Check out this collection of images of tanks that proved too heavy for the bridges they were driving on. All but one of these fascinating images were taken during the second world war. We start off with an interesting one, a Beutepanzer, a captured Russian tank pressed into German service.
This captured KV1 tank proved too heavy for the bridge
Same tank, different angle
On 23 November 1943, Tiger 133 crashed through this wooden bridge near Putoschka, killing the tank commander
ES43-1-62 (SC357349) Men of the 8th Eng Bn, 1st Cav Div put logs under the weakened support of a bridge near Yangzi, Korea, to prevent its collapse until a tank retriever can arrive and remove the M-4 tank. 28 Jan 1951
British tank “Flying Fox”, stuck fast and blocking the key canal bridge at Masnieres.
Panzer III, too heavy!
Recovery vehicles prepare to tow a Sherman tank of the Irish Guards out of a stream where it landed after collapsing a bridge on the slip road leading to the Bremen-Hamburg autobahn, 20 April 1945. The tank was eventually recovered undamaged.
Same tank, different angle
German engineers build a bridge over the Soviet tank KV-1 on the Western Front. Initially, this tank was sent to Kharkov armored school, and with the beginning of the war, the tank battalion arrived in Kharkov BTU 14 Panzer Division. According to the ‘Report on the motion of the material part of the 27th TP 14th TD’ July 15, 1941 ‘tank KV-M first tank battalion, going from repair in the area of Vitebsk Vitebsk on the highway, the bridge collapsed.
Officers investigate a KV-1 that was on a bridge when it collapsed
New M-4A3E8 tank on a bridge that collapsed with the weight of the vehicle during the operation against Grosblieberstroff on the Saar. The tank is from 749th Tank Battalion. Dated February 18, 1945. Archive Number 111-SC-233735.
