The reconnaissance platoon was the first to test the waters, and their heaviest equipment was none other than RPGs. The sturdy soldier carried a cloth bag with three bullets in it, a launcher on his back, and a German-made MP38 on his chest. There were three of these fighters in the three squads of the reconnaissance platoon, and the other 27 fighters each had an extra missile in their loads.

The soldiers of the reconnaissance battalion are all equipped with this kind of equipment, and the powerful firepower is one of the fundamentals of victory, which also makes the total weight of a 70-kilogram soldier easily exceed 90 kilograms, and some exceed 100 kilograms.

The fighters lined up on the dilapidated pier, where a nylon rope ran to the opposite shore.

Yang Mingzhi stood on the pier and watched the soldiers jump off the raft on the pier in turn. He was a little worried: "The raft looks huge, can two rafts bear the weight of three tons?" ”

Anatoly confidently exclaimed: "Three tons is perfectly fine!" The materials we make for our rafts are pine trees that contain pine resin, and you see this raft, four rafts put together, and I am confident that I can make it a truck! ”

"Your self-confidence is good! Now wait and see! ”

Yang Mingzhi stopped talking nonsense, he watched the soldiers board the raft, and all thirty people were stunned to land. In this way, no one on the shore is worried.

Balzen breathed a sigh of relief: "Commander, everyone has gone up, it's time for us to cross the river!" ”

"That's right! Crossing! Get started now! ”

Yang Mingzhi gave an order, and the experiment of crossing the river officially began.

It is said that it is an experiment, but as long as the raft can float steadily, the experiment is equivalent to a ninety percent success!

For the warriors who boarded the raft, they sat down for the time being and grabbed the hemp rope that connected the raft to the ferry rope. The two fighters at the tail are handling the wood pulp pre-arranged on the raft.

Yang Mingzhi, holding a telescope, continued to observe, and the two rafts in series, carrying 30 people, were slowly moving eastward. The trajectory of their movements was fixed, that is, they followed an arc until they landed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he also noticed the direction in which the cable on the pier was also moving, it was taut, and the whole thing was deflected to the south. This indicates that the current is affecting the progress of the raft.

If it's just a few soldiers paddling, they can't move fast. As the observation continued, the raft suddenly moved quickly.

"Hey, hey! It's like the raft has an engine installed! I even saw the waterline! ”

In the face of praise, Anatoly reminded: "Commander, you look along the cable, on the other side of the Missy ferry pier, our warriors, are pulling the rope!" ”

"Yes! It reminds me of the slender man on the Volga! ”

"Volga? Trackers? The era of serfdom is already a matter 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 binoculars and instructed the guards beside him, Abram: "Pay attention to your watch, and when I say they have landed, stop the timer immediately!" ”

The raft was moving smoothly at high speed, so the nylon rope was suffering from severe friction! Nylon is amazingly strong, lightweight, and has a huge drawback 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 quickly stood up and quickly climbed onto the dock platform opposite. He did not order the timer to end until it was clear that the fighters had left the raft.

"Abram, report the time!"

"Yes! It's seven minutes and ten seconds! ”

This result was really exciting, and Yang Mingzhi was a little surprised: "Really? Only seven minutes?! ”

Abram directly handed over the pocket watch, and Yang Mingzhi clearly saw the minute and hour hands, and was completely sure of this time.

Yang Mingzhi came to his senses, looked at the east full of hope, pinched his waist and sighed: "It's only seven minutes!" A platoon of soldiers crossed the river! The more than 200-meter-wide river is nothing more than that. ”

Immediately after that, he suddenly remembered a painful question, and hurriedly asked Anatoly: "Now that the raft is on the other side, how can we withdraw?" ”

"Of course it's our side that pulls it back!"

In this way, a rope that Yang Mingzhi had not paid attention to was dragged by a group of soldiers on his side. The rope thus emerges from the river, and it becomes more and more straight, until eventually the tandem raft begins to move. With a load of nearly three tons missing, the raft moved even faster.

The experimental river crossing began near five o'clock, and a round trip ended at 10:10 a.m.

Isn't the end result exciting?

In the face of this result, Yang Mingzhi was very satisfied, he fully affirmed Abram's actions, and he couldn't wait to take full action.

He speculated with great optimism: "Back and forth, a total of fifteen minutes, we transported thirty people at one time!" One hour is to transport 120 people, and if 20 lines have this speed, it is 2,400 people! Theoretically, before it gets dark, we can complete the complete crossing of the attacking troops! ”

"Nope! Comrade Commander, you are too optimistic! Anatoly explained pragmatically: "At the moment, we can start up to ten lines, and the rest are still being laid. ”

"Yes! You've only been setting up a ferry line for a few hours, but even with ten lines, our efficiency is amazing! This is much more than I imagined! I thought we'd have to take the ferry overnight! ”

"Commander! Maybe we can still use some traditional methods! ”

"The traditional way?" Yang Mingzhi turned around sharply and looked at this Anatoly.

"Yes! We don't have to be stubborn about ferrying! Ferries are one of the most efficient and smoothest methods, but we make a lot of rafts. Our rafts are very wide, so the speed of the warrior's paddle is really not fast, and it can still float to the opposite shore, but it consumes more time. ”

"Alas! What we're short of now is time! The troops crossed the river an hour earlier, and tomorrow we will have more time to conduct reconnaissance, and we will face less military pressure! Crossing the river is the most critical first step! ”

Anatoly's suggestion was very valuable, and Yang Mingzhi changed his mind once again. Originally, it was the most conservative way to act at 8 o'clock in the evening, and since the facts had originally predicted a good attitude, it was better to act decisively.

Therefore, he issued an order to suspend all unlaid ferry routes, and to cross the river at once by the traditional methods of all the surplus rafts, and all the canoes brought by the people.

For a while, the ten ferry routes around it immediately became lively! The distance between these ten lines is only 30 meters, and the entire ferry site is only 300 meters.

On the south side of the ferry, where a large number of rafts suddenly gathered, Tepnov announced that the paratrooper brigade had "contracted" them.

Originally, ferrying was a safe way to cross the river, and the paratrooper brigade deliberately asked to row across the river, on the one hand, for the sake of efficiency, and on the other hand, for the sake of honor.

When the 233 Brigade of the Paratroopers landed, they were not equipped with such a large object as kayaks, but they were proficient in their use in previous training. Rafts are not kayaks, but in some senses they are very similar.

Many people are afraid of accidentally falling into the river, because the equipment is the minions of the water ghosts! Only the paratroopers are not afraid of this, and Tepnov must show his fearlessness in front of the lieutenant general!

Whether it's taking into account the overall situation, or being reckless, or for honor. The paratrooper brigade chose to cross the river on general rafts and canoes by the ancient paddle drift.

After some adjustments and military orders, at half past five in the evening, the paratroopers and ferrymen quickly began a full-scale operation to cross the river.

And the calm Dnieper, too, hides a killing opportunity, and the paratroopers will be the first to face a completely new enemy......