In October 1962, India invaded China's southwestern border, and China launched a self-defense counterattack, and in November our army won a complete victory.
In just one month, the Indian army was driven out of Chinese territory and taught them a harsh lesson.
The fighting power of the Chinese army has panicked indians, and rumors have spread among the Indian people that it is said that China may send paratroopers to parachute in New Delhi (India's capital).
But the Chinese decided to withdraw their troops and return the Equipment and Supplies of the Indians.
This decision surprised not only India but also the world.
Moreover, this is indeed inconsistent with the fighting style of our people's army.
You know, during the Liberation War that year, Mao Zedong wrote a poem that read, "It is advisable to chase the poor and the poor with courage, and not to become a famous and hegemonic scholar."
This time, why should the PLA "take advantage of the victory and retreat"? What is the mystery behind China's move?
The crisis behind peace – India's ambitions
After the founding of New China, there was actually a short "honeymoon period" with India.
On April 1, 1950, India and New China formally established diplomatic relations. After New China put forward the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence", India responded positively;
In June 1954, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Premier Zhou Enlai reaffirmed the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence" in a joint statement.
In October 1954, Nehru visited China;
At the end of November 1956, Premier Zhou Enlai visited India again and was warmly welcomed. Everywhere they went, the Indian people were cheering slogans such as "The Chinese and Indian people are brothers" and "Five Principles."
However, behind this "honeymoon period", there are some discordant things - the China Tibet issue and the Sino-Indian border issue.
In 1959, when an armed rebellion was launched by the reactionary upper echelons of China's Tibet, Nehru made some remarks on interfering in China's internal affairs, welcoming and supporting the Dalai Lama who launched the rebellion, and even arranging for the Dalai Lama to meet with the ambassadors of Britain, the United States, Japan and other countries to India.
While interfering in China's Tibet issue, India has also unilaterally made territorial claims against China, insisting on using the illegal "McMahon Line" as the demarcated boundary line, and assigning the area south of the "McMahon Line" to India's national territory on its official map.
At the same time, India is also pursuing a "forward policy" militarily, encroaching on Chinese territory and provoking bloody border conflicts.
In the western sector, by October 20, 1962, when China officially launched a self-defense counterattack, India had established 43 aggressive strongholds deep into China.
In the eastern sector, in the spring of 1962, Nehru decided to establish 35 posts on the McMahon Line.
On June 4, 1962, Indian troops even crossed the McMahon Line, established outposts north of it, and launched attacks on Chinese border guards.
The Chinese Government believes that the Sino-Indian border issue is a complex issue left over from history, and the Chinese Government has never recognized the so-called "McMahon Line", and our side has always adhered to the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence" and hopes to resolve the so-called "border issue" through peaceful means.
But China's peace and goodwill are considered weak and deceitful by India.
But where does India's self-confidence come from to provoke China?
First, India at the time saw itself as the heir to Britain's colonial legacy in South Asia, inheriting the expansionist policies of the British colonialists.
In modern times, Britain regarded India as its base camp for colonization in Asia, and used India as a base to expand abroad.
According to the needs of geopolitics, Britain arbitrarily demarcated its borders for its own interests and without regard for the sovereignty of other countries.
For example, after the Opium War, Britain unilaterally drew a "Johnson Line" in China, which assigned a large area of Chinese territory to British India.
The British world map published in 1868 began to use this "Johnson Line" as the boundary between China and India. But the border line is illegal without the consent of the Chinese government.
During the Simla Conference of 1913-1914, the British representative McMahon secretly concocted a new Sino-Indian border with the representatives of the local government of Tibet at that time, which was the so-called "McMahon Line".
The McMahon Line, which moved the Sino-Indian border from the foothills south to north and on the ridges of the Himalayas, was completely illegal and never recognized by successive Chinese governments.
These hegemonic acts of Britain have laid hidden dangers for the Sino-Indian border issue.
After the British withdrew from India in 1947, India established a state, and India chose to inherit the mantle and ambitions of the British colonists, fantasizing that it could act as wantonly as the British colonists of that year.
Second, the anti-China camp led by the United States and the connivance and support of the Soviet Union for India.
After World War II, the Western countries led by the United States pursued an anti-Soviet and anti-communist Cold War policy for a long time and were hostile to New China.
And India is in an important strategic position to contain China. Therefore, Britain, the United States and other countries have tried their best to draw India into their anti-communist alliance and encourage India to carry out anti-China activities.
Nehru, India's "hawkish" leader at the time, believed that as long as he provoked a dispute with China, the United States and other Western countries would not only side with themselves, but also provide a lot of aid to India.
And it is. Britain and the United States and other countries not only provided a large amount of economic assistance to India, after the outbreak of conflict on the Sino-Indian border in 1962, Britain and the United States also concluded a military agreement with India, providing India with a large number of arms, and the United States even sent aircraft carriers to India's coast.
Not only Britain and the United States, but also the Soviet Union supported India's expansionist policies.
In 1958, after the Soviet Union and New China became enemies, they began to pay attention to developing relations with India and aimed the spearhead at China.
Soviet leaders have publicly criticized the Chinese government and supported India on the Sino-Indian border issue.
In 1960, Khrushchev visited India to build momentum for India's anti-China policy.
The Soviet Union also engaged in the arms business with India with preferential policies. For example, the Soviet Union deliberately sold high-performance MiG-21 jet fighters to India, which was a weapon that the Soviet Union did not even want to sell to China.
Moreover, the Soviet Union also provided India with heavy transport aircraft and helicopters suitable for flying in alpine areas to meet the needs of the Indian army on the Sino-Indian border.
Even in the western part of the Sino-Indian border, Soviet pilots flew these aircraft to serve the Indian army.
The support of Britain and the United States, as well as the Soviet Union, fueled India's aggressive ambitions on the Sino-Indian border.
Third, India has taken advantage of China's internal and external predicament to mistakenly believe that China will endure humiliation.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, China was not only isolated internationally by the two camps of the United States and the Soviet Union, but also suffered serious economic difficulties at home.
Faced with a severe economic situation, the Chinese people had to devote their main energies to the adjustment and restoration of the domestic economy.
India, on the other hand, sees China's serious economic difficulties as a godsend for its territorial expansion, believing that China is unable to meet the challenge and thus "acquiescing" to the "fait accompli" created by indian forces on the Sino-Indian border.
Unfortunately, the ambitious India has miscalculated, Chinese the us imperialist army that just defeated the US imperialist army on the Korean Peninsula a few years ago, how can such a people's army allow others to wantonly infringe on its sovereignty?
Thunder strikes and wins a counterattack in self-defense
On October 18, 1962, the Indian army launched a full-scale offensive against our army at the same time in the east and west sections of the Sino-Indian border.
On the same day, Mao Zedong presided over an enlarged meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, at which a plan for counterattack operations was formulated.
The Sino-Indian border self-defense counterattack operation officially began on October 20, 1962, and basically ended on November 21, with a short period of only one month, and the entire operation went through two stages.
At dawn on October 20, 1962, the Chinese border troops first counterattacked the Indian 7th Brigade, which invaded Andelang, and launched the first phase of the operation.
The first phase of the operation was carried out simultaneously in the eastern, western and central stages.
In the eastern sector, with the strength of more than four regiments in Tibet, the Indian army in the Kejielang area was first crushed, and then the Kejielang-Tawang Campaign was launched.
After 5 days of fierce fighting, our army won a complete victory, completely annihilated the 7th Brigade and its part of the Indian Army, annihilated more than 1,900 enemy troops, captured Brigadier General Ji Pu Darvi, commander of the Indian 7th Brigade, and recovered all the territory of the mainland south of the Kejlang River, north of the Tawang River, east of Bhutan, and west of Tawang.
In the western sector, with the strength of a multi-regiment in Xinjiang, the enemy's attack was first crushed, and then a counterattack was launched.
By the 28th, our border troops had retaken Lado, Dimudjok, Barigas, Andiguo.
In the western section of the operation, our army fought from the Karakoram Mountains to the Ganges Mountains, fought more than 700 kilometers, and uprooted 37 strongholds invaded by the Indian army.
The middle section of the operation was used as a cover to provide support for the eastern and western sections of the operation.
By October 28, our army had recovered chinese territory previously occupied by Indian forces and crossed the so-called "McMahon Line" south.
After that, my participating units stopped their counterattacks against the invading enemy. The first phase of the counterattack operation is over.
However, India, despite its crushing defeat in the first phase of the battle, still refused to concede defeat.
The Indian authorities have further set off a wave of anti-China, stepped up mobilization and preparations for war at home, and declared a "state of emergency" throughout India.
In mid-November 1962, the Indian army added a total of 2 divisions, 9 brigades, and 1 armored and 1 artillery unit in the eastern and western sections of the Sino-Indian border, increasing the total strength to 30,000 people.
Therefore, on November 16, 1962, the Central Military Commission ordered our border troops to organize a counterattack again in the eastern and western sections of the Sino-Indian border.
The second phase of our army's self-defense counterattack operation against India has since begun.
The eastern section of the battle was basically over by November 21. Our border troops advanced to Samwell and the bottom of the Golden Valley to drive the Indian army out of Chinese territory. After that, the troops stopped pursuing and turned to search and suppression on the spot.
On the morning of November 18, the Indian army mobilized heavy artillery and launched a fierce bombardment against our Xinjiang border troops stationed in the Spangur Lake area, and our army immediately launched a counterattack.
After a day of fierce fighting, our army won the battle, the invading Indian strongholds were all cleared, and the western section of the battle was victorious.
The Sino-Indian border self-defense counterattack lasted for a month, and our army broke through the so-called "McMahon Line" in the eastern section and approached the traditional Customary Border between China and India to the south. In the western sector, all the invading positions of the Indian army were cleared.
Our army completely annihilated 3 brigades of the Indian Army, basically annihilated 3 brigades of the Indian Army, and annihilated each of the 5 brigades of the Indian Army.
In total, more than 8,900 invading Indian troops were annihilated, Brigadier General Ji Pu Dalvi, commander of the Indian 7th Brigade, was killed, Brigadier Hoshir Singh, commander of the Indian 62nd Brigade, and more than 300 artillery pieces, 5 aircraft, 9 tanks, more than 400 cars, and many other weapons, ammunition and military materiel were captured.
At a relatively small price, our border troops have won major victories, safeguarded the integrity of China's territory and sovereignty, struck a blow at the arrogance of the Indian expansionists, and played a role in national prestige and military might.
Chairman Mao Zedong later commented: "This battle can maintain the stability of the Sino-Indian border for at least 10 years." ”
If these are military victories won on the battlefield, then it can be said that in addition to the battlefield, China has also won victories in another sense.
This is related to three events during the Sino-Indian border self-defense counterattack.
First, after the Chinese army won the first phase of the battle, the Chinese government showed the sincerity of the peace talks, put forward "three peace proposals", and expressed its willingness to solve the border issue through the peace talks.
Second, in the later stages of the second phase of the operation, with the victory of the Chinese army and the total collapse of the Indian army front, the Chinese government once again announced to the world that China was willing to cease fire on all fronts and hold peace talks again.
Third, after achieving a comprehensive victory in the self-defense counterattack, China did not march to India to take advantage of the victory, but took the initiative to retreat, and voluntarily returned the military materials captured in the battle to India, and even rebuilt the Indian military vehicles, painted and filled with oil.
Why is it said that Through these three things, China has won victory in another sense?
Chinese wisdom
In 1962, the external environment around China was very grim.
From the perspective of military strategy, on the eastern border, US imperialism is eyeing New China, and there are many military bases in Taiwan Province of China, South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines that are aimed at New China.
Chiang Kai-shek, who is entrenched in Taiwan, is also making a fool of himself, constantly clamoring for a "counter-attack on the mainland," and the United States and Chiang Kai-shek have joined forces to continuously send aircraft to invade, harass, and sabotage the mainland's southeastern border and inland.
In such a situation, according to Mao Zedong's policy, China's main attention and direction of struggle was in the East, in the Western Pacific, in the vicious US imperialism, not India.
China must avoid being attacked on both the east and the west, and must not focus its main attention on the southwest of China.
From the perspective of military tactics, the Sino-Indian border area is easy to attack and difficult to defend, and on the Chinese side of the border line, the terrain is dominated by mountains and jungles, with steep terrain, harsh climate and inconvenient transportation.
Every year from summer to October, it is the rainy season in Tibet.
Rainwater often causes flash floods, mudslides, landslides, and blocks roads. Therefore, for most of the summer, the roads into Tibet are difficult to open.
As soon as November began, Tibet began to face the threat of heavy snow and mountain closures, and the cold weather and ice on the roads also hindered driving. This ice freeze period lasts about half a year.
Such a harsh environment and conditions have caused logistical support difficulties for our army. This seemed to us at the time to be a problem that could hardly be solved by our army's logistical system.
That's why China chose to go to war in October.
Even if China occupies the border line, once the snow closes the mountain and the transportation line is interrupted, the army will be trapped on the front line.
Although India is inferior to China in terms of military strength, it is much more favorable than China in terms of ensuring logistical transportation conditions.
On the Indian side, the terrain began to level down, and natural conditions were very favorable for the Indian artillery to carry out operations.
At the same time, behind India is the South Asian Plain, with a well-built road network and almost unimpeded logistics.
If the war turns into a protracted confrontation, the situation will be favorable to the Indian army and unfavorable to our army.
Once the Indian army organizes an effective offensive again, China may pay a great price if it wants to hold the border area.
Therefore, China's unilateral ceasefire and withdrawal of troops on November 21, 1962, can be said to be a very sophisticated strategy. Moreover, the withdrawal of troops could be used as a bargaining chip in peace negotiations.
This is not only military wisdom, but also political wisdom.
So why is it necessary to negotiate peacefully? This is due both to the fact that we have always adhered to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, but also because we must also take into account the international environment at that time.
At that time, in the world, the United States and the Soviet Union were competing for hegemony, and China and the United States and the Soviet Union both turned their faces, and it can be said that the diplomatic situation was very difficult.
If China wants to open up the diplomatic situation in the international arena, it can only unite with the third world countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Moreover, during the war, the Western and Indian media vigorously slandered China, saying that the Sino-Indian border conflict was provoked by China, that China had launched aggression against India, and so on. It also makes many third world countries that do not know the truth wary of China.
In such an international context, China needs to further establish its diplomatic concept of pursuing peace and expand its influence in the international community.
The Sino-Indian border self-defense counterattack is such a good opportunity to show and publicize China's basic concept of handling disputes between countries.
When the Chinese army "took advantage of the victory and retreated", other countries saw the truth of the matter clearly and realized that China had not invaded India's territory.
A British diplomat commented on China's withdrawal:
For the first time in history, China withdrew its troops after victory on the battlefield, and for the first time in history, a great power did not use military victory to demand more.
Even Britain, an established colonial power, expressed admiration for China's behavior. It is conceivable that many countries in the world can feel China's sincerity in seeking peace.
And this is the fundamental purpose of China's "victory and retreat".
It can be said that China has won both military and political and diplomatic battles.
epilogue
China and India are two great powers in Asia and are also neighbors. In recent history, they have all suffered from colonial aggression and share common historical trauma.
After achieving national independence, China has always pursued a peaceful foreign policy, while India has betrayed its own history and followed the old path of former colonizers, provoking border conflicts with China.
Using its wisdom, China has perfectly resolved the conflict, defending territorial sovereignty, winning a long-term security environment for the border, and opening up a new diplomatic situation.
We have reason to believe that such a wise country as China will also deal with various difficult problems in the future and become stronger and stronger.