Crossing the Pontoon Bridge, Château-Thierry

William James Aylward's mixed-media drawing documents a critical military crossing during World War I. The composition centers on five pontoon boats supporting a temporary bridge, with horse-drawn supply wagons and troops moving across in organized columns. Behind them, the village of Château-Thierry rises with its church spire prominent against the tree-lined skyline. Aylward's technique combines ink, watercolor, and pencil to capture both the logistical precision of troop movement and the landscape's spatial depth. Created for the War Department, this drawing served as both documentary record and visual communication of American Expeditionary Forces operations along the Marne during the final year of the war.