Chapter 21 Chapter 21 Xiangjiang Bridge Explosion

On June 19, the headquarters of the 10th Military Engineering Battalion.People are coming and going. "Report, Peng Zhijian, secretary of the Hengyang West Railway Station Headquarters of the Hunan-Guizhou Railway Bureau, has been ordered to report for duty!" With a loud report, a strong southern boy in military uniform appeared in front of Lu Bogao, commander of the 10th Army Engineering Battalion. "Heh, please sit down!" Battalion Commander Lu smiled and said, "You are also wearing military uniforms!" "That was an extraordinary period. We belong to the Logistics Department of the Military Commission of the Lishu Nationalist Government. It is a military agency stationed along the route, specializing in military transportation! During the war, in addition to the tense military transportation, we also need to demolish or dismantle as needed. Laying tracks, blowing up bridges, and more."

"Oh, so to speak, there is still a taste of colleagues!" "Yes, no, I received orders from Shangfeng and came to cooperate with your ministry to blow up the Xiangjiang Bridge in Hengyang." Regarding the Hengyang Xiangjiang Bridge on the Hunan-Guizhou Railway, the High Command once instructed that it should be completely blown up if necessary.After Changsha abandoned its defense yesterday, the Chief of the Ninth War Zone also issued an order: use the cameras of the 10th Army to blow up the Xiangjiang Bridge in Hengyang, Xianggui Road.Early this morning, Battalion Commander Lu received an order from Commander Fang to prepare to blow up the bridge.

Recalling the difficult process of building the bridge, I thought of blowing up the bridge myself.Peng and Lu couldn't help but have a lot of thoughts and imaginations. Before 1944, although Hengyang had two railways, the Guangdong-Han Railway and the Hunan-Guangxi Railway.But because there is a Xiangjiang River, the two railways cannot communicate with each other.Therefore, Hengyang has two railway stations, one east and one west. The east station belongs to the Guangdong-Han Railway Bureau; the west station belongs to the Xianggui Railway Bureau.It is very cumbersome and inconvenient to transfer passenger and freight trains to cars and cross the Xiangjiang River by ferry.Therefore, the national government decided to spare no expense in financial and material resources and manpower, and must build the Hengyang Xiangjiang Bridge, which is a dual-purpose railway and highway bridge, so as to connect the two railways.

It cost a lot of money and manpower, took several years, and had to avoid the bombing and strafing of Japanese aircraft. After a lot of hardships, the Hengyang Bridge of the Hunan-Guizhou Railway was finally completed and opened to traffic on New Year's Day on January 1, 1944.But only the railways have been opened to traffic, and the roads have not yet been fully completed. In order to realize the dual traffic of railway and highway as soon as possible, on New Year's Day in 1944, the Commercial Vehicle Steering Committee of the Ministry of Communications of the Nationalist Government specially established the Hengyang Branch, and its office was located in Xianji Lane in Hengyang City.

After several months of hard work, it was finally officially opened to the outside world on April 20, allowing both cars and pedestrians to pass. On this day, just like ten days ago, rich and powerful gathered in downtown Hengyang, and the alleys were empty. People cheered, rushed to tell each other, beat gongs and drums, and set off fireworks to celebrate the arrival of that glorious moment in history. On April 10th, the new party headquarters of the Kuomintang in Hengyang, Zhongshan Hall, was completed and a completion ceremony was held. At that time, who would have thought, who would have thought that only one month had passed.For the country, for the nation, and for the final victory of the War of Resistance, we have to blow up this hard-won bridge with our own hands.

Speaking of this, thinking of this, Warrant Officer Peng Zhijian, Secretary of the Xianggui Road Bureau Headquarters, who was in charge of bombing the bridge, and Lieutenant Colonel Lu Bogao, Commander of the 10th Army Engineering Battalion, looked at the Xiangjiang River going north, listening to intermittent, distant and near With the sound of guns and guns, I couldn't help crying, and I was silent for a while. But feelings belong to feelings, and orders are orders, which must be carried out without compromise.The enemy is at present, and soldiers don't believe in tears at this time!

The two convened relevant technical personnel to surround the bridge construction drawings and began to plan to blow up the bridge.The explosion points were determined one by one, and the explosion equivalents were calculated and marked on the drawings. Just when the draft was about to be finalized, Battalion Commander Lu pondered for a long time, and then slowly said in an affectionate, deep and powerful voice, almost word by word, "Everyone, please pay attention, this is a bridge bombing on our land due to the need for combat." .It is to blow up the key infrastructure at the intersection of the east, west, north and south of our country, which is the throat of our country's lifeline. I think it is better to slightly modify the original plan: keep the pier part, and only blow up the bridge part. There are three reasons : First, under our artillery fire and air strikes, the enemy will not be able to use it, and the main purpose of this bridge bombing can be achieved; second, the current war is coming soon, and there is not so much time for us to carry out more complicated ones. Underwater blasting; thirdly, the most important thing is to facilitate the rapid restoration and reconstruction after the war, so as to avoid huge construction costs. You must know that it is the people's heart and the people's anointment! At present, the country is poor and weak, so it is not easy!"

"Yes! We have bombed many bridges and built many bridges. But the bridge to be bombed this time is truly extraordinary!" Major Song Kuixian, deputy battalion commander of the Engineer Battalion, said with emotion. Everyone nodded and said yes: The battalion commander is more knowledgeable, standing tall, and seeing far! "Okay! Everyone has no other opinions, so I will report the current plan to the army commander immediately. Once the army commander approves, we will start immediately and prepare to blow up the bridge!" Because of the change of the battalion commander Lu, Hengyang City now has one more It is an immortal war site, and the unexploded bridge piers still hit the water and stand proudly in the river.

Soon the engineer battalion received a reply from Commander Fang: agree to execute according to the plan.The specific time to blow up the bridge is waiting for the order of the commander in person.No violation! The engineering battalion immediately launched an emergency plan, and with the assistance of the logistics regiment, quickly implemented the bridge bombing plan. Security forces were dispatched to the bridgeheads on both sides of the strait to implement martial law, and all vehicles and pedestrians were prohibited from passing, except for special passes issued by the military department.I found out afterwards that it would have been better if the martial law had been earlier. Just one hour before the martial law, the Japanese army sent China Communications—Intelligence Officer Nakasa Takeuchi along with the migrant workers to sneak into the main urban area on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River, and lurked down to carry out espionage work, which was very effective. Received a large amount of intelligence from our army; and cracked the code of our army, so that the enemy chieftain knew the actions of our army well and could deal with them with ease.It's really a pity!

Military vehicles carried a large amount of yellow explosives to various parts of the bridge.The engineers placed the explosives, placed the explosives, pulled and connected the wires, all in their positions, busy in a tense and orderly manner.After more than a day of hard work, the preparations for the bridge bombing were ready.As soon as the army commander gave an order, the bridge would be blown up as he wished. At this time, a large number of Japanese troops had crossed the Leishui River and engaged in fierce battles with the guards of our 190th Division and Temporary 54th Division at Wumaguicao and the airport; some Japanese troops first tried to cross the Xiangjiang River at Dongyangdu and Tongqiao Port , Penetrating into the front of our army's outpost in the southern suburbs.

On June 22, the enemy had seized the position of Wuma Guicao, and rushed to the airport with all its strength.Seeing the general situation, it was impossible to keep the Xiangjiang Bridge, but Commander Fang called and personally ordered, "Battalion Commander Lu, I am Fang Xianjue, and I order you to blow up the bridge immediately!" "Yes, military seat, blow up the bridge immediately!" Battalion Commander Lu pressed the button, and the explosives worth millions of dollars exploded. There were several loud bangs, and the bridge, which looked like a dragon and a python, lay across the Xiangjiang River section by section.In this way, I don’t know how much manpower, material resources, and financial resources were spent. It condensed the hard work and even life of countless laborers and the merits of several years of construction. The brand new iron bridge that has just been officially opened to traffic for less than a month (it is said that the direct investment is worth 200 million yuan) , was forced to be destroyed in a few seconds like this, which is deeply emotional and regrettable.In the military headquarters, in the engineer battalion, in the field hospital, and in various units of the 10th Army, many officers, soldiers and former migrant workers were mourning, or silently took off their hats and saluted, or silently burst into tears.The blood of the more than 10,000 warriors of the 10th Army who had just calmed down for five months was boiling. They had the same idea in their hearts: that is, with the deep-rooted hatred for the Japanese invaders and the determination to defend their homeland to the death, the blood debt must be paid with blood. Taste, let the ghost soldiers come and go!