M2 Amphibious Rigs of the Royal Engineers during a training exercise in West Germany during the 1980s

Photograph, 1980s.

The M2 Amphibious Rig was a amphibious bridging vehicle that enabled specialist units of the Royal Engineers to bridge rivers and other "wet gaps." Single vehicles, or multiples, could be driven into rivers and linked together to form a type of pontoon bridge.

Training was a major part of life in the British Army of the Rhine. There were months of primary 'special to arm' training, with soldiers working on their marksmanship with rifles, or firing their tank guns, or their artillery pieces. Temporary bridges were laid by engineers. Signallers worked on communications. All this built up to a major exercise in the Autumn, the Field Training Exercise, or FTX.

Training in Germany was unique for the British, in that they were able to practise their warfighting skills at scale over the exact ground they expected to fight over should the Cold War turn hot.