In the 70s of the 20th century, Vietnam carried out a series of provocative actions against China, indicating its growing hostility towards China and the support of the Soviet Union. Vietnam even occupied China's border territories and attacked China's border people. The Chinese leadership considered such excesses to be intolerable and decided to teach Vietnam a stern lesson, which was the cause of the war against Vietnam.
Although China had provided considerable support to Vietnam against the invasion of France and the United States during its own difficult times, it was painful that the Vietnamese people betrayed China when they were freed, especially after receiving the support of the Soviet Union, and they became even more brazen in ignoring China's warnings and making various provocations against China. Therefore, China must act to prevent them from continuing to behave more excessively.
The war against Vietnam was divided into two forces, led by Yang Dezhi and Xu Shiyou respectively, which attacked Vietnam mainly from two directions: Yunnan and Guangxi. In total, the PLA had 300,000 men involved in the war, while Vietnam had 100,000 regular troops and numerous militias. In the early days of the war, the PLA assembled from the border areas and attacked Cao Ping and Lang Son in Vietnam from both the directions of Yunnan and Guangxi. The People's Liberation Army on the Western Front quickly captured the Red River and the 387 Heights, and continued its offensive towards Tangtang on the 21st, finally capturing Tangtang on the 25th.
The PLA also interspersed attacks in the Shabasi area, cutting off the enemy's rear routes, and finally capturing places such as Sapa and Pass. After completing the combat mission in the Lang Son area, China** issued an order to withdraw its troops on March 5. On 6 March, the PLA began to retreat and blew up bridges in Vietnam, planting a large number of mines along the way to prevent Vietnamese forces from attacking.
On March 13, 1979, all the troops on the western front of our army withdrew from Vietnam, and the troops on the eastern front also completed the full withdrawal on March 16. In this war, our army paid a heavy price, there were 230,000 warriors were wounded, but nearly 60,000 Vietnamese soldiers were also defeated. China did not want to occupy Vietnam, but to send a strong message to Vietnam through this war. Our strategy is to fight a quick victory, to end the war through swift action.
Therefore, while fighting on the Eastern Front, Xu Shiyou issued an order: do not take prisoners, and do not leave anything for the Vietnamese army. This decision was made due to the secrecy of the Vietnamese** team's actions and unique fighting methods. These ** used cruel means and even killed Chinese prisoners. Therefore, Xu Shiyou gave such an order. However, our army took a relatively mild approach to ordinary Vietnamese prisoners. After the end of the war, China had a prisoner exchange with Vietnam.
However, the attitude of the Vietnamese ** towards the captives was not friendly, and even asked the captives to say something slanderous against China. However, the effect of this strategy is not significant. After all, the war was started by Vietnam making the mistake first. In addition, Vietnam tried to put pressure on China by **, but this strategy was also unsuccessful. On the contrary, Vietnam suffered huge losses in this war, and its economy went back decades.
The victory in this war not only shows China's great strength, but also proves to the world that China will not be despised by any country.