SANGRO RIVER

Evening Star, Issue 25047, 14 December 1943, Page 6

SANGRO RIVER

STILL GREAT BARRIER NEW ZEALAND BRiDGEBUILDERS' SUCCESSES (N.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent.) EIGHTH ARMY FRONT, Dec. 7. Despite the fact of the crossing of tlie Sangro, the river is still the greatest barrier in the advance of the Eighth Army. All along the front engineers wage a ceaseless battle working day and night in rain and icy water to keep the lines of communication open.

A few : nights ago disaster threatened. Rising temperatures and a warm rain combined in accelerating the melting of the snows of the Apennines, and in an hour the river rose 3ft. There were then six bridges over the Sangro front, including two built by New Zealanders. The other four crashed one by one into the stream, swept over by the surge of muddy waters. Of the two New Zealand bridges one was the ill-fated bridge which suffered a direct hit during the first crossing, and which subsequently was relaunched. The other, a box-girder bridge, stood strongly, despite the fact that the river continued to rise till it was nearly 4ft above normal. Unfortunately the river filled the bed and submerged the approaches, bringing all traffic to a standstill. On Saturday night no vehicles crossed the Sangro. Traffic bearing vital munitions lined up along all roads leading to the sites of the bridges. When the bridge foundered under the rising water some three-ton drivers decided to " give it a 20," and headed through the gravelbeds into the swirling torrent. Some were drenched as water poured in through their cabs, some were hauled out by bulldozers, but after darkness 110110 got through. Meanwhile, casualties from the fighting a few miles away could not be evacuated. One ambulance was loaded with serious cases at the site of one New Zealand bridge, and was towed across by a bulldozer. Other wounded were carried on the backs of volunteers. The position did not increase in gravity, however, as the engineers, after an inspection of the approaches, guaranteed the New Zealand bridge (christened " Tiki ") would open again in the morning. This promise was kept by very hard labour, and an hour before noon traffic rolled across the Sangro over the Tiki bridge. The reasons for the standing of the Tiki bridge and for the way in which the approaches, though submerged, withstood the wash of the current are interesting to New Zealanders. After the initial crossing the New Zealanders never let up, but constructed a stronger, and higher bridge, later demolishing the earlier bridge because of possible damage to the new structure if it were washed away. The finishing touches included the extensive use of stone netting and building gabions to protect the bridge-ends. Our engineers then concentrated on the approaches. Good ground will bear four tons to a square yard, but this combination of gravel and water-logged clay and humus could scarcely carry one hundredweight. Metal and boulders merely disappeared into a mass under the wheels of the traffic which was passing continually. The Tiki bridge could, and does, bear loads over 30 tons,.but the approaches were receiving punishment from wheeled and tracked vehicles. The engineers improvised a solution from New Zealand bush practice. Standing timber was available, and this was felled and split on the spot to form the basis of a corduroy road. Traffic now rolls along roads of metal, the basis of which are thousands of. split logs laid side by side on the road bed, thus distributing the load over a wide area. Miles of corduroy roadways are already in use, and many more will be constructed 'as the New Zealanders move on.

Meanwhile a bridge over the main road is being built by New Zealanders and others, in which the New Zealand task is to complete a lengthy steel span.