Vector: Allen Bridge: British troops build bridges for Timberwolves
The most important operation for the Timberwolves Division in West Brabant was the formation of a bridgehead across the Mark River at Standdaarbuiten village.
Small groups of the American troops managed to reach the other side of the river in the late evening of 2 November 1944, with the aid of rubber boats. This of course was insufficient to drive the German forces out of Standdaarbuiten, which required more soldiers and heavier equipment. Because German engineers had blown up the bridge across the river a few days earlier, a bridge had to be built, which was a typical job for the Engineers. Oddly enough, it was the British Engineers who were given the task of building a so-called Bailey Bridge, which proved to be a dangerous assignment as the location where the bridge was to be located was almost incessantly under German artillery fire.
In 1944, a U.S. Infantry Division had just under …
Small groups of the American troops managed to reach the other side of the river in the late evening of 2 November 1944, with the aid of rubber boats. This of course was insufficient to drive the German forces out of Standdaarbuiten, which required more soldiers and heavier equipment. Because German engineers had blown up the bridge across the river a few days earlier, a bridge had to be built, which was a typical job for the Engineers. Oddly enough, it was the British Engineers who were given the task of building a so-called Bailey Bridge, which proved to be a dangerous assignment as the location where the bridge was to be located was almost incessantly under German artillery fire.
In 1944, a U.S. Infantry Division had just under 1000 engineers at its disposal, the tasks of whom were very diverse, from filling craters and clearing German roadblocks to clearing mines the enemy had put in the ground. For another engineer task, building bridges over ditches and rivers, they received help from a British unit of engineers, namely the 234 Field Company Royal Engineers. This unit of about 225 men had already landed in Normandy (France) on D-Day, 6 June 1944, and on 29 October 1944 was ordered to report to U.S. Headquarters in Zundert (Netherlands).
For the major attack on Standdaarbuiten, the unit was on standby. It was given the important task of beginning construction of a large Bailey Bridge immediately after the American crossing, at the site where German forces had blown up the road bridge over the Mark a few days earlier. Throughout the Allied Army, the engineers took advantage of Donald Bailey's invention, the so-called Bailey Bridge, a way to quickly construct a bridge using standard parts.
Arriving at the location where the bridge was supposed to be, it turned out to be under heavy German artillery fire as unsurprisingly German forces had also realised that a bridge would be built at that location. The engineer commander therefore called off the bridge battle operation at night. Moreover, with daylight they were able to build a bridge much faster, although the British Engineers did make sure that during the night they could ferry groups of American troops and light vehicles with anti-tank guns across the river using special boats.
At 06:00, the British Engineers began building a Class 40 Bailey bridge, which had a carrying capacity of about 35 Dutch tonnes. The enemy seemingly kept a good view of the bridge battle operation, because German artillery fire continued and two sappers (engineers) were killed by this fire. It was 14:00 when engineers from 234 Field Company finished their dangerous assignment. Large quantities of heavy equipment were now pouring into the American bridgehead, and the British Polar Bear Division also made grateful use of the bridge to bring in reinforcements in their advance toward Willemstad.
The bridge was named 'Allen bridge' in honour of the commander of the Timberwolves Division, Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen. Work on the bridge continued during the winter of 1944 to 45. On 21 February 1945 the same 234 Company managed to make it a 'high level' bridge, allowing shipping across the Mark River to pass under the bridge. The bridge remained in use until April 1975, when in the spring of that year it was struck in dense fog and totally destroyed, leaving the only option to lift the damaged bridge from its place.