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Aleksin Han Bridge dismantled
by Capt. Jesus Campuzano

First published in SFOR Informer #68, 18 August, 1999

Route Pacman - the Pacman Main Supply Route runs from Sarajevo all the way to the Adriatic Sea through such important centres as Mostar, Jablanica, Konjic and Metkovic. Three quarters of the Pacman route runs alongside the Neretva River. About ten kilometres south of Jablanica between impressive mountains, the route crosses the Neretva on the Aleksin Han Bridge.

Due to its strategic importance, during the war a truck loaded with explosives was blown up on the bridge causing serious damage. In April, 1996 the Implementation Force (IFOR) built a Mabey & Johnson bridge over the civilian bridge. The recent reconstruction of the civilian bridge was done beneath the military bridge and was the cause of movement restrictions across the Aleksin Han.

With the reconstruction work almost finished, the contractor and the Federal Ministry of Transport submitted a request for the removal of the military bridge starting on August 10. The operation was planned by the Engineer Branch of HQ SFOR and carried out by a multinational unit of Bulgarians, French, Greeks, Romanians, Spanish, Ukrainians, and local workers, under the command of Colonel Dumitru Tardea, chief of the Romanian Engineer Battalion (ROENGBAT).

A 48-hour suspension of traffic was planned to allow the bridge to be removed, but the limited space available made a classical de-launching operation impossible. So the solution chosen was to dismantle the bridge starting from both ends at the same time and finishing in the middle. A platoon of the ROENGBAT started from the southern end of the bridge while a French platoon (with a Spanish crane team) of the Multinational Engineer Battalion of MND-SE started from the northern end.

The food service and some technical support such as floodlights for night work, was provided by Command and Support Regiment (RCS) of MND-SE. The Ukrainian Detachment, normally tasked with control traffic on the military bridge, was additionally tasked with the security of the operation, in co-operation with civilian police and French Military Police of MND-SE.

The Hellenic-Bulgarian-Austrian (HELBA) Group, reinforced with eight French trucks from RCS of MND-SE, took care of transportion of all the bridge parts to the Material Management Unit (MMU) at Split.

The engineer platoons working on the bridge were of different composition. the Romanian party was mainly made up of sergeants and NCOs with experience on this kind of bridge gained in Lukavac and other places. They built some ancillary devices designed to reduce risk and physical effort, and provided these devices to the French platoon too. The French platoon was a Combat Engineer Platoon. "Our speciality is supporting combat units, but we have the knowledge needed to do this, and it is good training for us," said Lt Benoit Bryche, commander of the French Platoon.

In spite of differences, work security was the first rule for everyone. "This is not a race, the safety of men comes first. Labour protection is the paramount issue. Any kind of situation that could produce accidents must be identified and discussed with the men," said Col. Tardea."The limits set by the time-window have to be met. Good planning, organisation, and discipline can do this. Every man in a team knows exactly what to do," added Tardea.

After a lot of hard work under a sultry sun, the Aleksin Han military bridge was completely removed 17 hours before the planned deadline, and the bridge was handed over to the civilian contractor for preparation of the surface for civilian traffic.

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