A History of Research and a Review of Recent Developments

Civil bridges 193
Figure 8.2 d’Eauplet railway bridge, 1944 (from Hill et al., ref. 8.19).
The bridge was then used for road traffic by removing rails and sleepers
from one track over spans 1, 2 and 3, and building a raised wooden
roadway across the dip of damaged span 4. It is interesting that aerial
reconnaissance by the Allied forces between May and August 1944 did
not detect the destruction of the pier, and it was thought that all the
bridge damage resulted from the cutting of the top booms. In fact, the
top booms did not buckle until the pier collapsed.
(b) Tourville bridge (railway) 7 miles south of Rouen, Figure 8.3.
The bombing history was as follows:
7 May 1944 21×500 bombs Lower booms cut at 6 places in
17×1000 GP bombs spans 1 and 2
8 May 1944 48×1000 GP bombs
9 May 1944 36×1000 GP bombs Further cuts on top and lower
36×1000 GP bombs booms of spans 1 and 2
10 May 1944 64×1000 GP bombs Span 1 collapsed completely, and
9 panels of span 2 fell into the river.
Figure 8.3 Tourville railway bridge, 1944 (from Hill et al., ref. 8.19).