In Cambodia, create the miracle of "building a bridge in a day"
Li Jinyong, commander of the first overseas peacekeeping detachment of the Chinese army
On October 20, 1992, the opening ceremony of the newly erected Bridge 4 on Cambodia's Route 6 was held. Courtesy of the author
From April 1992 to February 1993, I had the honor of serving as the leader of the first batch of chinese troops to go to Cambodia to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations. This expedition set a precedent for our military to send troops to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations in an organized manner, and also set a precedent for our army's joint long-distance maneuvering of land, sea and air and long-term engineering support tasks in tropical low latitudes.
According to the plan, the transnational delivery of the brigade's personnel and equipment and materials was carried out in two batches: 30 officers and men of the detachment led by us and carrying some equipment and materials flew directly from Beijing to Phnom Penh Bocheng East Airport in Cambodia by air force transport plane; Gao Jun, political commissar of the brigade, led the remaining 370 officers and men to maneuver from Beijing to Zhanjiang by train, and then transferred to the navy and local ships to the Port of Sihanoukville in Cambodia.
Before leaving, I made a special trip to visit the families of cadres who had already embarked on their journey by train. Gao Jun's lover, Zhu Qiuxia, has just undergone surgery for acute cholecystitis and is recuperating at home. Her daughter went to school in Chongqing and didn't know her father had gone to Cambodia or that her mother was sick. Before leaving, Zhu Qiuxia repeatedly told me to tell Gao Jun that she was recovering well and could already go to the ground.
Jiang Shuzhao, deputy brigade, went to Zhanjiang to open a temporary command post in advance to assist Gao Jun in organizing railway unloading and sea transportation. Before leaving, he received an urgent telegram from his home, on which were written six words: "Mother is seriously ill and returns quickly!" When the messenger delivered the telegram to him, he was saddened, but he quickly tucked it into his jacket pocket. During the mission, he did not mention the telegram to anyone.
After arriving in Cambodia, all kinds of work followed, and everyone hardly had time to miss their loved ones. Once, my driver and I went to the town of Skhun, about 100 kilometers north of Phnom Penh, to select a site for the troop camp. Exhausted from several days of continuous travel, the driver and I fell asleep at the same time, and the car plunged into the farmland on the side of the road, fortunately we were not in serious trouble.
Repairing bridges on Route 4 is an important task for the troops to be deployed. Route 4 is an important link between The Port of Sihanoukville in Cambodia and Phnom Penh, with a total length of about 220 kilometers. As a result of war damage and disrepair, the 6 steel bridges on the road were almost completely damaged, with serious repercussions for the proper functioning of the United Nations Provisional Authority in Cambodia and the lives of the local population. After receiving the task, Gao Jun led a 50-person detachment to the construction site in late June 1992, and after six construction days of hard work, completed the construction of all bridges. The high efficiency of the completion of this mission has won praise from all sides, and the miracle that the Chinese peacekeeping engineers can "build a bridge in a day" has also spread since then.
However, the task that impressed me the most was to repair Bridge 4 on Route 6. Highway 6 is an important link between Phnom Penh and Kampong Thom Province in central Cambodia, and Bridge 4 is located 20 km north of Skhun Town. On October 14, 1992, I received a report from the brigade's forward finger in Skun: in the early morning of the same day, fierce fighting took place near Bridge 4, and the bridge was blown up by militants. I immediately ordered all the troops stationed in the Scum area to withdraw to the camp and wait for the order. Subsequently, I rushed to the scene of Bridge No. 4 with Jiang Shuzhao, deputy brigade, and Yang Zailian, chief of the operations section.
In the afternoon of the same day, the operational staff officer of the Engineering Department of the UNOCR, Babaya, also rushed to Skun and conveyed to me the order of the commander of the UNOCR, General Sanderson: Repair the bridge as soon as possible, although there are difficulties. Taking into account the local population's complaints about the recent highspread presence of militants and the possible presence of mines near the bridge area, I have asked UNTAC to send infantry and demining detachments to support. I promise that as long as the supplies and equipment are in place, the bridge will be erected within a day.
On the morning of the 17th, a thrilling scene occurred. When the officers and men cleaned up the construction site, they found a large amount of explosives buried in the abutment. Huang Jingzhong, deputy chief of the operations section, and Wang Ruijun, commander of the second squadron, took the initiative to ask for help, and after more than an hour of operation, a total of 250 kilograms of tnt explosives, 26 detonators, and 8 meters of detonation cords were cleared out, and the safety hazards were successfully eliminated. At noon on the 19th, after the arrival of materials and equipment, the troops immediately began to assemble the bridge, and the bridge was erected on the morning of the 20th. Looking at this brand-new steel bridge, Colonel Bedley, chief of the Engineering Department of the United Cambodia Agency, praised it one after another: What a miracle! The quality of Chinese sappers is first-class!
During the more than 300 days and nights of the peacekeeping mission in Cambodia, all the officers and men of the brigade overcame many difficulties and successfully completed various tasks, repairing more than 320 kilometers of roads and building 23 bridges, ensuring the smooth flow of the Sihanoukville-Phnom Penh-Kampong Tung provincial section of the road, and winning wide praise from the Cambodian people, UNTax organizations, and the international community. Un-Secretary-General Special Representative Yasushi Akashi once said: Without Chinese sappers, UNOCR would not have been able to successfully complete its mission.