In the Sino-Indian War, ** asked Zhang Guohua: If you lose, what will happen?
In 1962, the conflict on the Sino-Indian border gradually escalated, and the contradictions reached an irreconcilable level. At the enlarged meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, the delegates made a comprehensive analysis and judgment based on the information of all parties, and finally made a decision to carry out armed self-defense counterattack.
At that time, the international situation, especially the situation around China, was extremely complex and severe, and every step required comprehensive and cautious thinking and planning. So, even though the decision has been made, there are still some concerns in the heart.
After the meeting, he found Zhang Guohua, the commander of the military region who was in charge of the operation, and asked him what he would do if he lost. So, what's the concern?
How did Zhang Guohua respond?
Let's look back at the Sino-Indian border battle 60 years ago. In order to understand the causes of this war, we have to study the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru was born into a high-caste family in India, and from a young age, he received a good education, and entered the political center of India at an early age.
However, this privileged living environment also led to one of his major shortcomings, that is, paranoia and extreme worship of nationalism. This may be related to the fact that he was only educated alone during his childhood, lacking the company and interaction of his peers.
During the period when the People's Republic of China had just been founded, the relations between China and India were very friendly, and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence put forward by the Prime Minister were born during the meeting with Nehru.
Nehru also said at the 1951 Commonwealth summit that although we have reservations about China's image and form, we have to admit that this is the revival and rise of a great nation, and they have new strength.
Thus, in the following years, Nehru strengthened his cooperation with our country in a number of areas, and there was no worrisome friction on the border between the two countries. However, Nehru always had a "great power dream" in his heart, and he always hoped to build India into a "great power with a sound and impressive".
At a young age, he began to plan how to preserve the territorial integrity of the country. When he took power, he silently began to carry out his plan. The first thing he paid attention to was the "McMahon Line", which was arbitrarily demarcated by British colonists in 1914 without China's permission, and which roughly involved China's border issues.
This is in line with their artificially demarcated borders in the Somali region of Africa, separating ethnic groups that share the same roots, leading to a long period of chaos in Somalia.
The demarcation of the McMahon Line is also extremely irrational, as it plundered 90,000 square kilometers of our southern Tibetan territory and instead assigned it to India. From ** to New China, successive ** have never recognized the rationality and legitimacy of this McMahon Line.
At first, Nehru recognized our sovereignty in China and signed relevant agreements with China to ensure the common interests of the two countries on border security issues. But when our PLA actually entered the ** area, Nehru began to worry.
Although the relationship between the two countries was friendly at this time, he still secretly said: "We will not allow that barrier to be weakened, otherwise our country's *** will be in danger." However, Nehru believed that in order to become a world power, it must first become a regional power, so India must ensure absolute leadership and dominance on the South Asian continent.
Nehru maintained friendly relations with China on the surface, but secretly carried out military and defensive arrangements on the McMahon Line, which seriously threatened China's border security.
Nehru sought to use it as a front line against China by taking control of Sikkim, Bhutan, and Nepal near the Himalayas. He kept saying that he respected Nepal's independence, but in reality, the Nepalese people had to go through India in order to enter Nepal.
Nehru ostensibly advocated the principle of peaceful coexistence, but secretly he continued to suppress the smaller neighboring states. By the end of the 50s, Nehru's ambitions were gradually exposed, and a series of military plans were implemented, which accelerated the encroachment on the surrounding areas of our country, and caused many frictions with our country.
Nehru's desire for power and conquest grew stronger with the support of the United States and the Soviet Union. At the same time, India is also a formidable adversary, with the backing of the United States and the Soviet Union.
This makes *** full of worries, because if there is a mistake in the military, we will pay a huge price. At the same time, the "old friend" in the southeast corner of the mainland, Chiang Kai-shek, also kept *** vigilant at all times.
Although Chiang Kai-shek's plan for the "** mainland" seemed unrealistic, his conspiracy went bankrupt, so that *** had to be on guard at all times.
In the 60s, he decided to speed up the implementation of the program of military operations for two main reasons: first, he noted our conflict with India on the border, and he believed that the leader of ** could put the main energy there, thereby weakening the attention and defense forces on the southeastern coast, providing him with opportunities.
Second, the newly appointed US ** Kennedy began to adjust its policy toward the East Asian region, strengthened exchanges with China, and withdrew its defense of Kinmen and other islands around Taiwan, which made him feel dissatisfied.
Chiang Kai-shek faced pressure from the island himself, and had a dislike with his confidant Chen Cheng, who joined forces with Hu Shi and others to oppose his re-election**, intending to ascend to the throne himself. In order to rebuild his prestige, divert the contradictions on the island, and unite the people, Chiang Kai-shek began to deploy in 1961"Continental"of the plan.
He was founded"Guoguang operation room"and the special headquarters of the army, navy and air force, which is responsible for ** affairs. The objective of the operation was divided into two phases: first, the rapid occupation of the Xiamen area, and then the advance to Guangdong, cutting off the southern support route, establishing a stronghold, and deploying it there.
The goal of the second phase is to create more military positions in the interior of the continent to bear"Take it back"regional work, including mobilization and economic work. Although the American side opposed Chiang Kai-shek's unauthorized large-scale military operation, he insisted on his decision because he understood that only in this way could he maintain a stable position in Taiwan.
This is the second question that *** is deeply worried about: once we are at war with India, will Chiang Kai-shek make trouble behind his back and bring a new threat to the southeast of our country?
Are we capable of dealing with this two-front situation? Fortunately, our party's intelligence work has been doing very well, and in fact we have always been aware of Chiang Kai-shek's so-called covert operations.
**After careful consideration, in order to avoid being caught in a dilemma, it was decided to deal with the issues related to Chiang Kai-shek first. Chiang Kai-shek's plan to launch a general offensive in June 1962 had to be postponed to the second half of the year due to disagreements and maneuvers with the Americans.
This gives us time to strengthen our defenses. Since June, we have continued to increase our troops in Fujian, including ground troops, ships, and air force fighters. This surprised Chiang Kai-shek, what he thought was a secret operation had already been revealed, and the United States did not support his operation, would he still be able to carry out his plan smoothly?
Chiang Kai-shek was well aware that the Americans were secretly supporting India's misdeeds on the McMahon Line, and although he had always held a ** position, he held on to one China and China's territory.
He understands that if the conspiracy of the Americans and Indians succeeds on the ** border, China's territorial sovereignty will be seriously violated, which is contrary to his original intention. Therefore, he was forced to give up"Continental"The plan, the conspiracy eventually went bankrupt.
Our party acted quickly to resolve the problems in the east and turned its attention to the southwestern border. In the early days of Nehru's push for the Sino-Indian border conflict, we showed a tolerant and tolerant attitude.
However, forbearance does not mean that we will not fight back, and we will not hesitate to act if the situation calls for it.
In order to prevent any possible conflict, in 1959 we offered to India that each side withdraw 20 kilometers. ** once said: "Some of our comrades have fought for decades, but it seems that they have not yet recognized a basic fact: the border guards of the two armies stand face to face for a day, both with guns in their hands, and at the slightest pull of the trigger, someone will die."
How can conflicts be avoided? "This shows that we have always adhered to the principle of peaceful coexistence and hope that the two sides will resolve the dispute along the border through mutual compromise and concession without endangering the lives of the people and soldiers of the two countries.
In 1960, ** flew to New Delhi again in the hope of resolving the conflict through negotiations, but Nehru was relentless and demanded that our country cede south of the McMahon Line.1250,000 square kilometers of land.
At this time, ** adhere to the principle, emphasize that the dignity of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation is sacrosanct, and any square meter of land needs to be protected with all its might, not to mention 1250,000 square kilometers of land.
**'s actions show the firm determination of the Chinese people and their incomparable cherishing of national territory.
The contradictions between the two sides cannot be reconciled, and they can only choose to end. By 1962, Nehru had completely ignored previous friendly relations and international conventions, and ordered his troops to cross the McMahon Line and advance the stronghold to a few tens of meters from our position.
This led to the meeting at the beginning of the article, at the enlarged meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, which, after careful consideration, decided that it could not be tolerated and decided to go to war.
Speaking at the conference, he said: "Over the years, we have tried many ways to seek a peaceful solution to the China-India border issue, but India has deliberately provoked an armed conflict and it has become more and more intense, which is really too much.
Since Nehru insisted on fighting, then we had to accompany him. There is no incivility! ”
In an important territorial dispute, Zhang Guohua served as the commander of the ** Military Region. In the face of the leader's doubts and concerns, he firmly stated that we can win. Despite his ill health, he could not forget the territorial encroachment and the threat to his compatriots.
The chairman's judgment made him more convinced, and he drew up a detailed battle plan with his subordinates, which was approved by **. He immediately rushed back to the troops and prepared for battle.
Zhang Guohua: A leader who dares to take responsibility and is good at grasping fighter planes On October 18, 1962, Zhang Guohua, who returned to **, immediately conveyed his determination, emphasizing the urgency of wartime and the priority of the front line.
He was convinced that only the Communists could show themselves at this critical moment. In developing a detailed plan, while some came up with a relatively conservative plan, he made a bold suggestion: launch a surprise attack on the enemy before they were ready.
In his opinion, only in this way can a fatal blow be dealt to the enemy. Although this plan was opposed by some leaders, *** trusted Zhang Guohua and instructed him to let go and fight.
Zhang Guohua's brave, ferocious and decisive style is similar to that of *** himself, which makes him an excellent front-line commander.
** And Zhang Guohua's confidence in the Indian army is not blind. Before the war, ** and some generals assessed the combat effectiveness of the Indian army. The conclusion is that the Indian army is strong, but not invincible, and our army has accumulated experience in long-term combat training in high-altitude mountainous areas, while the Indian army does not have such experience.
Thus, the battle began in the early morning of October 20 of the same year, with heavy artillery fire from our troops, and the Indian troops lost their first stronghold in a short time. The PLA had a clear advantage in night battles, and in the middle of the night it destroyed the enemy army.
The morale of our army has been greatly boosted, and Zhang Guohua said that this is the first time in his 33 years as a soldier that he has won so easily. ** congratulated the officers and soldiers on the front line, but then withdrew the telegram and added the words "good news is frequent" and "** military commissar is extremely happy" added by *** personally.
Our army carried forward the spirit of continuous combat and pursued the enemy. Under the conditions of severe cold and lack of oxygen, the PLA strengthened its will, fought bravely, and successfully cleared all the enemy's strongholds.
* Decided to take it as soon as it was good, to avoid the expansion of the war, and took the initiative to contact Nehru in the hope that the two sides would renegotiate.
Nehru was furious, thinking that China would not dare to fight back, but he did not expect our army to be so strong. He rejected peace talks and declared martial law across the country, ready to go all out.
Under these circumstances, our army could only continue to meet the battle, launched a comprehensive counterattack against India on the national border, and once advanced to a place only a few hundred kilometers away from New Delhi, the capital of India, and even a vanguard approached a place dozens of kilometers away from New Delhi.
We also captured Brigadier General Darwell, the commander of the Indian Ace Brigade, and annihilated more than 7,000 Ace troops, leaving the Indian army without the ability to counterattack. After fighting to this extent, we gave Nehru face and chose to stop the offensive.
On November 21, the day, China issued a statement announcing a total truce and the return of captured equipment and captured prisoners. The battle ended with a complete victory for the Chinese People's Liberation Army!
As *** said before the war: "As the saying goes, if you don't fight, you can't make a deal, maybe we can fight back, the border can be stabilized, and there is hope for a peaceful settlement of the border issue."
But our counterattack is only a warning, a punitive nature, and only a reminder to Nehru and India** that it is not possible to solve the border problem by military means. In settling diplomatic disputes, China has always adhered to the principle of "no one offends me, and I will not offend others" and has tried its best to resolve contradictions through peace and consultation.
However, when the sons and daughters of China and the Chinese nation are in fact infringed upon, we will never hesitate to fight back. This war more than 60 years ago brought decades of peace to the Sino-Indian border, and although there have been frequent border frictions in recent years, we believe that justice will triumph over power.
The strong Chinese people and the heroic People's Liberation Army will always be ready to protect the territory and the motherland!