Indian Sappers and Miners building a pontoon bridge over the River Diyalah, 1917 (b/w photo)

Building a pontoon bridge over the River Diyalah, 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.