Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 307 Water Gate Bridge

Therefore, Wang Gensheng planned to take two precautions, and he was very confident about attacking Shuimen Bridge tonight.

Compared to the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the movie, where only the Third Battalion and Wu Qianli's half-crippled Seventh Company carried out the bridge-bombing mission, this was a different story.

Wang Gensheng brought a force of over 800 men and another 100 or so, totaling nearly a thousand, to blow up the bridge. His combat strength was naturally incomparable to that of the original storyline or history.

In the original historical account, on the night of December 6, 1950, a nine-man demolition team from the 79th Lion Division of the 27th Army, which was assisting the Chaozhou forces, stealthily advanced towards the Shuimen Bridge under the cover of darkness. However, they were met with a heavily defended American position.

The US military had set up numerous searchlights and equipped them with active infrared night vision devices, with aircraft constantly circling and dropping flares. Despite such tight defenses, the demolition team bravely pressed on.

Braving heavy enemy fire, the team successfully approached the Watergate Bridge and planted explosives beneath it. The explosion blew the bridge in two, but only a portion of the bridge deck collapsed. The US military quickly used engineering equipment to carry out temporary repairs, restoring traffic.

Faced with this situation, on the night of December 7, 1950, the relief army organized a second demolition operation. This operation was larger in scale, with the demolition team carrying more explosives. Under the cover of darkness, they successfully approached the Shuimen Bridge again.

This time, the US military had learned from the first demolition and strengthened its defenses. Despite the intense gun battle, the demolition team bravely placed the explosives on the bridge piers.

Following the explosion, the Watergate Bridge suffered even more severe damage, with large sections of the bridge deck collapsing. The U.S. military urgently mobilized engineering units, using prefabricated bridge sections and engineering vehicles to race against time to carry out repairs. With the support of the U.S. military's strong engineering capabilities, the Watergate Bridge was restored to limited traffic capacity.

The two failed attempts to blow up the bridge did not discourage the aid troops. On the third night, December 8, 1950, the aid troops launched their third and final attempt to blow up the bridge.

The relief force mobilized more troops for this operation, attempting to completely destroy the Shuimen Bridge. During their advance towards the bridge, the demolition team encountered fierce resistance from US military fire. Despite this, some demolition experts managed to break through the blockade and successfully place the explosives in key locations.

The explosion severely damaged the Watergate Bridge, significantly reducing its traffic capacity. However, thanks to advanced engineering equipment and air superiority, the US military quickly erected a temporary pontoon bridge and used fighter jets and naval gunfire to cover the retreating troops.

Ultimately, this allowed the main force of the US Marine Corps' 1st Lion and 7th Infantry Lion to successfully withdraw.

Despite the remarkable courage and self-sacrifice displayed by the soldiers aiding Chaozhou during these three bridge-bombing operations—many demolition experts perished alongside the explosives in order to complete their missions—they still could not stop the retreat of the American troops.

As for why the three bombings of the Shuimen Bridge by the Chaozhou army ultimately failed to prevent the successful retreat of the US troops, this contains important insights into the laws of industrialized warfare.

First and foremost, the disparity in equipment was the decisive factor. At the time, the troops aiding Chaozhou lacked heavy weapons, particularly heavy explosives and precision-guided weapons capable of completely destroying large bridges in one fell swoop. Demolition specialists could only carry limited explosives, making it difficult to inflict fatal damage on the sturdy bridge structures. Meanwhile, the US military possessed advanced engineering equipment, enabling them to quickly repair damaged bridges.

It's important to understand that after the Chaozhou reinforcements' third attempt to breach the Shuimen Bridge, on December 9th, the US military mobilized a Marine Corps engineering company, which completed temporary repairs to the severely damaged bridge in just six hours. This efficient engineering capability was unmatched by the Chaozhou reinforcements at the time.

Air superiority had a decisive impact on the battlefield situation. The US military possessed absolute air superiority; their fighter jets could not only provide fire support for ground troops but also conduct precision strikes, destroying the assembly points and strongpoints of the reinforcements. It is estimated that during the Battle of Shuimen Bridge, the US military flew over four hundred sorties and dropped thousands of tons of bombs.

Between December 7th and 9th, 1950, the U.S. military dropped over a thousand napalm bombs in the Shuimen Bridge area alone, effectively preventing the large-scale approach of the Chaozhou reinforcements. The Chaozhou reinforcements, completely lacking anti-aircraft weapons, could only rely on concealment and nighttime operations to evade aerial threats. This is also mentioned in the film; while Wu Qianli led his troops to hide during the day, the U.S. military directly burned down all the hills near Shuimen Bridge with napalm.

Furthermore, the fire support from the US Navy created a powerful fire network for the US forces. The US deployed naval vessels to conduct long-range strikes against the positions of the reinforcements in Chaozhou. This type of fire support, with its wide coverage, high precision, and powerful destructive force, was something the reinforcements in Chaozhou could not counter.

For example, on December 10, 1950, the USS Missouri's 406mm guns carried out a precision strike on the Chaozhou army's positions from 40 kilometers away, effectively covering the last batch of retreating troops as they passed through the Shuimen Bridge area.

Although the Shuimen Bridge is more than 60 kilometers away from Xingnan Port.

However, this is only the distance to Xingnan Port. The straight-line distance between Shuimen Bridge and the nearest coast is less than 40 kilometers, which is within the effective range of the US 406mm naval gun.

It should be noted that the US Navy's 406mm naval guns are far superior to ordinary land-based artillery.

Its single shell can weigh up to 800 kilograms, while the shell of a 155mm howitzer weighs only 40 kilograms.

The weight of this 406mm naval gun is twenty times that of the others. Of course, the most crucial factor is the amount of propellant inside its shells. The propellant charge of a 155mm howitzer is only ten kilograms.

However, the propellant charge of a 406mm naval gun can reach 220kg.

This demonstrates the immense power of a single naval gun explosion.

Wang Gensheng naturally understood that even if he used his numerical and combat advantages to directly eliminate Shuimenqiao and take it over.

However, if the US military were to unleash a single powerful 406mm naval gun, the entire Watergate Bridge would be wiped off the map.

That is precisely why figuring out how to build the water gate bridge is a matter that deserves serious consideration.

Of course, Wang Gensheng also understood that even if the Watergate Bridge were blown up, it wouldn't make much of a difference. After all, the Watergate Bridge was only so wide, and the US military could quickly rebuild a steel bridge with a steel frame structure to allow tanks and other transport vehicles to pass.

Therefore, after learning about the industrial strength of the US military, Wang Gensheng actually had no intention of blowing up the Watergate Bridge.

But now, they have no choice but to use mines, because Wang Gensheng's method of using landmines to block mines doesn't seem to be very effective in the face of Smith's method of testing mines with tanks.

The minefield that Wang Gensheng had set up appeared to be quite vulnerable, which is why Wang Gensheng had no choice but to consider blowing up the Shuimen Bridge.

(End of this chapter)