emperor
Akbar the Great riding the ferocious elephant Hawa'i, pursuing another elephant across a collapsing bridge of boats (left), in Basawan and Chetar Munti's "Akbar's Adventure with the Elephant Hawa’i", dated 1561
Ancient China In
ancient China, the
Zhou dynasty Chinese text of the
Shi Jing (
Book of Odes) records that
King Wen of Zhou was the first to create a pontoon bridge in the 11th century BC. However, the historian
Joseph Needham has pointed out that in all likely scenarios, the temporary pontoon bridge was invented during the 9th or 8th century BC in China, as this part was perhaps a later addition to the book (considering how the book had been edited up until the
Han dynasty, 202 BC – 220 AD). Although earlier temporary pontoon bridges had been made in China, the first secure and permanent ones (and linked with iron chains) in China came first during the
Qin dynasty (221–207 BC). The later
Song dynasty (960–1279 AD) Chinese statesman
Cao Cheng once wrote of early pontoon bridges in China (spelling of Chinese in
Wade-Giles format): During the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 AD), the Chinese created a very large pontoon bridge that spanned the width of the
Yellow River. There was also the
rebellion of Gongsun Shu in 33 AD, where a large pontoon bridge with fortified posts was constructed
across the Yangtze River, eventually broken through with
ramming ships by official Han troops under Commander Cen Peng. During the late Eastern Han into the
Three Kingdoms period, during the
Battle of Chibi in 208 AD, the Prime Minister
Cao Cao once linked the majority of his fleet together with iron chains, which proved to be a fatal mistake once he was thwarted with a fire attack by
Sun Quan's fleet. The armies of
Emperor Taizu of Song had a large pontoon bridge built
across the Yangtze River in 974 in order to secure supply lines during the
Song dynasty's conquest of the
Southern Tang. On October 22, 1420,
Ghiyasu'd-Din Naqqah, the official diarist of the embassy sent by the
Timurid ruler of
Persia,
Mirza Shahrukh (r. 1404–1447), to the
Ming dynasty of
China during the reign of the
Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424), recorded his sight and travel over a large floating pontoon bridge at
Lanzhou (constructed earlier in 1372) as he crossed the
Yellow River on this day. He wrote that it was:
Greco-Roman era The
Greek writer
Herodotus in his
Histories, records several pontoon bridges. Emperor Caligula built a bridge at
Baiae in 37 AD. For Emperor
Darius I The Great of
Persia (522–485 BC), the Greek
Mandrocles of Samos once engineered a pontoon bridge that stretched across the
Bosporus, linking Asia to Europe, so that Darius could pursue the fleeing
Scythians as well as move his army into position in the
Balkans to overwhelm
Macedon. Other spectacular pontoon bridges were
Xerxes' Pontoon Bridges across the
Hellespont by
Xerxes I in 480 BC to transport his huge army into Europe: According to John Hale's
Lords of the Sea, to celebrate the onset of the
Sicilian Expedition (415 - 413 B.C.), the Athenian general,
Nicias, paid builders to engineer an extraordinary pontoon bridge composed of gilded and tapestried ships for a festival that drew
Athenians and
Ionians across the sea to the sanctuary of
Apollo on
Delos. On the occasion when Nicias was a sponsor, young Athenians paraded across the boats, singing as they walked, to give the armada a spectacular farewell. of a
Roman bridge of boats by Cichorius The late
Roman writer
Vegetius, in his work
De Re Militari, wrote: The emperor
Caligula is said to have ridden a horse across a pontoon bridge stretching two miles between
Baiae and
Puteoli while wearing the armour of
Alexander the Great to mock a
soothsayer who had claimed he had "no more chance of becoming emperor than of riding a horse across the Bay of Baiae". Caligula's construction of the bridge cost a massive sum of money and added to discontent with his rule.
Middle Ages and
Triana from 1171 to 1851 During the Middle Ages, pontoons were used alongside regular boats to span rivers during campaigns, or to link communities which lacked resources to build permanent bridges. The
Hun army of
Attila built a bridge across the
Nišava during the siege of
Naissus in 442 to bring heavy siege towers within range of the city.
Sassanid forces crossed the
Euphrates on a quickly built pontoon bridge during the siege of
Kallinikos in 542. The
Ostrogothic Kingdom constructed a fortified bridge across the
Tiber during the
siege of Rome in 545 to block
Byzantine general
Belisarius' relief flotillas to the city. The
Avar Khaganate forced Syriac-Roman engineers to construct two pontoon bridges across the
Sava during the
siege of Sirmium in 580 to completely surround the city with their troops and siege works. Emperor
Heraclius crossed the Bosporus on horseback on a large pontoon bridge in 638. The army of the
Umayyad Caliphate built a pontoon bridge over the Bosporus in 717 during the
siege of Constantinople (717–718). The
Carolingian army of
Charlemagne constructed a portable pontoon bridge of anchored boats bound together and used it to cross the Danube during campaigns against the Avar Khaganate in the 790s. Charlemagne's army built two fortified pontoon bridges across the
Elbe in 789 during a campaign against the Slavic
Veleti. The German army of
Otto the Great employed three pontoon bridges, made from pre-fabricated materials, to rapidly cross the
Recknitz river at the
Battle on the Raxa in 955 and win decisively against the Slavic
Obotrites. Tenth-Century German
Ottonian capitularies demanded that royal fiscal estates maintain watertight, river-fordable wagons for purposes of war. The Danish Army of
Cnut the Great completed a pontoon bridge across the
Helge River during the
Battle of Helgeå in 1026. Crusader forces constructed a pontoon bridge across the
Orontes to expedite resupply during the
siege of Antioch in December 1097. According to the chronicles, the earliest floating bridge across the
Dnieper was built in 1115. It was located near
Vyshhorod,
Kiev.
Bohemian troops under the command of
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor crossed the
Adige in 1157 on a pontoon bridge built in advance by the people of
Verona on orders of the German Emperor. The French Royal Army of King
Philip II of France constructed a pontoon bridge across the
Seine to seize
Les Andelys from the English at the
siege of Château Gaillard in 1203. During the
Fifth Crusade, the
Crusaders built two pontoon bridges across the
Nile at the
siege of Damietta (1218–1219), including one supported by 38 boats. On 27 May 1234, Crusader troops crossed the river
Ochtum in Germany on a pontoon bridge during the fight against the
Stedingers.
Imperial Mongol troops constructed a pontoon bridge at the
Battle of Mohi in 1241 to outflank the Hungarian army. The French army of King
Louis IX of France crossed the
Charente on multiple pontoon bridges during the
Battle of Taillebourg on 21 July 1242. Louis IX had a pontoon bridge built across the Nile to provide unimpeded access to troops and supplies in early March 1250 during the
Seventh Crusade. A
Florentine army erected a pontoon bridge across the
Arno during the siege of
Pisa in 1406. The English army of
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury crossed the
Oise across a pontoon bridge of portable leather vessels in 1441.
Ottoman engineers built a pontoon bridge across the
Golden Horn during the
siege of Constantinople (1453), using over a thousand barrels. The bridge was strong enough to support carts. The Ottoman Army constructed a pontoon bridge during the
siege of Rhodes (1480).
Venetian pioneers built a floating bridge across the Adige at the
Battle of Calliano (1487).
Early modern period in British India, 1895 Before the
Battle of Worcester, the final battle of the
English Civil War, on 30 August 1651,
Oliver Cromwell delayed the start of the battle to give time for two pontoon bridges to be constructed, one over the
River Severn and the other over the
River Teme, close to their confluence. This allowed Cromwell to move his troops West of the Severn during the action on 3 September 1651 and was crucial to the victory by his
New Model Army. The Spanish Army constructed a pontoon bridge at the
Battle of Río Bueno in 1654. However, as the bridge broke apart it all ended in a sound defeat of the Spanish by local
Mapuche-Huilliche forces. French general
Jean Lannes's troops built a pontoon bridge to cross the
Po river prior to the
Battle of Montebello (1800).
Napoleon's
Grande Armée made extensive use of pontoon bridges at the battles of
Aspern-Essling and
Wagram under the supervision of General
Henri Gatien Bertrand. General
Jean Baptiste Eblé's engineers erected four pontoon bridges in a single night across the Dnieper during the
Battle of Smolensk (1812). Working in cold water, Eblé's Dutch engineers constructed a 100-meter-long pontoon bridge during the
Battle of Berezina to allow the Grande Armée to escape to safety. During the
Peninsular War the British army transported "tin pontoons" that were lightweight and could be quickly turned into a floating bridge. Lt Col
Charles Pasley of the
Royal School of Military Engineering at Chatham
England developed a new form of pontoon which was adopted in 1817 by the British Army. The system used transom sterned sections that could be cobined to make a double-ended pontoon. Each half was enclosed, reducing the risk of swamping, and the sections bore multiple lashing points. The "Palsey pontoon" lasted until 1836 when it was replaced by the "Blanshard pontoon" which comprised tin cylinders 3 feet wide and 22 feet long, placed 11 feet apart, making the pontoon very buoyant. An alternative proposed by Charles Pasley comprised two copper canoes, each 2 foot 8 inches wide and 22 foot long and coming in two sections which were fastened side by side to make a double canoe raft. Copper was used in preference to fast-corroding tin. Lashed at 10 foot centres, these were good for cavalry, infantry and light guns; lashed at 5 foot centres, heavy cannon could cross. The canoes could also be lashed together to form rafts. One cart pulled by two horse carried two half canoes and stores. A comparison of pontoons used by each nations army shows that almost all were open boats coming in one, two or even three pieces, mainly wood, some with canvas and rubber protection. Belgium used an iron boat; the United States used cylinders split into three. The report of this disaster resulted in the United Kingdom forming and training a Pontoon Troop of Engineers. This unique structure remained in use until the railroad was abandoned in 1961, when it was removed. The British
Blanshard Pontoon stayed in British use until the late 1870s, when it was replaced by the "
Blood Pontoon". The Blood Pontoon returned to the open boat system, which enabled use as boats when not needed as pontoons. Side carrying handles helped transportation. The new pontoon proved strong enough to support loaded elephants and siege guns as well as military
traction engines.
Early 20th century (French Wikipedia), The 3rd French Regiment of
Pioneers are building a Pontoon Bridge over the river
Ourthe in
Chênée,
Belgium in the 1930s. The British Blood Pontoon MkII, which took the original and cut it into two halves, was still in use with the British Army in 1924. The First World War saw developments on "trestles" to form the link between a river bank and the pontoon bridge. Some infantry bridges in WW1 used any material available, including petrol cans as flotation devices. The
Kapok Assault Bridge for infantry was developed for the British Army, using
kapok fibre-filled canvas float and timber foot walks. America created their own version.
Folding Boat Equipment was developed in 1928 and went through several versions until it was used in WW2 to complement the
Bailey Pontoon. It had a continuous canvas hinge and could fold flat for storage and transportation. When assembled it could carry 15 men and with two boats and some additional toppings it could transport a 3-ton truck. Further upgrades during WW2 resulted in it moving to a Class 9 bridge. ==World War II==