Halen 26 – Regimental Bridging
Every cavalry Regiment had a grouping of wagons known as the fighting baggage.
Cavalry regiments had a fighting baggage of the following:
- 58 replacement horses;
- two medical aid horses;
- two bridge wagons with two steel pontoons and four bridge elements (four meters long and one meter wide) each. This equipment could build either a small footbridge of 1 meter width and 20 meters length; a small bridge, 2 meters wide and 12 meters long; a wide bridge of 3 meters and 8 meters length; or a pontoon ferry of about 16 sq m;
- each bridge wagon also carried 32 demolition charges also to destroy bridges;
- one telegraph wagon carrying up to 15 km of field telephone line plus 350 meters of water-proof telephone line;
- and in addition, each regiment had two communications detachments.
Bet you did not know that they had internal pontoon bridges!
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The 5th Squadron/Kürassier (Kü) Regt Nr 2 had crossed the Gete River at Halen together with FAR Nr 3. Every cavalry Regiment The 5th Squadron’s mission was to protect the artillery. They were deployed in the area east of the Halen railroad station. After this crossing, the remaining 3rd Kav Brigade units would cross the Gete River via a pontoon bridge near Landwijk Castle.
The entire 3rd Kav Brigade was assembled at the small castle called Landwijk. The castle was a big, beautiful building. Next to the main building were the stables and the barn. The Gete River flowed south to north toward the bridge near the Wauters Brewery, where the shooting could still be heard. But Landwijk Castle was quiet, as the Belgians had moved back by then. After the heat of the day, part of the regiment bathed in the river.
The brigade would have to build another bridge over the Gete—it would take too long for the entire 4th Kav Div (and the following 2nd Kav Div) to cross at Halen alone. The Ulanen Regt Nr 9 Pionierkommando under Lt. von Etzel drove the bridge wagons and worked together with the Kürassier Regt Nr 2 Pionierkommando. The cavalry slid their small, iron boats into the water and covered them with beams and planks to form a deck. As soon as the bridge was ready, horses’ hooves rattled their cadence over the bridge deck and, for a while, followed the riverbank along the other side. From the balcony above the wide castle gate, some officers watched the advance. The bridge was hardly ready when the Kürassier Regiment crossed first. While they were crossing, the order came that 3rd and 17th Kav Brigades had to attack enemy guns on the heights west of Halen. The enemy was considered weak, having evacuated Halen quickly; the enemy artillery had to be taken out with a swift thrust.
Because we could not ride through Haelen [sic], we had to outflank it on the left. We had to cross the Gete but no bridge was to be seen. The Gete was only a small brook there, only a few meters wide. I stood with the horses for quite a while; dismounted riders were ready to protect the building of the bridge needed for the crossing. Pontoons were brought up by carts carrying beams, planks, stakes, and boards. Both Kürassiere and Ulanen were there to build the bridge, as ordered. They let two of the pontoons into the water and that was enough to carry the bridge between the banks with beams and planks on it. It later carried horsemen, horses, and carts. All this I had witnessed since my platoon was ordered to be present and ready at the building of the bridge.
The 3rd Batt/FAR Nr 3 was ordered to take position to protect the building and crossing of the pontoon bridge over the Gete for 3rd Kav Brigade. The battery positioned itself north of Landwijk Castle, and shelled Velpen and the IJzerwinning Farm using observations and corrections from the castle tower. After this mission, the battery moved through Halen and took position at the northwest exit.
While 17th Brigade advanced to charge, the main body of 3rd Brigade was still crossing the narrow pontoon bridge at Landwijk. The 3rd and 4th Squadron/Kü Nr 2 (the first squadrons to cross the pontoon) were immediately assigned to attack the riflemen in the wheat fields northwest of Velpen. The Ulanen Regt Nr 9 Staff had crossed the pontoon bridge and all Kürassier Regt squadrons had already galloped in marching column towards Velpen. Therefore, in order to stay connected, the squadrons followed at the trot, trusting the pontoon bridge. The Pionierkommandos had to stay back in order to guard and mend the bridge. “The general, dreaming of a victory, already spoke the order to attack: ‘3rd Brigade will attack the artillery!'”