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This is a picture of a pontoon bridge put across the Rhine by the 208th Engineers Combat Battalion. The Rhine is very swift so the had to curve the bridge into the current to keep it from being broken by the current.

Caesar built a pile driven, wooden bridge over the Rhine 2000 years before that in just 10 days.

I remember Peter "Robocop" Weller suggesting that to the Germans watching this being accomplished from the far side, it must have been as amazing and frighting as watching a Moon landing.

It certainly worked as a Shock & Awe demonstration as all Caesar did was march his Legions over into a now empty landscape, turn around, march back across and tear the thing back down.

That kept the Germans quite pacific while Julius went on to conquer all of Gaul.

I saw that story a few years back on one of the military or history channels. I mentioned it to my Father and he was amazed they were able to do it. He said the river was so swift that if you held your hand down it in, water would fly up.

Of course Caesar's troops didn't have 88s firing at them while they built their bridge. It was also attacked by jets tho their bombing was inaccurate. This picture was taken fairly soon after the Russians took the city.