China and the Soviet Union fought against each other
In the 1960s and 1970s, China's relations with the Soviet Union were at its lowest. Because the Soviet Union had always wanted to interfere in China's internal affairs with the stick of the international communist movement, it was resisted by China.
Against the backdrop of Sino-Soviet hostilities, the Soviet Union even once clamored for the use of atomic bombs to carry out a "surgical" attack on China. Faced with the threat of nuclear war in the Soviet Union, China must begin to pay attention to the construction of nuclear defense projects. So, in the mountains of the southwest, 60,000 soldiers disappeared overnight without a trace. When they reappeared 18 years later, those who knew their story had to say: China is lucky because of them!
The reason why China will use 60,000 troops to build nuclear defense projects is because China's leaders are deeply aware of the terrible power of nuclear weapons. As early as 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to urge Japan to surrender, and these two nuclear explosions destroyed more than 65 percent of the city's buildings and killed 200,000 Japanese in nuclear bombings.
Since then, the power of nuclear weapons has been valued by the world. The Soviet Union was not content to be behind the United States, and it became the second country to develop nuclear weapons. When the Cold War was finalized, both the United States and the Soviet Union became superpowers with tens of thousands of nuclear weapons. In those days, neither China nor the United States had a very good relationship with the Soviet Union.
At the end of the 1960s, the contradictions between China and the Soviet Union became more and more acute, and although China developed the atomic bomb at this time, it was still far from actual combat. At one point, the Soviet Union considered launching a precision nuclear strike against China, directly destroying China's nuclear counterattack capability. However, when the Americans learned of this information, they secretly published it in the Washington Post, revealing the Soviet Union's earth-shattering plan in the form of tabloids.
China's plan
China was also wary of the Soviet Union, especially when it saw the news revealed by the United States, China was very convinced that this was not a prank by the United States, because some of the above target points were impossible for the Americans to grasp, and they were all projects left over from the Soviet Union. In view of the grim situation facing a nuclear war, Chairman Mao issued a clear order to the whole country: Dig deep holes and accumulate grain!
At the call of Chairman Mao, digging projects were carried out throughout the country. According to the principle of nuclear weapons, its biggest sources of lethality are shock waves and high temperatures and high pressures generated by explosions, so underground bunkers and mountain bunkers can provide good protection for the masses. Among them, Chongqing, as a famous "mountain city" in China, is naturally one of the most important targets of mountain projects.
A mysterious force was stationed in the mountains of Chongqing's Fuling district. Their mission was project "816," which was planned to hollow out a mountain and turn it into a doomsday nuclear plant that would function properly when nuclear war came, providing production capacity for post-nuclear China.
On August 16, 1967, the "816 Project" officially began. At that time, the engineering explosives in the army were seriously insufficient, and if all the explosives were used, although the efficiency was very fast, it would not take long to delay the progress due to the exhaustion of explosives. In addition, the military satellites deployed in Soviet space will also closely monitor China's every move, so the fighters can only use the most primitive shovels and hoes, exert the spirit of "foolishness to move the mountain", and secretly dig out a secret nuclear factory in the depths of the mountain.
Although during the construction process, the soldiers encountered problems such as complex terrain and logistical support, in that era, the red ideas possessed by the soldiers provided them with strong spiritual strength.
816 sees the light of day again
For the 60,000 fighters who built underground nuclear plants, however, the material difficulties could still be overcome with revolutionary optimism, but the spiritual difficulties were indeed difficult to overcome. After years and days of construction, the fighters have not been able to go home for many years, the family only knows that they participated in a mysterious project in a country, as for what to do, due to the restrictions of the "Confidentiality Regulations", the soldiers can not tell their families.
However, the patriotic enthusiasm of the soldiers allowed them to survive these tests and finally completed the construction of the 816 Project. After 18 years of unremitting efforts by 60,000 soldiers, a huge nuclear defense project has been established in the deep mountains of Chongqing's Fuling district.
The project has a total of 9 floors, each with a different design function. Its overall height is about 79.6 meters, with a total length of 24 kilometers, like an unfathomable underground labyrinth, after the completion of the 816 project, it has become the largest artificial cave building built by humans. Such a large-scale fortification, the nuclear defense capability is naturally not questionable, according to the design plan, even if the equivalent of 50,000 tons of TNT level nuclear bomb explosion, the interior of the 816 project will not be seriously affected, can continue to ensure the production of the arsenal.
However, when the 816 project was completed, the international situation also changed. In the 1980s, as the United States eased relations with China, the Soviet Union was less and less likely to dare to launch a nuclear war. Project 816 no longer seems to need to prepare for nuclear war.
In 2010, this secret project representing a special period of history was made public, and people learned that in the mountains of the southwest, there was such a group of officers and soldiers who dedicated themselves to the country and made such a huge project. Although the 816 Project did not come in handy, it can be said that China is lucky to have people like them with such willing dedication.