A bridge too far gone
QUESTION Why have the Germans never rebuilt the bridge at Remagen?
The Ludendorff Bridge spanned Germany’s great industrial River Rhine, connecting the towns of Remagen and erpel. It was built during World War I to help with the transportation of troops and equipment to the Western Front.
Before this, there was only a ferry, which dated back to medieval times.
The bridge had a similar role during World War II, but, after its destruction and the cessation of hostilities, it was deemed unnecessary to replace it.
After World War I, by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties, the German military had been prevented from controlling access points on both sides of the Rhine.
In 1936, with the remilitarisation of the Rhineland under hitler, the Ludendorff Bridge returned to German control.
On March 7, 1945, the U.S. Army’s 9th Armoured Division took the bridge. It had been damaged by Allied bombing and German attempts to demolish it before the Allied troops could use it.
The demolition charges had failed to destroy the bridge, giving the Americans the opportunity to move six divisions of 50,000 troops over it, establish a bridgehead on the east bank and build a pontoon bridge to move the rest of the U.S. forces.
On March 17, the bridge collapsed, killing 28 U.S. Army engineers who were attempting to repair it.
These events were depicted in the 1969 film The Bridge At Remagen, starring George Segal, Ben Gazzara and Robert Vaughn.
Rick Harris, Leicester.
QUESTION Is it true that women have a better sense of smell than men? Why?
The structure of a woman’s nose is no different from a man’s, nor does it have any more receptors. But because the male brain takes in less sensory data than the female brain, women have a keener sense of smell, as well as taste and hearing.
Research has shown that this begins in infancy.
On average, men have sharper eyes than women, however, because, at two months of age, boys are particularly attracted to visual stimuli. This seems to persist throughout life.
Girls respond more sensitively to all sensory stimuli and are better at dealing with this data for the rest of their lives.
Female brains have 43 per cent more cells and almost 50 per cent more neurons in their olfactory centres (dedicated to smelling) than male ones.
From an evolutionary perspective, an enhanced sense of smell may have helped women choose mates.
It’s also possible females have a greater need to be able to recognise and bond with their kin through smell. Mothers have been shown to be able to pick out their baby’s smell from a big group, suggesting hormones and attention work together.
It would also be useful for a mother to be able to detect contaminated food, or traces of toxins, to protect her children. Emilie Lamplough, Trowbridge, Wilts.
QUESTION Is the runaway lorry gravel trap at the bottom of Wrotham Hill in Kent one of a kind?
When I started driving lorries in the early Sixties, the brakes weren’t always that good. They also faded if they got too hot on long or steep hills.
We had to use engine braking to supplement the wheel brakes by changing into a low gear. As they were all crash gearboxes, if you missed a gear and the lorry started to run away, you could be in trouble. escape lanes filled with gravel therefore weren’t uncommon. There were also signs at the tops of hills advising drivers to engage a low gear. The A259 coming into eastbourne, east Sussex, from the west still has an escape lane and a sign at the top of the hill. The problem with a lorry gravel trap was that, though they stopped the vehicle, you had to be towed out to get going again! Mac McCallum, Eastbourne, E. Sussex. TheRe was a runaway lorry gravel trap near the bottom of Whitfield hill in Dover. In 1994, a lorry loaded with ten tons of oranges didn’t use the trap when it hurtled down the hill, overturning at the bend at the bottom. It crushed our car and damaged a gas van and a 4x4. I hope the gravel trap is still there, as there are a lot more lorries on the roads now than there were back then. Lynn Bruce, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. TheRe is an escape lane at the foot of Church Brow in Whitehaven, Cumbria, where it joins the A595. It is a sand trap, but serves the same purpose as a gravel one. P. Capstick, Whitehaven, Cumbria. I hAVe come across many of these gravel traps for vehicles that have suffered brake failure. One is on Broadway hill in the Cotswolds and there is also one near Bridport in Dorset.
Nick Tyler, Hereford.
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