At Myitnge, on a tributary of the River Irrawaddy, Burma, the Royal Indian Engineers work to complete a major bridgebuilding project.

View looking along a long, empty bridge, built as a railway diversion while work is undertaken to build a new permanent rail bridge nearby. View of the underside of the bridge showing its cross-braced wooden uprights. A sign reads 'No. 321 Indian Railway Bridging Company Royal Indian Engineers' and below the cartoon character Chad, drawn to look like a devil, with the phrase 'Wot you again!'. Long pan along the bridge, apparently 720 feet in length. View of a pontoon Bailey road bridge. Several views of the wreckage of the original road and railway bridges at the site, thoroughly demolished. The new railway bridge, in the process of being delaunched (retracted), with wreckage behind. Japanese prisoners, used as labour, carry a Bailey section. Royal Indian Engineers carry a section. Sikhs engineers carry a Bailey section. Sikhs carry a girder. Bailey bridge section is detached from the structure. Wide shot of the general scene. Bridge in the process of being delaunched. Two views of the original wrecked railway bridge. Wide shot with pontoon road bridge in the foreground, the wrecked railway bridge behind and the Bailey rail bridge in the background. View from the pontoon bridge showing the deep cutting that had to be excavated through the riverbank. A lorry passes camera and a (staff?) car can be seen in the distance.

Notes

The dopesheet remarks that 'It is hoped to finish [the construction of a new permanent railway bridge] by June this year, but it all depends on whether the supplies arrive from Calcutta'. This provides a useful hint of the enormous demands that were being made on engineering capacity in this period. The infrastructure of much of south east Asia (and of Burma in particular) had been severely damaged during the war and its repair was vital to the restoration of the regional economy.

Dopesheet states that the unit that built the pontoon bridge was '2 Farid Corps, 75 Field Park Company, under Major Davis'. '2 Farid Corps' is somewhat ambiguous, but the dopesheet for JFU 287 names a Major Davies as being the commander of 94th Faridkot Field Company (Indian State Forces).

The bridge is described as being 'triple-triple', meaning the bridge is three Bailey sections wide and three high.

A good film giving examples of military bridging techniques, of the reconstruction of Burma, and the use of Japanese prisoners of war as labour. For still photographs, see related items.