At the beginning of 2015, the death of a person immediately attracted great attention across the country, and this person was General Zhang Wannian. The name Zhang Wannian is still very unfamiliar to many post-90s and post-00s, but in the 1970s and 1980s, Zhang Wannian was a rare member of our army, and the reason for this can be seen from the counterattack against Vietnam.
Because Zhang Wannian's fame is too great, causing a lot of psychological pressure on the Vietnamese army, at that time, some people in the Vietnamese army even claimed to have "captured Zhang Wannian", and afterwards found that it was just a "oolong" incident, which can also be seen from the side that the Vietnamese are afraid and hateful of Zhang Wannian.
So, how did this legendary general imprint fear deeply in the minds of the Vietnamese step by step, and we may wish to peek into his life deeds.
Join the army and serve the country
At the end of the 1920s, Zhang Wannian was born in a poor family in Shandong, because the family is too poor, the family often lives a day without a meal, adversity out of talent, so the little Zhang Wannian knows how to be considerate of the family at a very young age, and also hopes to use his young strength to share the family burden as much as possible.
At the age of 14, when his peers were still living under the care of his parents, Zhang Wannian's family had reached the point of exhaustion, and in desperation, he could only give up his dignity and decide to go begging along the street.
Zhang Wannian's parents considered the difficult living conditions at home, although they were unwilling in their hearts, they still endured the pain of temporarily separating from their son, so his mother could not cry and was devastated. Only those who have experienced how difficult it is to rely on people to give alms know that although the days of living outside are hard, they have tempered Zhang Wannian's will and courage.
Later, Shandong was occupied by the Japanese, and his father was abducted by the traitors because he went out to borrow grain and failed to return in time, which made people angry, witnessing the scene of his father being bullied and his mother crying to the point of weakness, Zhang Wannian was furious, at the same time, he also secretly vowed in his heart that he must join the army to serve the country, and kill these Japanese and the "two devils" who played for the tiger as soon as possible!
With this goal in mind, Zhang Wannian resolutely decided to join the army, although it was already the late stage of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the situation in the Shandong region was becoming more and more critical under the increasingly clear situation of the anti-fascist war in the world.
The so-called "dog jumped the wall", and the crazy Japanese launched one sweep after another to save the decline. In a battle with the Japanese Kou, Zhang Wannian took the lead, his small body actually rushed to the front of the whole army, and also put down an enemy who was much taller than him, which soon caused quite a stir, and since then, Zhang Wannian's heroic killing of the enemy has become a symbol of inspiration.
With this military achievement, Zhang Wannian joined the Communist Party of China less than a year after joining the army. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, on the devastated land of China, the Kuomintang reactionaries headed by Chiang Kai-shek provoked a civil war in disregard of the great national righteousness.
In the civil war, Zhang Wannian's unit first marched into the northeast, then went south to participate in the famous Battle of Pingjin, and then went back and forth in Hunan, Guangxi, and Guangdong, establishing battle achievements many times.
He led the 127th Division and inflicted heavy losses on the Vietnamese army
After the founding of New China, Zhang Wannian was transferred to the commander of the 127th Division of the Army. Don't underestimate this unit, you know, the 127th Division was formerly the 2nd Division of the Red Army, after many bloody battles, it is no exaggeration to say that the 127th Division was definitely one of the top two trump cards in the sequence of all the combat units of the People's Liberation Army at that time, and being able to command this steel division fully demonstrated the trust of the motherland and the people in Zhang Wannian.
Soon, he had the opportunity to play.
In 1979, the Vietnamese ignored warnings to cross the border to provoke, slaughtered innocent Yunnan compatriots and caused outrage throughout the country, and at the unanimous demand of the whole country, the Party Central Committee made the decision to take a military counterattack against Vietnam.
Subsequently, Zhang Wannian entered Guangxi with the 127th Division and invaded the Vietnamese border under the order of the central government, and Zhang Wannian knew more about Vietnam. 11 years before the war of counterattack against Vietnam, that is, during the "War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Vietnam", Zhang Wannian had followed Chen Geng as a military dispatch mission from the Chinese side to Vietnam to guide the Vietnamese people on how to use terrain and tactics to attack American soldiers.
Unexpectedly, 11 years later, his former teammates became opponents, and due to his familiarity with the natural terrain of Vietnam and the combat characteristics of the Vietnamese army, Zhang Wannian repeatedly made strange moves, and every time he could beat the Vietnamese bitterly.
After two consecutive victories at Tsushima and Tần Trần Đạiồng, Zhang Wannian has become the number one opponent of the Vietnamese, and in order to minimize the strength of the People's Liberation Army on the front line, the Vietnamese have begun to carry out assassinations and sneak attacks.
At that time, the cunning Vietnamese army, taking advantage of the similar characteristics of Asian faces, recruited Chinese-speaking Vietnamese to form a "special task force", and the purpose of these people was to blend into our army and specialize in sabotage activities, but this kind of small fight could not fundamentally change the situation on the battlefield. Soon after, the task force battle plan was declared a failure, and the PLA continued to launch an offensive on the front line to achieve a breakthrough as soon as possible, giving the Vietnamese a final blow.
On March 1, 1979, after the outbreak of the "Battle of Lang Son", the 127th Division commanded by Zhang Wannian acted as the forward of the Guangzhou Military Region and was responsible for attacking the Vietnamese positions in the Lang Son area from the eastern front. At that time, Zhang Wannian accurately judged that the combat effectiveness of the Vietnamese army in the Eastern Shandong front was not high, and immediately began to launch an attack to achieve a breakthrough. As early as the end of February, Lang Son was effectively surrounded by PLA regiments, and it was impossible for the Vietnamese army to save the situation. However, even in this case, the Vietnamese army remained stubborn and ignored the PLA's persuasion to surrender.
Forced crossing of the Qiqian River
After Xu Shiyou's general offensive plan was issued, the "Battle of Lang Son" was about to usher in the most tragic stage, and Zhang Wannian's 127th Division was tasked with forcibly crossing the Qi Phuong River under the cover of tanks and artillery, and establishing a forward base from the rear of the Vietnamese fortress of Lang Son.
The Vietnamese were very concerned about Zhang Wannian's every move, and after receiving information that the Vietnamese defensive positions near the Qi qian river were in a hurry, the Vietnamese hurriedly dispatched troops to the Qi Qian River in an attempt to intercept Zhang Wannian's 127th Division.
The strength of the Vietnamese army on the other side is getting stronger and stronger, and the support that Zhang Wannian can get is extremely limited, the situation is precarious, in this case, zhang Wannian's personal command ability is tested, in this regard, he is not in danger, calm analysis, using his understanding of the Vietnamese tactics and natural environment, repeatedly repelled the Attack of the Vietnamese Army, the Vietnamese Army gathered heavy troops but could not take the 127th Division This matter also caused a lot of blows within the Vietnamese, the Vietnamese army lamented Zhang Wannian's personal charm and the 127th Division's super strong will to fight at the same time, He also became more and more afraid of Zhang Wannian, and after the fear was anger.
At the time, the Vietnamese were fighting"
Destroy the 127th Division and capture Zhang Wannian alive
A few days later, the 127th Division, which had already held a position on the other side of the Kip Phur River, was crossing the river in an orderly manner, however, it received an order from the headquarters to stop its river crossing operations, but at the very front, 2 battalions of men and horses had crossed the river and were caught in a fierce battle with the Vietnamese.
In this case, if the 2 battalions on the front line were withdrawn to the instructions of the headquarters, it would inevitably lead to a great disturbance of the river crossing troops, and the Vietnamese army might even launch a counterattack against the retreating troops from the rear, and if they did not withdraw, it would cause the 2 battalions to over-penetrate into the enemy army.
In a hurry, Zhang Wannian made a decision that was enough to save the entire 127th Division: the two battalions fighting on the front line were not allowed to retreat, and the follow-up troops would no longer cross the river, but only provided fire support to the combat troops on the opposite bank, and the main force of the 127th Division cooperated with the troops on the north bank.
In this way, it can provide cover and fire support for the 2 battalions on the front line, and more importantly, it also greatly confuses the audio-visual of the Vietnamese army and diverts their attention from those 2 battalions.
The Vietnamese army on the front line spent huge manpower and material resources to deal with Zhang Wannian and did not achieve results, not only failed to prevent the 127th Division from crossing the Qi Pian River, but instead caused the Vietnamese army to suffer heavy casualties.
This time, they sacrificed the "spiritual victory method", a trump division of the Vietnamese army claimed in the country that "capture Zhang Wannian alive and completely annihilate the 127th Division of the People's Liberation Army", for a time, even the People's Liberation Army could not distinguish between the true and false news, in order to confirm the situation of Zhang Wannian and the 127th Division, the 43rd Army made several phone calls, the purpose was to confirm Zhang Wannian's personal safety and the location of the 127th Division, and after getting the latter's affirmative answer, it finally let everyone's hanging heart finally let go.
Although this little episode makes people cry and laugh, we can think about it from another angle, if it were not for Zhang Wannian who made the Vietnamese suffer a big loss, why would the Vietnamese deceive themselves, rely on such means to confuse the public opinion, and even deceive the Chinese people? Throughout the process, Zhang Wannian led the 127th Division in the "Qi qianhe" area to win the recognition of the headquarters, which disgraced the Vietnamese army.
After the end of the "Battle of Lang Son", the Vietnamese army could no longer organize effective forces to carry out a counter-offensive, and the People's Liberation Army won a decisive victory in the Vietnamese battlefield, but the strategic purpose of our army had been achieved, so it did not continue to march into the hinterland of Vietnam.
After a brief period of calm on the front line, the People's Liberation Army took the lead in withdrawing to the country, at this time, the unaltering Vietnamese army tried to launch a surprise attack to save face, but it was quickly recognized by our army, in the retreat, Zhang Wannian firmly demanded that the troops should not discard any strategic materials to the opponent, in the face of the death order, everyone was ready for the final battle, seeing that the 127th Division did not let down its vigilance because of the withdrawal, and the Vietnamese army could only flee in ashes.