Hannibal goes to the Alps

Being able to swim, and swimming all the way across the Rhone are two very different things. I can swim, but I wouldn't take on a river that big without flaming good reason.

I wonder why they didn't train the elephants to swim - rivers are fairly common - and elephants (as evidenced) swim fairly readily - both African and Indian though Indian elephants are actually trained to swim between islands in the ocean (a practice that the internet tells me is no longer carried on)