On April 27, 1984, the 1st Battalion of the 118th Regiment of the 40th Division of the 14th Army of the Kunming Military Region carried out a secret mission, that is, to penetrate from the cliff to the back of the old mountain and occupy the 1072 heights, so as to block the reinforcements of the Vietnamese army.
In the face of wind and rain, 700 soldiers bravely advanced into the depths. However, the army leadership raised the interspersed mission from the foot of the mountain to the slope, which made the task even more difficult, and the distance of the interspersed mission was increased by 400 meters, which led to the failure of the mission.
In just 5 minutes, many company commanders were killed, and after the two-hour battle, the position was littered with corpses. This operation showed that in order to defend the territorial integrity of the country, the soldiers dare to face difficulties and are willing to pay for the country even in the face of life and death challenges.
Although the battle ended in defeat, the heroic deeds of the soldiers deserve to be remembered forever.
On April 20, 1984, the 40th Division of the 14th Army and 12 artillery companies and 4 tank companies of the artillery unit advanced to the front line with the mission of regaining the lost territory in the Laoshan area.
At that time, our army had deployed 257 artillery pieces, aiming at 414 defensive targets of the enemy, ready to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy. However, the easy to defend and difficult to attack of Laoshan made the battle for recapture extremely difficult.
In order to take the enemy by surprise, the 40th Division decided to send the 1st Battalion of the 118th Regiment to secretly penetrate behind enemy lines, avoid the solid defensive shell, and smash directly into the enemy's rear in order to cut off his retreat and prevent his reinforcements.
At 7 p.m. on April 27, a drizzle fell in the sky, which made it difficult for the 700 fighters of the 1st Battalion to intersperse operations. Beneath the cliffs lies an abyss, and the thorny path allows the warriors to cut through the thorns with knives while carefully traversing them.
According to the deployment of the military department, the 1st battalion must complete the interspersed tasks within 3 hours. However, the one-hour distance on the map was far more than estimated on the map, and the terrain was complex, with steep cliffs and slopes of 60 degrees, making it very difficult for the soldiers to advance.
And because of the rain, the soil was soft, and the soldiers could only move forward cautiously, grasping the rattan in their hands, not daring to be negligent in the slightest. In the dense bamboo forest and wattle bushes, facing the abyss under their feet, the soldiers could only hold the rattan in their hands and move forward cautiously.
This rugged path has witnessed the tenacity and perseverance of the warriors. They trekked through mountains and rivers, and some even had their soles pierced by bamboo roots, and their shoes were stuck in the mud and could not be pulled out, so they could only walk barefoot.
However, the most troublesome thing is getting lost in the forest. As time passed, the comrades-in-arms realized that they had taken the wrong path, a very small number of people fainted due to excessive fatigue, and some even fell into the abyss because they could not grasp the rattan.
On the way to the 1072 heights, the two platoon units that were in front also deviated from the intended route. At this time, the time for shelling was approaching, and the army was panicked, but they could not fire a warning shot, so as not to be discovered by the enemy.
At this moment, the Vietnamese troops near 1072 suddenly woke up, discovered the traces of our troops, and immediately concentrated their firepower on our troops. Our troops fought back, and at this time the time for shelling had come, and our troops, who heard the gunfire here, immediately shelled the heights on the interspersed route, and the fire and gunfire were intertwined, which was deafening.
In this continuous artillery fire, soldiers on both sides kept falling. In this short period of five minutes, the deputy commander of the first company, the deputy commander of the second company, the commander of the first machine gun company, the deputy commander of the third company, and many instructors were killed one after another.
In a fierce battle, the instructor and deputy battalion commander of the 1st Infantry Company were wounded by enemy fire, while the deputy commander of the 1st Company was killed by heavy machine gun fire. The deputy commander of the second company led the assault platoon to charge on the No. 48 heights, but was intensively strafed by the enemy's hidden fire points, and the deputy commander of the second company also died heroically in the process.
After witnessing the sacrifice of so many comrades, the commander of the 2nd Company led the team to temporarily avoid its edge, looking for a foothold to attack the enemy's fire point. However, the enemy's artillery fire was too fierce, and the company commander was also wounded.
In just two hours of fighting, the interspersed route was already covered with wounded soldiers and corpses, and the scene was horrible. The 118th Battalion of the 1st Regiment failed in the operation, the formation was scattered, and it was extremely heavy, so it could only fight on its own.
In this battle, many young soldiers were forever frozen at the age of 18, 19, and 20, and their heroism was remembered by all. As the bombardment continued, almost all the commanders of the second infantry company were killed, and at this time the team fell into a state of leaderlessness, which was serious and could be said to have lost its combat effectiveness.
Red signal flares rose into the air, and 257 artillery pieces fired in unison, flying in the direction of Laoshan, directly covering 414 targets. The 5th Company of the 118th Regiment was the main attack company, and the battle to capture the main peak of Laoshan entered a white-hot stage.
Our artillery fire suppressed the forward positions of the Vietnamese army, but the cunning Vietnamese troops hid in the tunnels and shelters, called for artillery with the radio, and fired covering the main peak to support them in holding their positions.
Vietnamese artillery shells rained down, stirring up a miasma of smoke and smoke throughout the position, and almost nothing could be seen. The 5th Company also quickly hid in the tunnel. The 3rd Battalion pulled out the No. 54 Heights, ordered the 8th Company to go on the defensive, and suppressed the main peak Vietnamese army from the bottom up.
The 7th Company, which served as a reserve, began to attack the main peak, and the fire of the regimental artillery group helped the 8th Company to draw part of its forces and form an assault team with the 7th Company, and at 10:50 a.m., rushed to the main peak from the northeast side of the old mountain.
The 4th and 5th companies of the 2nd Battalion also rushed over from the other side, and the two battalions fought in concert. As the general offensive of our army began, all kinds of firearms also began to shoot at the enemy's positions, and a burst of smoke and dust ended, and the corpses of Vietnamese soldiers were lying on the hillside everywhere.
After 5 hours and 20 minutes of fierce fighting, our army finally annihilated all the Vietnamese troops entrenched on the main peak. According to statistics after the war, our army killed and wounded more than 900 Vietnamese soldiers, and destroyed more than 30 Vietnamese artillery pieces and 20 military vehicles.
In the battle to seize the main peak of the old mountain on the way, our army sacrificed a total of 233 officers and men.
Win glory for the country, the future can be expected: In the Laoshan Campaign, the major military regions fought in turn, and played the national and military prestige of our country.
Their heroic efforts not only won the war, but also laid the foundation for development in the coming decades.