In the early morning of February 17, 979, the Guangzhou Military Region and the Kunming Military Region of the Chinese People's Liberation Army launched a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam in Guangxi, Yunnan, and the east and west directions, respectively.
The battle lasted for 28 days, and the total strength of the Platon Army in the battle reached more than 560,000 people. A total of 110,000 people were killed and wounded on the Vietnamese side, and more than 27,000 people were killed or wounded by the People's Liberation Army.
On March 5, 1979, the first phase of the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam ended, and the Chinese border troops began to withdraw into the territory.
At the same time, Xinhua News Agency issued a statement denouncing Vietnamese leader Le Son with two sides and three knives, praising the brilliant achievements of the People's Liberation Army.
Xu Shiyou, then commander-in-chief of the Guangzhou Military Region and commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, issued three orders when the troops retreated. These three orders are like the tips left by Zhuge Liang when he died in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which not only solves the security problems of China's borders, but also makes it difficult for Vietnam to turn around after that.
So what three orders did General Xu Shiyou give?
We go back in time to 1955. At the end of the year, a large-scale war broke out in Southeast Asia, with the United States and Vietnam on both sides.
The Battle of Vietnam was the war in which the United States had the largest number of participants, the greatest impact, and the heaviest losses after the end of World War II. The campaign lasted from the end of 1955 to the beginning of May 1975.
In 1976, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Le Duong, betrayed his faith, became too close to the Soviet Union, and vigorously opposed China in Vietnam.
This is not the end of it, under the intervention of the Soviet Union, the Vietnamese Le Son Clique has continuously violated and disrupted China's borders, seriously affecting the safety of China's borders and the safety of people's property, and the CPC Central Committee has decided to carry out a battle against Vietnam to defend the frontier.
On February 17, 1979, the two major military regions of Guangzhou and Kunming participated in the war at the same time, and the self-defense counterattack operation on the Eastern Front was mainly divided into gaoping, langshan and luping directions.
Under the command of General Xu Shiyou, the Guangzhou Military Region adopted a large-depth, long-distance interspersed style of play, and the 41st Army, 42nd Army, 43rd Army, and other reinforcements boldly interspersed the encirclement and severely damaged the enemy army.
At the same time, the western front battlefield reported frequent successes. After 28 days, the PLA had reached its strategic objectives. By March 16, 1979, the troops participating in the war on the eastern and western fronts had adopted the method of alternating cover and all withdrew to China, thus successfully ending the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam.
This campaign enabled hundreds of thousands of PLA to be tempered in actual combat, and it was a great test for the military, political, logistical, and other aspects of the troops' work.
Since the end of March 1979, China and Vietnam have occasionally clashed in the border areas. In April 1984, the Chinese People's Liberation Army suddenly launched a large-scale offensive against Lao Shan and The Yin Shan area of Vietnam, and the second phase of the counterattack against Vietnam was completely launched.
For the next 6 years, the two sides have been fighting and stopping. It was not until around 1990 that China and Vietnam formally reached friendly relations, and the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam was considered to be a nod.
During World War II, the country of Vietnam fought a long war of attrition with France. Coupled with the Vietnam War of 1955, there were two counterattacks against Vietnam, leaving the country already devastated.
However, after the end of the first phase of the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, General Xu Shiyou resolutely issued three orders, directly cutting off the backbone of Vietnam, making it difficult to recover like a lost dog.
First, in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, Vietnam adopted guerrilla warfare, after all, the number of troops participating in the frontal battle between the two sides was too large, and the belligerent areas were all deep mountains and old forests, and most of the Vietnamese soldiers had more than ten years of actual combat experience.
If the two sides fought head-on, the Vietnamese casualties would have been even heavier. After the People's Liberation Army retreated back to China, in order to avoid unnecessary casualties, Xu Shiyou asked the sappers to bury mines on the way. The advantage of this is to cut off the idea of a Vietnamese sneak attack, while also warning the PEOPLE's Liberation Army from being constantly harassed by the Vietnamese army.
Second, China has provided tens of billions of dollars of aid to Vietnam over the years, but they in turn have attacked us with Chinese aid.
When the troops were withdrawn, the Platon Army brought back to China the materials that belonged to China, but they could not be brought with them and destroyed them in situ.
For example, China once aided Vietnam with a lot of grain, rice and noodles are particularly heavy, and it is almost impossible to take them all. Xu Shiyou asked the soldiers to burn the grain depots in Vietnam, and they must not leave a grain of grain for the enemy.
Third, the PLA destroyed almost all of the industrial facilities in northern Vietnam, which were also built with Chinese help.
At that time, Vietnam was only recently unified, the industrial level was relatively low, and most of the heavy industrial facilities were in northern Vietnam, that is, in the Lang Son area. Without these industries and infrastructure, it would be difficult for Vietnam to recover in a short period of time. It was these three tricks that instantly dragged down Vietnam's economy. When industrial facilities and a large number of materials were destroyed at the same time, Vietnam naturally became afraid of war, and it was impossible to fight with China's large army corps.
In addition, these three orders issued by General Xu Shiyou are not only for a moment, but have their own unique strategic significance.
First, why did China launch a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam? Comrade Deng Xiaoping once gave a positive answer to this. From the international strategic level, the head-on attack on Vietnam was an important plan to curb Soviet expansion.
The "big brother" Soviet Union was very left-wing in ideology at that time, which was also not looked down upon, and it was also despised that the West and other countries began to fear the Soviet Union, and Vietnam also dared to fight with China with the support of the Soviet Union.
After we dealt a stormy blow to Vietnam, we not only stabilized the southwestern border, but also balanced the situation in the Indochina Peninsula. It has also proved to the world that the Soviet Union is short in size and does not dare to directly engage in large-scale war. Once again, we have proved to the people of the world that the actual combat effectiveness of the Chinese army and its determination to win the war are firm.
Therefore, after the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, China and the United States and Europe ushered in a "honeymoon period". Looking back at the three orders issued by General Xu Shiyou before he retreated, I can see how clever they are.