An army must always expect the unexpected if it is to survive. This was certainly the case facing the Allied armies during the Second World War, when they were confronted with problem of crossing rivers where the bridges had been destroyed by the German Army as it retreated.
The Allies had two methods of overcoming such problems. The first was the use of Bailey bridges, which could be constructed to span even the widest river, but took time to build and required considerable manpower. The other method was light boats propelled by infantry using paddles, such as the 82nd U.S. Airborne crossing the Waal during
