When I looked at my phone a few days ago, I inadvertently swiped a **, in which a veteran was a soldier who sacrificed his comrades in the Battle of Laoshan in a martyr's cemetery on the border of Yunnan. The veteran was sturdy and sharp-eyed, and tears came out of his eyes at the mention of the names of his comrades.
The veterans who participated in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam were also "the loveliest people of the new generation". Now they are older and their lives are very different, but one thing is the same, they are all heroes who have been on the battlefield.
For some Western countries, the 79-year Sino-Vietnamese War confused them, and the squadron attacked with a thunderous momentum, invincible, and the offensive lasted for more than ten days and then came to an abrupt end, withdrawing troops on all fronts, which is very unique in history. It is not surprising to us, because we have achieved our goal, and we have taught the "Vietnamese tyrant" a lesson.
We know that from February 17 to March 16, 1979, the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam lasted 28 days, and in fact, our army began to withdraw on March 5, so some people call it the "16-day war". Why the withdrawal on March 5?Because our army took Lang Son.
At that time, from the Eastern Front to the Western Front, fighting Lao Cai, capturing Gaoping, and attacking Lang Son were all vicious battles, but Lang Son was the top priority of this counterattack.
Eighteen kilometers south of the border with Binh Xiang in Guangxi is Lang Son province in northern Vietnam. Lang Son province is surrounded by mountains and is the gateway to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. After Lang Son, only 130 kilometers away from Hanoi, a flat river, there is no danger to defend. However, the attack on Lang Son can only break through from the direction of Dong Deng, and the Dong Dang area is the gateway of Lang Mountain, the mountain is undulating, the terrain is complex, and it has been a military key point since ancient times.
Vietnam is well aware of the importance of Lang Son, and the main force guarding Dong Ascend to Lang Son is the 3rd Division, known as the "Venus Division", which is well-trained and experienced in actual combat. In addition to the additional regular army, public security tun and militia, more than 20,000 troops were fortified and tightly guarded from the forward positions of Tongdeng in Banzhuang, Kukao Mountain to Liangshan City.
Before the war, a meeting of the General Staff of the Vietnamese Army represented the attitude of the Le Duan authorities. The Vietnamese military top brass was well aware that the squadron would go all out to capture Lang Son, but they believed that the Dong Dang line was impregnable and impossible to be breached, in the words of one of the army's deputy chief of staff, "unless they had the ability to fly." This gave the authorities a "reassurance".
As a matter of fact, several high-ranking officers of the 3rd Division of the Vietnamese Army stationed in Dong Deng had different opinions, holding that although Dong Deng was heavily fortified, there were still many loopholes. Some people were students of the Zhongdeng affairs adviser back then, and they pointed out that since the squadron attacked Tongdeng, it would definitely concentrate superior forces and adopt the tactics of "breaking through", and the Tongdeng defense line was not impregnable.
However, the opinions of these people did not attract the attention of the Le Duan authorities. Having said that, what can the more important the army do, it can't change the result.
The commander-in-chief of the battlefield on the Eastern Front of our army is General Xu Shiyou. The combat plan formulated by the front finger was indeed "to break through and advance in depth", and the 55th Army, the 161st Division of the 54th Army and the attached artillery units were the main attack and advanced to Tongdeng.
In the early morning of February 17, 79, 270 guns of our artillery group fired a 15-minute burst of fire at the enemy's forward positions in the direction of Tongdeng, firing more than 6,000 shellsRegimental and battalion artillery groups also advanced 1 to the enemy's positionMore than 5,000 shells were fired at targets within 5 km, and then the forward troops attacked in three directions.
Under the artillery fire of our troops, the enemy positions outside Tongdeng suffered heavy losses. Even so, the ensuing battle was still very fierce and difficult to advance. It was not until the afternoon of the 23rd that our army captured Tan Mou that the enemy at Dong Deng was cleared, and the 12th Regiment of the main force of the 3rd Division of the Vietnamese Army was completely annihilated.
Won Tongdeng, and the gate of Langshan was opened. However, the second phase of the battle was equally difficult, and there were several major strongholds on the outskirts of Lang Son, such as Ko Ma Mountain, 417 Heights, 536 Heights, and Bawai Mountain, guarding the main transportation routes to Lang Son City, and each stronghold was not easy to fight. For example, Kuma Mountain, with an altitude of 800 meters and steep slopes, the Vietnamese army used the terrain to build a solid tunnel, with dense firing points and minefields ahead.
On the morning of February 27, the 163rd Division of the 55th Army launched a general attack on Kuoma Mountain, and fought fiercely until the afternoon of the same day, capturing the main peak of Kuuma Mountain. The fraternal troops were also advancing, and in two days they reached the last line of defense in Lang Son City, Ba Wai Shan.
Ba Wai Shan is only 5 kilometers away from Lang Son and is guarded by the 141st Regiment of the 3rd Division of the Vietnamese Army, which is good at defensive warfare, and it is another fierce battle. In the early morning of the 28th, our army took advantage of the rainy and dense fog to quietly approach Bawai Mountain, launched a surprise attack, and engaged the enemy in short combat, until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and finally occupied all the positions in Bawai Mountain.
Lang Son City was in a panic, and residents fled like a tidal wave along the streets. The laying of Lang Son can deter the authorities of Le Duan, and the impact will be far-reaching. But the defense of Lang Son City was also strong and it was a fortress stronghold. Our troops adopted the tactics of attacking Tongdeng, first destroying the enemy's military installations with intensive artillery fire, killing and wounding a large number of their living forces, and then covering the infantry attack with tanks.
On the morning of 1 March, more than 300 cannons of our artillery group fired a salvo, and more than 10,000 shells were poured into the urban area of Lang Son within 30 minutes. After the shelling stopped, the barracks, railway station, substation, post and telecommunications building and public security office in Lang Son City, which were guarded by enemy soldiers, were in ruins.
On March 2, our troops occupied the northern district of Lang Son City, that is, the area north of the Chi Poor River, and confronted the Vietnamese troops on the other side of the river. Originally, our army occupied the provincial government building in Lang Son City, but it had basically achieved its goal, and in accordance with the operational plan of the Central Military Commission, it planned to withdraw. But Le Duan wanted to save face and lied to the outside world that the squadron was bleeding from Lang Son and was repelled by the Vietnamese defenders, and Lang Son was impregnable.
Li Duan slapped his swollen face and became fat, which angered Xu Shiyou. Xu Shiyou slapped the table and shouted: "Pass my order, fight across the Qiqiu River, and make Li Duan completely admit defeat!."Zhou Deli, deputy commander of the military region, hesitated and said that the headquarters had instructions not to cross the Qiqiao River. Xu Shiyou immediately asked the Military Commission to arch forward again!The Military Commission also considered it necessary to strive for a greater victory in the war of self-defense and counterattack, and approved it.
On March 4, under the cover of artillery fire, our army forcibly crossed the Chi Poor River and attacked southward, and the next day, after completely annihilating the 3rd Division of the Vietnamese army, it occupied the southern district of Lang Son City.
At this point, our army formed a trend of coercion on Hanoi, and the Le Duan authorities panicked and hurriedly transferred six divisions from the south to build a defensive line on the periphery of Hanoi. Although Le Duan still refuses to admit defeat, the situation in Hanoi speaks for itself, with chaos from top to bottom, the railway station is crowded, a large number of people are urgently evacuated, and foreign embassies in Hanoi have also been notified to move to safe areas.
On March 5, the day our troops occupied the entire city of Lang Son, an order was received to withdraw their troops, and the participating units began to retreat.
In some relevant materials, it is mentioned that Xu Shiyou gave an order during the bombardment of Lang Son: "After the attack starts, not a single house can be left in Lang Son!.""The order was carried out to the letter, and after the withdrawal of our troops from Lang Son, a second shelling was carried out, leaving the entire city of Lang Son "without a single piece of tiles".
The Battle of Lang Son was already a difficult battle, and when attacking the city of Lang Son, the 308th Division of the defeated Vietnamese Army also used chemical ** (poison gas bombs) in violation of regulations, so there is a reason why Xu Shiyou was angry.
Military installations, railways, houses, infrastructure, etc., were almost completely destroyed throughout Lang Son City. Half a month after the end of the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, Le Duan inspected the former military fortress Lang Son and was speechless for a long time in the face of ruins.
Some articles on the Internet said that Le Duan inspected Lang Son and recited a poem boasting of the victory of the Vietnamese army. But the author of these articles is too careless, it is not a poem by Le Duan, but written by "Chun Shui", that is, the Vietnamese *** Governor Nguyen Trong Ren that year, that poem is really not very well written.