"If the Vietnamese army can come, we can also pass." Preface. In the 70s of the 20th century, the United States began to withdraw from Vietnam, but left behind tens of billions of dollars worth of ** equipment. Vietnam, with its high ambitions, has turned its attention to our territory, and in the face of this provocation, we naturally cannot stand idly by. Thus, a Sino-Vietnamese border war that lasted for ten years began.
The war of self-defense and counterattack against Vietnam became the most modern war in our country to date. 1. "Simberlin Radar". This war was a test not only for our army, but also for the artillery units of China and Vietnam. In the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, both sides fired mortars at each other in the dense mountains and forests to achieve the effect of straddle fire.
This exposed the technical and tactical level of the artillery on both sides, which can be described as a severe test. In this test, the loser will only have bitter defeat and death. As the polemic between the two mountains unfolded, the test of artillery became even more brutal. Prior to this, the artillery strength of China and Vietnam seemed to be comparable.
However, the highly trained artillery skills did not come in handy in the jungles of Vietnam, and both sides could basically only fire in a general direction. However, the Vietnamese soon found out that our army's grasp of its positions seemed to have become more accurate. It even often appears that the shells of the Vietnamese artillery have not yet hit the ground, and the artillery of our army is ready for battle.
Under the blows of our artillery, the Vietnamese artillery ** was heavy. The Vietnamese did not understand how our army acquired such a powerful counterattack. And the reason why our army is able to have such a powerful combat capability is precisely because we secretly introduced the British Simberlin artillery radar. Can this artillery radar influence the situation of the war?Or is it just a legend?
Next, let us go through the years of artillery fire and explore the magic weapon of our army in those years. In February 1972, our troops assembled in Yunnan and engaged in fierce battles with Vietnamese troops stationed on the border. Our army was invincible, approaching Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, and then quickly withdrawing its troops.
Because the purpose of our war is to punish Vietnam for not listening to advice, not to expand the scale of the war. Thus, the war lasted only a short month. The squadron not only completely expelled the Vietnamese army in just one month, but also took direct control of almost all areas of northern Vietnam.
After occupying the northern part of Vietnam, our army destroyed the aid infrastructure to Vietnam and carried out a series of precision strikes, followed by a rapid withdrawal from Vietnam and declared the official end of the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam.
Although the Vietnamese side was struggling to advance under the attack of our troops, they realized that they would lose face by giving in at this moment, so they began to continue to harass our southwestern border. The two sides waged a ten-year armed conflict in the area of Laoshan and Zheyinshan, which is known as the Battle of the Two Mountains.
Large-scale artillery battles were fought on both sides, while infantry confrontations were mostly confined to interspersed between small detachments. The large-scale shelling began in 1984 and ended in 1990, a period known as the Defensive Operations against Vietnam.
During this time, the Vietnamese tried to turn the tide of the war with a fierce counterattack, but we were unwilling to expand the war, so we limited the war to the border areas and contained the offensive of the Vietnamese army. Although the combat effectiveness of the Vietnamese army was not as bad as people imagined, they honed their tenacious will to fight and superb fighting skills in the confrontation with the American and French forces.
They often launched surprise attacks in small detachments and withdrew when they were finished, which prompted us to seek a type of equipment that would counterbalance the Vietnamese army, and the Simberlin artillery radar caught our attention. The Simberlin artillery radar is a mortar positioning radar put into service by the Royal Artillery in 1975, and its advantages and disadvantages are very prominent.
The radar uses a two-point calculation and is very effective against the parabolic trajectory of the mortar. Therefore, the Simberlin artillery radar needs to be deployed in depth very close to the front line, which is dangerous but very effective. This radar weighs only 390 kilograms, and the parts can be easily disassembled and assembled at the front line, which is a completely new equipment for us.
However, the second part is about the Vietnamese ** attack radar. In 1984, China began to prepare for the implementation of the first stage of the two-mountain round war, and three radars were mobilized to the Laoshan area for use by front-line troops.
At the same time, the Vietnamese army almost abandoned massive artillery bombardment, realizing that their long-range artillery was far behind our artillery in terms of accuracy and range. Therefore, they switched to lighter mortars for sneak attacks, and it was when the Simberlin radar showed its formidability.
In fact, the Simberlin radar is not as magical as the legend suggests, it can only detect enemy positions, but after determining the location, it needs to be combined with military maps for specific calculations and positioning. Moreover, the terrain of the front line is changeable, and after determining the specific position of the enemy, it is also necessary to analyze the terrain where the enemy is located, and then select the appropriate artillery for counterattack.
However, the importance of the Simberlin radar on the front line is self-evident. With its assistance, our army is able to quickly determine the position of the enemy's artillery positions and carry out precise strikes, thereby greatly reducing the number of our troops. During the Battle of the Two Mountains, the Chinese lost a total of 766 casualties, while the Vietnamese lost 6,633 killed.
It can be said that the artillery radar played an indelible contribution in it. It is worth mentioning that after learning that China had imported mortar radars from Britain, Vietnam sent small detachments to attack our army's radar positions.
On July 4, 1984, the Vietnamese army dispatched a special operations platoon to sabotage our troops, and this sneak attack caused serious losses to our side, killing 10 people and wounding 49 people.
The Vietnamese managed to touch the vicinity of our radar positions and threw a grenade at the radar, but fortunately the grenade was only next to the radar** and only damaged part of the antenna and power supply, while the core of the radar was not damaged. The radar was urgently transported to the rear for repairs, and just a few days later it was put back into service.
This incident directly alarmed the ** Military Commission, and Deng Gong was furious: "They can come, but we can't go?."”。The leaders of our military districts immediately launched a discussion and unanimously agreed that Vietnam's operation was well prepared, carried out quickly, and retreated decisively, which can be called a model of special operations.
However, this attack also made us realize that in order to ensure the security of the main battlefield and the flanks of Lao Son, it is necessary to combat the arrogance of Vietnam** and let them feel the pressure under the danger.
Therefore, our army decided to dispatch reconnaissance detachments of field army divisions and regiments to the Yunnan front line to form a reconnaissance brigade to participate in the battle. Thankfully, Vietnam did not get the desired results in this attack.
This incident also caused our army to pay attention to the special operation, and it is no exaggeration to say that the Simberlin radar is one of the most practical equipment that our country acquired during cooperation with the West. To sum up, although this equipment is not the most advanced, it played an important role in the battle of the two mountains. However, no matter how advanced it is, it is difficult to play a role without the right operators.
And in this war, our artillery fully proved that they are well-deserved soldiers of the people, and they are also iron-blooded soldiers who are proficient in various tactics.