06.03.2025.
Enhancing capabilities for inland waterway operations
Members of the 1st Pontonier Battalion of the River Flotilla conduct regular training along a river to maintain and increase their proficiency in providing operational support to combat units of the Serbian Armed Forces conducting operations in inland waterway areas.
This week, in the Mačva Partisan Detachment Training Area in Šabac, members of a pontonier and amphibious unit have been honing their skill in overcoming a water obstacle to ensure that Army units are able to manoeuvre.Their tactical task involved building a pontoon bridge across the Sava River, loading motor vehicles onto the pontoon ferry and transporting them, as well as camouflaging and providing the unit with direct protection against enemy observation and fire.
Officer in charge of setting up the pontoon bridge across the Sava River was the pontonier company commander, Captain 1st Class Nebojša Dokmanović, who explains that setting up a 40-ton ferry requires well-trained soldiers and leaders, and, of course, technical equipment in good working order.
— This training is designed for professional battalion members to maintain their level of skill so as to be ready to respond to a challenge at any time. The unit’s ability to set up a pontoon ferry in a short time and thus enable evolution units to cross a river where there is no proper crossing point is of key importance - emphasizes Captain 1st Class Dokmanović. Tugboat operator Corporal Miloš Obrenović, who has been working for the Serbian Armed Forces for 15 years, says that the pontonier battalion is a specific unit since 90 percent of its activities are done on the water.
— We feel best when we are working on the water, because we feel at home there. Although we are not sailors, we are very attached to the water. We have to work as one, because only a well-coordinated team can be successful at this physically demanding job. For example, one pontoon section weighs seven tons, and the lightest object you need to lift on board is a pontoon lever weighing eight kilograms, says Coporal Obrenović.
Training for all specialties in River Flotilla’s pontonier battalions ensures a high level of proficiency of personnel, which, along with fully functional technical equipment, is one of the most important prerequisites for a successful execution of river engineering operations and a rapid rescue of citizens and property and assistance after natural disasters, technological hazards and accidents on inland waterways.
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