On October 5, the No. 35 Dam of the Control and Discharge Project of the Yellow River in Lankao County, Henan Province, was on the brink of bursting. If it collapsed, an area of nearly 1,000 square kilometers on the south side of the Yellow River would be inundated by flood.

　　A group army of the Jinan Military Area Command was ordered to immediately set out to reinforce the dam in the teeth of rainstorm. A few servicemen did not even have a chance to say goodbye to their wives who had just given birth to child, and a few others had　received messages that their family members had just passed away. In the face of surging flood, officers and men swore to protect the dam with their lives.

　　As soon as they arrived at the dam, they immediately went to reinforce the most dangerous sector of the dam. Barrows upon barrows of stones were carried to the dam. Some of soldiers got injured, but they still refused to leave the frontline. On that day they threw 3,000 cubic meters of stones into the river, and finally, a protective stone layer was stacked up on the foundation of the dam, as a result the pressure caused by the surging water on the dame was effectively mitigated.

　　When night came, soldiers patrolled the dam carefully to make sure that not a single hidden danger was missed. Some areas were overgrown with grass, solders pushed aside dense grass and checked the dame carefully with the help of flashlights, and strived to nip every potential danger in the bud.

　　The floodwater showed no signs of abating despite the heroic efforts of soldiers.　On October 6, a four-kilometer-long dam started to cave in. Dangerous situation is order. These soldiers immediately rushed to the dam again without taking any breathing spell. Some of them got sprained ankle, but refused to leave the frontline. Large amounts of encased stones were rolled into the river to reinforce the dam. Gao Guofeng, deputy chief of staff of the group army, and Wu Kongbao, a staff officer, shouted their voice hoarse to command the floodfighting team. After 30 minutes of hard and tense work, the dam finally stopped sinking.

　　On October 13, the floods of the Yellow River began to retreat and the dam survived two flood peaks. The two principal officers commanding the floodfighting then happily declared that the No. 35 Dam was successfully defended.

　　By Lu Zhiping, Su Jicheng and Zuo Qichao

　　(October 29, PLA Daily)