People familiar with modern and contemporary history should know that at the end of the 19th century, a great war broke out between China and France. At that time, the French army launched a large-scale attack on Vietnam, a vassal state of China, in an attempt to use Vietnam as a springboard to invade China. Feng Zicai, a veteran general of the Qing Army, led an expedition and defeated the French army at Zhennanguan. However, the cowardly Qing government was "undefeated and defeated" and surrendered Vietnam to Vietnam. In fact, this was not the last major military conflict between China and France, half a century after the Sino-French War, the Nationalist Army and the French Fleet broke out into a major war in Vietnam. Although this war does not appear in textbooks, it is of great significance, and is considered to be a rehearsal of the Korean War. How was this war initiated and unfolded?
Sino-French War
The Nationalists took over Vietnam and the French made a comeback
For nearly three hundred years, France has been a traditional european power, but the giant's performance on the battlefield is really not flattering, and it is seriously incompatible with its national status. During World War II, in front of the German panzer divisions, millions of French troops fell without a fight, and the remnants of the exile in Great Britain preserved the seeds of the counter-offensive. After the end of World War II, France's dominance in the colonies was crumbling, but the unwilling French decided to give it a go.
Map of Southern China and Northern Vietnam
On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan broadcast to all of Japan announcing his unconditional surrender. According to the Cairo Declaration and the Postan Proclamation, Japanese troops in Taiwan and the Area north of the Indochina Peninsula north of latitude 16 degrees north surrendered their weapons to the Chinese army, and the area south of the 16 degree north latitude surrendered their weapons to the British army. According to this provision, Lao Chiang sent Lu Han, a famous general of the Dian Army, to lead the First Front into Vietnam to accept the surrender of the Japanese army. This was the first time since the outbreak of the Opium War in 1840 that the Chinese army had been surrendered to the territory of other countries, which was a shame.
At this time, however, Britain was thinking badly. Britain was no longer the empire of the sun and the sun, unable to send troops to Vietnam, so it colluded with france and replaced the French army in southern Vietnam. After the Sino-French War, Vietnam became a colony of France, occupied by the Japanese army during World War II, and as soon as the Japanese left, France started the idea of Vietnam.
French army
In the Battle of Haiphong, the Nationalist army severely damaged the French army
The United States and Britain openly supported the return of the French army to Vietnam, and the Soviet Union seriously violated China's rights and interests through the Yalta Treaty, and in desperation, chiang chose to compromise with France, acquiesced to the French acceptance of Vietnam, and signed the Sino-French Agreement to transfer the military administrative power of North Vietnam to France.
After the agreement was signed, the French commander Abanoo led a force of 20,000 people to the coastal defense of Vietnam, planning to combine soft and hard, forcing the Chinese army to compromise.
The French army's wishful thinking was wrong, and although the First Front received orders from Chiang Kai-shek to withdraw to the country, it was not ready to abandon North Vietnam. This unit was originally the Northeast Army, and the "918" fell under the insult of not resisting, and now it will definitely not let history repeat itself. On March 5, 1946, the French representative Avshen came to Vietnam's coastal phong to negotiate with the 130th Division of the 53rd Army of the First Front of the Nationalist Army stationed here, asking the 130th Division to give way to the French army on the second day, but was refused by the commander of the 130th Division, Wang Lihuan, on the grounds that he had not received the name from his superior.
French fleet
But the French did not stop there, arrogantly believing that the Chinese army had no warships, aircraft, or artillery, and that its combat effectiveness was weak, and that it was necessary to concentrate all military forces in the Far East to force a landing.
As everyone knows, Wang Lihuan was already prepared, he personally went to the port and coast to deploy defensive positions, and urgently contacted Zeng Zesheng, commander of the 60th Army, and obtained the fire support of the 60th Army.
At 8 a.m. on March 6, Leclerc's 20,000 French soldiers and 12 warships appeared in Vietnam's coastal defense. At that time, the first battalion of the 388th Regiment of the 130th Division of the 53rd Army was stationed in Haiphong, the 184th Division of the 60th Army, and the two mountain artillery battalions of the Provisional 21st Division. Seeing that the French army tried to forcibly land, the Chinese army fired more than ten signal bombs in a row to stop it, and as a result, the French army fired first, and the battle of coastal defense began!
The French prided themselves on the strength of their navy and underestimated the strength of the Chinese army. The two units of the Nationalist army cooperated closely and used light and heavy weapons to fiercely counterattack the French warships, and the guns of the French warships were difficult to play and suffered heavy losses. In just two hours of fighting, the Nationalist army sank a warship at the cost of 30 casualties, severely damaged two, killed more than 3,000 enemy troops, forced the French army to raise the white flag to surrender, and the Battle of Vietnam's Coastal Defense ended with a Victory for the Chinese Side!
Battle of Coastal Defence
Defeating the French fleet, China is no longer the China it once was
After the Battle of Coastal Defence, the French commander-in-chief Abanu had to turn to the United States and Britain for help in an attempt to resolve the matter diplomatically, unwilling to admit the mistakes of the French army. Wang Lihuan argued on the basis of reason, took out evidence that the French army had trespassed on coastal defense, and forcefully stated: "China is no longer the China of the past, if you do not sign, then we will fight to the end!" ”
Since then, china and France have renegotiated, and Chinese troops have withdrawn from Vietnam. Nevertheless, the Battle of Coastal Defense brought out China's national prestige and showed the world that Chinese longed for peace, but never feared war!