From January 17 to 20, 1974, the South China Sea Fleet of the People's Liberation Army Navy, with the coordination of the army, air force, militia and fishermen, carried out a self-defense counterattack against the South Vietnamese army invading China's Xisha Vinh Le Islands, heroically defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is the first time that the PLA Navy has fought against a foreign navy far from the mainland, and it has not only had a major impact on the international community, but has also provided valuable lessons and lessons for the PLA to carry out military training and fulfill combat missions.
Located about 330 kilometers southeast of Hainan Island, the Xisha Islands are composed of Xuande Islands, Yongle Islands and other islands and reefs, with a total area of about 10 square kilometers, making it the largest archipelago in the South China Sea. Among them, the Yongle Islands are composed of Ganquan, Coral, Jinyin, Chenhang, Jinqing and other islands. The Paracel Islands are located at a strategic point between the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific Ocean. It is rich in natural resources, abundant reserves of oil and other minerals, and an excellent fishing ground. Politically, militarily, and economically, the Paracel Islands are important.
The Xisha Islands, like the Dongsha Islands, Nansha Islands, and Zhongsha Islands, have been China's territory since ancient times. As early as the Western Han Dynasty, the Chinese began to sail in the South China Sea. After the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese people increasingly engaged in fishing activities in the waters of this area, and the Chinese dynasties immediately took jurisdiction over these islands. On his way to the West, the navigator Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty anchored many times on the islands of the South China Sea to rest. Geographical names such as "Xuande" and "Yongle" commemorate the era of Zheng He's voyage. Before World War II, some of the islands in the Paracel Islands were occupied by France and later by Japan. However, after the end of World War II, the Paracel Islands, together with Nanhai Zhudao, were officially taken over by China at that time. On August 15, 1951, China's premier and governor pointed out in the "Statement on the Draft Peace Treaty between the United States and Britain and Japan and the San Francisco Conference": "The Xisha Islands and Spratly Islands, like the entire Nansha Islands, Zhongsha Islands and Dongsha Islands, have always been Chinese territory. Since then, China has reiterated this position many times. Textbooks and maps of most countries in the world, including the Soviet Union and Vietnam, clearly indicate that the Xisha Islands and the entire Nanhai Zhudao are Chinese territory.
In 1956, after the armistice in Indochina, France unjustifiably handed over the coral islands it had occupied to South Vietnam**, which claimed "sovereignty" over the Paracel Islands and sent troops to occupy some islands in the Paracel Islands. In August 1958, the South Vietnamese authorities sent armed forces to fortify Ganquan Island and occupied Tran Hang Island. On September 4, China** issued a statement on the regulation of China's territorial waters, reaffirming that the Xisha Islands are the territory of the People's Republic of China. On the 14th, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Dong sent a note to Prime Minister ***, stating that "the Democratic Republic of Vietnam recognizes and agrees with the Statement of the People's Republic of China** of September 4, 1958 on the Regulation of China's Territorial Waters", and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam** respects this decision. Under pressure from the world, the South Vietnamese authorities once withdrew all the troops stationed on Ganquan, Tran Hang, and Treasure Island, leaving only one platoon on the coral island. In early 1961, the South Vietnamese Navy hijacked a Chinese fishing boat and 20 fishermen off the Paracel Islands.
At the end of August 1973, the South Vietnamese army occupied six islands in China's Nansha and Xisha Islands, and in September announced that more than 10 islands in the Nanwei and Taiping Islands would be placed under the jurisdiction of Phuoc Sui Province. In November, South Vietnamese brutally rammed and destroyed a Chinese fishing boat operating in the Paracel Sea and abducted Chinese fishermen to Da Nang. On January 11, 1974, China issued a statement reiterating that the Nansha Islands, Xisha Islands, Zhongsha Islands and Dongsha Islands are all part of China's territory and that the People's Republic of China has indisputable sovereignty over these islands. At the same time, he pointed out that the resources in the waters near these islands also belong to China, and China will never tolerate any violation of China's territorial sovereignty by the Saigon authorities.
However, on January 15, the South Vietnamese authorities sent destroyer No. 16 (Li Changjie) to intrude into the waters of the Paracel Yongle Islands, harassing the fishing vessel of the South China Sea Fisheries Company (CSFC), which is engaged in normal fishing and production in the area, and shelling Ganquan Island, which is flying the flag of the People's Republic of China. On the 17th, South Vietnam's largest destroyer No. 4 (Tran Thanh Ngo) arrived in the waters of Ganquan Island, and the South Vietnamese army then invaded and occupied the two islands of Jinyin and Ganquan. Chinese fishermen and militia engaged in a-for-tat struggle with the invading enemy. On the 18th, South Vietnamese destroyer No. 5 (Tran Binh Chung) and escort ship No. 10 (Nu Tao) arrived in the sea area of the Vinh Le Islands in an attempt to test China's attitude, stick to the occupied islands, and occupy other islands one after another.
In order to safeguard national sovereignty and protect fishery production, the Central Military Commission ordered the South China Sea Fleet to immediately dispatch a patrol to the Yongle Islands in the Paracels, and ordered the Hainan Military Region to dispatch militiamen to the three islands of Jinqing, Chenhang, and Guangjin in the Yongle Islands with the sea boats to monitor the enemy's movements. At the same time, it is required that the fishing vessels produced in the waters of the Yongle Islands continue to operate in the same place and not be withdrawn. ** The Central Military Commission demanded: In the struggle against the enemy, our side should always adhere to the principle of reasoning and struggle. Under no circumstances will our ships, planes, and militia fire the first shot, and if the enemy attacks us first, we should resolutely defend ourselves and return fire. The order reminds the militia and fishermen who insist on production to be vigilant and make emergency preparations. The Hainan Military Region was asked to assist the localities in sending additional fishing vessels to the Yongle Islands to persist in production in light of the situation. Reviewed and approved the orders of the Military Commission.
According to the order of the Military Commission, the 271st command boat and the 274th boat of the 73rd Submarine Hunting Group of the South China Sea Fleet of the People's Liberation Army set sail from Yulin Port on Hainan Island at 20 o'clock on January 16, 1974 to carry out the Xisha patrol mission, carried a militia platoon through Yongxing Island on the 17th, and arrived in the sea area of the Yongle Islands at 18 o'clock on the same day. At 6:20 p.m., the two boats met the enemy's No. 16 ship in the waters between Chenhang Island and Coral Island, which was provoking our fishing boat, and immediately issued a warning signal that "I am a ** boat of the People's Republic of China, and you should leave our territorial waters immediately." After repeated warnings, the enemy ships retreated to Coral Island. Our formation anchored in the waters north of Chenhang Island, monitoring enemy ships on the one hand, and covering and transporting militiamen to Jinqing Island on the other. During this period, the South China Sea Fleet Air Force took off two planes to patrol the airspace over the Yongle Islands.
On the 18th, the enemy ships became even more rampant, ramming Chinese fishing boats eight times on the north side of Antelope Reef, and crashing the bridge of our fishing boat No. 407. Our warship issued another warning, and the enemy ship hoisted the signal flag of "malfunction" to shirk its responsibility and then fled. In the afternoon of the same day, three South Vietnamese destroyers sailed out of Coral Island in a wedge-shaped formation and approached our anchorage. When our boat found out, it immediately took anchor and engaged the enemy in a single column and gave a warning signal, but the enemy ship did not answer. When our boat approached 600 meters from the enemy ship, it shouted again with an amplifier: "Your sabotage of the production of our fishing vessel is an act of piracy." "When the enemy ships saw that we were on alert, they returned to the sea area of Coral Island, and our fleet also returned to the sea area of Chenhang Island.
At 12 o'clock on the 18th, the 74th Submarine Hunting Brigade arrived at Woody Island, and due to the failure of the main engine of the 282nd boat, it was on standby for emergency repairs on Woody Island. That night, the 10th Group of our minesweepers sailed to the anchorage of Chenhang Island and rendezvoused with the boats. In order to grasp the development of the situation, a maritime command post was formed with Wei Mingsen, deputy commander of the Navy's Yulin Base, as the commander.
On the morning of January 19, the South China Sea Fleet instructed the maritime command post: the enemy may be preparing to fight and try to eat us, and should immediately prepare for battle; If the enemy attacks our island, the formation must resolutely return fire and support the battle on the island.
At 5:15 a.m. on the 19th, the enemy ships attempted to encircle our formation in two directions. In the south, enemy ships No. 4 and No. 5 approached Chenhang and Guangjin Island from the south of Treasure Island and Antelope Reef; The enemy's No. 10 and No. 16 ships from the north approached us from the northwest of Guangjin Island. After our formation discovered it, it urgently lifted anchor and used two ships to enter the sea northwest of Guangjin Island to intercept the enemy's No. 10 and No. 16 ships and two boats to the southeast of Guangjin Island and confront the enemy's No. 4 and No. 5 ships. Our ships sailed on the same course as the enemy formation, forcing the enemy ships to not approach our islands. At about 7:40 a.m., the enemy's No. 4 and No. 5 ships each lowered a sampan, each towing two rubber boats, transporting more than 40 soldiers, and forcibly landing on the islands of Chenhang and Guangjin. The enemy on the island of Dengchen was forced to retreat after a reasoned struggle by our militia. The enemy at the Golden Island of Dengguang ignored our dissuasion, but continued to advance and opened fire on our militia. Our militia was forced to return fire, killing one South Vietnamese soldier and wounding three, and at 8:40 a.m. the enemy who landed on the island withdrew**.
At the same time, the enemy ships relied on their large tonnage and repeatedly squeezed our ships. At about 8:25 a.m., the enemy's No. 16 ship intercepted our 389 ship. The 389th ship did not slow down or turn and continued to move forward, but the enemy No. 16 ship hurriedly turned and damaged the port railing of the 389th ship, and I issued a warning to the enemy. At 9:04, the enemy's No. 4 small-caliber guns fired two rounds, and I signaled three times in a row, "You shoot first, I give you a serious warning," but the enemy ship never answered.
At 10:19, the enemy ship maneuvered outward and extended a wide distance with our formation. At this time, our boat was located 2 nautical miles south of Guangjin Island, and the ship was located 1 nautical mile northwest of Guangjin Island. At 10:22, four enemy ships attacked us at the same time, and the 389th and 274th ships were shot and damaged one after another, of which the 274th boat was the first to suffer heavy damage because it was mistaken by the enemy ships for the command ship of our formation, and the command platform was immediately destroyed, and the captain and political commissar were all killed. Our maritime command post ordered all ships to resolutely defend themselves and return fire, and each of them concentrated their firepower on one enemy ship to attack the enemy's No. 16 ship.
The four largest South Vietnamese ships were 1,800 tons, and the small ones were 650 tons, with a total tonnage of about 6,000 tons, and were equipped with about 50 guns of 127 mm caliber or less. The four ships of our navy, with a total tonnage of 1,600 tons, have few guns and a small caliber. In contrast, the enemy has a complete advantage in equipment. However, our warships made full use of the advantages of flexibility and maneuverability, approached the enemy ships at high speed, held on tightly, and brought into play the power of the small caliber guns with a fast rate of fire, which quickly suppressed the enemy's firepower and reversed the unfavorable situation.
After the enemy's firepower was suppressed, the boat mainly hit the enemy's No. 4 ship, pinning down the enemy's No. 5 ship and moving away after the enemy's No. 16 ship was hit by a bullet**, that is, transferring fire to attack the enemy's No. 10 ship. The 389 ship rushed towards the enemy ship with thick smoke and flames, and fought until it was more than 10 meters away from the enemy's No. 10 ship, at which time the commanders and fighters simply used the light and heavy infantry ** to strafe the enemy on the deck, destroy the enemy's living forces, and throw a large number of grenades. The enemy's No. 10 ship was beaten and lost control, and in a hurry it turned around and crashed into the rear cabin of our 389 ship. Guo Yudong, the supply officer of the 389th ship, was seriously wounded, and when he saw that the sea water was pouring from the bullet hole into the ammunition compartment and flowing to the main engine compartment, he desperately took off his military uniform to plug the loophole and held on until he died.
The 271 boat was directly threatened by the enemy's No. 4 ship when its main guns malfunctioned during the battle, and the 274 boats took the initiative to come to cover, and the two boats cooperated to destroy the main guns of the enemy's command ship No. 4, and hit its bridge and newspaper room, so that its communication was interrupted. The enemy's No. 4 ship tried to break away from its position, and the 274th boat gave hot pursuit. When it was more than 10 meters away from the enemy's No. 4 ship, the 274 boat's rudder transmission system failed, and if it continued to advance, it would inevitably rush into the middle of the enemy's No. 4 and No. 5 ships, and fall into a passive position of being attacked by the enemy on both sides. Li Fuxiang, the captain of the boat, immediately ordered the manpower rudder to be changed, and personally commanded the engineer crew to change from advancing at high speed to retreating at full speed, getting rid of the enemy's flanking attack and reoccupying the favorable position.
At 10:42, the 396th ship turned to shoot at the enemy's No. 4 and No. 5 ships, supporting the formation of boats. At 10:59, the enemy's No. 16 ship saw that the seriously wounded 389 ship was tilted and moving slowly, so it took the opportunity to turn around and attack. Seeing this, the 396th ship quickly turned around, met the enemy's No. 16 ship, and covered the withdrawal of the 389th ship from the battle.
After an hour of fierce fighting, the enemy's No. 4, No. 5, and No. 16 ships were damaged by us and retreated to the southeast and northwest respectively. The enemy's No. 10 ship basically lost its ability to maneuver and resist, and slowly moved in the direction of Antelope Reef.
At 11:50, the seriously injured 389 ship rushed to the beach in the northwest of Chenhang Island with a heavy fire. The fishing vessel, which never left the war zone, disregarded its own safety, disregarded the possibility of the ammunition depot of the 389 ship ** and the possibility of sinking of the hull, and asked to hold the ship on both sides, but the crew was willing to sacrifice themselves and resolutely not let the fishing boat approach. After the 389 ship successfully seized the beach, the fishermen risked their lives to board the ship to assist in extinguishing the fire and rushing to transport the wounded.
At 11:49, the boat that arrived at the operational sea area from Woody Island was ordered to pursue and destroy the enemy's No. 10 ship. The command post at sea demanded a close combat with fire and a quick solution. At 12:12 p.m., the two boats, in particular, creatively used submarine attack ** -- rocket-type depth charges -- to strike at enemy surface ships, and the effect was very good. After three fierce fire attacks, the enemy No. 10 ship *** 14:52, the enemy No. 10 ship sank 2 south of Antelope Reef5 nautical miles.
At this time, of the four warships that we participated in, the 389th was seriously injured and rushed to the beach, the 274th ship's steering gear failed, the 271st boat's main gun failed, the 396th ship was hit by more than 50 bullets, and the six ships, including the 281st and 282nd boats, had already consumed more than half of their ammunition. At the same time, considering that the enemy might counterattack, after sinking the enemy's No. 10 ship, we concentrated our forces and adjusted our deployment in preparation for another battle, and failed to continue to expand the results of the battle. In order to prevent air attacks by enemy planes, the air force of the South China Sea Fleet dispatched planes to the airspace over the theater to cover the movements of our warships. On the morning of the 20th, the three enemy ships damaged by us continued to retreat westward under the cover of receiving **. On the way, they asked the U.S. Seventh Fleet for help, but the U.S. side refused.
In the naval battle to defend the Paracel Islands, we sank one enemy frigate, damaged three enemy destroyers, and killed or wounded more than 100 enemy people. Our minesweeper No. 389 was seriously wounded, submarine hunter No. 274 was slightly wounded, 18 people under the political commissar of the 274 boat, Feng Songbai, were killed, 67 people were wounded, and 16,940 rounds of various artillery shells, 17,270 rounds of machine gun shells, and 26 grenades were consumed.
After the naval battle on the 19th, the South China Sea Fleet organized follow-up troops to march to the theater in order to transport the land forces to recover the enemy-occupied islands and prepare to strike at the wounded and reinforced enemy ships. Five torpedo boats of the 21st Torpedo Boat Brigade arrived at Woody Island at 22 o'clock on the 19th, because the accompanying oil tanker No. 502 ran aground and the torpedo boats could not be replenished, so the remaining fuel of the five boats was concentrated on the three boats, and the three boats arrived in the sea area of Yongle Islands at 8 o'clock on the 20th; Eight frigates, 232 frigates, 275 hunting submarines, and fishing boats of the South China Sea Fisheries Company carried more than 500 people from the 10th Garrison Regiment of the 10th Garrison Regiment dispatched by the Yulin Fortress Area of the Guangzhou Military Region, one amphibious reconnaissance team, and some reinforced detachments, and arrived in the waters of the Yongle Islands from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. on 20 July.
The operational arrangements of the Guangzhou Military Region were: First, concentrate forces to capture Ganquan Island, which is located between Coral Island and Treasure Island, which has no strong fortifications. After succeeding, they captured the fortified and large number of troops on Coral Island, and finally attacked Treasure Island. At the same time, organize forces to strike at the ships of the South Vietnamese army reinforcing the Vinh Le Islands.
At dawn on the 20th, the maritime command post ordered the boats to go out to the sea area west of Ganquan and Treasure Island to search for enemy ships, but no target was found. At 9:35 a.m., four frigates of the first echelon of our transport fleet covered the fishing boat carrying infantry to Ganquan Island. After preparing fire, at 9:50 a.m., the infantry transferred rubber boats and sampans to the beachhead southeast of Ganquan Island, compressing the South Vietnamese troops from the beachhead to the central part of the island. At 10:10, all the South Vietnamese troops on the island surrendered their guns and took prisoners, and Ganquan Island was recovered.
At 10:35, four frigates of the second echelon of the transport fleet and the No. 396 minesweeper prepared for fire on Coral Island. At 10:46, the infantry company and the amphibious reconnaissance team, which had been transferred to rubber boats and sampans, launched simultaneous attacks from the southwest, south, and southeast directions of the island. In order to gain time, the commanders and fighters swam through the sea water and waded hundreds of meters to quickly land on the island, closely searching for the South Vietnamese officers and men who had entered the pillboxes and hid in the bushes. At 11:25, Coral Island was recaptured, and more than 30 South Vietnamese officers and soldiers, including Major Pham Van Hong, were captured.
At 12:35, the No. 275 hunting submarine of the third echelon of the transport fleet prepared for fire on Treasure Island, and later found that the defenders on the island had all evacuated with **, and at 13:45, Treasure Island was recovered. So far, we have recovered all of the Vinh Le Islands and captured 48 South Vietnamese officers and 1 American liaison officer.
On the afternoon of the 20th, the South Vietnamese authorities sent ** to carry 1 battalion of troops in an attempt to reinforce Coral Island. China's South China Sea Fleet and the Air Force of the Guangzhou Military Region immediately dispatched ** and planes to meet the attack. The enemy ships returned to Da Nang after entering the sea area more than 40 nautical miles from the Paracel Vinh Le Islands.
In response to the activities of the South Vietnamese authorities in mobilizing troops and preparing to expand the war, the People's Republic of China issued another statement on January 20, warning the South Vietnamese authorities to immediately stop all military provocations and aggressive activities against China. ** The Central Military Commission ordered the army, navy, air force, and militia stationed in the South China Sea and maritime frontiers to be on high alert at all times and ready to annihilate the invading enemy at any time. On January 23, the Military Commission and the Military Commission issued a commendation order to commend all the soldiers and civilians who participated in the self-defense counterattack operation in the Xisha Islands. On January 29, Xinhua News Agency authorized the announcement that China had decided to repatriate in batches 48 officers and soldiers of the South Vietnamese army and 1 American captured in the self-defense counterattack operation on the Paracel Islands.
*: "Archives Time and Space" 2012 Issue 11, author Sui Cheng.