Science: Epic of a Bridge

From the U.S. First Army, fighting towards Cologne last week, came what one correspondent called "a minor epic" of the war. It concerned the building of a bridge. A small column of 8th Division infantry had a fingerhold across the Erft Canal. Ahead of them, the Germans were gathering tanks for a counterattack. Behind them, U.S. combat engineers were building the bridge, to bring up armor to support the infantry.

The engineers, under a rain of shell and mortar fire, worked feverishly all night. At dawn the German tanks began to move up. The doughboys...