First Across the Rhine – The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion in France, Belgium and Germany

Constructing a 330-metre pontoon bridge in 32 hours would by unthinkable in peacetime. That it was achieved under heavy fire across the fast flowing Rhine was close to miraculous.

War brings out the worst in men but it can also bring out their best. Some of the exploits of Colonel Pergrin’s battalion were very much of the latter kind.

This excellent book well describes the important achievements of this unit which so often and so imaginatively used boats, pontoons and barges to complete its construction projects.

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