Empire Conquest-Chapter 909 - 124: Special Forces
In addition, defensive positions were set up on the north bank.
As for the bridge on Samawa’s side, it was destroyed by the Alliance Army in late July.
This was a dual-use railway and highway bridge, and since there was only this railway between Basra and Baghdad, to prevent the enemy from reinforcing the southern region, the Alliance quickly deployed attack aircraft and used laser-guided bombs to destroy the number 3 pier of this bridge.
Since then, the bridge has been in a paralyzed state.
Otherwise, the Fifth Marine Division would have crossed the river after occupying Samawa and seized and controlled the bridgehead north of the bridge.
Further upstream is the bridge at Sinafiye.
Although it was not until late September, when the operation to attack Baghdad was decided, that Ding Zhennan selected the Sinafiye Bridge, as early as July, more than a month earlier, Ding Zhennan had the idea of seizing the bridge, which is why the Alliance did not destroy it.
Sinafiye is indeed an ideal river crossing point.
Sinafiye is just a small town, with fewer than 50,000 permanent residents, an urban area of only a few square kilometers, and far from populous big cities.
Of course, there are problems too.
From Sinafiye, there is only one mountain road with very poor surface conditions, passable only by tracked vehicles, leading north to Gamas.
To clarify the situation of this mountain road, Ding Zhennan even sought help from the Military Intelligence Bureau.
After repeated reconnaissance, it was finally confirmed that with necessary maintenance, this mountain road could allow wheeled vehicles under 25 tons to pass.
Of course, engineer units are required for some sections.
The key is that this mountain road is only about 30 kilometers long, so even if engineering units are stationed, not too much force is needed.
If handled properly, logistic support issues can be resolved.
Upstream of Sinafiye is Najex.
This is a medium-sized city with hundreds of thousands of residents, the provincial capital of Najex Province, and the southern gateway to the Greater Baghdad area.
Obviously, for the Alliance with limited troop strength, it is necessary to avoid densely populated cities.
Not to mention anything else, just occupying and controlling Najex requires thousands of troops.
Actually, the further north it gets closer to Baghdad, the more difficult the river crossing becomes.
Hence, the Sinafiye Bridge is a good choice.
As a result, during the more than two months of air strikes, the Alliance refrained from severely damaging this bridge, simply bombarding a section of the bridge deck to prevent Iraqi troops from using the bridge and maintaining significant pressure to keep it unusable.
Repairing the bombed bridge deck is not too difficult.
Because the span of the bridge deck, i.e., the gap between the adjacent piers, is less than 100 meters, theoretically, it would only require two 100-meter-span large mechanical bridges to restore traffic on the bridge, reaching design load and maximum traffic speed.
In late September, the Army sent over three sets of large mechanical bridges.
Of course, the biggest problem is actually capturing the bridge.
Due to the influence of many factors, the Iraqi military has not paid much attention to this bridge, thinking it improbable that the Alliance would cross the river from here.
There is also a very crucial reason.
The Sinafiye Bridge, over 40 years old, built during the colonial period, has very low design standards and can only allow vehicles of up to 40 tons.
This greatly reduces the military value of the bridge.
Don’t forget, among the main combat equipment of the Alliance, the ZT-99B weighs close to 60 tons fully armored, self-propelled howitzers and long-range rocket artillery exceed 45 tons, and even infantry fighting vehicles reach 36 tons when equipped with explosive reactive armor.
In essence, if tanks cannot pass, the bridge is of little value.
Therefore, the Iraqi army did not blow up this bridge and even planned strategic maneuvers, such as luring the Alliance to attack it.
Of course, the Iraqi military is well-prepared.
For instance, they have installed hundreds of kilograms of explosives and remote detonators on all the piers, ensuring that the bridge can be destroyed when necessary.
Blowing up just one pier would render the bridge completely useless.
The logic is simple; there is yet no technology for building mechanical bridges spanning more than 100 meters!
Most mechanical bridge spans are around 50 meters, and only the Empire’s Army has developed mechanical bridges with spans reaching 100 meters, sparing no expense.
These special bridges weigh 100 tons just for the bridge deck, requiring transport by three tracked bridge vehicles, with several hours of preparation needed to connect the split bridge deck segments and then use specialized bridge equipment to set the bridge deck.
It’s indeed cumbersome, but once set, it provides a load capacity of up to 70 tons, allowing all the Empire’s Army’s main combat equipment to cross.
However, beyond 100 meters span, nothing can be done.
For other bridge decks, strengthening can increase their capacity.
Even if that is not possible, pontoon bridges can allow heavy platforms over 40 tons like tanks to cross, considering that there are not many heavy tanks.
If transportation vehicles of 25 tons can cross, that will suffice.
This is why they brought Lei Zhenting here.
According to intelligence from the Alliance Headquarters, each pier of the bridge is rigged with hundreds of kilograms of explosives, detonated by separate remote controllers.
To avoid interference, a wired remote control is used.
Additionally, the Iraqi troops guarding the bridge routinely inspect the explosives and remote detonators on the piers.
The Alliance has been monitoring the bridge to understand the situation.
Throughout September, a reconnaissance aircraft flew by daily, sometimes looping several times, with the photos analyzed by professional intelligence personnel from the Military Intelligence Bureau.
It was through this month of surveillance that they learned of the Iraqi military’s routine.
Put simply, there is a gap period about an hour before dawn.
During this hour, the night guards have gone to the mess hall, leaving only a few soldiers at the north and south ends of the bridge to handle shift changeovers with incoming soldiers. Crucially, these remaining soldiers are also quite exhausted and would not inspect the explosives on the piers.
The relief soldiers do not arrive on the bridge until after dawn.
Sometimes, there will be a delay.
Moreover, after the shift change, the troops guarding the bridge still won’t immediately inspect the explosives on the piers.
If lucky, Lei Zhenting and his team would have about three hours to remove the detonators and seize and control the bridge.
Afterwards, the Army’s Air Assault Forces would arrive.
The key lies here.
According to captured prisoners, there is a specialized engineering platoon within the unit guarding the Sinafiye Bridge, whose task is to destroy the bridge if necessary.
For caution, engineer soldiers installed several remote detonators on each pier.
Simply put, as long as one remote detonator remains, the bridge can be blown up!
The issue is, some remote detonators are surely radio-controlled and well hidden.
Thus, not only must remote detonators be removed, but all explosives must also be extracted.
Evidently, this is no easy task.
The three piers in the river center hold at least 1500 kilograms of explosives, some of which are packed through blasting methods within the pier structures.
Packing the explosives into blasting holes is not an issue.
However, retrieving the explosives from the blasting holes is problematic.
Furthermore, the extracted explosives must be transported away from the bridge area.
Thus, Lei Zhenting deployed three squads along with three inflatable motorboats. To avoid detection, the landing point was chosen 20 kilometers upstream, deploying three special warfare helicopters to transport 39 special soldiers along with the three inflatable motorboats.
The advantage of drifting downstream is that when approaching the bridge, the engines can be shut off, allowing the river current to silently carry them close to the bridge.
Of course, they could land earlier.
Accurately speaking, they would approach the bridge underwater, and after securing the bridge, the demoman responsible for mine removal would maneuver the inflatable motorboats closer.
Moreover, the Iraqi troops defending the bridge focused their defenses downstream.
As to whether they can complete the mission, Lei Zhenting didn’t dwell much; it wouldn’t help anyway.
In over 10 years, he had never failed.
As for this time, Lei Zhenting is equally confident.
