In 1990, six bodies were found at the Nansha sentry post.
A piece of news in November 1990 made China's Nansha Command deeply uneasy. Previously, the command had made a radio call to the defenders of Gaven Reef, but there was no response.
The South China Sea Fleet responded quickly and sent ships to investigate the situation. However, the voyage from Zhanjiang Port to Gaven Reef took about two days, and during this period, no matter how much the command shouted, there was still no movement from the other side.
This anomalous situation alerted the Command, and it was clear that something unusual was happening on Gaven Reef. Despite being mentally prepared, when people actually arrived on the reef, they were taken aback by what they saw.
Gaven Reef is located at the southwest end of Zhenghe Reef in China's Nansha Islands, in 1935, China named it "Gaven Reef", and in 1947 it was renamed "Gaven Reef".
In 1983, the "Communiqué of the People's Republic of China" mentioned the island and reef, officially called Gaven Reef. Gaven Reef is heart-shaped, about 1400 1850 metres long and covers an area of nearly 2 square kilometres.
Normally, however, the majority of the reef is below sea level, with only two reefs and a few small sandheads exposed at low tide. At the end of 2013, China began the reclamation project of Gaven Reef, after a year of hard work, Gaven Reef from some of the exposed reefs, was filled into an area of about 018 square kilometers of "land".
Today, the island is not only fully equipped, but also has a green belt, which fully demonstrates the "infrastructure strength" of our country. Thirty years ago, however, the situation at Gaven Reef was very different.
The soldiers guarding the Spratly Islands were lonely. It is said that a soldier once found two dogs to be companions because he was too bored, but even the dogs could not endure the hard life and committed suicide by jumping into the sea.
This was the case with Gaven Reef in the 90s, and it was even worse.
On 7 November 1990, a vessel discovered an anomaly while approaching Gaven Reef. In the past, sentry fighters would be able to see approaching ships from a distance, and would immediately come out to check on the whistle or the sound of engines.
However, this time the ship approached Gaven Reef, but there was no movement on the reef, and the bright national flag was still fluttering in the wind. This anomaly makes people realize that something serious may have happened.
Sure enough, they found 6 bodies in the stilt house, 4 of whom died from gunshot wounds and 2 who were strangled to death. The stilt room was littered with bullet marks, and there was a depleted rifle on the floor.
In fact, our army deployed 12 guards on Gaven Reef, one of whom went to Yongju Reef due to burns**, and except for 6 soldiers who died, the remaining 5 people were nowhere to be found, along with the only means of transportation, a landing craft.
Our army immediately set up a special investigation team. Investigators found several rifles on the underwater reef, all of which were standard rifles distributed by our army to the reef guards.
They also found the glasses of the reef chief, Zhang Xiaozhong, who was one of the five missing, on the reef.
For various reasons, the authorities classified the case as classified, and little is known about the specifics of the case. But this does not prevent the good doers from speculating about the truth of the case. One of the most striking speculations is that the real culprits in this case are the Vietnamese special forces.
In the Battle of Chigua Reef two years ago, in the face of the active provocation of the Vietnamese side, our army took a self-defense counterattack, and only one person was injured in the battle, successfully sinking two ** ships of the Vietnamese Navy**, seriously damaging one, causing more than 400 Vietnamese military personnel**, and more than 40 people were captured, including a lieutenant colonel.
From the point of view of the entire history of human warfare, such a ratio of war losses can almost be said to be a miracle. Looking at it from another angle, such a defeat was a disgrace for the Vietnamese side, and it is conceivable that the Vietnamese must have been very angry.
Unable to take advantage of them on the battlefield, they may take some "small actions" in private as revenge. In fact, if Vietnam has such an idea, they have a lot of opportunities.
The South China Sea and Nanhai Zhudao within the nine-dash line are China's inherent territory and are sacrosanct, but due to their remote geographical location, the border situation is very complicated and the water is very deep.
In the last century, only 7 of the 56 islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands were actually controlled by China, and most of them were occupied by Vietnam. Among them, the situation near Gaven Reef is particularly dangerous, with Hongxu Island in the east, Daxian Reef in the west, and Jinghong Island in the south all under the illegal occupation of Vietnam, forming a three-sided encirclement of Gaven Reef.
Hongxu Island is only 5 nautical miles (about 93 km), the Vietnamese side has more than 100 people stationed on the island. After investigation, our military professionals found that there were no suspicious objects at the scene of Gaven Reef, which means that if the 11 fighters on the island were really invaded, then the other party's methods must be quite clever, not only a master of special operations, but also extremely meticulous.
There is a speculation that the Vietnamese special forces may disguise themselves as civilians to ask for help from our officers and soldiers on Gaven Reef, and after landing, they suddenly attack in their original form, causing our officers and men to be caught off guard and even completely annihilated.
This speculation is the most widely heard, but it has a huge loophole: Although war broke out between China and Vietnam in 1988, relations between the two countries have improved considerably two years later and have entered a phase of normalization.
In particular, under the guidance of the principle of "shelving disputes and joint development", China and Vietnam are actively seeking political mutual trust, and there is no reason for Vietnam to take such a dangerous move in terms of international background and interests.
In addition, even if the Vietnamese were secretly ruthless, the authorities would inevitably publicize such a "victory". However, more than 30 years later, Vietnam has barely mentioned the incident from top to bottom, and there has been little discussion among the people about the Gaven Reef incident, which to a large extent indicates that the Vietnamese side may not have anything to do with the case.
Some people suggested that ** was a pirate in the nearby waters, but Gaven Reef handled the scene quite professionally, which is by no means something ordinary people can do, and the combat effectiveness of the pirates cannot be better than that of our army's well-trained reef guards.
In addition, the pirate's style of conduct did not match the way the scene was handled. After ruling out other possibilities, a terrible speculation surfaced. According to the information I reviewed, one of the 12 reef guards at Gaven Reef was sent to Yongda Reef for acceptance** due to prior injuries, which saved him from his death.
When questioned afterwards, he revealed that the relationship between the dozen or so comrades-in-arms was not harmonious. First of all, they come from different places, and their Xi habits and cultural differences are huge, which can easily lead to conflict.
Secondly, Gaven Reef was relatively isolated, the soldiers' space for movement was small, the living conditions were difficult, nothing more than a few simple stilt houses, and there was not even a radio at that time, and the reef guards had to suffer from violent storms for four or five months a year, and they had to always guard against enemy attacks, and they were under great mental pressure.
In this case, it makes perfect sense that the fighters quarrel over trivial matters, which then escalates into serious "infighting". However, there are loopholes in this conjecture: even if the five surviving warriors managed to land on the mainland, how did they still disappear after all these years of strict investigation?
In general, the case is full of mysteries, the truth is difficult to find, and now it has become an almost forgotten unsolved case. Or maybe it's because of some special reason that the truth has to be hidden.
It is worth noting that although the official did not make a clear characterization of the Gaven Reef incident, the authority ** vaguely said that this sea area "is buried with martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country" when referring to Gaven Reef.
The hidden secrets seem to be unspoken. Moreover, the Gaven Reef case is undoubtedly a tragedy. Now, with the rapid improvement of China's national and military strength, the living conditions of officers and men in the border areas have been greatly improved, and such incidents are almost impossible to happen.
However, the tragedy of Gaven Reef should not be forgotten – it is a constant reminder of how honorable and great the PLA soldiers who guarded the motherland were. 100 Helping Programs