Building a pontoon bridge over the River Dijalah, 1917

Photograph, World War One, Mesopotamia, 1917.

Indian Sappers and Miners build a pontoon bridge during Lieutenant-General Sir Stanley Maude's advance on Baghdad in Mesopotamia. The bridge floats on the river and is supported by boat-like pontoons to support the deck.

Streams, rivers and canals can be major obstacles to advancing troops and the destruction of existing bridges is a common tactic of armies on the retreat. Pontoon bridges are temporary, often prefabricated, structures, used to bridge waterways and allow forces to continue with the minimum of delay.

From a collection of 265 photographs compiled by Major W Leith-Ross, Indian Army Staff.