Hamrong ( Dragon's mouth ; vietn. Hàm Rồng , English. Dragon's Jaw ) - railway bridge over the Songma River near the city of Thanh Hoa in Vietnam . Received international fame during the Vietnam War .
| Dragon's Mouth Bridge | |
|---|---|
| vietnam Hàm Rồng | |
 | |
| Application area | railway, pedestrian |
| Crosses | river Songma |
| Location |  Thanh Hoa , Vietnam |
| Design | |
| Type of construction | truss |
| Material | steel |
| Exploitation | |
| Opening | 1904 |
| Closing for renovation | 1957-1961 |
| Closing | 1945, 1972 |
Content
History
The bridge was built by the French colonial administration in 1904 , when Indochina was a colony of France . In 1945, Vietminh guerrillas blew him up. After the division of Vietnam into two temporary zones by the Geneva Agreements of 1954 , the bridge ended up on the territory of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and was restored in 1957—1961. Ho Chi Minh attended the opening. The bridge had a length of approximately 165 m, a width of 17 m, was located above the river at a height of approximately 15 m. The bridge was of strategic importance for the transport system of the DRV, being on the main road of the country from north to south.
With the beginning of the American bombing of the DRV, the bridge was subjected to constant air raids. The first strikes on the Thanh Hoa Bridge were struck on April 3-4, 1965 and ended in failure. In the future, US aviation periodically made massive raids on the bridge, but could not inflict sufficient damage on it to disable it.
After the resumption of the large-scale bombing of the DRV in the spring of 1972, the United States Air Force used the laser-guided bombs that had recently been adopted against the bridge:
- On April 27, 1972, 12 F-4 “Phantom” aircraft participated in the air attack, eight of which used laser-guided bombs;
- On May 13, 1972, a repeated air attack was conducted in which 14 F-4 “Phantom” aircraft participated
As a result, the bridge was destroyed and disabled.
On October 6, 1972, another air attack was carried out, in which four A-7 attack aircraft of the US Navy participated; after the raid, the bridge received additional damage, was declared destroyed and excluded from the list of targets of American aviation.
Destruction of the Dragon's Mouth Bridge is considered one of the first successful applications of high-precision laser- guided aerial bombs. According to official data from the DRV, a significant number of US aircraft were shot down during the defense of the bridge.
According to official data from the United States, a total of 873 air sorties were committed against the bridge, in which 11 airplanes were lost. However, it is known that about 100 American pilots were shot down in the area of the bridge [1] , mostly performing missions against other objects and subjected to shelling of air defense weapons that did not participate in the defense of the bridge.
After the war, the bridge was restored and put into operation.
Bridge in literature and art
The bridge was called the “Dragon's Mouth” and became known in several countries of the world (including the USSR ) as a symbol of the resistance of North Vietnam to American aggression.
The bridge and its protection are mentioned in a number of literary and artistic works:
- poem “Cái cầu” (by Vietnamese poet Phạm Tiến Duật)
Notes
- ↑ The number of downed planes was less than a hundred, since the basis of American aircraft in Vietnam was an F-4 fighter bomber with a crew of two.