Recently, the author looked back at my diary 55 years ago, and a speech written in a hurry evoked some memories of that era that had been sealed for a long time and before and after the outbreak of the world-famous Battle of Zhenbao Island.
March 14, 1969, was the third day that the author was assigned to the short-range navigation station of the 3rd Communication Company of the Zunhua Base of the Air Force as a radio dispatcher one month after enlisting in the army. That night, I was sorting out the notes on radio knowledge taught to me by Comrade Wang Jisuo (my mentor who was a beginner in radio technology, and was placed at the Zunhua base by the Air Division for training) during the day, when I suddenly received a task: The Xinglongdian Brigade stationed in the area held a meeting that night in which the poor and middle peasants angrily denounced the armed provocation of "Soviet repair" and invited our Taiwan to send people to attend (our postal code at that time was "No. 103 Xinglongdian Garrison in Zunhua County"). At that time, I was only a recruit under the age of 16 and a half, and I had only been wearing a military uniform for more than a month.
When I received the task, less than half an hour before the meeting, I quickly drafted a speech: I quoted several "supreme directives," enumerated the facts published in the newspapers, such as the Soviet troops invading Zhenbao Island and taking the lead in shooting and injuring our border guards, denounced the anti-China crimes of the "Soviet revisionists," and expressed the firm will of the revolutionary soldiers to defend the interests of the motherland to the death. My speech was obviously immature, but the atmosphere of hatred and hatred for the enemy and the speeches made by several representatives of poor middle peasants and revolutionary cadres made me deeply educated and more profoundly realized that "700 million people and 700 million soldiers, thousands of miles of rivers and mountains and thousands of battalions," and "the army and the people are united as one, try to see who can be the enemy in the world"! After the meeting, he returned to the station and immediately copied the speech into his diary (after the September 13 incident, the author cleaned up the contents of the diary on his own, changed the "supreme instruction" at the beginning of the article to "** quotations", and crossed out the words "I wish Lin and so on").
The "denunciation" meeting in which this writer attended is a small microcosm of the mass demonstrations launched throughout the country to denounce the invasion of the "Soviet revisionists." According to the "Encyclopedia", the participants claimed to have 1More than 500 million people demonstrate the firm determination and will of the entire people to unite as one, share the same hatred for the enemy, and resolutely defend the country's territorial sovereignty and safeguard the dignity of the Chinese nation.
In March 1969, a hot war broke out between China and the Soviet Union on Zhenbao Island, and a bloody clash broke out between the two armies.
Zhenbao Island is located in Zhenbaodao Township, Hulin County, Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, on the Chinese side of the center line of the main channel of the Ussuri River, with an area of 074 square kilometers. The two ends of the island are small, the middle is wide, and at a glance it looks similar to the ancient Chinese ingots, so it is called Zhenbao Island. The island was originally a peninsula, its northern end was connected to Chinese mainland, due to the long-term erosion of the river gradually separated, the river island was formed in 1915, but in the dry season it is still connected with the Chinese land on the banks of the Ussuri River, restoring the original peninsula appearance, people can walk from the Chinese land to the island. The east side of the island is separated from the Soviet Union by a river of about 400 meters.
Zhenbao Island (called Damansky Island in the Soviet Union) has been the territory of China since ancient times. Despite all the unequal treaties in history, there is no dispute that Zhenbao Island has always been Chinese territory. The local Chinese population has been producing and fishing on Zhenbao Island for generations. At the beginning of the last century, Chinese fishermen Zhang Gai and other old people went to the island to build houses, fish and grow vegetables, so the locals once called "Zhanggai Island" and "Weng Island". Since 1928, Chinese residents Chen Yuanjin and his son have lived on the island. Before 1945, Zhenbao Island was under the jurisdiction of Hulin County Company Village, and later under the jurisdiction of Hutou District. Chinese border guards have also been patrolling the area.
At the end of the fifties, there were fundamental differences between the Chinese and Soviet parties on principles and policies, and in 1959 the Soviet Union withdrew all experts in a surprise attack and suspended all contracts for construction aid projects. Since then, the Soviet Union has long exerted tremendous military pressure on China on the Sino-Soviet border. Beginning in 1964, the Soviet Union successively increased its troops in the Sino-Soviet border areas and began to create incidents on the border. The border disputes provoked by the Soviet Union mainly focused on the ownership of Zhenbao Island and Qiliqin Island.
Schematic diagram of Zhenbao Island and Qiliqin Island.
According to Yelizavikin, a former Soviet diplomat in China, from 1966 to 1967 the Soviet embassy alone more than once advocated "a counterattack against the Chinese on the island" in this area. At the end of 1968 and the beginning of 1969, the Soviet border guards frequently dispatched armored vehicles and trucks to carry soldiers carrying the best troops to invade our territory, and landed on Zhenbao Island and other islands to savagely interfere with the normal fishing and other production activities of our border people.
Soviet border guards in armoured vehicles and armed with sticks (above); Soviet troops violently drove away Chinese fishermen with long sticks (below).
Chinese border guards negotiate with Soviet troops who invaded our territory (above); On February 7, 1969, Chinese border guards confront Soviet border guards (below).
According to records, from the end of 1968 to March 1969, before the start of the Zhenbao Island self-defense counterattack, there were nearly 50 physical clashes between Chinese and Soviet border guards, in which people on both sides were injured and the scale of the clashes continued to grow. Soviet border guards also described that at first the clash between the two sides was only fists and kicks, which later escalated to beating each other with sticks, and by January 1969, the two sides of the conflict had begun to attack each other with rifle butts, and at the worst time both rifles had been loaded, but neither fired a shot, but only fought with the butts of their rifles.
In the face of the provocation of the Soviet army, China has been trying to solve it by peaceful means, and China has repeatedly and solemnly demanded that the Soviet side stop the armed invasion activities, but the Soviet side has turned a deaf ear and has been gaining an inch, repeatedly infringing on China's territorial sovereignty, causing our military and civilian forces. On January 5, 1968, when Chinese border residents were fishing on the ice on Qiliqin Island, not far north of Zhenbao Island, the Soviet army dispatched a large number of armed personnel of the border guards to cross the center line of the main channel of the Ussuri River in armored vehicles, invade the area of China's Qiliqin Island, and use armored vehicles to collide with Chinese border residents in normal production operations, killing and killing four Chinese fishermen and injuring and injuring nine fishermen on the spot.
After the incident on Qiliqin Island, the Military Commission of the Communist Party of China proposed to "make preparations for military cooperation in diplomatic struggles", and strive to achieve "if you don't fight, you will win"; However, he stressed that the main purpose of the border defense struggle is to do a good job in political and diplomatic struggles, and that our border defense troops are not allowed to fire the first shot, and only when the Soviet side shoots and kills or wounds our personnel, can they shoot in self-defense and return fire. The departments concerned have put forward a plan for counter-intervention in the Zhenbao Island area.
The Battle of Zhenbao Island on March 2, 1969, was the first border battle between China and the Soviet Union.
On March 1, Sun Yuguo, the head of our border station, led a patrol group to Zhenbao Island to patrol, but was provoked by the Soviet troops, and Sun Yuguo shouted loudly without flinching: "This is Chinese territory, you must evacuate immediately!" But the commander of the Soviet army, Ivan, ordered the beating of the Chinese fighters, injuring two more Chinese border guards.
At that time, he was the head of the border defense station of the Raohe Frontier Central Station Company (the "company" is the name of the local village) of the Hejiang Military Subdivision of the Heilongjiang Provincial Military Region.
So, who fired the first shot in the battle for Treasure Island?
There was an article by a former Soviet soldier recalling the battle: When the Soviet army approached Zhenbao Island, "....Suddenly, they came under frontal machine gun fire from the (Chinese), and the artillery and mortars on the left bank were all in unison, and the two groups led by Strelnikov and Rabevich were all killed ......"This obviously means that China fired the first shot in the battle for Zhenbao Island. However, this is a complete distortion of black and white.
On March 2, 1969, the Soviet army shelled Zhenbao Island.
According to the recollections of Yu Hongdong, a Chinese combatant, the actual situation is as follows:
In the early morning of March 2, 1969, our army sent a small detachment to Zhenbao Island to stand by, and Sun Yuguo once again led a team (a squad) to patrol the island. At 8:40 on the same day, Sun Yuguo led the patrol group to the island, and the Soviet army sent more than 70 soldiers to the island in two ways, one way to Sun Yuguo's patrol group, but the other road quietly detoured behind Sun Yuguo's patrol group from the side of the island, trying to form a situation of encirclement. At about 9 o'clock, just as Sun Yuguo shouted, "This is Chinese territory, you must evacuate immediately, otherwise you will bear the consequences," the Soviet troops who were on standby on the island suddenly encountered our troops on the island and immediately opened fire. Sun Yuguo, who was speaking to the Soviet army, heard the gunshots and immediately ordered a counterattack. The Soviet "lame captain" in front of the patrol group had just drawn his gun and was shot dead by our soldiers who were quick to shoot. Sun Yuguo's patrol group and the standby detachment, which had already accumulated their anger, won the battle in just over an hour, eliminating all the Soviet troops in front of the patrol group, killing a total of 31 Soviet troops, wounding 14 others, destroying one armored car, one command vehicle, and one truck, and damaging one armored vehicle, driving the invading Soviet troops out of Zhenbao Island. During the battle, 20 people were killed and 35 were wounded.
Later, it was learned that earlier, the command structure of the Soviet troops in the Far East had ordered: to drive the Chinese "crosser" personnel to shoot, if necessary. Colonel Konstantinov of the former Soviet Army (one of the commanders of the Soviet Frontier Corps at that time) also recalled: One day in November 1968, the command of the Frontier Corps reported to the military district that there was a possibility of an armed provocation and requested specific written instructions and strengthened forces. A week later, the commander and commissar of the corps were called to Vladivostok (Vladivostok) and said to them: "In the event of an armed provocation, then return fire." But it is only a verbal opinion and cannot be relied upon".
Based on the relevant information of the Soviet diplomatic and military command organs, it can be seen that it was not an accident that the Soviet troops were the first to shoot when they suddenly encountered our standby detachment, but that they were ordered first. The former Soviet Union's statement at that time distorted the self-defense counterattack that China was forced to carry out as a "sudden" and ambush that had been prepared, which is not at all in line with the facts.
In the aftermath of the bloody clashes on 2 March, both sides deployed troops in preparation for a possible escalation of the fighting. The Soviet side threw the 135th Motorized Infantry Division into the battlefield, and our side also transferred the 1st Battalion of the 201st Regiment of the 67th Division and artillery and other regular troops to participate in the battle.
3 15 "Combat map of the forward forces of our army.
After more than 10 days of preparation, the Soviet army invaded Zhenbao Island again on March 15, this time on a larger scale, with more than 20 tanks and more than 30 armored vehicles, and more than 200 infantry.
The winters on Zhenbao Island are long and cold, with temperatures reaching minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius, and the ice on the river is more than two meters thick. The front armor thickness of the Soviet T-62 main battle tank is up to 20 centimeters, and ordinary anti-tank ** is almost ineffective against it. Mines pose a threat to any vehicle, even T-62 tanks. The Soviet army repeatedly failed in its attacks, and in the end it did not take advantage.
In the early morning of March 15, more than 60 Soviet troops, under the cover of six armored vehicles, invaded from the northern tip of Zhenbao Island. Leng Pengfei, commander of a battalion of the Chinese border troops, was ordered to lead a reinforced platoon to land on the island and form a confrontation with the invading Soviet army. At about 8 o'clock, the Soviet army launched an attack, and the battalion commander Leng commanded calmly, adhered to the favorable terrain, commanded part of the troops to divide the Soviet army, and after an hour of fierce fighting, repelled the Soviet attack.
On March 15, 1969, Soviet tanks and armored vehicles invaded the Chinese River on the west side of Zhenbao Island.
At 9:46, under the cover of artillery fire, the Soviet border guards dispatched six tanks and five armored vehicles to approach Zhenbao Island, launched an attack from the north and south, and blocked the river with intensive firepower to prevent the Chinese border guards from landing on the island to support. Yang Lin, the leader of the recoilless gun squad who held on to the No. 2 position, occupied favorable terrain to block the Soviet army, and when the Soviet tank approached only more than 10 meters away, he threw five grenades one after another, disrupting the Soviet army's formation, causing one of its tanks to break into the minefield, the track was blown up, and the tank could not move. Yang Lin led two artillery squads to shoot maneuvering, hitting 3 armored vehicles in a row, but he was also unfortunately hit by Soviet tank fire and died heroically.
The destroyed Soviet T-62 main battle tank.
At 13:35, the Soviet border guards used helicopters and deep artillery fire to fiercely attack Chinese defensive positions and shelled deep areas in China (up to 10 kilometers in front and about 7 kilometers in depth). After 2 hours of shelling, more than 100 Soviet troops, under the cover of 10 tanks and 14 armored vehicles, launched a third attack. On that day, the Chinese border guards fought fiercely with the invading Soviet troops for more than nine hours and withstood six rapid artillery attacks by the Soviet border guards. Our side responded with artillery fire and struck at important military targets such as the command post of the Soviet front. The Chinese border guards defending the island divided their infantry from armor and tanks, fought close combat with the Soviet troops, weakened their firepower, smashed three Soviet attacks, and defended Zhenbao Island.
Chinese artillery strikes the invading Soviet troops.
In this fierce battle, the Chinese border guards resisted the repeated attacks of more than 50 Soviet tanks and armored vehicles and a large number of infantry, destroyed 1 Soviet tank and 8 armored vehicles, damaged 5 tanks and armored vehicles, killed more than 60 Soviet commanders and border commanders, Colonel Leonov Dmokrat Vladimirovich, and Lieutenant Colonel Yang Xin, and wounded more than 80 people. The squadron lost 12 casualties and wounded 27 people.
On the 17th, the Soviet border guards dispatched more than 70 infantry men to lay mines on the island in an attempt to prevent the Chinese border guards from landing on the island and to tow back the T-62 main battle tank that had been damaged by the Chinese border guards and stranded on the ice of Jiangxia. Chinese border guards repelled it with artillery fire. During the battle for the Soviet T-62 tank from March 17 to April 2, the artillery of the squadron killed and wounded more than 30 Soviet infantrymen.
Commanders and fighters of our border guards who won the battle of Zhenbao Island.
T-62 belongs to the United States, the Soviet standard three generations of tanks, is considered to be one of the most advanced tanks in the world at that time, equipped with a 115 mm caliber smoothbore gun, fast rate of fire, long range, powerful firepower, is the main battle tank of the Soviet Army at that time, its first real participation in the actual combat is in this Zhenbao Island battlefield. Unwilling to be captured by China, the Soviets sent a demolition team on March 21 to try to blow up the tank, but they were repulsed. On March 21 and 28, the engineers and technicians of a certain tank unit of the Chinese side completed the task of disassembling important parts of the tank in the face of heavy enemy fire. After that, the Soviets broke the ice under the tank with artillery fire, and the tank sank into the Ussuri River. On April 28, with the support of tank engineers and technicians and naval divers, the Chinese border guards used four winches to tow the turret and chassis out of the water, and then transported the tank to Beijing and placed it in the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, which became ironclad evidence of the Soviet Union's invasion of China's territory and an important reference for China's self-made new tanks and anti-tank **.
The Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution has a collection of T-62 tanks.
In the Zhenbao Island area, the strength of China and the Soviet Union was almost the same, but the squadron only had infantry on foot and some artillery and engineers, and there were no tanks, armored vehicles or air force support; The Soviet infantry was all motorized, and not only had superior artillery, but also a large number of tanks, armored vehicles, and air force planes that could be directly used to support operations, so it had an absolute advantage in technical equipment and firepower. Despite the disadvantage of its military strength in the border conflict zone, China's determination to carry out border defense is unwavering.
In the Zhenbao Island conflict, both sides used regular troops, and the Soviet army even used powerful "Hail" rocket installations to carry out in-depth shelling of targets on the Chinese side of the border with the most advanced BM-21 large-caliber rocket artillery at that time to prevent support troops from entering, but because the Chinese border guards occupied favorable terrain and used effective tactics, the Soviet Union not only did not take advantage of the artillery battle (its front-line command posts were destroyed by our artillery bombardment), but also failed to make a breakthrough in the ground offensive, and was beaten to the point of losing its armor and being embarrassed. Chinese border guards killed and wounded more than 230 Soviet soldiers (the Soviet Union announced the number of Soviet troops ** 152), and damaged 19 tanks and armored vehicles. A total of 71 people were killed in the squadron. The squadron won, and most of the Soviet invasion forces were annihilated and evacuated from Zhenbao Island.
If anyone does not offend me, I will not offend, but if anyone offends me, I will offend. ”
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, whether it was the border conflict events such as the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Sino-Indian Self-Defense Counterattack, the Zhenbao Island Self-Defense Counterattack, the Sino-Vietnamese (South Vietnam) Xisha War, and the Sino-Vietnamese Self-Defense Counterattack War, China's performance made the world see an indomitable New China, which did not bow its head in the face of power, dared to resist, and was good at resisting. The squadron's heroic and good fighting has defended the country's territory, safeguarded the dignity of the nation, and further enhanced China's influence in the world.
The victory in the Zhenbao Island operation proved that not being afraid of a strong enemy, daring to struggle, and being good at fighting are the most important factors in the anti-aggression war. Whether an independent and sovereign country dares to rise up to resist in the face of the threat of war from a strong enemy is a very important strategic choice politically and militarily. The Battle of Zhenbao Island showed that the Chinese People's Liberation Army still maintained the fine tradition of the combat team in a long-term peaceful environment, and demonstrated the determination and ability of this army to resist any invading enemy. After the Zhenbao Island incident, the Soviet Union had a new evaluation of China's strength, and also made the world realize that it was difficult to conquer China by means of war alone, and to a certain extent, it curbed the conspirators' war attempts.
Propaganda poster of the Battle of Treasure Island of that year.
On May 24, 1969, China** issued a statement pointing out: "It is not the responsibility of the Chinese side that the Sino-Soviet border issue has evolved to the point where it is today. However, China is still ready to comprehensively resolve the Sino-Soviet border issue through peaceful negotiations and opposes the resort to force. "Demanded" that the Soviet Union must stop all provocations and threats of force on the Sino-Soviet border. Small wars, big wars, and nuclear wars will absolutely not frighten the Chinese people. "Again, it is recommended" that in the section bounded by the river, the border guards of both sides do not cross the center line of the main channel and the main channel; Both sides pledged to avoid clashes, and in any case, border guards of both sides did not shoot at each other. ”
Chinese border guards after the victory.
After the Battle of Zhenbao Island, Chairman ** put forward the basic policy of "digging deep holes, accumulating grain, and not seeking hegemony" as the basic policy of anti-aggression war preparations and diplomatic activities, which made the idea of "preparing for war, preparing for famine, and serving the people" more concrete, and carried out preparations for "early attack, big fight, and nuclear war" against the enemy throughout the country. This has played an important role in curbing large-scale wars of aggression, promoting national economic construction, and establishing China's image of peace in the international community.
In the mid-to-late 70s, when I was a staff officer, I was also instructed to draw up a plan for the newly built airfield to cooperate with a certain field unit to carry out an offensive against the Soviet army's airborne, airborne, and motorized troops, as well as to survey a highway runway.
In August 1969, China built barracks on Zhenbao Island, stationed one to four officers and soldiers to garrison it all year round. On May 19, 1991, the foreign ministers of China and the Soviet Union formally signed an agreement to divide the border according to the main channel of the Ussuri River. In 1997, the demarcation of the eastern section of the Sino-Russian border was completed, and Russia recognized Zhenbao Island as China's territory, and Zhenbao Island completely belonged to China in law. Later, the "Supplementary Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation on the Eastern Section of the Sino-Russian Border" was signed, and so far, the 4,300-kilometer-long border between China and Russia has been confirmed.
In the Battle of Zhenbao Island in 1969, a number of heroes with outstanding achievements emerged, and Sun Yuguo, the then head of the border station, was one of the prominent representatives. On April 1, 1969, the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing, and Sun Yuguo participated in the "Ninth National Congress" of the Communist Party of China, and spoke on the stage as a military representative, reporting to the conference the process of the self-defense counterattack on Zhenbao Island. When Sun Yuguo talked about the total annihilation of the invading Soviet army on March 2, *** on the rostrum took the initiative to stand up and applaud, and then all the delegates gave a standing ovation and thunderous applause. When Sun Yuguo finished speaking, he got up again, and all the delegates applauded warmly.
At the party's national congress, a grassroots military representative spoke and took the lead in giving a standing ovation twice, giving great encouragement and encouragement to the military and civilians participating in the war and even the whole people. When *** got up and applauded for the second time, under the reminder of ***, Sun Yuguo strode towards the rostrum, shouting as he walked: **Long live! Before coming to the seat, Sun Yuguo saluted the supreme commander, was very happy, and held Sun Yuguo's hand tightly.
On April 14, 1969, in his speech at the second phase of the "Ninth National Congress", he gave high praise to the front-line commanders and fighters. He bluntly said: This time, the PLA did not use planes, tanks, armored vehicles, and command vehicles, and it only took nine hours to repel three attacks by the Soviet army, which was equipped to the teeth. It's not that we don't want planes, tanks, and armored vehicles, but the essence of fighting still depends on bravery and to dispel superstitions. The chairman's remarks shook the deafening deafening, and the major military regions, all branches of the armed forces, and all units immediately carried out a series of related activities, such as "breaking superstitions" and "three attacks and three defenses."
Shortly after the Battle of Zhenbao Island, China's newly developed armor-piercing and armor-piercing shells smashed nearly 25-centimeter-thick steel plates into bullet marks and craters. From then on, the Soviet T-62 tank ceased to be a battlefield weapon for rampage. It is said that at a high-level military meeting of the former Soviet army, a dozen ** taken by the Soviet "Cosmos" satellite were spread out on the conference table, and the marshals and generals looked at ** in turn, and their faces were gloomy and silent.
One is not afraid of hardship, and the other is not afraid of death." This is the revolutionary heroic spirit advocated by the People's Liberation Army that is not afraid of hardships and hardships and is not afraid of bloodshed and sacrifice, and is the basic content of the fighting style of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. The commanders and fighters of our army fully embodied this spirit in the battle of Zhenbao Island and won the victory in the battle, so some people say that this is also the "spirit of Zhenbao Island" of our army.
On April 28, 1969, in his speech at the First Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he once again clearly emphasized: I agree with such a slogan, which is called "one is not afraid of hardship, and the other is not afraid of death".
Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China, Volume 13 (13 volumes).
On October 1, 1969, the Chinese postal department issued a set of 6 stamps entitled "The Chinese Armed with *** Thought Are Invincible" (numbered "Wen 18"), of which the second and fourth stamps with the same pattern and different denomination value "Defend the Frontier" (above); In 1970, the "Severe Punishment of the Invading Enemy" stamp numbered "7" was issued (below).
More than half a century has passed, and tranquility has long since returned to the Treasure Island area. After the Zhenbao Island incident, China's strategic position in the international community has been continuously enhanced, and its influence in the world has become increasingly serious, making China truly a great power. As the three most powerful of the "five permanent members" of the UN Security Council, a situation in which China, the United States and the Soviet Union are in dilution has begun to take shape. In the 80s, Sino-Soviet relations gradually returned to normal, and after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Sino-Russian relations continued to warm up, and the two sides developed from a "constructive partnership" to a "strategic partnership."
In the 70s and 80s, during my service in the army, the author visited the military expo many times, and each time he would go to see the T-62 tank with body number 545 captured by our army in the battle of Zhenbao Island. It lies there quietly, seemingly silently telling the world that the Chinese people are peace-loving and brave and good at defending peace, and if anyone dares to infringe on China's interests, they will definitely be hit by the iron fist of the Chinese people!
Acknowledgement: The history of the Battle of Zhenbao Island** and the written materials are comprehensively compiled from the Internet ("Encyclopedia", "Zhenbao Island Self-Defense Counterattack", "Witnesses Tell the Little-Known Details of the Battle of Zhenbao Island, Written by Qian Bing", etc.), the copyright belongs to the original author. Thanks to the original author and publisher!