Warsaw Pact vehicles were designed to swim or drive along a riverbed using snorkels, but water entry alone does not complete a crossing. Many useful stretches of German riverbank had been built up with concrete walls and other flood-control works. A vehicle that reaches the far bank may have no route out until engineers breach that infrastructure. Modern river management therefore narrows the practical crossing sites and creates delays even for forces equipped around amphibious movement.
Notable Point · 1:45:54-1:55:58
Engineered riverbanks constrain a Warsaw Pact advance
Amphibious vehicles and snorkelling tanks still need usable entry and exit points, while German flood-control works channel crossings into predictable places.