On February 17, 1979, our army had no choice but to launch a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, and it took 28 days to achieve victory. Although the final victory was in hand, the Vietnamese side also caused a certain amount of damage to our side. At that time, a veteran general pointed out that Vietnam was completely different from the adversaries we had faced in the past. This difference is evident in many ways, starting with the terrain, which is mountainous and difficult to move on. In addition, Vietnam's climate is suitable, and the dense jungle provides convenience for guerrilla warfare, and the Vietnamese have never stopped since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression by virtue of their decades of combat experience, and their individual combat ability is very strong, and a series of tactics have been formulated through the summing up of war experience, which has brought a lot of trouble to our army.
1. Dispersed and flexible shooting.
In large-scale group operations, forces are often relatively concentrated in order to form an effective force suppression. However, the Vietnamese army was good at exploiting their strengths and avoiding their weaknesses, and they knew that they had no chance of winning against the main forces of our army, so they chose to adopt guerrilla tactics. The Vietnamese army's guerrilla warfare experience has brought together a lot of experience of our army, coupled with their training in actual combat against the US army, so they can be flexibly used in the face of our army. They are good at dispersing personnel and setting up multiple firing points, making it difficult for our army to determine the position of the main force of the Vietnamese army in a short period of time.
Second, do not keep the high point, only the main point.
It is generally believed that the most advantageous position is a high place, and "condescending" is conducive to clearly seeing the entire battle situation and grasping the initiative. However, due to the abundant forests in Vietnam, it is difficult to see the mountainside clearly even from the top of the mountain. Therefore, the Vietnamese army preferred to set up positions on the mountainside or other dangerous places and lay in ambush. Our troops were not aware of this at first, and habitually believed that the enemy troops were mainly on the top of the hill and had little defense on the road, and as a result, they were attacked by hidden enemy troops.
3. Learn Xi the US military to set up false positions.
The United States has been at constant war since independence, and many people believe that the U.S. military is only strong because of its advanced equipment. However, the tactical system of the US military is also not negligible, and they have always been ahead in reconnaissance means and position construction. Vietnam has learned a lot of experience in many years of war with the US military, and at the beginning it built many false positions, which created confusion for our army and dispersed our troops. After the division of our army, the pressure on the real position was reduced, and the number of troops in our army increased accordingly.
Of course, these problems were basically troubled in the early days of the war, after all, the PLA had not been baptized by a major war for many years. However, our army was good at summing up, and gradually figured out the tactical system of the Vietnamese army in actual combat, formulated corresponding countermeasures, and gradually stabilized the situation. In the follow-up operations, the main forces of our army continued to advance, and at the same time sent troops to carry out the task of clearing and suppressing, and the guerrilla tactics of the Vietnamese army could no longer play a role, and even the attacks on our army's logistics units were greatly reduced. Vietnam had gained a certain advantage in the war with the help of its unique environment, and even the highly modern United States could not easily deal with Vietnam. Looking back, although China paid a huge price for resisting US aggression and aiding Vietnam, it was a last resort to go to war in the end. It is hoped that Vietnam can learn a lesson from this experience, and friendly exchanges between the two countries should be more promoted.