In mid-September 1988, at the invitation of the United States, China sent a special military delegation to visit the United States, and the head of the delegation was Comrade Zhang Wannian, who had just been awarded the rank of lieutenant general. It can not only reflect the country's great power demeanor and majesty, but also show the importance it attaches to the United States.
However, when China and the United States held a welcoming ceremony, US Army Commander Shali suddenly jumped out, hugged Zhang Wannian, and shouted with a smile: Zhang, I finally caught you this time. What's going on? In this issue, Brother Jian will reveal to you how Zhang Wannian and US Commander Shali met? What did Zhang Wannian do in the first place? Why did Shali make such a move to Zhang Wannian on such an important occasion?
When a lieutenant general of our army visited the United States, why did the commander of the US military hug him?
The Vietnam War, known as the largest war fought by the United States since World War II, lasted for 20 years, and in the end, Vietnam worked together to fight the difficulties, drove out the American invaders, and completed the reunification of the country, and in this war, China gave Vietnam great military support, not only aided Vietnam with precious logistics materials worth 20 billion US dollars, but also sent many senior commanders of the People's Liberation Army with very rich combat experience to the front line in Vietnam, served as a military adviser, and Zhang Wannian was one of them.
U.S. Army Commander Shali, who was only in his early 20s at the time, was still a recruit who had just entered the battlefield, but although Shali was a recruit, he showed a very sharp and flexible mind, and he was not inferior to a veteran who had fought for many years, so soon after, Shali became a scout, and it was at this time that Shali heard the name of Zhang Wannian and heard that he was a very powerful Chinese general.
Military advisor, strong foreign aid
In 1968, Zhang Wannian, then deputy director of operations of the Guangzhou Military Region, was ordered to secretly leave Guangdong and go to Vietnam to serve as a military adviser to assist the Vietnamese people in resisting the American invaders. But his trip abroad this time was extremely difficult, because there was already blood all over the way, almost everywhere was battlefield, so in order to get to the front line in Vietnam more smoothly, Zhang Wannian decided to detour from the capital Beijing to Hanoi, and then through Laos and Cambodia, straight into the Truong Son mountain range.
Along the way, he endured the high temperature of nearly 50 degrees Celsius in the tropical rainforest during the day, and walked through it for several days, Zhang Wannian finally arrived at the destination without danger, however, although the road was rugged and bumpy, and experienced hardships and tribulations, Zhang Wannian was not without gains, along the way, he has basically figured out the topography of Vietnam, which can help the Vietnamese people better resist the US army, and even in the defense of southern Xinjiang a few years later, Zhang Wannian's experience also played a pivotal role.
When Zhang Wannian arrived at the Vietnamese front-line headquarters, he just happened to be in time for the Battle of Khe San, which was a very important military choke point for our army, and was the only way for logistics to supply military transportation lines, and was of very crucial strategic significance. However, due to the inexperience of the Vietnamese army and the wrong deployment, Xishan was occupied by the US army, and the purpose of Zhang Wannian's trip was to help the Vietnamese army and revitalize the Xishan fortress. Soon, the advisory group of the Chinese affairs committee gave a detailed operational proposal, adopting the tactics of encircling the point to send reinforcements, first sending the best capable troops to make the illusion of encircling Xishan, attracting US troops to come to help, and then annihilating and destroying them one by one.
Before the battle began, a senior general of the Vietnamese army suddenly defected to the enemy and betrayed all this military operation plan to the US army, which directly led to the war situation falling into a passive situation. But the battle is about to start, do you want to temporarily change the combat plan?
Zhang Wannian was a little unsure, so he held a meeting with the members of the advisory group overnight to resolve, and finally after detailed and strict discussions, he absolutely planned to fight and maintain the original plan, because at this dangerous moment, there was no way to retreat, and it was too late to temporarily reformulate the plan, so the brave man won when he met on a narrow road, even if it was a tragic victory, he had to recapture the fortress of Xishan position, and he could not delay it any longer.
Therefore, the Vietnamese army, on the advice of our army's advisory group, dropped all the heavy ** that could be mobilized to the front line and threw it into the upcoming battle of Khe Son. On the first day of the war, the Vietnamese army poured nearly 1,500 tons of bombs on the US troops stationed in Khe Son and took advantage of the situation to destroy the US arsenal.
almost captured Zhang Wannian
Because in the perception of the Americans, the combat awareness and combat level of the Vietnamese army are generally low, so after perceiving the abnormality of the Vietnamese army, the commander of the US military immediately realized that the squadron had intervened. Therefore, he immediately gave a strict death order to the reconnaissance team below: the specific location of the Chinese advisory group must be found and Zhang Wannian and other military advisers must be arrested.
And the scout Sha Li was eager to make meritorious contributions, and he took Zhang Wannian as the number one target with his preconceived ideas, thinking that if he could capture this person, then he would have made a great contribution. However, Sha Li wandered on the Xishan position for many days, but he never saw Zhang Wannian's shadow, and he was very depressed. In fact, Zhang Wannian himself was in the command post of the Vietnamese army not far away, but he was cautious by nature, and he knew that he was already the focus of the US military, and he would not show up at all during the day.
Therefore, although Shali is a witty and flexible scout, but compared with Zhang Wannian, a veteran who has been fighting on the battlefield for many years and crawling in the pile of dead, he is still a little immature, Zhang Wannian has seen too many insidious and cunning enemies since he joined the army, and it is very simple to deal with this kind of reconnaissance recruit, Shali later recalled that he was the closest to success, and Zhang Wannian was only separated by a road, he came out to perform the task as a scout, and Zhang Wannian came up to inspect the battlefield.
After a long time, he came out, and finally waited for Zhang Wannian, Shali was suddenly ecstatic, and hurriedly took his reconnaissance team along the edge of the road, approaching unconsciously, intending to give Zhang Wanlai a surprise attack and beheading, but he didn't expect Shali to just walk out halfway, he was discovered by Zhang Wannian, and quickly commanded the guards around him to carry out counterattack fire suppression, and finally, Zhang Wannian was unscathed, but Shali fled back to the US military command in embarrassment, he was lucky, at least he had the life to go back, And the scouts who went with him were all killed by Zhang Wannian, and what made Shali even more crazy was that he couldn't catch Zhang Wannian, and the U.S. army couldn't win against Zhang Wannian.
Just as Zhang Wannian predicted in advance, although the battle plan was exposed, the Vietnamese army paid an extremely heavy price in the Battle of Khe Son, but successfully recaptured Khe San. The U.S. military was forced to evacuate as if they were mourning. Although afterwards, according to the war damage reports of both sides, the United States insisted that they were the victors of the battle, but Shali knew in his heart that the final victory or defeat of the war could not only look at the process, as well as the personnel, but also the final result, at least, the Vietnamese army completed its goal and recaptured the position of Khe Son, and although the US army killed a large number of enemies, it failed to exchange for victory chips, and in the end, the US army did not continue to stay in Vietnam and was driven out, and Vietnam finally won the entire war with the help of China. So it's clear who wins and who loses.
Zhang, I finally caught you this time
Eventually, Shali fled Vietnam with the bulk of his army in a ship, and the first war that his recruits experienced ended miserably, drawing a break from defeat. But Shali was fortunate and did not suffer a loss, relying on the military exploits accumulated on the battlefield in Vietnam, he quickly gained a firm foothold in the US army, and was promoted step by step, and finally became the commander of the army, and became famous.
Later, in the defense of southern Xinjiang, Zhang Wannian relied on the experience of fighting in Vietnam, adopted the tactical tactics of commanding from the front and making surprise moves, won four battles and won four victories, and the enemy army was terrified, and twice received the general order commendation from the former enemy command, and made immortal contributions to the defense of the territorial sovereignty integrity of the country and the dignity of the great country.
In 1981, Zhang Wannian was promoted to the commander of the 43rd Army of the People's Liberation Army, and the following year he attended the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and was nominated as an alternate member. We have vigorously grasped the regularization and modernization of the armed forces, implemented the strategic principle of active defense put forward by the state, and set strict requirements for maintaining four orders and one image, thus making positive and outstanding contributions to exploring and promoting the regularization of the revolutionary army.
In 1985, Zhang Wannian was transferred to the Guangzhou Military Region as deputy commander, and in 1987, Zhang Wannian officially assumed the important post of commander of the Guangzhou Military Region. In 1988, after Political Commissar Deng restored the military rank system, Zhang Wannian was awarded the rank of lieutenant general by the state, and his reputation was very large, so Shali can often hear his name in the United States.
As for Zhang Wannian, Shali's emotions are very complicated, he is not willing to accept the defeat on the battlefield in Vietnam, but he admires and admires Zhang Wannian from the bottom of his heart, it is because this general from China defeated the most powerful US ** team in the world at that time, so in September 1988, after learning the news that Zhang Wannian visited the United States as the head of delegation, Shali was very excited, and wanted to give Zhang Wannian a special treatment at the welcome ceremony. Directly rushed out and hugged Zhang Wannian and said with a strange smile: Zhang, I finally caught you this time.
Sha Li was unwilling for a long time in this way, and although Zhang Wannian was confused by Sha Li's actions, after the other party's explanation and understanding of this relationship, he suddenly laughed out loud. As soon as the battlefield in Vietnam parted, decades later, who would have thought that the enemy of the past would turn hostility into friendship and become friends who could talk and laugh? Rao is Zhang Wannian couldn't help but sigh with emotion, the world is impermanent. The smoke of the battlefield is gradually gone, and the era of peace will eventually come, but the demeanor of the famous general is still the same, sweeping the hearts and spleens of the world.