zaterdag 9 juni 2018

Plates by Langendijk: Crossing of the Waal 1795

Two plates, a little bit unclear, about the retreat across the Waal of the British/Hanovarian army. They used the existing ship-bridge of Nijmegen so they did not need to build a pontonbridge.
During the retreat, afaik, the bridge was destroyed before all troops could cross.



















And of course, the French also crossed the Waal but as is was so cold, they could use the ice on the rivers to cross. In this situation a Dutch waterline was of no use.
In former times the ice would be broken by troops but the Dutch army was so demoralised that they only thought of retreating.