How did China Volunteers Repair Battlefield Bridges?

19501In mid-October, the first division of the Railway Corps left for the northeastern border of China, and the first batch entered the DPRK to carry out emergency repair support tasks for the battlefield railways.

In the marching team, a tall and thin cadre, with a long face and narrow eyes and closed lips, strode in the team. Although he seldom talks, he is Yang Liandi, a famous climbing hero of the Railway Corps.

Yang Liandi 19 19 was born in Beicang Town, Tianjin. He comes from a poor family. He studied as a shoemaker at the age of 14, and later worked as an electrician and a scaffolder, and he developed a rock climbing skill.

1949 At the beginning of this year, after the liberation of Peiping and Tianjin, Yang Liandi joined the Railway Corps of the Fourth Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

When repairing Longhai No.8 Bridge, the tallest in China at that time, Yang Liandi climbed the 45-meter-high pier with a long hook in his hand and only a board as a cover. He continuously blasted 100 times, cleaned 26 cubic meters of pier concrete, leveled the top surfaces of five piers, completed the task 20 days ahead of schedule, made a great contribution and won the title of climbing hero.

Bridge experts can't help but admire: there are really capable people in the military!

1In mid-February, 950, after successfully repairing the Yalu River Bridge, Yang Liandi's troops were ordered to go to Shunchuan to repair the main bridge of Datong River and build a temporary railway bridge.

Yang Liandi's first company was responsible for excavating 5000 cubic meters of frozen soil on the north bank of Jiangqiao. At this time, it was winter, and the banks of the Datong River had already been covered with snow and ice, and the ground was frozen.

195 1 year 1 month, Silian, who was sent to repair the bridge, asked Yang Liandi, the hero of mountain climbing, for help. Yang Liandi was ordered to lead his troops to the boiling Liujiang Bridge.

The emergency repair project of the Boiling River Bridge is mainly to repair the damaged piers, pick up the steel beams that have been blown down in the river, and frame them for traffic.

Due to the harassment of American planes, the emergency repair can only be carried out in the dark. In the process of salvaging the steel beam, the American plane has been hovering overhead, and there is no light at the scene. Comrades of Company Four carried out air defense repairs against the faint starlight, and lifted the steel beam that fell into the river with a crane, which was very slow, which was very unfavorable to Yang Liandi.

In the morning, all the emergency repair troops returned to their headquarters to rest, and Yang Liandi climbed a hill to observe the scene.

The boiling Liujiang Bridge has been blown off in the middle, and the blown steel beams are obliquely inserted in the rapids in the middle of the river; In the hidden cave on the north bank of Hebei, the waiting train whistled from time to time, and the wounded from the south bank crowded on the narrow pontoon bridge. ...

A group of American planes flew over the hill with a strange sound, throwing bombs at the destroyed bridge in turn, and clouds of smoke rose in the air.

Yang Liandi absorbed himself in thinking and exploring the law from the shooting incident of the American plane. He thought: although American planes bombed and strafed frequently, there was a certain gap between batches. Taking advantage of this gap, it is better to rush to repair during the day than to repair in the dark! Hugh, you have to use the word rob.

Yang Liandi reported his thoughts to the leaders. After careful study, the leaders adopted Yang Liandi's suggestion.

In this way, Yang Liandi and his comrades played a thrilling hide-and-seek game with the American plane.

Yang Liandi came to the scene with eight comrades, selected the shelter in advance, and carefully divided the work. Each of them tied a long rope around his waist, then boarded the pier and began to salvage the steel beam. The crane rumbled and the steel beams in the river rose slowly.

Suddenly, four American planes emerged from a gap in the clouds and plunged straight into the middle of the bridge. Yang Liandi and his eight comrades-in-arms immediately slipped off the pier15m high with a long rope around their waist and hid behind the pier.

The cunning American army seems to have discovered Yang Liandi's tactics. In the next few days, they sprayed the crane frame in the middle of the bridge with machine guns in turn, and Yang Liandi slid down and hid in the same way; As soon as the American plane left, it scrambled to climb the pier for emergency repair.

In this way, we played hide-and-seek with the American plane for three days, and the repair of the boiling Liujiang Bridge was completed three days ahead of schedule. The train, which has been waiting on the riverbank, honked, crossed the bridge and went ahead.

Yang Liandi led the team to create a miracle of emergency repair during the day on the boiling Liujiang Bridge!

1951In late July, Yang Liandi's first company moved to Chuanjiang Bridge in Dong Qing. At this time, Yang Liandi was promoted to deputy platoon leader.

Chuanjiang Bridge in Dong Qing is an important traffic throat of Manpu Railway. Due to the repeated bombing by American planes, the steel beams of the first to fourth holes were blown up ahead of schedule, the pier No.3 was completely destroyed, and the pier 1 was blown off.

On July 18, the fifth and sixth steel beams were blown off again. From July 28th to 30th, the Qingchuan River was flooded for 40 years. The piers made of thousands of sleepers on the main bridge were washed away without a trace, and the huge steel beams were swept away by roaring rapids.

Repairing pier No.3 is the key to the emergency repair of the whole bridge. Yang Liandi's first company undertook the task of repairing Pier 3.

The third pier is more than 40 meters away from the river bank, where the water depth is large and the flow rate is 6 meters per second, so it is extremely inconvenient to transport materials during construction. To repair pier No.3, a temporary bridge leading to the pier foundation should be built first; The first step in erecting a temporary bridge is to erect a suspension bridge extending to Pier 3.

A company of soldiers braved the storm and worked nervously. However, before the frame of the suspension bridge was tied, a huge wave washed it away. The soldiers also built a pontoon bridge with a raft. As soon as the raft was put into the river, it was washed away by the surging flood peak, and the thick log at the mouth of the bowl was also folded in half and rolled in the river. The soldiers also used other methods, all without success. Everyone is in a hurry.

One morning, before dawn, Yang Liandi went to the company to find Li Zhenyuan, the deputy company commander, and said, We can't do this! You see, temporary wooden bridge and wooden pontoon bridge have been washed away by floods again and again, which makes people feel distressed! Think about it, if it is opened to traffic one day later, how many difficulties will be added ahead!

He immediately reported to the deputy company commander the idea he had pondered for several days: tie two rails into an X-shaped tripod, extend one section to the middle of the river, and build a temporary bridge on it.

Thy report to the regimental headquarters Yang Liandi's suggestion. After careful study, the leaders of the regiment agreed to this proposal.

As usual, Yang Liandi took the lead. He was the first to climb to the head of the swaying railing, put his legs on the railing, and bent down to install screws on the legs of the shelf inserted in the rapids.

The heavy rain poured down head-on, making it almost impossible to open your eyes. Yang Liandi worked in the river for a while, then straightened up to catch his breath, wiped the rain off his face, and then bent down to do it.

After half a day's work, only three rails were tied.

Yang Liandi is really worried: it's a waste of work! Come on, let's get in the water.

However, the river is as fast as a wild animal, and the rails inserted in the middle of the river are almost washed down. In the middle of the river, people are unstable.

Take off your wet coat and say to the monitor Sui: Come on! We stood face to face. You grab my hair and press hard. I'll twist the screw in deep water.

Sui thinks it's too risky. Yang Liandi insisted on his opinion and said, Come on, it doesn't matter. As long as you try to hold your hair, I'm sure nothing will happen!

The two men slid down the railing to the middle of the river again, and Yang Liandi screwed the screws underwater, and the rapids overflowed overhead, causing huge waves. Sui Zhangjian clung to his hair and dared not relax.

People on the shore are holding the staff for him, only to see that Yang Lian will be submerged by the rolling river for the first time, and then breaking the waves will show his head.

After more than 10 hours of efforts, the temporary bridge made of steel rails will soon reach the third pier.

Just before the completion, a bigger flood peak overthrew the rail frame again. Everyone is too anxious to think of a way.

Yang Liandi squatted quietly on the bank of the river, staring at the river, his face blue with cold. His comrades-in-arms advised him to go back and have a rest, but he said categorically: We must rebuild and succeed!

After a day's thinking, Yang Liandi proposed the method of building a pontoon bridge with petrol tanks. First, connect several petrol cans into a whole, then connect them with rails and put them into the river to build a pontoon bridge.

Construction entered a more tense stage, and Yang Liandi didn't sleep for two days and nights.

On this day, he drank two drinks on the shore, then swam to the middle of the river and kidnapped him on a pontoon bridge made of oil drums.

Due to the lack of buoyancy of the petrol tank, the waves shook and the pontoon was pressed into the water. Suddenly, with a bang, the pontoon bridge broke, the logs of the oil drums were scattered all over the floor, and the river rolled with the waves.

Yang Liandi grabbed an oil drum and rode it in the rapids, trying to salvage the scattered materials. However, as soon as his hand was stretched out, another wave came, the oil drum rolled up and Yang Liandi was swept into the river.

All the comrades who just landed jumped into the water to save him, but on the wide river, only straw hats were still wandering in the whirlpool, but people did not know where to go.

Just when people were in a hurry, Yang Liandi appeared from the water, near a railway pile, and he rushed over and hugged it. The comrades-in-arms were so happy that everyone rushed to carry him ashore and scrambled to change his clothes.

Yang Liandi couldn't sit still, his hands were shaking with cold, and he was still holding a pair of pliers tightly. It turns out that Yang Liandi didn't let go of a pair of pliers when he fell into the river and his life was at its most dangerous.

The matter was immediately spread on the construction site, and all the comrades were moved by his work spirit, and put forward slogans one after another: Learn from Yang Liandi, and we must overcome the flood!

With Yang Liandi's determination, a company's comrade-in-arms stubbornly struggled with the flood, and finally the pontoon bridge that was washed away 1 1 time was opened with petrol cans and rail frames, and it was two hours ahead of schedule, which created good conditions for rushing through the Qingchuan River Bridge as soon as possible.

After all the cadres and soldiers struggled with the flood, the bridge resumed operation on August 22. Comrade Yang Liandi made one great contribution and two small contributions, and the platoon he led also made a collective contribution.

1952 In early May, Yang Liandi and his company moved to Dongchuan River Bridge in Dong Qing again.

At this time, the armistice negotiations have begun, and the US military threatened to let the plane talk to the artillery in order to win the initiative at the negotiating table. Therefore, American planes bombed the Qingchuan River Bridge more frequently.

Although the bridge was destroyed again and again, Yang Liandi led the company to fight tenaciously. In the strangulation war, the US military bombed continuously, and the railway soldiers confronted each other and repaired continuously, always guarding this unbreakable and bombed transportation hub.

In the early morning of May 15, the smoke of anti-aircraft artillery shells remained over Qingchuan River Bridge, and Yang Liandi came to the bridge with his soldiers to inspect.

He found that the newly-built steel beam in the third hole was displaced by 5 cm due to too many cars at night. He told the soldiers to lift the press to the bridge and prepare to move the steel beam straight.

Just as Yang Liandi ordered the soldiers to lift the beam, a time bomb exploded, and a piece of shrapnel flew in and hit him in the head. Comrade Yang Liandi, a mountain hero, fell down.

In recognition of Comrade Yang Liandi's heroic achievements, Chinese people's Volunteer Army Headquarters awarded Yang Liandi the first-class hero on June 4th 1952. The company where he lives is named Yang Lian Company.

The government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued a special decree recognizing Comrade Yang Liandi as a hero of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and awarded the Gold Star Medal and the First Class Flag Medal.

To commemorate Comrade Yang Liandi's immortal achievements, the Ministry of Railways of the Central People's Government accepted the suggestions of the masses, named No.8 Bridge on Longhai Road as Yang Liandi Bridge, and erected a monument at the bridgehead.