In the counterattack against Vietnam, the 8th Company of the 85th Cannon of the 165th Division of the 55th Army of the People's Liberation Army completed the shelling task in only 5 minutes when it coordinated with the 495th Infantry Regiment to attack the 549th Heights. However, the regimental headquarters and the division headquarters scolded: Who told you to stop shooting?
To this end, the soldiers of the 85th Cannon Company were ordered to "waste" artillery shells. After 30 minutes, the 1st Battalion of the 495th Regiment began to charge at the 549th Heights, but without any resistance from the Vietnamese, they captured the main peak of the 549th Highlands and broke through the first line of defense of the Vietnamese Army. After the war, the Guangzhou Military Region conferred on the company the honorary title of "Divine Artillery Company". Division commander Xiao Xuchu was promoted to commander of the Guangxi Military Region because he was good at using artillery, and continued to lead the Guangxi border defense troops to carry out combat tasks to defend the frontier.
Bayonets on cannons
According to the operational plan of the military headquarters, the 495th Regiment of the 165th Division of the 55th Army needed to attack from the area of the No. 15 Border Boundary Monument Heights on the northwest side of the Friendship Pass in Pingxiang City, Guangxi, and then go straight to about 1,000 meters to the south side, capture the Tongdeng 549 Heights, control the road from Tongdeng to delang, and ensure the safety of the right wing of the 163rd Division.
Highland 549, named for its altitude of 549 meters, the west side of the main peak can overlook the road leading to the waves, the east side can block the road from Pingxiang City in China to friendship pass with firepower, and there are more than 10 nameless highland arches around the main peak of the highland. If the main peak of the 549 Highlands could not be removed in time after the battle began, it would be difficult to smoothly implement the entire Tongdeng Offensive.
As early as 1977, the Vietnamese army renovated the old fortifications on Hill 549. Among them, there is a cylindrical turret about 9 meters high, about 3.35 meters in radius and 1.5 meters in thickness on the main peak. The cylindrical turret was originally built for the French, using clay, stone blocks, honey, lime, glutinous rice juice commonly used in ancient China, which was built with triad mortar, and after solidification, it was stronger than the modern reinforced concrete wall.
According to pre-war reconnaissance findings, the Vietnamese army deployed a special operative platoon and an artillery reconnaissance squad in the cylindrical turret, equipped with heavy firearms such as 75 mm cannons, Type 54 single-barrel anti-aircraft machine guns, Sagor anti-tank missiles, and 40 bazookas. When the Vietnamese troops in the Tongdeng area shelled the Chinese city of Pingxiang before the war, they basically provided coordinates provided by the artillery observation post on Hill 549.
Triad clay pulp architecture, originated in China. The soldiers were well aware that the triad mortar walls of the Vietnamese cylindrical turret were 1.5 meters thick, and even if they used 152 mm caliber and howitzers to fire broken armor shells, they could only blow out a small pit at a time, and they needed to shell the same place continuously to penetrate, while the mortars and recoilless guns of the infantry could not be destroyed at all.
To this end, division commander Xiao Xuchu made a bold plan of "bayonet on the cannon". The use of 1 152 howitzer and 2 85 cannons to carry out close-range fire, in order to increase the accuracy of the shelling, requiring that after the general offensive order was issued, these 3 guns must destroy the Vietnamese artillery tower in one fell swoop, and cooperate with the main force of the artillery unit to clear the main obstacles of the 549 heights.
The 1st and 4th squads of the 85th Cannon Battalion of the Division's Artillery Regiment, which received the order to "put on the bayonet", were a bit embarrassed. According to the original plan, these 2 cannons were to be pulled to an ambush less than 1,000 meters away from the main peak of the 549 highland, which was to say that it was to enter the no. 15 boundary monument highland to build a shooting position. The problem is that the only way is completely blocked by Vietnamese artillery fire, the 85 cannon weighs about 1.7 tons, it is impossible to disassemble into parts and then assemble, and it must be pulled by truck.
As early as late January 1979, the Vietnamese army began to shell the road on the Chinese side, and if the Vietnamese army on The 549 Heights found out, the plan could not be implemented.
In order to smoothly let the 2 cannons smoothly enter the ambush under the eyes of the Vietnamese army, at about 4:00 a.m. on February 15, the division headquarters specially sent 2 combat staff officers to command, taking advantage of the thick spring morning fog in the southern region, turning off all the lights, using the way of personnel to guide the vehicles, and slowly pulling two cannons from the PingXiang Railway Station to the preset position on the No. 15 Boundary Monument Heights. 10 kilometers away, it took the warriors 2 days to complete the ambush mission.
The artillery of the 152nd Plus Howitzer Battalion of the 1st Company and 1st Squad of the Artillery Regiment was relatively smooth, so the marching route was relatively hidden, and soon a firing position was set up at a distance of about 3,000 meters from the Vietnamese artillery tower.
Ready for war
When the order to "put on the bayonet" was received, the regimental headquarters had already sent a combat staff officer to command, and also assigned a former civilian workers company to the Cannon Company, secretly going to the designated location to build a firing fortification, and the shells were carried to the positions one by one. In order to ensure the safety of the launch position, there is also a militia platoon in Guangxi around the position to be responsible for vigilance.
At about 8 p.m. on February 16, the participating artillery units had received combat orders. At this time, a total of 16 soldiers of the 1st and 4th squads of the 85 cannon company began to take machetes to clear the trees in front of the position and clear the firing line. The attached artillery reconnaissance unit began to cross the line of fire to secretly engage the enemy.
After clearing the firing line, 2 cannons and 1 howitzer began to adjust the firing elements, and the muzzles were all aimed at the firing hole area on the north side of the waist of the turret. Since the cannon does not have the accuracy of a sniper rifle, there is no guarantee that every shell will hit the same explosion point. Thus, 3 guns fired simultaneously towards a rough area, which increased the hit rate.
The commanders meant that by firing multiple times at one point, using shells to chisel through the army's strong turrets and destroying the turrets, the threat of the entire 549 heights was greatly reduced. At the same time, other companies of cannons and mortars were responsible for extending artillery fire and opening the way for the infantry to attack the fortifications.
At about 1:00 a.m. Beijing time on the 17th (Hanoi time was 1 hour later than Beijing time), because the 163rd Division, which had previously been responsible for the main offensive task, had sent scouts out of the country to carry out reconnaissance missions, alarming the Vietnamese army in The town of Dong Deng, the Vietnamese army on the 549 heights habitually carried out fire reconnaissance in the process of changing shifts.
Suddenly, a shuttle of machine gun bullets hit the positions of the 1st and 4th squads of the 85 cannon company, and although there were no casualties, some thick trees next to the cannons were broken by the barricades. Immediately after, the cunning Vietnamese troops fired multiple flares in the direction of Binh Cheung. Fortunately, the soldiers of our army did a good job of camouflage of the position, and the Vietnamese army did not find any movement in our position.
Sledgehammer with small hammer
At 6:25 a.m. on the morning of the 17th, the headquarters of the Eastern Front Corps officially issued a general offensive order. Over the position, three flares appeared.
Mei Xueqin, deputy battalion commander of the artillery battalion who followed the artillery company's reinforcement command, immediately ordered the high-altitude aircraft platoon assigned to the artillery company to fire incendiary tracer shells to guide the firing of the three cannons.
Zhao Guangying, commander of the 85th Cannon Company, immediately ordered the 1st and 4th Squads to use the broken armor shells of the tanks to shoot, and asked the observers to keep an eye on the 152 howitzer behind them, and it must be the 152 howitzer barrels that emit fire before the 2 cannons are fired again.
The soldiers understood that this order of The Commander of the Zhao Company was a common tactic of "sledgehammer with small hammer" when engaging in engineering. Usually, when digging a stone cave or hitting a stone, the master craftsman usually uses a large iron hammer to smash the chisel first, and the apprentice next to him uses a smaller hammer to take advantage of the momentum.
Because the moment the sledgehammer exerts its power, there is a bouncing effect between the chisel and the stone, and the small hammer can exert more pressure on the stone with the help of the pressure generated by the chisel on the stone. The 152 howitzer shells were large hammers, and the shells of the 85 cannons were small hammers, and with this method of play, even if the walls of the Vietnamese turrets were poured with steel, they could not avoid the fate of being broken.
After 3 guns and 9 shells were fired, the 549 highland positions were filled with Vietnamese fire points; Immediately afterward, the PEOPLE's Liberation Army's mortars, anti-aircraft machine guns, light and heavy machine guns, cannons, and rocket launchers all roared, which was even more lively than the scene of firecrackers and fireworks blooming in the past Chinese New Year's Eve night.
The completion of the task was also criticized
Just when Zhao Company Commander ordered the 1st and 4th squads to replace the time-delayed fuze armor-piercing high-explosive shells, the "Sledgehammer" 152 howitzer did not know whether it directly hit the firing hole of the turret or penetrated the wall, anyway, an armor-piercing high-explosive shell exploded inside the turret, detonating the ammunition stored in the turret by the Vietnamese army. With a loud noise, the turret was instantly shortened by a large margin, the arched top was gone, and only the walls more than a meter high were left on the left and right sides, and a large opening on the north side.
At this time, the infantry of the 495th Regiment began to charge, and the company commander Zhao Guangying saw that the task had been completed, and worried about accidentally injuring the infantry, immediately ordered the 1st and 4th squads to stop shooting, and used the telephone to inform the 152 howitzer position to stop shooting.
Just when Deputy Battalion Commander Mei reported to the regimental headquarters about the situation of the Vietnamese artillery tower, the regimental commander was angry and asked: The turret has not fallen, why did the 3 guns responsible for attacking the turret stop firing?
No sooner had the regimental commander finished scolding than Division Commander Xiao Xuchu called again and scolded: Who told you to stop shooting? Keep beating me to death!
The military order was like a mountain, there was no room for any rebuttal, there was no way, Deputy Battalion Commander Mei ordered 3 guns to fire more than 10 shells, and found that our infantry had rushed to the mountainside of the main peak of The 549 Highlands, in order to avoid accidental injury, once again ordered to stop shooting.
Deputy Battalion Commander Mei's order once again angered division commander Xiao Xuchu, saying that if the fortified infantry encountered an enemy attack in the turret, the commanders of the 3 guns would all be pulled to shoot.
Unable to do so, Deputy Battalion Commander Mei ordered the firing again, until the fortified infantry signaled to stop shelling at 50 meters in front of the turret, and the 3 cannons stopped firing. At this time, the 3 cannons had a total of 72 shells.
When a platoon of fighters from the 1st Battalion of the 495th Regiment of the 165th Division rushed into the ruins of the turret, they did not encounter any resistance from the Vietnamese army at all, and during the search, 33 Vietnamese remains were found.
After destroying the main peak of the 549 highlands, the nameless highlands around the main peak lost their main heart bones and were quickly conquered. At this point, the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 495th Regiment of the 165th Division ate the strength of 1 company of the Vietnamese Army in only 40 minutes, fully controlled the 549 heights, and won the first battle.
In the battle against the 549 Heights, the casualties of our troops were very small, which was a very beautiful offensive battle. However, Xiao Xuchu, who was still angry, quickly sent people to the positions of the 1st and 4th squads of the 85 cannon company to investigate the fact that Deputy Battalion Commander Mei and Zhao Company Commander had twice issued an unauthorized order to stop shooting.
As a result, after several commanders of the division headquarters entered the positions of the 1st and 4th squads, they immediately understood what was going on.
Originally, the division headquarters and the regimental headquarters were on the side of the main peak of The 549 Highland, and the positions of the 1st and 4th Shifts were located directly north of the main peak of the 549th Highland. Due to the different angles, the appearance of the turrets seen is also different.
During the first round of shelling, the Vietnamese artillery tower had been completely destroyed, but there were still 4 to 6 meters high remnants of the left and right sides, and the commanders of the regimental and divisional headquarters did not see the front of the turret, so it was always believed that the turret had not been completely damaged.
After the war, according to the prisoners of war, there were 40 Vietnamese troops living in the gun tower that night. Among them, there were 30 special agent platoons and 10 people in the artillery reconnaissance squad. The reason why PLA fighters only found the remains of 33 Vietnamese troops who did not have time to wear clothes may be that 7 people slept in the ammunition depot and were blown to pieces.
Such an answer made division commander Xiao Xuchu eliminate the anger on his face and turn to the 3 artillery squads to ask for credit. After the war, the 85th Cannon Company of the 85th Cannon regiment directly under the 165th Division won the honorary title of "Divine Artillery Company". The 1st Company and 1 Squad of the 152nd Plus Howitzer Battalion of the Army Artillery Regiment also won corresponding battle merits, and the division commander Xiao Xuchu was promoted to commander of the Guangxi Military Region because of his good command, and continued to command the Guangxi Border Defense Force to defend the frontier security.
Resources:
[1] Li Guowei: Let our cannons be bayoneted
[2] Yan Hanxiu, Zhang Yueming, Wang Jinlai: Border Guan Spy Film [M] Guangxi Nationalities Publishing House