In the 1979 self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, Vietnam's "Self-Defense Forces" were large in number, with battalions as units, each battalion numbering 300-400 people, with advanced equipment and close to the strength of the regular army.
Their youth stormtroopers, each company numbered 50-70 people, although they were mainly equipped with semi-automatic rifles and had relatively weak combat effectiveness, they inflicted heavy losses on our troops in terms of terrain mastery and concealment.
Therefore, it is very appropriate to use the phrase "all the people are soldiers" to describe the strength of Vietnam's civilian army. During the march into Vietnam, our army strictly observed discipline and always took a non-harming attitude towards women and children.
However, many women and children have long been trained in the militarization of Vietnam, and are adept at camouflage and hiding**. Some hid explosives in jars for delivering water, others in their clothes.
Due to their lack of preparedness, some soldiers encountered the opportunity of the Vietnamese People's Army, which caused great trouble to our troops on the way. Many veterans of the war recalled that most of them suffered in this area.
Later, the PLA increased its vigilance and began to keep Vietnamese civilians from approaching. But it is the children who are the most difficult to prevent. Some of the children were trained at a very young age to be presentable, often pretending to be playful and slowly approaching our troops.
In the face of innocent children, our army will not be as vigilant as it is with adults. However, what is surprising is that even a small child can inflict a surprise attack on our army.
In short, the Vietnamese people's army is strong, and our army must be vigilant when entering Vietnam, especially when dealing with women and children, and not take it lightly.
On February 16, 1979, in the combat mission of annihilating the enemy, our army successfully eliminated a reinforced platoon of the Vietnamese army and about 59 members of the youth stormtrooper unit, and captured a large amount of war materials.
In this operation to clean up the remnants, our army encountered a special opponent, a little girl who came alone, actually threw a grenade at our army, fortunately it did not go off, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.
This shows that Vietnam not only has a regular army, but also a large number of militias. The long war has made the Vietnamese people learn to pick up on their own, and Vietnam has also put a lot of effort into military education for the whole people, and almost every student and peasant will shoot.
It is also understandable that ordinary people suffer the most from war, so when war breaks out, they will naturally protect themselves and their families. In Song Zipei's "Twenty-Eight Days of Life and Death", the huge cost of war has been tactfully revealed.
The mobilization of the Vietnamese is indeed strong, but if it were not for the constant provocations and the dream of hegemony, they would not have developed to this point in the end. General Xu Shiyou's strategy was simple but effective, and when our army suffered heavy losses, he quickly made adjustments and adopted the strategy of "attacking in the opposite direction."
The 55th Division led by him concentrated 9 corps and more than 300 artillery pieces to carry out concentrated fire attacks north of Lang Son.
In a fierce battle with the elite Vietnamese troops, both sides opened fire. Our artillery fire was only 500 meters away from the Vietnamese position, which shows the fierce fighting situation. Lang Son, as a key geographical location, is of great importance to the Chinese and Vietnamese armies.
It is the last natural danger for our army to attack Hanoi, Vietnam, and only by taking it can our army be able to reach Hanoi, Vietnam, smoothly, so that Vietnam will be afraid. The northern part of Vietnam is mountainous, and the south of Lang Son is mostly plains, as long as you pass through Lang Son, our army can drive straight into and take here, which is equivalent to directly forcing Vietnam to surrender on its own initiative.
After adjusting the strategy of "attacking in reverse", the remnants of the defeated Vietnamese army will begin to retreat to Lang Son, using the surrounding mountains as a defense. After careful analysis, General Xu Shiyou believed that the terrain north of Lang Son was steep and there were high ground on both sides, and it was likely that he would be surrounded by enemy troops at both ends during the crossing.
In order to overcome this difficulty, he ordered the army to first take control of the outer heights and clear all the enemy bases in the Lang Son stronghold. Then it was extended along the road and launched a general assault on the enemy.
However, unexpectedly, it rained in the sky, causing our troops to see the route clearly, in order to avoid accidentally hitting the Vietnamese army's firepower network, Xu Shiyou once again ordered the tank artillery to open the road and guide the direction for the infantry.
This choice gradually reversed the inferior position of our army, and in a short period of time, it concentrated its firepower to wipe out all the Vietnamese forces on the outskirts of Lang Son. At this time, the Vietnamese ** were very anxious, they knew that once this place was lost, Hanoi would be completely exposed to the fire of the People's Liberation Army.
In addition to using women and children to lure our soldiers to relax their vigilance and shoot good soldiers, the Vietnamese army also used chemical **, which is banned by the international community, and released poison gas bombs, which made people lament their irrationality and unscrupulous means.
In the face of such a danger, our army had no defense, and as a result, most of the soldiers were collectively poisoned and even died. General Xu Shiyou was very angry because of this, and directly ordered the artillery to storm Lang Mountain.
In just 30 minutes, tens of thousands of artillery shells were ready to be fired, and at the same time launched an attack on Lang Son, which suddenly burst into flames, and the Vietnamese soldiers who had been killed and wounded had to retreat one after another.
In fact, the evacuation of the people in Lang Son before the artillery attack was launched, which also made the attack smoother. In the end, our army successfully captured the new ** building in Lang Son and raised the national flag on it.
The original plan was to give a warning to Vietnam, but they did not expect that their ** would openly declare in the international community that although our army carried out a large-scale bombing, Lang Son is still in their hands.
There are two urban areas in Lang Son, one is the old ** and the other is the new ** building. In the face of the stubbornness of Vietnam**, it seems that only by convincing them can they bow their heads and admit their mistakes.
Xu Shiyou asked the ** Military Commission for instructions, hoping to go all the way south and capture the southern urban area, so as to be able to give the Vietnamese ** a warning and let them shut up. After careful study by the Military Commission, it is believed that the current victory of our army has not played a deterrent role, and it is necessary to continue to move south, wait for the mastery of the entire territory of Lang Son, and then agree on the next plan.
After the Vietnamese retreated, we blew up the bridge connecting Lang Son and Hanoi over the Khuy Chi River, probably because the Vietnamese army believed that we did not have the ability to cross the river to fight, so we had no fear.
Xu Shiyou ordered that the 43rd Army and the 55th Army cross the Poor Chi River to smash the conspiracy of Vietnam. It seems that there is a heavenly help in the dark. When we crossed the Qianqi River, it was foggy and visibility was very low.
In order to protect the safe crossing of the river by our troops, we crossed the river with ease under the cover of more than 100 artillery pieces and quickly opened up a landing battlefield to meet the troops in the rear.
With our overwhelming offensive, the Vietnamese army did not last long before fleeing quickly. Soon, the old town of Lang Son was occupied by us, and the once rampant enemy army was completely annihilated.
Vietnam** is concerned about the threat from the PLA, and they fear that the PLA will arrive under the city of Hanoi in a few days. However, they underestimated the intentions of China.
China has no aggressive intentions, but only wants to warn the Vietnamese authorities not to dream of hegemony. After taking full control of Lang Son, China** announced to the world that China had driven the Vietnamese invaders back to the country, that the punitive goal had been achieved, and that the withdrawal plan had been implemented.
Although our country won the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, it was huge. They thought Vietnam would be warned, but they made waves in the international community again, saying that China's withdrawal was a sign of their own troops.
China** expressed strong dissatisfaction with this. Before the planned withdrawal, General Xu Shiyou ordered that no more industrial facilities should appear in all passing areas. This self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, from February 17 to March 16, 1979, took a month, and our army was about 270,000 people, of which about 6,000 were killed.
As for the Vietnamese army, according to statistics, about 60,000 people were killed and wounded, and some militia members were killed or wounded about 50,000, totaling more than 110,000. Since all the people in Vietnam are soldiers, the real death toll is clearly higher.
In the victory of the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, our country has created a stable internal and external environment for itself. This war is not only to defend the country, but also to prevent China from being caught between the Soviet Union and Vietnam and to ensure the geopolitical stability of our country.
After the end of the war, our army successfully destroyed a number of military, political and economic infrastructure, including industrial mines and missile bases in northern Vietnam. General Xu Shiyou also summed up the campaign, believing that it had trained a large number of backbones and made a major contribution to the military construction of our army, and that our army would not have to worry about the lack of backbone in the coming decades.
Although some Vietnamese Nationalists threw grenades at our troops during the war, there were also many Vietnamese who expressed friendship with our troops. Therefore, we must have a comprehensive understanding of war in order to avoid ignoring the complexity of war because of blind view.