How terrible modern warfare is, many people do not intuitively feel, after all, war is too far away from us. But just over 40 years ago, a war broke out between our country and Vietnam, and the severity of it is still terrifying to this day. At the beginning of the war, the Chinese army was overwhelming and fought all the way to Lang Son in northern Hanoi. Senior Vietnamese officials panicked, and many even left Hanoi.
But at Lang Son, the last major battle broke out between the Chinese and Vietnamese armies, which lasted a short time, but it is said that the entire Lang Shan was flattened at that time, almost all the buildings on the mountain were destroyed, and the trees and jungles were burned to the ground. And the Vietnamese army on the mountain is almost dead.
Until decades later, after this battle, Vietnamese veterans who were fortunate enough to survive would tremble on their feet and could not speak when they mentioned the situation. The battle became their lifelong nightmare, and many suffered from severe mental illness. You must know that these people have all come out of the rain of bullets and bullets. What happened to that battle, and how could these veterans still be so terrified decades later?
1. The last barrier of Hanoi
The war broke out so suddenly that almost overnight, Chinese troops appeared in Vietnam, all the way south. But in reality, the outbreak of this war was foreshadowed. After the end of World War II, the countries were devastated, and only the United States and the Soviet Union remained incomparably strong.
Before the 1970s, Vietnam was invaded by the United States, and China and the Soviet Union fought against each other, aided Vietnam with a large amount of military supplies, helped Vietnam resist the powerful US imperialist army, and enabled Vietnam to finally succeed in independence.
But at this time, the Foreign Policy of the Soviet Union underwent great changes, and Sino-Soviet relations began to deteriorate. In order to balance China, the Soviet Union increased its support for Vietnam in an attempt to cultivate a country in Southeast Asia that could contain China.
Vietnam had just become independent and should have been at ease developing its domestic livelihood economy, but at this time, Vietnam was immersed in the strong self-confidence of defeating the United States, believing that its military capabilities were no less than that of any country, and only the United States and the Soviet Union could break their wrists with it.
Therefore, with the acquiescence of the Soviet Union, Vietnam expanded unscrupulously to the north in an attempt to encroach on our territory, even in a vain attempt to show its "strength" by this. Under these circumstances, the peace-loving Chinese people could not help but be indignant, believing that Vietnam was ungrateful and did not miss the assistance of that year. In this case, the Chinese army carried out a counterattack operation.
But the war was not as easy as people thought. First of all, the Chinese army has been on the battlefield for a long time, many people have not been on the battlefield, this battle is deep into the enemy's borders, not familiar with the battlefield situation, secondly, Vietnam has just finished fighting with the US army, after all, the combat experience is rich, the combat ability is strong, and the local combat advantage is large, finally, Vietnam implements the strategy of the whole people, the Chinese army must always guard against possible attacks.
Therefore, although the war was not as large as the Second World War, it was tragic and rare in the world. Although the Chinese army was overwhelming all the way, it also paid a great price to approach Hanoi. But at this time, there is still one last hurdle in front of the Chinese army, that is, Langshan.
2. The outbreak of the Battle of Lang Shan
Lang Son, as the last barrier in the north of Hanoi, the political center of Vietnam, is bound to deploy a large army here when the Chinese army is already approaching Hanoi, and concentrate all its forces to resist the attack of the Chinese army and protect Hanoi from falling.
The Chinese army, with the idea of teaching this ungrateful country a lesson, fought all the way to Lang Son, which is still 130 kilometers away from Hanoi, but to the south is a horse PingChuan, as long as lang son is conquered, in less than a day, the Chinese army can approach the city of Hanoi. Therefore, it is certainly impossible for the Chinese army to withdraw from this and give up such a great opportunity. Both armies are bound to win, and a bloody battle is bound to break out.
Let's first take a look at the topography of Lang Son. Langshan is only 18 kilometers away from the Border between China and Vietnam, don't underestimate these 18 kilometers, these 18 kilometers of road, but not a flat road, but a layer of mountains, a mountain connected to a mountain, these 18 kilometers, the Chinese army can be said to have experienced one meat grinder after another. This time, the Chinese army finally came to the last mountain, and when it broke through, it was a horse Pingchuan.
At that time, the Chinese army in charge of the main attack on Liangshan could be described as strong. Among them, the 55th Army was formerly the Chen Mingren unit of the Changsha Uprising, don't look at this unit as an uprising unit, and before the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was only responsible for suppressing bandits. But in this war, this unit annihilated 12 regiments in the Vietnamese ace "Venus Division", which greatly dealt a blow to the arrogance of the enemy army.
In addition, the PLA's ace 54th Army also participated in the battle. The predecessors of this force were the famous 44th Army and the 45th Army, these two units. The former was the famous "Deng Hua Column", and the latter once blocked Bai Chongxi's 6 divisions with the strength of one division, even if "Little Zhuge Ge" had no choice.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the 54th Army participated in two foreign wars in New China, fought with Americans and Indians, and can be described as a "foreign war expert" in the People's Liberation Army. In addition, the 43rd Army and the 50th Army were supplemented by two main forces from the flanks to attack Langshan. The strength of these two units cannot be underestimated, and both have made great achievements on the battlefield.
Looking at the Vietnamese side, the Third Division of the Vietnamese People's Army, which is responsible for guarding Lang Son, is also the "Venus Division" mentioned above. In Vietnamese, Venus represents victory, and this force was the main force in the war against the United States during the Vietnam War. Even before the war began, this unit arrogantly shouted the slogan that it would fight in Nanning for the Spring Festival.
Judging from the comparison of troop strength, the Chinese army dispatched nearly 100,000 people, and the Vietnamese side only had 20,000 people, and the ratio of troop strength was amazingly 5:1. However, the terrain of Lang Shan is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the Vietnamese army's local combat advantages are very obvious, not only familiar with the terrain, but also in Lang Shan has constructed a very complex fortification, the People's Liberation Army wants to capture here, it is very difficult.
However, the Battle of Lang Son lasted only 3 days and ended with the successful capture of Lang Son by Chinese troops. A large part of the reason why the war ended so quickly was that the Chinese army used a "great killing weapon" that supposedly leveled the mountain.
Third, Langshan was flattened
At the beginning of the Battle of Langshan, the 55th Army beat the so-called "Venus Division" to the ground, and finally had to hide in the fortifications and did not dare to come out. The Vietnamese government saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly transferred tens of thousands of troops from the south to defend Hanoi.
Not only that, but the Vietnamese side also blatantly violated international conventions and used chemical weapons on a large scale in the Lang Son area, causing huge losses to the Chinese army. This incident made General Xu Shiyou very angry, and he immediately made a decision and ordered the troops to retreat and withdraw from the Langshan area.
Seeing this, do you think that the Chinese army has given up attacking Langshan? Of course not, General Xu Shiyou mobilized more than 300 heavy artillery pieces overnight and aimed the guns at Langshan, and General Xu Shiyou said at that time that he would leave no room on Langshan.
On March 1, 1979, 300 artillery pieces fired at Lang Son, pouring tens of thousands of shells in half an hour, and for the Vietnamese army on Lang Son, it can be said that hell has come, let alone people, and even the land of Lang Son has been flattened by a few meters.
The Vietnamese army had to face not only rain-like shells, but also mountain fires caused by artillery fire. The whole langshan is like a purgatory on earth, and the screams are incessant. After the shelling, the Chinese army dispatched a large tank army and once again bombarded the remnants of the artillery.
Successive blows caused the Vietnamese army to completely lose the will to resist and retreated. The Chinese army took advantage of the situation to pursue, killing few enemy troops left. In the end, the mountain was a sea of corpses and blood, and the blood flowed into a river, and the langshan that was flattened was filled with corpses again.
In this battle, there was no thrilling hand-to-hand combat, no fierce pride in charging into the battlefield, only the deafening sound of artillery fire, only the fire burning all over the mountain. But the horror of this war is rare in the world.
According to post-war statistics, in the Battle of Lang Son Alone, the Vietnamese army died more than 10,000 people, and the battle losses reached a staggering 60%, while the rest of the people were basically seriously injured and disabled, completely losing the ability to fight. After this battle, the Vietnamese army no longer dared to confront the Chinese army head-on.
After the Battle of Langshan, the Chinese army did not go south again, but took the initiative to retreat. Therefore, China's original intention was self-defense, to counter Vietnam's aggression. Now that the purpose of the counterattack has been achieved, there is no need to continue fighting.
Therefore, the fierceness of the Battle of Lang Son is the bitter fruit of the Vietnamese army, if it were not for the use of chemical weapons by the Vietnamese army, General Xu Shiyou would not have ordered the dispatch of heavy artillery, the Chinese army has always loved peace, but if anyone wants to destroy the peace, then it is necessary to weigh the cost of doing so.
Text/Leyu
References: "Smoke of Langshan Gunfire", Zhang Wande