IMPORTANT BRIDGE

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 271, 11 August 1943, Page 5

IMPORTANT BRIDGE

N.Z. Engineers’ Job N.Z.L.F. Official News Sekvice. CAIRO, August 0. Bridge building is all in the.day's work for New Zealand engineers, but one unit has recently had an assignment on an unusual bridge to which can be attributed a not insignificant share in last year's successful stand against the Axis troops at El Alainein. It is a floating bridge across -the Suez Canal which links Egypt with Palestine and the Levant. The antique ferries which carried the occasional tourist across the Canal before the war would have been swamped with the job of conveying I lie constant convoys of wartime traffic. The obvious solution was a floating bridge, which could open for marine traffic and would have the added advantage of being easily replaceable in the event of destruction by the enemy. More than two years ago such a bridge was built, and it has proved highly efficient, particularly when the New Zealand Division and other formations had to be rushed through from Syria at the time of Field Marshal Rommel's drive against Egypt last year. It was recently decided that the bridge should be replaced by n temporary structure while the pontoons were floated down the canal to a special workshop, where they could be careened for cleaning. The calm and strongly saline waters of the canal seemed to favour the growth of a luxuriant, barnacle crop. The job of floating off the old sections and replacing them was given to a New Zealand engineer unit, which overcame the attendant difficulties and completed the work in quick time. Now. only the two approach spans remain of tin; original bridge, which was more than 500 feet long. Box girder spans have been run out from the approaches to short fixed floating spans on either side. On to these sections are hinged the main floating spans, consisting of heavy decking resting on pontoons, which can be winebed around to anchoring platforms when the bridge is opened. An interesting feature of the job has been the fact that the New Zealanders for the. first time worked with native Belgian pioneer troops from the Belgian Congo, officered by Belgians who were mainly employed in the Congo at the outbreak of. the war, although one was an escapee from occupied Belgium.