The Black Panther Commando is a special combat unit with high discipline and high combat effectiveness formed during the period of China's self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, with a total of 31 people.
Except for the captain Guo Ji, the rest of the members are under 20 years old.
In the 1987 Battle of Laoshan, the soldiers of the "Black Panthers" were ordered to capture the 167 heights, and in the fierce battle, most of the soldiers died, and less than 10 survived.
How are the surviving members of the Black Panthers doing today?
After the Battle of Laoshan Wheel in 1987, the survivors of the Black Panthers were honored and awarded.
First and second class merit and the title of "Battle Hero".
Now that they have changed jobs or retired, they are living a relatively stable life on their own life tracks.
After the captain Guo Ji'an retired, he often went to the Xi'an Martyrs Cemetery to sweep the graves of his comrades who had sacrificed, and talked to everyone about his heart, and he talked about it for most of the day.
After Ma Zhijun, a soldier who received first-class merit, retired from the army, he opened several companies by himself, became a wealthy businessman, and lived a very prosperous life.
After the fighter Li Guosheng changed jobs, he returned to his hometown and became a photographer.
After the fighter Seinfeld changed jobs, he looked for a new job, but was laid off soon after.
After being laid off, he originally wanted to open a restaurant to make ends meet and raise medical bills for his younger brother.
But because of poor management, the restaurant closed down, and then Seinfeld and his wife went to Lanzhou to work as a security guard, living in a small house.
Although their respective life trajectories are different, their thoughts about their comrades-in-arms have not changed over the years.
Every year on January 7, they will get together and line up as they did back then, waiting for the roll call of the old squad leader Guo Ji'e.
Whenever Guo Ji's forehead clicked on the names of his sacrificial teammates, the rest of them would shout "arrive" on behalf of their comrades.
It was an eventful time that they will never forget, where there was their blood, their tears, their oaths, their comrades-in-arms and their youth.
Today, they are already over half a hundred years old, and they still remember the 1987 Lao Son Battle, and what caused all this was the "self-defense counterattack war against Vietnam" in 1979.
In 1979, after Le Duan came to power, Vietnam** relied on the support of the United States and the Soviet Union, in order to maximize the interests of its own country, and disregarded China's previous friendship of help, repeatedly caused trouble, interfered with China's Sino-Vietnamese border, occupied China's territory, and injured China's border people.
On February 17, 1979, after repeated warnings to no avail, China was forced to launch a "self-defense counterattack war against Vietnam" against Vietnam to protect the integrity of China's territory and the safety of our border compatriots.
During the month of the battle, our soldiers were not afraid of hardships and sacrifices, and the soldiers came to block the water and cover the earth, and soon attacked "Hanoi" under the capital city of Vietnam.
However, the purpose of the current "self-defense and counterattack war against Vietnam" is only to make the Vietnamese authorities aware of our military strength and stop wantonly violating our border territory and harassing our border people, not aggression.
Therefore, when we hit the gate of "Hanoi", the capital of Vietnam, our country adhered to the principle of small punishment and big commandment, and no longer attacked "Hanoi", the capital of Vietnam, and on March 5, all the large units of our army were withdrawn and returned to China, and the "self-defense counterattack war against Vietnam" was won.
However, Vietnam has failed to live up to the goodwill of our country, and before our People's Liberation Army attacked the capital Hanoi, Vietnam's senior leaders abandoned all the buildings and fled.
After the withdrawal of our troops, they returned to their leading positions and spread rumors throughout the country that "our army was defeated and the Vietnamese army was victorious" to deceive the people.
In addition, after the end of the "self-defense and counterattack war against Vietnam", Vietnam still covets China's border territory, harasses China's border territory many times, and occupies the Lao Son area, a military strategic point on the Sino-Vietnamese border riding line.
After the occupation, the Vietnamese army relied on the complex terrain of Lao Son to build fortifications on the top and transform Lao Son into an ironclad defensive position.
Relying on these defenses, in the five years from 1979 to 1984, the Vietnamese army was arrogant and arrogant, constantly firing artillery and shooting at schools, farmlands, villages and other places in our country, injuring 325 soldiers and civilians on our border, forcing dozens of schools to suspend classes, and leaving farmland uncultivated.
Therefore, on 28 April 1984, China's Kunming Military Region received an order from its superiors to recover the "Two Mountains," and after 18 days of bloody battles, our border troops successfully recovered Laoshan and Yinshan.
However, the Vietnamese authorities were still unwilling to admit defeat and repeatedly organized the Vietnamese army to counterattack the two heights of Lao Son and Yin Mountain, which formed an unprecedented wheel war in these two heights, in which all major military regions of our country participated.
Therefore, in round after round of wheel warfare, in 1987, the "Black Panthers" received the task of their superiors: to capture the 167 heights and eliminate the Vietnamese troops on this heights.
Therefore, on April 28, 1984, when our Kunming Military Region received an order from his superiors to recover the "Two Mountains," when he learned that he had the opportunity to become a member of the "Black Panther Commando," he said: Joining the Black Panther Commando made him feel that his life was full of meaning.
Their first task was to pick up their comrades from the Laoshan Wheel War battlefield.
It was the first time they had faced death head-on, and they vividly remembered that before they went to battle, the team of hundreds of people came back with only a few people left.
At that moment, they understood that war is cruel.
In 1987, when they were again tasked with the task, the fighters behaved quite calmly.
They wrote their wills in the limited preparation time for the training camp, and adhered to the principle of reporting good news and not bad news, and did not tell their parents that they were about to go to war.
An extremely optimistic little soldier even wrote in his will to his family: Hello father and mother, it's good to be a soldier, I'm fine, and when the mission is over, I will go home and reunite with you.
After the training, the 31 members of the "Black Panther Commando" got on a truck bound for Laoshan along with the remaining 49 soldiers of the 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 417th Regiment of the 139th Division of the 47th Army of the Lanzhou Military Region.
The predecessor of the 417th Regiment was the 719th Regiment of the 359th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, which was the famous "Night Tiger Regiment" in the Eighth Route Army, and the 4th Company was the sharp knife company of the regiment.
In the truck, everyone was thinking about their own thoughts, and the last mission made them understand that this battle would be a vicious battle.
As the sound of artillery fire gradually became clear, the soldiers got out of the car, and Yuan Xi, a photographer accompanying the army, ran forward and backward with a heavy camera to take pictures of each soldier one by one.
Faced with the busyness of the photographers, many fighters bowed their heads shyly, and even avoided a little.
Yuan Xi wiped the sweat from his forehead, forced a smile and pretended to say to the soldiers lightly: The camera is very expensive, and ordinary people don't have the opportunity to take pictures, I hope everyone can show their best state for him to take a picture.
The soldiers burst into laughter after hearing this, and they all put on their best poses for Yuan Xi to take pictures.
In fact, everyone understands in their hearts what the photographer insists on taking pictures of them for.
After going to the battlefield, I don't know how many of them can come down alive, if they die, this ** will be their last thoughts in this world.
When everything was ready, the members of the "Black Panthers" went to the battlefield with the soldiers.
The 167 Heights is an important military commanding height on the old mountain, and during the previous wheel war, our side had successfully seized the heights, but with the repeated counterattacks of the Vietnamese army, the 167 Heights were snatched away by the Vietnamese army.
Therefore, the mission of the "Black Panthers" this time is: to recapture the 167 heights. (During the wheel war of the Kunming Military Region, this highland was numbered as 167 Heights, and after the Lanzhou Military Region entered the war, the number of this highland was changed to 425 Heights).
According to the data, the east side of the 167 highland is a gentle soil slope, the west side is a steep stone peak, from east to west is a narrow earth and stone mountain, the left side of the Panlong River, the right front is a small green mountain, located in the front line controlled by both sides of the Sino-Vietnamese border, surrounded by the highlands occupied by the Vietnamese army, the terrain is peculiar, as long as our soldiers go in, they will face embattled, easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Therefore, although other military regions of our army have attacked the 167 heights many times before, because they are surrounded by the rest of the Vietnamese army's high grounds, they often need to face fire attacks from the east, west, and south sides of the Vietnamese army's remaining high grounds.
At that time, the troops of the Vietnamese army stationed on the 167th Heights were the company headquarters of the 11th Company of the 4th Battalion of the 14th Regiment of the 313th Division of the Vietnamese Army and a fully armed reinforced platoon with rich combat experience.
In order to build the 167 Heights into a strong defensive offensive, the Vietnamese army not only stored a large amount of ammunition, water and food on it, but also built more than 20 defensive pillboxes.
Coupled with the fire support of the surrounding heights, if you want to capture the 167 heights, from the analysis of the battlefield, the hope is very slim.
In order to maximize the chances of success of this operation, Liu Yasu, commander of the 417th Regiment of the 139th Division of the 47th Army, asked the deputy captain of the commando team to lead 10 members of the 1st Commando Team to climb the 167 Heights first at half past four in the morning on January 6 to prepare for a surprise attack.
The team members lived up to expectations, relying on their high ability, and within two hours, they climbed to the main attack port on the northeast side within 10 meters of the main position of the Vietnamese army on the 167th height, and lurked for 25 hours without being discovered by the Vietnamese army.
At half past three o'clock in the morning on January 7, 1987, the headquarters of the 414th Regiment of the 47th Army of our army saw that the time was ripe, so it ordered the first commando and the second commando to grope and advance to the 167th Heights by night.
Three hours later, we did.
1. More than 70 members of the 2nd Commando Team successfully infiltrated the No. 1 Operational Area of the 167th Heights of the Vietnamese Army.
After observing the terrain, Guo Ji'e, the captain of the "Black Panthers" and the deputy commander of the 4th Company, ordered the soldiers to prepare for battle while hiding and be ready to attack at any time.
However, the overly quiet dawn seemed to make the Vietnamese army sniff out the danger, and the originally quiet Vietnamese position suddenly sounded aimless artillery sound.
The sudden sound of artillery did not confuse our soldiers, and the good quality of the soldiers made their lurking without any flaws.
The sound of artillery became more and more urgent and intensive, and Xi Wenhua, a member of the team who was lurking near Cave 5 in District 3 of the Vietnamese Army, was unfortunately hit by a shell and died on the spot.
Dong Yongan, who was ten meters away from the enemy's outpost, was also injured, and the pain of the wound made his body tremble.
Someone wanted to go forward and bandage his wounds, but Dong Yongan found out and signaled his comrades-in-arms not to act rashly, so as not to expose the target and make the whole operation fall short.
But the severe pain made him want to roar all the time, in order not to let himself shout, and in order to forcibly stop his body from shaking, Dong Yongan bit the grenade, his nails were stuck in the dirt, and he died due to excessive blood loss.
At 7 o'clock, more than 300 artillery pieces of our artillery company began to launch a fierce attack on the Vietnamese troops on the 167 heights.
Under the cover of artillery fire, the fighters of the 417 battalion of the 2nd battalion of the 4th regiment began to launch a fierce attack on their respective mission points.
When he was lurking, Liu Qiuping, who was also seriously injured like Dong Yongan, relied on his residual consciousness to push the machine gun and crawled towards the 167 position for more than 60 meters before dying heroically.
Seeing this, Ma Zhanfu, a soldier of the first echelon, rushed forward and directly blew up one of the enemy's machine-gun fortifications and three Vietnamese soldiers.
The enemy blockers quickly spotted him, Ma Zhanfu was directly pierced through the abdomen, and he quickly lay down next to the stone on the side, but was still locked by the Vietnamese army.
After a string of bullets passed, the Vietnamese army finally stopped taking Ma Zhanfu's position**.
Ma Zhanfu, who was grazed by a stray bullet, saw the diverted attention of the Vietnamese army, so he endured the pain and threw the blaster into another enemy fortification.
When the Vietnamese soldiers saw the blaster, they hurriedly wanted to pick it up and throw it out, but Ma Zhanfu did not give the Vietnamese soldiers a chance.
He fought bravely, blocked the exit of the fortification with his chest, and the blaster exploded, and only 20-year-old Ma Zhanfu died heroically.
Because he couldn't write, his will was recorded in a tape recorder, and in the will, he didn't say anything, but shouted 26 times, "Niang, as time passed, the battle on the 167 heights gradually became white-hot."
In addition to the original artillery fire on the 167th heights, the artillery fire on the other heights also came towards the 167th heights.
The members of the Black Panther Commando were attacked from all sides, and they were heavy, but the fighters were not afraid of death and forcibly captured the position.
An hour later, the 167 heights were quickly occupied by the fighters of the "Black Panthers".
However, the Vietnamese troops in the remaining positions did not give up the intention of handing over the 167 heights, and they intensified their firepower and counterattacked the 167 heights again and again.
The fire became more and more intense, and the members of the "Black Panthers" resisted stubbornly, and some fighters kept falling, and the fierce battle lasted for 10 hours.
Guo Ji'e, the captain of the first commando team, led the remaining fighters and stubbornly repelled 6 enemy counterattacks.
The tenacity of our army made the Vietnamese army cowardly, and the interval between counterattacks became longer and longer, and Guo Ji'e had the opportunity to look at his comrades-in-arms at this time.
Without exception, almost everyone was injured, and some were unconscious.
Faced with this situation, Guo Ji'e made a decision: he asked the soldiers who could still move to retreat with the unconscious soldiers, leaving only another soldier with less injuries to wait for the enemy's next counterattack.
In the face of the captain's orders, the soldiers, who have always regarded obedience to orders as their duty, disobeyed the order en masse this time.
They resolutely disagreed with the order of the captain Guo Ji'e and insisted on staying in the position to fight together, but Guo Ji'e couldn't, so he agreed to the soldier's request.
In this way, they blocked the enemy's counterattack again and again, until both sides ran out of ammunition, and they finally held the 167 heights and completed the task.
Although our "Black Panthers" won this battle, the price paid was huge.
The team of more than 80 people before the war only had less than 10 survivors after the war, and they were all wounded and even left with lifelong disabilities.
After the battle, they were awarded military merit in a commendation.
Now the surviving fighters of the "Black Panther Commando" Guo Ji'e, Ma Zhijun, Li Guosheng, and Song Fei have their own life trajectories, and they are looking forward to the reunion on January 7 every year on their own life trajectories.
That "to" represents not only their enthusiastic youth, but also the comradeship that will never be forgotten.