafts made by linking two or more pontoons together with timbers across them.

Michael

[Gyrene]

You said pontoon...tee hee hee!

Now seriously...How would thy propel those rafts across?

Curious, that's all.

Pontoon...heehee

Gyrene

[Michael Emrys]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Gyrene:

How would thy propel those rafts across?<hr></blockquote>

Thou hast a variety of ways. You could use outboard motors or poles. Most common, especially if the current was fast, was to run a line across and attach the raft to that.

BTW, what's so frickin' funny about 'pontoon'?

Michael

[ 10-29-2001: Message edited by: Michael emrys ]</p>

[Nabla]

Ok guys, thanks for confirming that it can be done. Back to the scenario.

[JasonC]

As a reality check, in a real case where they had to do this, they had engineers working on a bridge for most of the first day. The infantry was already across in rafts, and the far shore was thus completely secure. The engineers went to work in the morning hours. The first vehicles did not cross until after dark - about a companies worth. Once the bridge was running, they moved whole vehicle battalions across it, but at a walking pace. One armored recon battalion with attachments (about 90 vehicles, light armor mostly) had cleared the bridge area by the following morning.

That is not building the bridge at night, that is all day to build it, a company of vehicles over reasonably fast after that but nothing before then, and the rest of a night just to cross an already intact and working bridge with one armored battalion. They weren't dithering either - this was the opening day of the Bulge.