Blow Bridge - my Austrian engineers!

[Taal]

Hello,

I play, fight, conquer! But... my Austrian engineers.

On the 6.04 I ordered the bridge in Passau destroyed. Guys started it straight away and on the morning of 07.04 and we had the first effects – 18% demmaged. In the evening it reached 68%. The next day ( 08.04) they had worked furiously as well, so in the end of 09.04 afternoon it was finally done.

Did it really take three days to destroy a w o o d e n bridge during the Napoleon times? Or does it rather happen for the game sake to help imagine the taste of the era?

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: Taal

Hello,

I play, fight, conquer! But... my Austrian engineers.

On the 6.04 I ordered the bridge in Passau destroyed. Guys started it straight away and on the morning of 07.04 and we had the first effects – 18% demmaged. In the evening it reached 68%. The next day ( 08.04) they had worked furiously as well, so in the end of 09.04 afternoon it was finally done.

Did it really take three days to destroy a w o o d e n bridge during the Napoleon times? Or does it rather happen for the game sake to help imagine the taste of the era?

Extract from: A Treatise on Mines- Royal Military Academy Woolwich, 1815.

Describes techniques and incidents of blowing, or burning bridges during the Peninsular War and some examples of earlier campaigns.





Blowing bridges with black powder, possibly in poor weather, didn't always lead to total destruction of the bridge immediately.

Any breach in the bridge had to be big enough so that the enemy could not easily fill the gap with a temporary structure. Wooden bridges needed to be totally destroyed, with the bridge supporting piles removed and all timber burnt, with a recommendation that the enemy should be keep at bay for at least 12 hours for the fires to take full effect, or they could be quickly rebuilt. It would also depend on whether the enemy was close enough to hinder the engineers by harassing fire, or spoiling attacks.

One example given of an earlier campaign requiring 15 days to destroy a stone bridge, but this seems excessive and not usual.

There are examples of bridges being blown within a day, one quoting 8 hours work, but the 'Treatise' does show that is was a complicated task and needed a fair degree of engineering expertise, manpower and equipment to ensure success.

It would be quite possible that things did not always go to plan and more than one attempt might be needed, or that complete destruction was quite an involved task.

Alternatively, as you say, the style of the game is uncertainty, with no guarantee that a plan will work first time. [:)]

Confirmation that you needed engineers to tackle the bridges -

quote : Col. Coutard of the 65eme Ligne found it impossible to destroy the great stone bridge over the Danube at Regensburg, as he lacked the explosives and expertise to tackle such a robust structure; it thus fell into Austrian hands intact. [John Gill (2010)]

What happens if you don't take time to do the job properly -

quote : The Austrians dismantled the Inn bridge at Passau as they retreated during April, but left enough of the pilings, stringers and cross-beams intact that the French attackers were able to scramble across (albeit with difficulty and the exercise of considerable agility). Moreover, bridge repair was fairly easy with this framework in place (as compared to the "burned to the waterline" examples above). Austrians did not have time to burn the wooden bridges in other cases: the Grosse Laaber (Pfeffenhausen), Isar (Moosburg and Landshut) or Traun (Ebelsberg); French/German troops were able to cross, extinguish the flames and continue their attacks.


Full document available with this link :

http://www.napoleon-series.org/military ... ridges.pdf

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: Taal

On the 6.04 I ordered the bridge in Passau destroyed. Guys started it straight away and on the morning of 07.04 and we had the first effects – 18% demmaged. In the evening it reached 68%. The next day ( 08.04) they had worked furiously as well, so in the end of 09.04 afternoon it was finally done.

Another thought, which I have not tested, but at 18% is the bridge actually blown with only 18% work necessary to open it again. The more damage you do, the more work the enemy has to do to re-open the bridge. What we need to know is can the enemy cross a damaged bridge without his own engineers to fix the damage and if this is the case, then it is very realistic.

'Real Life' keeps getting in the way of the AAR and I haven't needed to blow bridges yet. [:)]

[Taal]

Hello,

Thank you for such a prompt reply and the materials concerning bridge demolition.
It's not a popular subject – most of the authors dealing with the Napoleon's era focus on infantry or cavalry. Sapers are rather negligible.

Taal

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: Taal

Hello,

Thank you for such a prompt reply and the materials concerning bridge demolition.
It's not a popular subject – most of the authors dealing with the Napoleon's era focus on infantry or cavalry. Sapers are rather negligible.

Taal

I does seem that the game treatment of bridge demolition, although basic and abstract, is reasonably accurate. [:)]

[DEB]

ORIGINAL: Taal


Did it really take three days to destroy a w o o d e n bridge during the Napoleon times?

You will note from the previous responses that the time taken is reasonable.
Generally speaking, I believe the Bridges in the game are usually made of ( or are presumed to be ) Stone.