In the early morning of May 14, the third day after the Wenchuan earthquake, the heavy rain for two consecutive days finally stopped. At this time, a certain unit of the airborne force received an order from the General Staff Headquarters: Immediately dispatch paratroopers into Maoxian County, the epicenter of the earthquake, to perform communication, disaster survey, and situation reporting tasks to provide basis for superior decision-making!
Soon, A transport plane flew over Maoxian County, the hardest-hit area. In addition to the five crew members, there were 100 officers and soldiers on board at that time. According to the plan, the 15 members of the first detachment would make the first parachute drop, and the 85 members of the second detachment would make the second parachute drop. This is at an altitude of 4,999 meters. If you include Maoxian’s average altitude of over 4,000 meters, this place is undoubtedly 10,000 meters above sea level. The echoes displayed on the radar scanner used to measure wind and rain on the transport aircraft became more and more intense, and the heavy rain made a "pop" sound on the glass cabin of the transport aircraft. Looking down through the plane window, you can see towering mountains, steep cliffs, towering trees, and ruins with exposed steel bars on the ground in the epicenter of the earthquake. None of the paratroopers on board knew what would be waiting for them when they jumped.
Around 12 noon on the 14th, the transport plane approached the disaster area of ??Maoxian County, the epicenter of the earthquake, and began to circle over it, looking for the most suitable parachute opportunity. About 5 minutes later, the clouds below the transport plane suddenly opened a parachute window. Through this window, you could see the Maoxian Chengguan Bridge. So the parachute commander immediately seized the fleeting opportunity and decisively issued the parachute order. Li Zhenbo The colonel was the first to jump out of the cabin, followed closely by the six paratroopers. In an instant, the snow-white umbrella flowers bloomed and floated towards the lonely city of Maoxian County.
However, what was unexpected was that the clouds over Maoxian County were changing rapidly. The originally opened parachute window was closed instantly, and the transport plane had to continue to hover in the sky. After about seven or eight minutes, the parachute parachuted into the clouds. The window appeared again, and the eight paratroopers did not hesitate at all. They seized the favorable opportunity and quickly jumped out of the cabin. But after that, it started to rain over Maoxian County, and the rain became heavier and heavier. The parachute window was closed again. The 85 paratroopers who were originally preparing for the second batch of parachute had to sit in the transport plane and continue to hover in the sky...< /p>
At 12:25, the first batch of 15 parachute warriors after the earthquake finally set foot on the land of Maoxian County, the epicenter of the earthquake.
The Major General’s Painful Choice
On May 20, Wang Weishan, the major general commander of a certain airborne force who commanded the airborne landing, was interviewed by reporters and told reporters about the circumstances leading up to the airborne landing. Before and after.
"This is a painful and difficult decision, unprecedented in history - on the one hand, we must insist on executing the orders issued by the headquarters, on the other hand, we must ensure the safety of officers and soldiers. It is too determined to make. It’s not easy!” Wang Weishan said with emotion.
Major General Wang Weishan, who has experienced more than 400 parachute jumps, is well aware of the arduous task: Maoxian has a particularly complex terrain, all steep slopes and cliffs, with no landing sites; most of the mountain peaks are around 4,000 meters above sea level. In training, the airborne troops only had to parachute at an altitude of several hundred meters, but today they have to parachute at an altitude of 4,999 meters. Parachuting above an altitude of 4,000 meters requires oxygen masks; paratroopers have to parachute from above the clouds and have no idea what is going on below the clouds. As far as I know, it can only be controlled by the paratroopers themselves.
But Wang Weishan didn't have much time to hesitate. He quickly decided to send a 15-man team to parachute into Maoxian County first. These 15 officers and soldiers are all the backbone of the airborne troops, have more than 100 parachuting experiences, and are familiar with the mountainous terrain, especially the mountainous terrain in the Wenchuan earthquake-stricken area.
Li Zhenbo, director of the Airborne Forces Research Institute, with the rank of colonel, joined the army in 1978. As the commander-in-chief of airborne airdrops, the new generation of paratroopers' main battle parachute was also developed under his leadership; when the research was successful, Li Zhenbo was the first person to make a test jump. After learning that an earthquake occurred in Sichuan and needed support, Li Zhenbo took the initiative to fight and was eventually appointed as the captain of the airborne team.
Ren Tao, a soldier from Deyang, Sichuan. His grandmother was killed in the earthquake, and his mother-in-law was also seriously injured. He quietly hid his grief in his heart and devoted himself to disaster relief. Because he was familiar with the local terrain, he was appointed as the squad leader of the first batch of parachute unit guidance teams, taking on the role of "sharp knife".
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Let us remember the names of these 15 warriors: Li Zhenbo, Wang Junwei, Li Zhibao, Yin Yuan, Guo Longshuai, Li Yajun, Zhao Haidong, Zhao Sifang, Lei Zhisheng, Liu Wenhui, Wang Lei, Yu Yabin, Ren Tao, Li Yushan, Xiang Haibo.
Life-and-death information
After receiving the order, the 15 paratroopers immediately prepared the important equipment required for the airborne landing: gliders, GPS satellite positioning system, and maritime satellite phone , necessary dry food and drinking water and necessary medicines.
Before departure, in accordance with the tradition of the airborne troops, Wang Weishan personally tied a bright red ribbon on the left arm of 15 officers and soldiers to pray for safety.
However, Li Zhenbo, who was the first to jump out of the cabin, encountered an unexpected danger as soon as he left the plane: after jumping out of the cabin, his main parachute failed to open, and his body plummeted in the air, and the wind blew in his ears. The sound is whirring, and life is at stake. But he quickly calmed down, and when he descended to about 700 meters above the ground, he calmly opened his backup parachute and finally landed safely on the ground.
Three minutes after the successful landing, Communications Sergeant Lei Zhisheng immediately established communication with the command post. He reported the landing situation as soon as possible and provided an important piece of information concerning the life and death of his comrades. : The terrain on the ground is complex, which is not conducive for a large group of people to carry out high-altitude parachuting; the weather is getting worse again, and the parachutes used by the remaining 85 people are round umbrellas, which are not as flexible and wind-resistant as the parafoils they use, so it is recommended to cancel the remaining Airborne operations of personnel.
At this time, the plane had circled over Maoxian County for the third time. In the cabin, the remaining paratroopers stood up in two rows... At the critical moment, the plane door slowly closed, and the intelligence provided by the leading team allowed the commander to make a correct decision.
Twenty minutes later, all 14 paratroopers had gathered next to Li Zhenbo. They quickly contacted the county magistrate of Mao County and reported the disaster situation in Mao County to the headquarters. It was not until 15:00 that day that Colonel Li Zhenbo took the time to report to his wife Sheng Yaling that she was safe. "The 15 of us arrived safely." He gasped and said only this sentence.
Relying on parachutes to keep out the cold
In the next 7 days and 7 nights, no matter whether they encountered aftershocks or storms, whether they were short of food or water, they did not affect the determination of the 15 warriors to complete the mission. .
Reporting disasters is the top priority of this parachute team. At 3 pm on the day of landing, they used the communication equipment they carried to report back the disaster situation in Maoxian County for the first time. In order to further understand the precise disaster situation at the junction of Maoxian County and Wenchuan County, they carried 20 kilograms of equipment each, dodging flying rocks dropped by aftershocks and stepping on the mud and rocks of landslides, and advanced toward the epicenter of Wenchuan County. They traveled 30 kilometers every day on a mudslide mountain road with an altitude of more than 3,000 meters. All of them had blood blisters on their feet, and five team members had ulcers on their crotches.
In order to carry more equipment when setting off, each of the 15 people only wore a set of camouflage uniforms and brought less than three days' worth of dry food and drinking water. Therefore, starting from the 17th, they began to run out of food, water, and medicine. Everyone's mouths had blisters because of the heat. As night fell, they had no choice but to get into their parachutes to resist the night cold on the Western Sichuan Plateau, and five team members caught a cold.
Their hard work was not in vain. After investigation, they selected 6 airdrops along the route in Maoxian and Wenchuan, and commanded and guided more than 20 airdrops and airdrops, especially the airdrop and airdrop sites surveyed and selected in Moutuo Village, Nan Town, Maoxian County, which relieved the surrounding villages and towns in one fell swoop. The plight of 100,000 people affected by the disaster and the sick and wounded.
On May 20, Colonel Li Zhenbo said with his chapped lips: “During the seven days and nights in the disaster area of ??Maoxian County, my comrades and I braved many aftershocks and climbed over four peaks over 3,000 meters high. , walked 220 kilometers, scouted disasters in 55 villages in 7 townships, and reported more than 30 batches of important disasters to superiors, providing scientific information basis for the headquarters to command troops and deploy earthquake relief. "
< p> On the way to Wenchuan, the parachute team also discovered more than 150 people trapped in the valley, including 47 teachers and students from the Chengdu Academy of Fine Arts who were sketching locally and 106 Chinese and foreign tourists. They quickly reported the situation and requested support.A call with his wife
For 7 days and 7 nights, these 15 warriors never told their superior commanders about the difficulties and dangers they encountered, but Colonel Li Zhenbo and his wife made several rare briefings Ping An’s phone call revealed their hardships:
Around 10 pm on May 15, Sheng Yaling finally received a call from her husband Li Zhenbo again. "We have walked from Maoxian County to Wenchuan." "Have you eaten?" "From the time we set off until now, we have only eaten packets of instant noodles." "How is the situation over there?" "We are surrounded by flash floods on one side and cliffs on the other." "Be safe."
The calls are always so brief. Sheng Yaling stayed up all night again.
The next day, she tried to call back the satellite phone, but it didn't work. At about 7 p.m., her husband called her on his mobile phone, and she was extremely pleasantly surprised. "We are going to Dujiangyan soon." "What are you doing now?" "Command the collection and reconnaissance of information, report to superiors, and rescue the seriously injured."
At 20:00 on May 17, although I knew that my husband must be there at this moment. She was very busy, but Sheng Yaling couldn't help but dial his number. "I encountered mudslides and landslides on the way to Dujiangyan today. Now I have to retreat to Wenchuan and rush to Chengdu tomorrow." "We are afraid of an epidemic now, so you must pay attention to precautions." "Don't worry, I will bring 14 people back to the army safely! "How are you doing now?" "No matter where we go, the people are very kind to us. I haven't washed my face or changed my clothes in the past few days. I feel really sleepy at night, so I use an umbrella as a sleeping bag to sleep for a while." "
Rumors and truth
On the day the 15 paratroopers successfully landed at the epicenter, rumors such as "4 paratroopers died and 10 others could not be contacted" appeared on the Internet . During the interview, when our reporter talked to the officers and soldiers of the airborne troops about the rumors about them from the outside world, they all said in unison: "We have no time to care about what the outside world says. We are doing our duty."
In fact, the outside world does not know much about the nature of the airborne troops and the actual situation of parachute drops. According to Xiao Liang, a 36-year-old battalion commander of the airborne force, the airborne force has the characteristics of strong maneuverability and fast assault speed. There are two most common methods for rescuing disaster areas. One is "airborne", which uses helicopters to transport troops directly to the destination, and the other is "parachute", which uses transport planes to transport airborne troops to the destination and paratroopers to parachute to land. drop".
"Because the terrain of the disaster area is very complex, with many trees and broken walls, the ground changes after the earthquake are large, which can easily cause casualties. In this case, 15 officers and soldiers were sent to parachute to investigate the disaster. It is very correct for the large troops to implement accurate airborne disaster relief measures.”
After returning safely, the medical staff of the airborne troops conducted physical examinations for the 15 officers and soldiers. Except for a major who sprained his waist during the parachute descent, everyone else was in good health. The injured major said movedly: "In these seven days and nights, whenever I took a break, even for a moment, my comrades came to rub my back and pat my back. It was the comradeship and comradeship that gave me strength." and courage."
After seven days and seven nights of continuous fighting, these 15 warriors seemed a little tired, but the people in the disaster area were still waiting for them. They had no time to rest and quickly entered the next battle. .