In 1962, when the Sino-Indian self-defense counterattack began, the commander-in-chief Zhang Guohua asked uneasily: "I heard that the Indian army still has some combat effectiveness, can we win the battle?"”
Li Qiang is a border guard serving in the Karakoram Pass, and his post is located on the border between China and India, only a few hundred meters away from the Indian army's outpost. His daily task is to patrol, observe, report, and defend the territory of the motherland. His life was quiet and monotonous, until one day in October 1962, his fate changed.
On that day, Li Qiang was on duty at the sentry post as usual, and suddenly heard the sound of artillery from the Indian army opposite, and he immediately picked up the binoculars and found that the Indian army was shooting in the direction of our border guards. He was stunned and did not understand why the Indian army had provoked a war for no reason. He quickly reported the situation to his superiors and waited for instructions. Soon he received an order to counterattack, a passion welled up in his heart, he knew that it was time to defend the Motherland, he did not hesitate to pick up his gun and prepare to fight.
Li Qiang did not know that behind the war was a long-standing dispute between China and India over the border issue. The Sino-Indian border is divided into three sections, eastern, central and western, with a total length of 2,000 kilometers, and although it has not been formally demarcated, there is a traditional Xi line formed by the history of the two sides. In 1951, Indian troops crossed the traditional Xi line and advanced northward, encroaching on 90,000 square kilometers of our territory south of the "McMahon Line". Since then, the Indian army has invaded and occupied Kanzemani north of the "McMahon Line" in the eastern sector, and Juwa, Qujak, Shibuchi Pass, Borin Sando, Shanzha and Labudi and Balis in the central and western sectors. China and India have held several talks on this issue, but no agreement has been reached. In 1959, India supported the rebellion of serf owners and openly interfered in China's internal affairs.
In 1962, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced that he would use military force against our country and ordered that our ** team should be "cleared" from the territory of our country occupied by the Indian army. In order to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, China has decided to carry out a self-defense counterattack against the Indian army. This was the cause of the 1962 Sino-Indian border self-defense counterattack.
The Karakoram Pass, where Li Qiang is located, is an important location in the western section of the Sino-Indian border and one of the main directions of aggression of the Indian army. The Indian army has deployed a brigade of troops here and has occupied 37 strongholds in our country, threatening our security. Under the command of the Xinjiang Military Region, China's border defense units quickly organized counterattack forces, defeated more with less and stronger with the weak, overcame the harsh conditions such as high altitude, lack of oxygen, and severe cold, and launched a fierce battle. Li Qiang's unit was ordered to attack Hongshantou, an important stronghold of the Indian army.
Red Hill is located on a high ground in the Galwan Valley, where the Indian army has built strong fortifications and deployed a large amount of firepower to block the advance of our ** team. Li Qiang and his comrades-in-arms, regardless of the enemy's artillery fire, charged into battle, climbed the cliff, and after many bloody battles, finally captured the Red Mountain, annihilated the defending enemy, and captured a large number of ** ammunition. Li Qiang performed heroically in the battle, rescued his wounded comrades many times, and also killed two Indian soldiers, and was commended by his superiors as a first-class combat hero.
In the western sector, from 20 to 28 October, our border guards cleared all the positions of the Indian army in our territory, regained the Aksai Chin area, broke the Indian army's defense system, and forced the Indian army to retreat to the Ladakh region. In the eastern sector, our border guards also won a brilliant victory, capturing an important stronghold of the Indian army in the Kejielang area, annihilating two brigades of the Indian army, and recovering part of our territory south of the "McMahon Line" and north of the Tawang River.
In the wake of the victory, on 24 October, we issued a statement proposing three proposals: the cessation of the conflict, the resumption of negotiations and the peaceful settlement of the border issue, and ordered the counter-attacking forces on the Eastern Front to cease their pursuit. Unconvinced, India rejected the peace proposal, continued its war mobilization, increased its troops, and launched a full-front counterattack against our border guards in mid-November.
From 16 to 21 November, our border guards once again fought back in self-defense, clearing the Indian army's aggressive stronghold in the Pangong Lok area of the western sector and advancing to Jingudi, approaching the traditional Xi lineIn the direction of Bomdila in the western mountain pass in the eastern sector, they captured Bundila, the main stronghold of the Indian army, and immediately launched a search and suppression and pursuit operation, completely clearing the Indian army's stronghold in the Bomdila area of the western mountain pass. The Sino-Indian border self-defense counterattack lasted for one month, and China's border troops won complete victories in both the eastern and western sections, smashing India's aggressive conspiracy and defending the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.