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the Siege of Damietta (1218-1219), including one supported by 38 boats. On 27 May 1234,

Crusader troops crossed the river Ochtum in Germany on a pontoon bridge during the fight
against the Stedingers. Imperial Mongol troops constructed a pontoon bridge at the Battle

of Mohi in 1241 to outflank the Hungarian army. The French army of King Louis IX of
France crossed the Charente River on multiple pontoon bridges during the Battle of

Taillebourg on 21 July 1242. Louis IX had a pontoon bridge built across the Nile to provide
unimpeded access to troops and supplies in early March 1250 during the Seventh Crusade.

A Florentine army erected a pontoon bridge across the Arno River during the Siege
of Pisa in 1406. The English army of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury crossed the Oise

River across a pontoon bridge of portable leather vessels in 1441. Ottoman engineers built

a pontoon bridge across the Golden Horn during the Siege of Constantinople (1453), using
over a thousand barrels. The bridge was strong enough to support carts. The Ottoman Army

constructed a pontoon bridge during the Siege of Rhodes (1480). Venetian pioneers built a
floating bridge across the Adige at the Battle of Calliano (1487).

2.4. EARLY MODERN PERIOD

The Spanish Army constructed a pontoon bridge at the Battle of Río Bueno in 1654.
However, as the bridge broke apart it all ended in a sound defeat of the Spanish by

local Mapuche-Huilliche forces.

French general Jean Lannes's troops built a pontoon bridge to cross the Po River prior to

the Battle of Montebello (1800). Napoleon's Grande Armée made extensive use of pontoon
bridges at the battles of Aspern-Essling and Wagram under the supervision of

General Henri Gatien Bertrand. General Jean Baptiste Eblé's engineers erected four

pontoon bridges in a single night across the Dnieper during the Battle of Smolensk (1812).
Working in cold water, Eblé's Dutch engineers constructed a 100-meter-long pontoon

bridge during the Battle of Berezina to allow the Grande Armée to escape to safety. During
the Peninsular War the British army transported "tin pontoons" that were lightweight and

could be quickly turned into a floating bridge.

Lt Col Charles Pasley of the Royal School of Military Engineering at

Chatham England developed a new form of pontoon which was adopted in 1817 by the
British Army. Each pontoon was split into two halves, and the two pointed ends could be

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