In the “shuimen bridge”, which was popular during the Spring Festival, volunteers braved gunfire and cold, looked back to death and bombed shuimen bridge three times, which once again touched the tears of countless viewers

Bridge is an important transportation facility erected on rivers and canyons and the throat of traffic arteries. It has a very important strategic position and has always been a place for strategists. During the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea, the enemy and our sides repeatedly fought for bridge protection, bridge bombing and bridge repair around important bridges. The purpose of the bridge bombing is mainly to cut off the enemy’s retreat and block the increase of troops; The main purpose of the US military is to paralyze the supply lines of the volunteers. In the way of blasting bridges, the volunteer army mainly adopts sneak attack and blasting with explosives due to the disadvantage of weapons and equipment; Relying on its air superiority, the US military bombed indiscriminately with aircraft and artillery. During the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea, the blockade and destruction of the military transportation line in Northern Korea by the US Air Force was rare in the history of the war because of its long time, changeable means and high bombing density. On the railway line alone, more than 190000 bombs of various types were dropped, damaging more than 1600 bridges. Because some bridges have been repeatedly blown up and repaired several times. For example, a bridge has been blown up three times, that is, three times.

The heroic Volunteer Army railway corps and Engineering Corps fought tenaciously, rushed to repair and build, and built an “unbreakable” steel transportation line. Among them, more than 2290 railway bridges and 1197 highway bridges were repaired. More than 385000 vehicles of materials and troops were transported by railway, and more than 4.8 million tons of various materials were transported by automobile, which effectively guaranteed the operation of the front line.

Now let’s take a look at several famous bridge explosions in the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea.

Yalu River bridge bears the brunt

On the Bank of the Yalu River in Zhenxing District, Dandong City, Liaoning Province, there is a famous broken bridge, which is the remnant of the original Yalu River Bridge after it was destroyed. This bridge is the first of many bridges on the Yalu River, also known as Dandong Yalu River Bridge. It was built by the Railway Bureau of the governor’s office of Japan and Korea. It was started in May 1909 and completed in October 1911. The bridge is 944.2m long and 11m wide with 12 holes. In November 1950, it was blown up by the US Air Force and became a witness to the vicissitudes of the history of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea.

US aircraft bombed Yalu River Bridge

On October 19, 1950, the Chinese people’s Volunteer Army crossed the Yalu River and went to the DPRK to participate in the war. At that time, the volunteers mainly crossed the Yalu River from three bridges: Anton (now Dandong) Yalu River Bridge (now Jiang’an Road, Zhenxing District, Dandong City, Liaoning Province), Changdian Yalu River Bridge (now Hekou village, Changdian Town, Kuandian Manchu Autonomous County, Dandong City, Liaoning Province), Ji’an Yalu River Bridge (now Ji’an City, Jilin Province).

As the Yalu River Bridge is the first threshold for entering Korea from China, it has a strategic position of “traffic artery” in the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and will inevitably bear the brunt and be damaged by the US side by every means. On November 8, 1950, the US air force sent more than 100 B-29 bombers for the first time to indiscriminately bomb the Anton Yalu River Bridge. The bridge was broken at the waist, and the steel beam on the Korean side fell into the water. On November 14 of the same year, the U.S. military sent 34 military bombers to bomb the bridge again. Three piers on the North Korean side were collapsed, and the bridge was paralyzed. Until February 1951, the bridge after indiscriminate bombing was finally destroyed and became a waste bridge. However, this did not prevent the volunteers from entering the DPRK. On the one hand, the railway corps of the volunteer army carried out emergency repair, and on the other hand, several floating bridges were built in the Yalu River to ensure that the volunteer army troops and materials crossed the river on time.

The second division of the railway corps set up a temporary bridge on the Yalu River to ensure smooth railway transportation in the rear

In November 1950, the people of Northeast China drove their carriages to transport ammunition and military supplies to the front line of North Korea through the Yalu River floating bridge

Dandong Yalu River Bridge, the remaining 4-hole bridge on the Chinese side, has been retained so far, known as the “broken bridge of Yalu River”. Thousands of bullet marks have been left so far, just like an immortal monument standing in the river, witnessing and stating the smoke years of the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea and the heroic achievements of the Chinese people’s volunteers.

Broken Yalu Danjiang Bridge

Three fried shuimen Bridge

In the winter of 1950, on the eastern front of the second battle, the Changjin Lake area was surrounded. In order to avoid total annihilation, the U.S. military began to retreat to Xingnan port on the east coast of North Korea. Because the north of North Korea is mountainous, if the United States wants to retreat, it can only take the only road from Changjin lake to Xingnan port, and it must take the shuimen bridge.

Shuimen bridge is not big. It is built on a dam with a length of only 8.8 meters. This is the southern end of the Gaima plateau. The water in the diversion culvert under the Changjin lake reservoir flows into four huge pipelines from here and flows down the mountain to the river at an extremely steep slope. At the intersection of the pipeline and the highway, there is the only bridge leading to the driveway outside the Changjin Lake area. The bridge is on a steep mountain, under which is a huge water diversion pipe. Once the bridge is broken, troops and equipment can only be blocked here and there is no way to go. The importance of this bridge is very clear to both sides.

Four pipes under shuimen Bridge

As early as December 1, the volunteer army sent a small team to blow up the shuimen bridge. Under normal circumstances, the bridge could not be repaired in ten days and a half months, but the American Engineering Battalion actually repaired the bridge in half a day. So the volunteer army organized the second bridge bombing on the evening of December 4. This time, it not only blew up the bridge, but also destroyed the relevant bridge building materials. Unexpectedly, the U.S. Engineering Battalion used the residual root base and steel materials to build a steel wood structure bridge that can allow tanks to pass in only one day.

Shuimen bridge destroyed by volunteers

After this time, the US military knew that the volunteers would not let them retreat easily, so it sent heavy troops to guard near the Watergate bridge and arranged more than 40 tanks. But on the evening of December 6, the volunteers again blew up the Watergate bridge and the base of the bridge under heavy gunfire.

The shuimen bridge, which was heavily guarded by the US military, was blown up by the volunteers

It’s finally done this time! Unexpectedly, the U.S. military dropped eight sets of m-2 steel beams by transport aircraft. With the full construction of the Engineering Battalion, a steel structure Watergate bridge was rebuilt at 4 p.m. on December 8, which can pass through even heavy equipment. Two hours after the third “rebirth” of the bridge, a huge queue of more than 1500 vehicles and tanks of the “United Nations army” also arrived here. They were surprised that they had not been attacked and passed through the Watergate bridge safely. Embarrassed