The Royal Engineers involvement with amphibious
bridging equipment started in 1962 when 23 Field Squadron was
re-roled as 23 Amphibious River Crossing Squadron and equipped
with a limited number of the French Gillois amphibian.
Subsequent developments resulted in a Ministry of Defence decision
to make a much larger buy of the German M2 bridging and ferrying
equipment and it became necessary to form a new specialist regiment.
28 Amphibious Engineer Regiment was formed in 1970 in the West
German town of Hameln on the River Weser. The Regiment was tasked
with providing rapid bridging and ferrying support to all units
within 1 British Corps across the rivers and canals in the Corps
area. |
| The equipment that makes the Regiment amphibious is the M2
bridging and ferrying system, developed in the 1960s. The M2
is also used by the Bundeswehr and cooperation between 28 Regiment
and the West Germans is close. The M2 is a large wheeled vehicle
that can float and has steerable propellors. The 4 large road
wheels retract into the hull in the water and individual vehicles
can be joined together in the water to form rafts and bridges
capable of taking the heaviest armoured vehicles. |
River crossing in Germany using M2 bridging equipment
|
Typically a 60m long tank bridge could be constructed
in under an hour. The Regiment can also claim the longest M2
bridge ever built when at Spezer on the river Rhine in 1980
a bridge of 476 metres, using 54 M2 equipments, was constructed.
M2s can also be joined in twos and threes to form vehicle ferries.
Three M2s joined together will support a Challenger tank, the
ferry taking approximately twenty minutes to construct. Providing
a bridge or a ferry crossing does not only involve crossing
the 'wet' gap however, and often amphibious engineers and field
engineers have to work in conjunction to provide a complete
crossing site of approach and exit routes capable of taking
large numbers of wheeled and tracked vehicles with a suitable
bridge or ferry in the canal or river in the middle.
The current operational model of the M2 is the M2D which has
a capacity to take up to Class 70 tracked vehicles and Class
93 wheeled. The vehicle has a 4 man crew, is over 1 1 m long
and weights 22 tonnes. Two 175 hp engines provide the power
for land travel and marine propulsion. Only one engine is used
on land but in the water one engine drives the centre steerable
propeller and the other the two reversible side propellers.
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Source: The Royal Engineers - (RE 200 brochure, Institute of Royal Engineers, Chatham 1987)
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