Iivari's quick bridge

Finnish soldiers crossing river using an Iivari's quick bridge while two men stand in a boat
Soldiers crossing an Iivari's quick bridge, training during the Continuation War

Iivari's quick bridge (Finnish: Iivarin pikasilta) or originally pikasilta m/32 is a model of floating footbridge designed by, and named after, Iivari Kauranen.[1]: 223  Proposed in 1933, its ease of construction from various wooden materials made it a step up from earlier models, and is still in use by the Finnish Defense Forces.

History

Design

Iivari's quick bridge was proposed by Kauranen in a 1933 article in Suomen Sotilasaikakausilehti.[2]

soldiers crossing water using a Iivari's quick bridge build out of planks and steel wire
An Iivari's quick bridge in use near Äyräpää, 28 August 1944

The model was introduced to replace earlier French and German designs, both which had their own drawbacks.[3] Iivari's quick bridge was partly based on the French model.[1]: 223  One advantage compared to the earlier models was the ability to construct it from various wooden materials, acquired on site if needed.[4][5] The joints can also be fixed using materials ranging from rope and nails to tree roots.[6]

Because the buoyancy is created by supports that run cross-stream, the bridge is not suitable for strong streams,[7] and thus was adopted alongside the log quick bridge designed by Eero-Eetu Saarinen, among other bridge types.[1]: 223, 228  The bridge is usable in waters slower than 1 m/s and less than 50 m wide.[6]

Usage

As the bridge is easy to teach to regular infantry, and the material needed for it were readily available in Finland, it greatly eased water crossings,[1]: 293  and let engineers focus on large water crossings.[2]

The Iivari's quick bridge enabled the textbook tactic, by the Winter War, for water crossings of having the assault force cross using it, with supporting elements that used trucks utilizing boat pontoon bridges (ruuhisilta).[1]: 227–228 

Quick bridge in 2022

The usage of Iivari's quick bridge continued post-war,[8] with it being a part of infantry water training in the 1980s.[1]: 223  Coastal troops trained it up to the 1990s when the six-month training period forced a focus on training more fundamental skills.[9] As of 2019, engineer troops occasionally still use Iivari's quick bridge,[1]: 224  and instructions for its construction and use is included in the 2024 survival manual of the Finnish Defence Forces.[6]

In culture

Captain Arvo Pitkänen painted a painting called "Iivarin pikasilta", depicting a crossing using the bridge, in 1977.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mäkitalo, Janne (2019). Räjähtävää voimaa 1: suomalaisen pioneeritaktiikan kehittyminen itsenäisyyden aikana (PDF). Julkaisusarja 1: Tutkimuksia (in Finnish). Vol. 34. Keuruu: Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu. ISBN 978-951-25-3104-2. Retrieved 21 June 2026.
  2. 1 2 Tynkkynen, Vesa (2014) [1996]. Hyökkäyksestä puolustukseen: taktiikan kehittymisen ensimmäiset vuosikymmenet Suomessa (PDF). Julkaisusarja 1 (in Finnish). Vol. 1/2014. Helsinki: Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu. p. 46. ISBN 978-951-25-2547-8. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  3. ↑ Kauranen, Iivari (1 December 1933). "Pikasilta m/32 (Ehdotus)". Suomen sotilasaikakauslehti (in Finnish). No. 12. pp. 709–717. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  4. ↑ "Lähes 3000 miestä sotataitoaan verestämässä". Ilkka (in Finnish). No. 160. 16 June 1936. p. 5. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  5. ↑ "Kymeenlaakson sk-piirin harjoituksiin osallistui yli 2000 miestä". Kymenlaakson Suunta (in Finnish). No. 114. 13 October 1936. p. 1. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 Selviytymisen käsikirja 2024 (PDF) (in Finnish). Finnish Defence Forces. 2024. pp. 158–160. ISBN 978-951-25-3449-4.
  7. ↑ Partanen, F.S. (1981). "Se silta jäi rakentamatta" (PDF). Kansa Taisteli (in Finnish). Vol. 7. p. 247. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  8. ↑ Mäkitalo, Janne (2019). Räjähtävää voimaa 2: suomalaisen pioneeritaktiikan kehittyminen itsenäisyyden aikana (PDF). Julkaisusarja 1: Tutkimuksia (in Finnish). Vol. 35. Keuruu: Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu. p. 28. ISBN 978-951-25-3105-9. Retrieved 21 June 2026.
  9. ↑ Wasenius, Carl-Magnus (2011). "Rannikolla taistelevalle sotilaalle asetettavat koulutusvaatimukset". Jalkaväen Vuosikirja XXVIII 2011-2012 (PDF). Vaasa: Jalkaväen Säätiö. p. 132. ISSN 0357-1092. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  10. ↑ "Esineitä Perinnetilojen kokoelmista". taistelukoulu.fi (in Finnish). Taistelukoulun Verkkomuseo. Retrieved 22 June 2026.

Further reading

  • Vähäsarja, Pekka (1986). "Iivarin Pikasilta". Hakku (in Finnish). Vol. 63, no. 4. pp. 22–23.
  • Kallio, T. (2021). "Klassikkotarina Iivarin pikasillan alta". Hakku (in Finnish). Vol. 98, no. 1. pp. 12–13.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.