The reconnaissance platoon was the first to test the water. Their heaviest equipment was the RPG. The strong soldier was carrying a cloth bag with three bombs in it. The launcher was also carried on his back. He also had a RPG hanging on his chest.
It supports the German-made MP38. There are three such soldiers in the three squads of the reconnaissance platoon. The other 27 soldiers also have an extra missile in their load.
The soldiers in the reconnaissance battalion are all equipped with this kind of equipment. Strong firepower is one of the fundamentals of victory. It also makes the total weight of a 70-kilogram soldier easily exceed 90 kilograms, and some individuals exceed 100 kilograms.
These soldiers lined up to board the dilapidated pier, and a nylon rope led to the other side.
Yang Mingzhi stood on the dock and watched the soldiers jump off the rafts on the dock one after another. He was a little worried: "The raft looks very big. Can the two rafts bear the weight of three tons?"
Anatoly praised with confidence: "Three tons is absolutely fine! The materials we use to make rafts are all pine trees containing rosin. Look at this raft, with four rafts put together, I am confident that it can transport trucks!"
"Your confidence is great! Let's wait and see!"
Yang Mingzhi stopped talking nonsense. He watched the soldiers board the raft, and all thirty people landed. In this way, no one watching on the shore was worried anymore.
Balzen breathed a sigh of relief: "Commander, everyone is up, it's time for us to cross the river!"
"Yes! Cross the river! Start taking action now!"
Yang Mingzhi gave the order and the river crossing experiment officially began.
It is said to be an experiment, but as of now, as long as the raft can float stably, the experiment is 90% successful!
As for the soldiers boarding the raft, they sat down one after another and grasped the hemp rope connecting the raft to the ferry rope. The two soldiers at the rear took care of the wood pulp prepared on the raft.
Yang Mingzhi, who was holding a telescope, continued to observe. Two rafts in series, carrying thirty people, were slowly moving eastward. Their trajectory was determined, that is, they moved along an arc until they reached the shore.
From the corner of his eye, he also noticed that the cable on the pier was also moving in the same direction. It was tight and shifted to the south. This showed that the current was affecting the progress of the raft.
If there were just a few soldiers paddling, they would not be able to move very fast. As the observation continued, the raft suddenly moved quickly.
"Hey! This raft looks like it has an engine! I can even see the waterline!"
Facing the praise, Anatoly reminded: "Commander, look along the cable, at the Missi Ferry pier on the other side, our soldiers are pulling the rope!"
"Yes! This reminds me of trackers on the Volga!"
"The Volga River? Trackers? The era of serfdom is already a thing of the last century!" Anatoly said casually.
"But it cannot be denied that with human traction on the shore, surface ships can indeed move quickly!" After that, Yang Mingzhi put down the telescope and told the guard Abram next to him: "Watch your watch. When I say they have arrived,
Stop the clock immediately!"
The raft is moving smoothly and at high speed, so the nylon rope is encountering serious friction! Nylon has amazing strength and light weight, but its biggest drawback is that it is not wear-resistant, so this determines that it can only be used as a short-term ferry rope.
Yang Mingzhi clearly saw the raft docking, and the soldiers who were sitting firmly stood up quickly and quickly climbed onto the dock platform opposite. He didn't order the timer to end until he clearly saw the soldiers leaving the raft.
"Abram, report time!"
"Yes! A total of seven minutes and ten seconds!"
This result is really exciting. Yang Mingzhi was a little surprised: "Really? Only seven minutes?!"
Abram directly handed over the pocket watch. Yang Mingzhi clearly saw the minute and hour hands and was completely sure of the time.
Yang Mingzhi regained his energy, looked to the east full of hope, pinched his waist and sighed: "In just seven minutes! A platoon of soldiers crossed the river! The river is more than 200 meters wide."
After saying this, he suddenly remembered a painful question, so he hurriedly asked Anatoly: "Now that the raft has reached the other side, how do we get back?"
"Of course it's our side to bring them back!"
In this way, a rope that Yang Mingzhi had not noticed was pulled by a group of soldiers on his side. The rope emerged from the river water, and it became straighter and straighter. Finally, the series of rafts began to move. Because there was a lack of nearly three tons of load.
, the raft moves faster.
The experimental river crossing operation started near five o'clock, a round-trip ferry, and it ended at ten past five o'clock.
Isn’t the end result exciting?
Faced with this result, Yang Mingzhi was very satisfied. He fully affirmed Abram's actions and couldn't wait to take full action.
He speculated extremely optimistically: "It took a total of fifteen minutes to go back and forth. We transported thirty people at one time! One hour is to transport one hundred and twenty people. If twenty lines have this speed, it will be
Two thousand four hundred people! Theoretically, we can complete the complete crossing of the attacking force before it gets dark!"
"No! Comrade Commander, you are too optimistic!" Anatole explained pragmatically: "Currently, we can activate up to ten lines, and the remaining lines are still being laid out."
"Yes! It only took you a few hours to lay out the ferry lines, but even if there are ten lines, our efficiency is amazing! This is far beyond my imagination! I thought we had to ferry overnight!"
"Commander! Maybe we can still use some traditional methods!"
"Traditional method?" Yang Mingzhi turned around suddenly and looked at Anatole.
"Yes! We don't have to insist on ferrying! Although ferrying is the most efficient and smoothest way, we make a lot of rafts after all. Our rafts are very wide, so the warriors can't paddle very fast.
It can still float to the other side, but it will take more time."
"Alas! What we lack most now is time! If the troops cross the river an hour earlier, we will have more time to conduct reconnaissance tomorrow, and the military pressure we face will be smaller! Crossing the river is the most critical first step!"
Anatole's suggestion was very valuable, and Yang Mingzhi changed his mind again. Originally, taking action at eight o'clock in the evening was the most conservative approach. Since the original estimate of the good attitude turned out to be a positive one, it was not advisable to act decisively.
Therefore, he issued an order that all unlaid ferry lines be suspended, and the remaining rafts and all the canoes brought by the peasants were immediately used to cross the river by traditional methods.
Suddenly, the ten ferry lines immediately became lively! The distance between these ten lines was only thirty meters, and the entire ferry site was only three hundred meters wide.
On the south side of the ferry site, a large number of rafts suddenly gathered there, and Tepunov announced that the paratrooper brigade had "contracted" these rafts.
Originally, ferrying was a safe way to cross the river, but the parachute brigade deliberately requested rowing to cross the river, partly out of efficiency considerations, and partly out of honor.
When the 233rd Paratrooper Brigade landed, they were not equipped with large objects like kayaks, but they were proficient in using them in previous training. The raft is not a kayak, but in some sense it is very similar.
Many people are afraid of accidentally falling into the river, because the equipment is the claws of the water ghost! Only the paratroopers are not afraid of these, and Tepunov must show his fearless spirit in front of the lieutenant general commander!
Whether it is for the overall situation, to show off one's abilities, or for honor, the paratrooper brigade chooses to take ordinary rafts and canoes and cross the river through the ancient paddle drifting method.
After some adjustments and military orders, at 5:30 in the evening, the paratroopers and ferry troops quickly began a comprehensive river crossing operation.
And the calm Dnieper River also hides murderous intentions. The paratroopers will be the first to face a brand new enemy...