The meaning of “caterpillar” as a verb

From "Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man" by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, quoting RWS’s Captain Walter Clough-Taylor:

"… I noticed there were girders, rising to about a foot in height in the centre [of the bridge], above the roadway. I flung myself down, and caterpillaring madly along behind one of them arrived miraculously on the other side."

What does "caterpillar" mean here? Is it to crawl like a caterpillar?