Seine Commercial craft (barges and push-tows) can use the river from Marcilly-sur-Seine, to its mouth. At Paris, there are 37 bridges. The river is only above sea level from its mouth, making it slow flowing and thus easily navigable. The Seine Maritime, from the English Channel at Le Havre to Rouen, is the only portion of the Seine used by ocean-going craft. The tidal section of the Seine Maritime is followed by a canalized section ("Basse Seine") with four large multiple locks until the mouth of the Oise at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (170 km). Smaller locks at Bougival and at Suresnes lift the
Seine River Crossing at Mantes-Gassicourt fire. In a situation that was "too fluid to define an enemy front line," General Wyche anticipated little resistance. His 79th Division had that day engaged only scattered German groups in flight, had captured nineteen vehicles and a Panzer IV tank, and had received only sporadic machine gun fire from across the Seine. The river itself was the main problem, for near Mantes it varied in width from five hundred to eight hundred feet. Fortunately, a dam nearby offered a narrow footpath across it, and engineer assault boats and rafts could transport troops and light equipment. For the bridge he