In 1979, Admiral Xu Shiyou issued an order that he regretted for 6 years
Introduction: In January 1979, the fighters of our two military regions in Guangzhou and Yunnan mobilized in full mobilization to attack northern Vietnam. At that time, the Vietnamese army repeatedly violated our border and caused casualties among the people on our border, and the central authorities decided that General Xu Shiyou would take command and must teach the enemy a good lesson. In less than a month, General Xu Shiyou successfully defeated the main Vietnamese force, and in the face of our powerful artillery fire, the enemy collapsed all the way.
On the afternoon of February 27, General Xu Shiyou led his soldiers to successfully occupy the important town of Lang Son in northern Vietnam. You know, Lang Son is the last barrier for the Vietnamese, and if Lang Son is lost, Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, will be completely exposed to our vision. It only took two hours for our vanguard to reach Hanoi and thoroughly clear the Vietnamese. However, at this time, the central government ordered General Xu Shiyou to withdraw his troops, and we had achieved the set goal, and there was no need to continue to stay in Vietnam.
After some deliberation, Xu Shiyou decided to blow up all the houses and arsenals in Liangshan, and take away all the grain quilts found in the cave, leaving nothing for the Vietnamese. Afterwards, Admiral Hsu Shih-yok deployed the evacuation order and demanded that all troops leave Vietnam in an orderly manner. At this time, the commander of the 150th Division of the 50th Army took the initiative to ask to cover the retreat of the main force, and he told General Xu Shiyou that their troops were all reserves, these recruits had not experienced the baptism of war, and they did not finally fight with the Vietnamese, and this trip to Vietnam would come in vain. General Xu Shiyou felt that it made sense, so he asked the 150th Division to take cover.
Unexpectedly, the quality of the new recruits of the 150th Division was very poor, especially the 448th Regiment as the vanguard, which was surrounded by the Vietnamese and could not distinguish the battlefield situation, and finally under the leadership of the regimental commander, the whole regiment surrendered to the enemy. When General Xu Shiyou learned of this, he was furious and regretted that he had let a group of recruits take cover, which was indeed his dereliction of duty. Admiral Xu Shiyou did not blame his subordinates, he alone took all the responsibility, and felt remorse for the soldiers of the 448 Regiment who had been taken prisoner. It wasn't until 6 years later that we exchanged prisoners of war with Vietnam, so that the soldiers of the 448 regiment returned to the embrace of the motherland. Admiral Xu Shiyou regretted it for six years, and it was only at this moment that he was comforted, and he also met with the captured warriors and encouraged them to live again.
Conclusion: Xu Shiyou is worthy of a generation of famous generals, when the accident occurred, he did not hold others responsible, but actively reflected on himself. He felt that he had not thought it through, and actually let the recruits take on the heavy responsibility of covering the retreat of the main force, which was indeed a bit reluctant for the 150th Division. After he returned to China, he always cared about these captured soldiers, and in the past 6 years, he used his sincerity and boldness to encourage the soldiers to live bravely, and the more frustrated and courageous, this is the real general.