A Scissors bridge, Kiel, Germany, 1945

Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, North West Europe (1944-1945), 1945.

A bridgelayer vehicle based on the British Valentine tank chassis. Over 8,000 Valentine tanks were manufactured in Britain and Canada during World War Two. As the Valentine was outclassed by new designs, the chassis were used to produce armoured combat engineering variants. The scissors bridge was a moveable bridging unit. The folded bridge was attached to a tracked vehicle chassis and could be moved into position as and when required. The Valentine bridging unit measured around 10 by 3 metres and could be deployed in under 3 minutes.

From an album containing 73 photographs and captions compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).