The Soviet Union, for its own part, closely monitored the state of transport infrastructure in German-occupied Crimea. Since June 1943, when Soviet intelligence learned that Nazi Germany was constructing a Kerch Strait bridge, information about it was allocated a special section in further intelligence reports. Soviet forces restored the ropeway and used it extensively to further the Kerch–Eltigen Operation. The Soviets also were interested in using a bridge: in January 1944, even before the liberation of Kerch by the Red Army (which would take place on 11 April, during the Crimean offensive), the State Defense Committee ordered the construction of a railway bridge across the strait, demanding that such bridge shall be ready by 15 July 1944. By the time of the liberation of Kerch the engineering design was underway and general construction had begun on the eastern adjacent roads and on the causeway on the Caucasus shore. 470 anti-air platforms, 294 anti-air guns, 132 searchlights, 96 fighters and two radars were involved in defence of the construction site from air attacks and their detection.