Counterattack against Vietnam
Author: Forgotten in the rivers and lakes.
Statement: Bing said that the original debut, the whole network has been opened to protect rights, and plagiarism and handling must be investigated
In the counterattack against Vietnam, our army was divided into the eastern and western fronts, with a total of two commanders-in-chief.
Xu Shiyou on the Eastern Front opened and closed with great thunder and thunder, dealing a heavy blow to the First Military Region of Vietnam; Yang Dezhi (later Zhang Gongxiu) on the Western Front was a battalion step by step, and the operation of the Second Military Region of Vietnam was steady, and the number of enemies destroyed on the Eastern Front was only 40%, but it was much less.
For a long time, many military fans have such a difficult feeling in their hearts:
At that time, the "God of War" Su Yu was alive, if he came to replace Xu Shiyou's command, would the eastern front of our army be very different?
Will the use of our military techniques and tactics be more subtle, and will it be more resolute to intersperse behind enemy lines?
Will the process of coercion Hanoi be smoother, and will the scene be better?
Will the results of our army be greater, will they be smaller?
In the early spring of 1979, the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam was not small.
In this local operation, which lasted only four weeks, our army dispatched nine military units on the front line.22With 50,000 troops, including the rear support echelon and the coordinated arms of the navy and air force, the number of troops participating in the battle reached 550,000.
Among the thousands of founding generals, there are only a handful of people who are handy in the large corps, such as Mr. Peng who is "horizontal and swords", Liu Shuai, who is "the current Sun Wu", Mr. Lin who is the "Eagle of the Red Army" and "No. 101" in Siye, Xu Shuai, who is low-key and unpretentious, and General Su Yu, who is recognized as "especially good at organizing large corps operations".
What would it be like if the counterattack against Vietnam was commanded by Su Yu instead of Xu Shiyou?
When the war broke out, in fact, the two generals and commanders of our army were no longer young. Admiral Xu Shiyou is 73 years old, General Yang Dezhi is 68 years old, and even Major General Zhang Gongxiu, who later replaced Yang Dezhi's command, is 64 years old.
General Su Yu, who served as the first political commissar of the Academy of Military Sciences, was 72 years old at the time, one year younger than General Xu Shiyou. During the war years, Su Yu and Xu Shiyou cooperated in major battles such as Laiwu, Menglianggu, Yanzhou, and Jinan, and their command styles were completely different.
Xu Shiyou is like "fierce Zhang Fei", thick and fine. Su Yu is "Zhao Zilong", brave and strategic.
In terms of organizing large corps operations, compared with Xu Shiyou, it is undoubtedly Su Yu's strength.
When Xu Shiyou was a soldier in the next company, he told the soldiers battle stories
It is an indisputable fact that Su Yu's military commander's achievements and merits are higher than Xu Shiyou's.
As one of our army's most outstanding military strategists, General Su Yu's operational command has been recognized by the whole army and highly praised by the chairman, Liu Shuai, and others. The chairman praised Su Yu as "a talent, a general, and a handsome talent," and Liu Shuai even called Su Yu a rare strategist who won all battles and was the best general in our army.
Su Yu's use of soldiers, both the legacy of Sun Wu, the "soldier saint" of the Warring States Period, is resourceful, decisive, wise and brave; also has the demeanor of Huo Quai, a famous general of the Western Han Dynasty, who makes good use of strange soldiers and defeats the enemy; There is also the talent of the famous Tang Dynasty general Li Jing, the talent of Wang Zuozhi, and the talent of civil and military; There are also the characteristics of Yue Fei, a famous general in the Southern Song Dynasty, who uses it wonderfully and has one heart.
There is no doubt about one thing, if Su Yu commands, he will definitely be more refined than Xu Shiyou.
Taking Yang Dezhi on the Western Front as an example, the counterattack battle plan was repeatedly scrutinized and considered, interspersed with thousands of routes and troops, and the operation was prudent and meticulous, which was less than Xu Shiyou on the Eastern Front, but the results were also smaller.
The so-called "everything has advantages and disadvantages", if Su Yu commanded the eastern front, he should be more well-planned and steady than Yang Dezhi on the western front, and it is possible to win by surprise like Meng Lianggu, but in this way, it is inevitable.
War is both a continuation of politics and a systematic project.
In other words, fighting a war does not only rely on the commander's strategic planning, decisive victory of thousands of miles, immediate adaptation, and anticipation of the enemy, but also inseparable from the implementation and improvised adaptation of senior generals at the army and division levels, as well as the leading and dying of the middle and lower-level commanders at the regimental, battalion, and company levels, as well as the ability of the vast number of soldiers to charge into battle, fight individually, and coordinate.
In addition, the level of equipment, intelligence and reconnaissance, logistical support, and political work of the troops are also necessary prerequisites for winning a war. Therefore, just by replacing Xu Shiyou with Su Yu, the Guangxi direction may not necessarily fight better and more beautifully, the trend and course of the war may not be smooth sailing, and the results may not necessarily be greater or smaller.
Judging from the situation of the middle and high-level commanders, after 10 years of the special movement, our army has been absent from the battle formation for a long time, and it has been a long time since "swords and guns have been put into Kuma and released into Nanshan," and the tactical level and on-the-spot command of commanders at the army and division levels cannot be compared with the peak of our army's light infantry in the 50s and 60s.
Although the 9 armies and 29 divisions of our army participated in the war, although they had obvious advantages on the whole, there were also many mistakes and omissions. As for the commanders at the regimental, battalion, and company levels, some of them could not even understand the operational map, and when they arrived on the battlefield, they were confused, leaving a profound lesson.
Judging from the actual situation of the officers and men who participated in the war, there were also many problems at that time.
First of all, our army's overall military quality and combat readiness training do not allow for optimism.
Before the start of the self-defense and counterattack war, what was the overall military quality and training level of our army?
After the end of the counterattack against India, the defense of Zhenbao Island experienced by our army was a divisional and battalion-scale operation, which was far from being compared with the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Compared with the lack of actual combat experience, the daily combat readiness training was also seriously insufficient during the 10-year special period, and many units were even mainly engaged in agricultural production and engineering construction, and some divisions had only one company really engaged in military training.
In addition, in peacetime, our army adopts the establishment of divisions A and B, and the establishment of division B is less than 6,000 people, which is only half of the division A. In wartime, it was temporarily expanded into a division of type A, and more than half of the recruits and cadres were recruited, which affected combat effectiveness.
Of the 29 divisions in the counterattack against Vietnam, Division B accounted for 21 of them, and the troops were expanded in the face of the battle, not only did the number of new recruits increase by a large amount, but also because they had not undergone adequate training, many of the commanders at the grassroots level were novices. This is like the Chinese men's football team, the team base is poor, even if a world famous coach like Lippi is invited, it is difficult to fundamentally change the status quo.
Secondly, in addition to the greater superiority in artillery, our army's equipment situation is relatively large, and other equipment such as Type 56 assault rifles, light machine guns, Type 69 rocket launchers, and Red Arrow 73 anti-tank missiles and tanks, compared with the Vietnamese army, do not have much advantage, and some are still at a disadvantage.
A photo of our army's participation in the counterattack against Vietnam in 1979, from near to far: Type 56 squad light machine gun, Type 56 submachine gun, Type 56 semi-automatic rifle].
The counterattack against Vietnam is a large-scale corps operation in a special period and in a special place.
The reason why it is said to be a special time is because our army is at a low point in history, and its combat effectiveness is weakening; The reason why it is said to be a special location is that the combat area is in the mountainous areas of northern Vietnam, there are still some river valleys in the Guangxi direction where heavy troops can be deployed, and the mountains and ravines in the Yunnan direction are so high that even large corps cannot be used.
The Vietnamese army used 40 rocket launchers supported by our country to ambush in the mountains. It is the characteristic of the Vietnamese army to like to drill caves and engage in ambushes, and during the retreat stage of our army, it created some problems for us
In addition, our army mainly fought a tug-of-war in the mountains of the peninsula, and the counterattack against Vietnam fell into the guerrilla warfare in the tropical mountains and jungles of Vietnam. The battlefield is 20 meters from the border in a straight line50 kilometers is shallow near depth.
North Vietnam is located in the first belt of mountainous jungles, with steep mountains and dense forests, rugged roads, for our army deep into the territory of the other side, such a terrain has never been experienced. It is easy to deviate and get lost in the interspersed troops. Our army's tank, armor, and transport convoys are easily attacked by small groups of Vietnamese troops, and the superior forces and heavy equipment cannot be fully utilized.
The most important thing is the logistics support, and I paid a lot of tuition fees in Vietnam.
The above subjective and objective factors are by no means something that a single commander can solve, whether it is Xu Shiyou or Su Yu. No matter how clever a military commander is in command, if he leads a group of soldiers who have been out of battle for a long time in unfamiliar terrain conditions, it will be difficult to implement the battle plan, no matter how thorough and meticulous the battle plan is.
Xu Shiyou (left), commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, and Yang Dezhi, commander-in-chief of the Western Front, entered and exited the venue arm-in-arm
History chose Xu Shiyou instead of Su Yu, which naturally makes sense.
Everyone has their own strengths, and naturally there will be their own shortcomings. In the case of General Su Yu, there are also some factors that have constrained his military career. His wounded and sick body no longer allowed him to command such a big battle as a counterattack against Vietnam.
At that time, although Su Yu was one year younger than Xu Shiyou, his physical condition was not as good as Xu Shiyou.
As early as 1978, General Su Yu had planned to go south and take a walk to Jinggangshan, Tanjiaqiao, and Huazhong where he had fought. However, due to physical reasons, he could not hold on to it on the way, so he could only return halfway. However, before the self-defense counterattack, General Su Yu was still entrusted by the Military Commission to go to the Sino-Soviet and Sino-Mongolian borders to inspect the threat situation of the other side.
In addition, since 1958, General Su Yu has left the front line for more than 20 years, while Xu Shiyou and Yang Dezhi have always served in the large military region and have never left the combat unit. Knowing each other and knowing oneself, invincible in a hundred battles, is more suitable for front-line command.
The reason why history chose Xu Shiyou, who "pulled out the mountains and covered the world", to take command of the main battlefield in Guangxi was the same as when the chairman elected Peng to command the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid KoreaThe spirit of "bright sword" of "whether to fight or not" is more important than "how to fight". Besides, a war like a limited scale counterattack against Vietnam has not yet risen to a heavyweight founding general like Su Yu, and the founding generals Xu Shiyou, Yang Dezhi, and even the founding major general Zhang Gongxiu are already "knives" that kill chickens, which is enough.
Of course, although General Su Yu did not have a front-line command of the counterattack against Vietnam, he was very concerned about this war, and after the war, he also wrote about the future anti-aggression war.
References:
1. "Memoirs of Su Yu", by Su Yu, People's Liberation Army Publishing House;
2, "A Generation of Famous General Xu Shiyou", by Sun Xiao and Song Mei. Published by Yellow River Publishing House.
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