The attack and defense of the bridge is not a blow-up

 　　On the morning of October 8th, local time, on the road bridge connecting the free city of Kerch in the Crimea region and the Taman Peninsula, the longest bridge in Europe - the Kerch Strait Bridge (Crimea Bridge), there was a sound. There was a huge explosion, and part of the bridge collapsed into the sea. Fragments from the blast hit a tanker train on a railway bridge parallel to the road bridge. The oil tank immediately ignited a raging fire, and the railway bridge was baked under high temperature, causing the bridge body to deform visible to the naked eye.

　　On October 12, the Russian side announced the results of the investigation, saying that the explosion was a terrorist attack planned by the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Agency. Prior to this, the Ukrainian side had declared on many occasions that the Kerch Strait Bridge was illegal and that it was the "number one target" that the Ukrainian army planned to attack Crimea. But after the explosion, Uzbekistan denied Russia's accusation, and the bridge explosion fell into a "Rashomon" state.

　　As a representative product of modern industry, large bridges erected over deep valleys, torrents or straits have obvious strategic transportation significance. A large bridge manufactured with mature technology, the main stress-bearing components of the bridge body are composed of high-strength steel, and the piers are poured with high-grade concrete, which is extremely strong. If the bearing point of the bridge body cannot be accurately hit or the pier is completely destroyed, it is not difficult for the defender to carry out emergency repairs on the bridge—pontoon bridge troops can erect the main girder and lay rails in a short time to restore the bridge's transportation capacity.

　　On the other hand, how efficiently the attacking army destroys bridges has become an important basis for testing its military level. In modern warfare, fierce offensive and defensive battles around important bridges abound.

Guided bombs make amazing achievements

　　In December 1941, the Japanese army invaded Southeast Asia and successively occupied large tracts of land in Thailand, Malaya, Myanmar, the Philippines and other countries. The following year, due to frequent attacks by Allied submarines on the waterway in the Strait of Malacca, the Japanese army decided to build a railway between Tanpiuzaya, Myanmar and Kanchanaburi, Thailand, and open up a supply line on the road.

　　Construction of the Thailand-Myanmar Railway started in June 1942, and its construction personnel included Japanese engineers, Allied prisoners of war and civilians from many countries. Because the death rate of construction workers is about 30%, the Thai-Myanmar Railway is also known as the "Death Railway".

　　The classic film "The Bridge on the River Kwai", which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1958, let the world know the story of the "Death Railway". Although the plot of "The Bridge on the River Kwai" is fictionalized by the screenwriter, the bridge bombing operation on the Thai-Burma railway line actually happened. The main force in the battle was not the Allied prisoners of war, but the Seventh Bombardment Group belonging to the Allied 10th Air Force.

　　Due to the disastrous defeat of the Japanese army in the Battle of Imphal, in order to cooperate with the Allied forces' large-scale counterattack to the mainland of Burma, the Seventh Bombing Battalion composed of B-24 "Liberator" heavy bombers carried out bombardment of the bridge on the Thai-Burma Railway at the end of 1944. Intensive bombing.

　　According to the data in 1943, when the Allied forces bombed the bridge, they mainly dropped bombs at medium and high altitudes, while the "near-miss bombs" that exploded in the water near the bridge did little damage to the bridge-to get a direct hit on the bridge body, it takes 81 fighter sorties were dispatched, which was extremely inefficient.

　　How the attacking army effectively destroyed the bridge became an important basis for testing its military level.

"The Bridge on the River Kwai" Stills

　　The Seventh Bombing Brigade was forced to use medium and low-altitude bombing to ensure bombing accuracy. The pilots took off at dusk when the defenders were more relaxed, reached the target before sunset, and dropped bombs at an altitude of about 300 feet. The Bandra Bridge in Thing Et Province, Thailand, and the Birin Railway Bridge in Myanmar were both destroyed by this tactic.

　　Dropping bombs at low altitude means higher risk. While bombing a railway bridge over the Nan River in Thailand, a bomber dropping bombs at 300 feet was shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire, killing all crew members.

　　The most difficult thing for the Seventh Bombing Group is the prototype of the bridge in the movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai": Bridge 277. The bombing squadrons tried to rain bombs on it at various altitudes on multiple missions, but each time the smoke cleared, Bridge 277 remained standing. The final solution to the bridge was the newly developed VB-1 guided bomb by the Allies.

　　The VB-1 is equipped with a stabilized gyroscope. After being dropped, the bombardier can adjust the impact point in a small range through radio guidance.

　　Nearly 500 VB-1 guided bombs were used on the Thai-Myanmar battlefield, and a remarkable record of blowing up 27 bridges was achieved.

VB-1 guided bomb and its controller

　　On February 13, 1945, 10 B-24s from the Ninth Squadron and the 493rd Squadron dropped a single 1,000-pound VB-1 on the No. 277 Bridge in turn. After a loud noise, the wreckage of the strongest bridge on the "Death Railway" finally slowly appeared in the smoke. By the end of World War II, there were nearly 500 VB-1 guided bombs on the Thai-Myanmar battlefield, and achieved an impressive record of blowing up 27 bridges.

The ill-fated Nijmegen Bridge

　　On June 6, 1944, the Allied forces rushed to the beaches of Normandy, opened up the European battlefield on the Western Front, and launched a comprehensive counterattack against the German army. Encouraged by the victory, the top Allied forces agreed to the radical military plan "Operation Market Garden" proposed by Marshal Montgomery.

　　The content of the operation is: use the 30th Army of the British Army to cooperate with the 35,000 airborne troops of the Allied Forces to occupy several important bridges on the Waal River (a tributary of the Rhine River) and the Rhine River in the Netherlands, and establish forward positions for the convenience of the Allies. The main force of the army invaded the German mainland from the Netherlands and occupied the heavy industrial area.

　　One of the key strategic objectives of this largest airborne operation in human history is the two bridges in the eastern Dutch city of Nijmegen. As early as 1879, the Nijmegen Railway Bridge across the Waal River became an important commercial channel in the Netherlands. In 1936, the Nijmegen Highway Bridge, the largest single-hole bridge in Europe, was completed and opened to traffic. Unfortunately, the bridge only operated normally for 4 years.

　　In May 1940, German troops invaded the Netherlands. The local engineers, who knew the structure of the bridge best, placed explosives all over the bridge with a heavy heart, and blew up the two bridges with their own hands, blocking the German attack. But after the whole of Holland was occupied by German troops, Dutch engineers were forced to rebuild the bridge. In 1943, the Nijmegen Bridge was reopened to traffic, and German local materials were continuously transported to the front line through the bridge.

　　In "Operation Market Garden", the 82nd Airborne Division was responsible for capturing the Nijmegen Bridge. They used high-altitude parachuting to land in the air, but due to intelligence errors, they were severely attacked by German ground forces during the airborne process. Before arriving in Nijmegen, the 82nd Airborne Division had been severely downsized. After the German defenders discovered the Allied forces, they immediately installed explosives on the bridge, ready to blow up the bridge at any time.

A still from the movie "The Bridge Far Away", which tells the story of "Operation Market Garden"

The bombed houses around the Nijmegen Bridge in the Netherlands (colored pictures later)

　　Due to the lack of heavy equipment, the Allied forces' multiple attacks on the bridge were repelled, so the Allied forces adopted the tactics of using smoke bombs as cover, and the elite troops used assault boats to cross the river to seize the bridge. After losing half of the ships, the remaining soldiers successfully built a small beachhead. Relying on this position, the Allied forces finally won the battle for the bridge and temporarily thwarted the German plan to bomb the bridge.

　　The Allies failed to end the war prematurely due to the eventual failure of Operation Market Garden. A few days later, the Nijmegen Railway Bridge was destroyed by German frogmen detonating explosives on the piers. It was not until March 1945 that the Allies were able to advance to the Rhine again.

Battle of Ludendorff Bridge

　　After suffering disastrous defeats on the east and west fronts, the German army retreated to the homeland to fight stubbornly, and built a line of defense relying on the Rhine River. To this end, the Germans blew up most of the bridges on the Rhine. However, the Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen is still almost undefended.

　　On March 7, 1945, the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, the spearhead of the Allies, approached Remagen. Due to the serious shortage of defenders, Major Scherer, who temporarily took over the defense of the Ludendorff Bridge, learned from the defeated troops crossing the bridge that the Allied troops were chasing after them.

　　Therefore, he ordered his subordinates to collect explosives urgently, and set up detonation pipelines and metal boxes (explosive containers) at the weak points of the bridge structure in advance to prepare for the bridge explosion.

　　While Major Scherer was collecting explosives, Allied commanders found the Ludendorff Bridge intact and accelerated their march. Due to the shortage of materials, by noon that day, Major Scherer had only obtained half of the expected number of civilian explosives, while the reinforcements promised by the superiors and the anti-aircraft regiment expected to transport the HS-293 aerial torpedo launchers were delayed. After spotting Allied Sherman tanks driving on the road, Major Scherer decided to close the bridge and blast it immediately.

　　After the first detonation, a breach in the bridge deck about 30 feet long and 10 feet deep was blown, temporarily cutting off the tank's path. When Major Scherer ordered the explosion to continue, the detonation circuit failed and could not be detonated immediately.

　　Although the German army dispatched death squads to manually detonate, after the explosion and gunpowder smoke, due to the insufficient power of civilian explosives, although the bridge body was damaged to some extent, the main structure remained intact, and the bridge was quickly occupied by Allied forces. The next day, the armored troops drove across the bridge deck and established the first Allied position on the east bank of the Rhine on the urgently repaired Ludendorff Bridge.

　　Due to the late arrival of the pontoon bridge troops, the traffic on the west side of the Ludendorff Bridge was extremely congested, and the German army also launched a counterattack against the bridge. The Allied forces' plan to build a pontoon bridge to relieve traffic pressure was aborted, and they switched from the offensive side of the bridge to the defensive side.

　　After the Supreme Command ordered the destruction of the bridge at all costs, the German army launched a fierce offensive and dispatched JU-87 "Stuka" dive bombers to attack the bridge. Under the cover of Messerschmitt-109s, Messerschmitt-262 and other fighter jets, they bombarded the bridge and pontoon bridge violently, but with little effect. Instead, the aircraft suffered heavy losses under the attack of the Allied anti-aircraft firepower network .

In March 1945, the US military guarded the Ludendorff Bridge in Germany (colored pictures later)

　　After the air strike was blocked, the German army dispatched frogman troops to try to blow up the pontoon bridge, but under the bright daytime searchlights, the frogmen failed to detonate the bomb. Since then, "Carl" mortars, V-1 missiles and V-2 rockets have also joined the ranks of besieging the bridge, but their shooting accuracy is low and they did not pose a threat to the bridge.

　　Ten days after the Ludendorff Bridge was occupied by the Allied forces, the structure of the bridge was affected by the initial blasting by the German army. After nearly 30,000 soldiers from 6 divisions and a large amount of heavy equipment passed through, the structurally deformed bridge was closed on 3 It collapsed on January 17 and completed its historical mission.

　　In the continuous attack for many days, the "Hippocampus" failed to completely destroy the Antonov Bridge.

"Hippocampus" destroys Antonov Bridge

　　With the continuous development of military science and technology, methods of attacking bridges such as low-altitude bombing or frogman detonation have gradually withdrawn from the historical stage. Instead, precision-guided missiles, artillery shells and other weapons are used to carry out customized killing on the target bridge. In this Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Antonov Bridge currently occupied by the Russian army has withstood the test of precision-guided weapons.

　　The Antonov Bridge across the lower reaches of the Dnieper River is an important bridge on the material transportation line of Kherson Oblast. After the Ukrainian army began to counterattack Kherson, restricting the delivery of supplies from the Antonov Bridge was an important tactical issue for the Ukrainian army. The Russian army also deployed an S-300 air defense missile system near the bridge to guard against air strikes by the Ukrainian army.

　　In response to the defense of the Russian army, starting from July 22, the Ukrainian army used the M-142 "Hippocampus" multiple rocket launcher system, which was famous in the counterattack, to attack the bridge. Although the S-300 intercepted the rockets in time, the rockets still hit the bridge and penetrated many bridge decks.

　　Although the "Hippocampus" failed to completely destroy the Antonov Bridge in the continuous attack for many days, the Russian S-300 air defense system, which was designed to intercept missiles and other larger targets, was weak under the attack of rockets show.

　　After the explosion of the Kerch Strait Bridge, the Russian army launched missiles to retaliate against dozens of targets in Ukraine, mainly power facilities, causing certain casualties. Before the harsh winter, both militaries raised the level of infrastructure attacks on the other side's actual contro

l area. This kind of indiscriminate attack will not only weaken the other side's military capabilities, but also greatly affect the living standards of ordinary residents in the actual control area. , not in line with humanitarian principles.

　　"A glass of turbid wine can lead thousands of miles away, but there is nothing to be done." It is hoped that Russia and Ukraine will shelve their disputes as soon as possible, reach a consensus, return to the negotiating table to solve the problem, and end the conflict before winter arrives.