Confronted by a blown bridge on the road to Rangoon, capital of Burma, tanks and motor vehicles of 63 Brigade, 17th Indian Division, ford a chaung (river) while Indian Engineers prepare a Bailey bridge.

A Chevrolet CMP lorry uses an improvised crossing with the damaged bridge behind it. A lorry carrying troops passes a knocked out Japanese tank. Vehicles fording the river. A Stuart ('Honey') light tank (7th Light Cavalry ?) crosses the river. A mobile command caravan crosses the river. A bulldozer tows a jeep across the river. A unit of Indian Engineers construct a Bailey bridge from prefabricated sections. Close-up of an Indian sapper hammering a section into position with a sledgehammer. Wide shot of vehicles wading across the river as the bridge is repaired behind.

Notes

The Bailey bridge originated as model built by a British civil servant, Donald Bailey. Officially adopted by the Royal Engineers in 1943, the construction of these bridges quickly became a military engineering staple. The use of prefabricated sections allowed bridges to be built quickly, with minimal use of heavy equipment, giving a resulting structure strong enough to carry a tank. In Sicily and Italy, Allied engineers built over 3000 such bridges with a total length of over 55 miles, while in Burma a bridge over the River Chindwin set a record for the length of a single Bailey bridge at 1,154 feet (343 metres).