On February 17, 1979, "People's **" published a commentator's article on the front page, with the headline: "Is it tolerable, which is intolerable". This article is announcing to the world that China will launch a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam in a limited time, space, and scale.
Declaring war on a country with such fanfare in the newspapers and telling you the scale of the battle is really our first in China and unique in the world.
The last time a commentator's article with the same title was published was in September 1962, when India invaded China's borders, and ** and *** announced a self-defense counterattack against India when they could no longer bear it.
In the 1962 self-defense counterattack against India, the PLA defeated the Indian army with lightning speed, which directly led to the fall of the Nehru regime.
And in 1979, "it is tolerable, which is unbearable" shows Deng Gong's wise decision, neither big nor small, a lesson, sabotage and destruction, maintain stability in the frontier, and after achieving the expected results, decisively withdraw the troops and calmly.
On the same day that the commentator's article was published, the PLA began to officially cross the border and enter the territory of Vietnam to fight.
On February 27, 1979, Zhang Wannian led the 127th Division to attack the important town of Luping in northern Vietnam.
After arriving at the front line, Zhang Wannian did not attack blindly, but tried his best to find out the enemy's flaws. Zhang Wannian himself has been to Vietnam and participated in aiding Vietnam to resist the United States, so he is still very familiar with the terrain of Vietnam, and he is also familiar with Vietnam's style of play.
After investigation, Zhang Wannian found that the enemy's rear was relatively weak and there was a chance to intersperse.
In order to achieve the goal of winning by surprise, Zhang Wannian commanded the troops to take advantage of the darkness of the night to violently penetrate the enemy's rear and adopt the same style of play as in the 1962 self-defense counterattack against India.
The enemy concentrated all his forces on the front line, the rear was very empty, and for this unit that fell from the sky, the rear garrison was defenseless, and the whole rear was in disarray.
The 127th Division fought from the back to the front, and it took only three hours to capture Luping, the throat of northern Vietnam.
Zhang Wannian personally interrogated the captured prisoners, and after interrogation, it was learned that the Vietnamese army was preparing to guard here for three months to prevent the PLA from moving south. But unexpectedly, the 127th Division took Luping in only 3 hours.
The morale of the 127th Division was unprecedentedly high, and the majority of commanders and fighters suggested that Zhang Wannian take Lang Son in one go. Zhang Wannian also felt that the Vietnamese army was indeed vulnerable, so he decided to take Lang Son in one go.
Zhang Wannian, a native of Huangxian County, Shandong, joined the Eighth Route Army in August 1944, and was subordinate to the Beihai Independent Regiment of the Jiaodong Military Region when he joined the army, and the commander of the Jiaodong Military Region at that time was Xu Shiyou.
In August 1944, there was still one year left before the surrender of Japanese imperialism, and at this time, the Eighth Route Army entered a full-scale stage, and the Japanese were still fighting and struggling to the death. Zhang Wannian participated in dozens of anti-Japanese battles, and each time he charged forward, not afraid of sacrifice, and extremely brave, which also accumulated experience for him to later enter the Northeast Battlefield to fight.
In the autumn of 1945, Zhang Wannian followed Marshal *** into the Northeast Operation, and successively participated in the Benxi Campaign, the Anshan Campaign, the Haicheng Campaign, the Xinkailing Campaign, the Sibao Linjiang, Tashan Resistance Battle, and the Liaoshen Campaign.
After the liberation of Northeast China, he entered the customs and participated in the Pingjin Campaign and the Zhangjiakou Campaign. After the liberation of Pingjin, he followed Lin Shuai to the south and participated in the Hengyang Campaign, the Baoqing Campaign, the Guangxi Campaign, and the Eastern Guangdong Bandit Suppression Campaign.
In 1952, he participated in the Battle of Nam Peng Island, in 1953 he participated in the counterattack on Dongshan Island, and later in 1979, he participated in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam.
When Zhang Wannian joined the army, he fought under Xu Shiyou, and when he fought a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, he still belonged to Xu Shiyou's command, which cannot but be said to be fate, and Xu Shiyou also attached great importance to Zhang Wannian.
Although Zhang Wannian joined the army relatively late, he experienced the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, participated in two of the three major battles, and fought naval battles with the Kuomintang reactionaries on the islands off the southeast coast.
Seeing that the enemy was vulnerable, Zhang Wannian decided to take Langshan in one go, and he reported the battle plan to the chief Xu Shiyou. After handing in the combat report, he began to plan the specific details of the operation with everyone.
Soon, Xu Shiyou called** and asked Zhang Wannian to pick it up, Zhang Wannian was very happy, he didn't expect the battle plan to be passed so quickly.
Who would have thought that Xu Shiyou scolded him and told him that the battle plan was rejected. Zhang Wannian was full of confidence, but he was poured cold water, turning from excitement to frustration and confusion.
In order to make Zhang Wannian completely dead, Xu Shiyou told him four points:
Clause. 1. Isn't it a bit strange that the enemy was clamoring to hold on to an important town for three months, but we took it in three hours?
Clause. 2. The enemy's captives told you that they were originally going to hold on for three months, but they were captured so easily, is it possible that this is their pride and trick to lure the enemy?
Clause. 3. What should the vanguard do if it hits the enemy's counter-encirclement plan when it enters Lang Son?Now the large forces in the rear have not kept up, and the artillery is not ready;
Clause. Fourth, the war is not fought more than 30 years ago, the equipment is poor, relying on interspersed operations, don't we have artillery?
Hearing the analysis of the old chief Xu Shiyou, Zhang Wannian came back to his senses. Because of the successive victories in the offensive, he became proud and forgot that luring the enemy into the deep was a strategy that our army used well, and now the enemy is very likely to use this trick to deal with our PLA.
After Zhang Wannian reacted, he dispelled the idea of sending the vanguard to attack Lang Son. He followed Xu Shiyou's instructions, actively prepared for battle, and waited for the arrival of large troops and artillery.
On March 1, our army was assembled and began to attack Lang Son, in order to prevent the PLA from capturing Lang Son, the Vietnamese army used chemical **. Zhang Wannian also reacted, and the enemy was really prepared.
Seeing that the enemy did not abide by humanity, Xu Shiyou commanded hundreds of large-caliber artillery pieces to bombard Lang Son and raze Lang Son to the ground. On March 4, the 308th Division of the Vietnamese Army withdrew from Lang Son in disarray, and the People's Liberation Army successfully captured Lang Son.
After the capture of Lang Son, Hanoi was in no danger to defend and was completely exposed to the artillery fire of the People's Liberation Army, and Vietnam could only be forced to prepare to move the capital, and Hanoi fell into chaos.
Seeing that the purpose of the battle had been achieved, Deng Gong ordered the whole army to withdraw to the border. The people of Hanoi are like riding a roller coaster, and their mood is mixed.
China has fulfilled its promise to the world to fight back in self-defense against Vietnam in a limited amount of time, space and scale. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is a truly benevolent and righteous army, which does not invade an inch of other countries' land, does not bully the weak, adheres to morality, and fights back in self-defense.