The War in View #44: American Ground Power

The longest Bailey bridge built in France, was put up by the US 1303rd Engineer Battalion to span the Marne River at Chalons, France. The retreating Germans did a good job wrecking the concrete bridge there.

 

Elements of the US 120th Regiment, 30th Division, cross a footbridge over the Roer near Schophoven, Germany, 23 February 1945. Bridge laying activities were hidden from view of the Germans by smokescreens thrown up by the 38th Chemical Company.

 

American infantrymen crossing the Danube over a footbridge.

 

Bridge built at night had been shelled and partially destroyed by the Germans who could see it above Pisa, Italy about one and a half miles away.

 

Dummy bridge erected by American engineer camouflage unit, of canvas and burlap. 18 August 1944.

 

American infantrymen using footbridges to cross a river while Engineers complete a Bailey bridge in France in March 1945.

 

Newly constructed American treadway pontoon bridge over the Moselle River.

 

African American soldiers early in World War II. Note the Colt M1917 revolver carried by the soldier in the foreground.

 

Paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division advance out of Bastogne following the siege.

 

Pfc. Edward E. Gladsford (left) of Chicago, Illinois, and Pfc. Oscar L. Lombardi of Los Angeles, California, soldiers from the American 9th Infantry Division, eat canned "C" rations in a doorway in Germany on 27 February 1945. The rations were heated over a small fire.

 

Burdened with photo equipment, cameramen ordinarily could not carry a rifle and were nearly defenseless at the front. The American 163rd Signal Photo Company’s Fred Bonnard, shown here at his “home” in the entrance to a wine cellar at Anzio, carried only a .45-caliber automatic pistol and a knife, which were typical weapons for cameramen.

 

On D-Day + 11, Marines fire 155mm howitzer on Iwo Jima.

 

Towed US 155mm guns M1 cross a Bailey bridge over the Seine.

 

On 23 February 1945 shells from 30th Division artillery burst on the German side of the Roer as the Ninth Army laid down a heavy barrage.