The Vietnam War of Resistance Against France lasted for 9 years from 1945 to 1954, and then in 1955 the United States came to Vietnam to harass for 20 years, and Vietnam, which has been mired in war for a long time, gradually became arrogant in the decades of war against France and the United States, especially in 1973, the United States confirmed the final withdrawal from Vietnam, and the Vietnamese people who had the same "paranoia" as India cheered, thinking that they had defeated the incomparably powerful United States, and they could begin to claim the "third military power in the world". Became extremely arrogant and arrogant.
With the withdrawal of the United States, Vietnam's ambitions for foreign expansion were gradually exposed, Vietnam began to invade Cambodia in 1978, and throughout the 70s, it was a critical period for the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States.
On February 14, 1979, the entire Chinese army entered a state of first-level combat readiness.
On February 17, 1979, People's Daily published an article entitled "It is tolerable, but it is unbearable", announcing that it would return fire in self-defense against Vietnam.
On the 17th, the PLA troops on the eastern and western fronts of the Chinese People's Liberation Army were commanded by Xu Shiyou and General Yang Dezhi respectively, and on the 17th, the PLA on the eastern front quickly entered Vietnam after shelling and entered Vietnam in three ways. Among them, the north and south roads attacked the important town of Cao Binh in northern Vietnam.
The PLA quickly completed the construction of a ring defensive position in Dongxi, cutting off the way for the Vietnamese army to escape south in Cao Binh, the enemy's layout was completely under the control of our army, and the 346th Division of the Vietnamese army was completely trapped.
On February 18, it broke into Qingshui and destroyed the missile bases around Langson and Dongdeng, then on February 19, China raided and occupied Changbaishan, Helu County, and on February 20, it attacked Laojie, and on February 21, our troops successively occupied Gaoping and Baole.
On February 23, fierce fighting broke out at Gaoma Mountain near Langsan Mountain, and soon the PLA occupied Ha Giang. Then the PLA launched an attack on Gaoping in the east, west and south, and occupied Gaoping in the early morning of the 25th.
While conquering Gaoping, enter from the east road. From the beginning of the self-defense counterattack on February 17 to March 5, in less than a month, the Chinese army broke into Vietnam with lightning, conquered Cao Binh, Dong Deng, Lao Cai, and Citrus Pond, and advanced into Vietnam, and more than 20 important towns in northern Vietnam fell one after another.
At this time, the People's Liberation Army pointed to the Vietnamese capital Hanoi within reach, Vietnam must have psychologically believed that China had recovered Vietnam, forming a certain deterrent to Vietnam, Vietnamese government agencies also withdrew from Hanoi, and notified diplomatic delegations from various countries to also withdraw, Hanoi fell into chaos.
At a time when the two countries were at loggerheads, China's victory in conquering the capital Hanoi was in sight, and on March 5, China suddenly announced its withdrawal.
"The death penalty is avoidable, but the living sin cannot be escaped." During the retreat, the PLA basically bombed towns in northern Vietnam for infrastructure and industrial and mining industries, planted mines all over the retreat road, and used long-range artillery units to cover them.
When Vietnamese leaders inspected the North Vietnam Theater after the end of the 1979 self-defense counterattack, Le Duan was so angry that he couldn't say anything for a long time, because it had almost returned to the "primitive" era, and the level of destruction was far like the indiscriminate bombing of the US Air Force.
In fact, the punishment completed by the PLA in a short period of time is based on Vietnam's release of anger at China's aggression since the 70s.
In the 60s, China aided Vietnam and resisted the United States under its own difficult circumstances, and China paid huge manpower: China sent more than 320,000 air defense, engineering, railway, logistics and other troops to Vietnam, participated in the construction of roads, railways, erected land communication line projects, and also participated in air defense operations, shooting down 1,707 enemy planes and damaging 1,608 enemy aircraft, paying huge sacrifices.
Economically, he was not yet rich, and he often heard from the older generation that many people were still hungry at that time, and China lent Vietnam 100,000 tons of grain in 1963 alone, and the rest except for the 34,000 tons of grain that had been returned were all given to Vietnam.
From 1950 to 1978, China aided Vietnam to resist France, aid Vietnam and resist the United States to help it rebuild, the total amount of aid provided reached 20.37 billion yuan, at that time China's pork was only 1-2 cents per catty, one yuan can buy nearly a dozen catties of meat, the staff in the sixties earned nearly 40 yuan a month, a month's salary can buy 600 catties of meat, now pork 35 yuan 1 catty, that is, now to buy 600 catties of meat for 21,000 yuan, readers and friends, the current salary is generally 20,000 pounds? Think about it, how much was the 20 billion yuan converted into now?
The Vietnamese side always put forward such and such demands that we would not have ourselves, such as body armor, which the Chinese army had not yet tried to wear, and after the Vietnamese side made a request, the relevant Chinese military departments and scientific research units immediately organized the development and manufactured another 100,000 pieces for Vietnam.
Because the relationship between the two countries at that time was brotherly, the materials provided by the Chinese side could be said to be "exhausted", and even there was a surplus of materials for a while: for example, some equipment was stacked next to the North Vietnamese highway, let the wind and rain, rust and deteriorate, and even China supplied the Vietnamese army with a large amount of compressed biscuits and rice, which were taken to the market for money.
Our army captured several important towns in northern Vietnam, and once saw a shocking scene in the house when repairing the door panel and removing the door panel: there was a Shanghai permanent brand Type 28 bicycle, and the other was a Shanghai Phoenix brand women's bicycle, I remember when I was a child, "permanent", this brand of bicycle is considered a famous brand at that time, in fact, this is not common in our country, in the wedding dowry items, it has become synonymous with our "fashionable", even in the mid-80s, "Phoenix brand" and "permanent" are still a "luxury" for us. In another room, there is a more than half new Shanghai bee brand sewing machine and Shanghai desktop electric fan, and on the table are Chinese-made red light brand radios, which we dare not think of in rural areas at that time, which shows that China treats Vietnam with all sincerity. During this period, a large number of factories were also built for Vietnam.
And in the mid-to-late 70s, how Vietnam treated us, on the border, crossing the border or harassing, such as at 7:30 on the 26th of 1975, six armed public security officers in Vietnam snatched the plough rake of the land that the border people were ploughing; Two armed Vietnamese police officers severely beat and threatened Tan Jianbinh, a villager at the pass who was collecting firewood near boundary marker 31.
The outbreak is escalating, and these Vietnamese armed men will suddenly shoot at the patrolling military and civilians, and fire shells at the outposts, causing casualties among our border guards on many occasions.
Moreover, Vietnam's border farmland and hillside jungles are covered with landmines, and there are frequent tragic incidents of children having their legs broken and cattle killed.
In early 1977, Vietnam began the expulsion and purge of Chinese in Vietnam, and by the end of 1977, more than 40,000 overseas Chinese were deported back to China.
It is not driving out Americans, but China, which has selflessly aided it for two decades.
During the purges of Chinese citizens at that time, all the property of the Chinese expatriates who were expelled was confiscated by Vietnamese soldiers and police, and most Chinese nationals fled Vietnam with nothing but clothing.
Some Vietnamese and Chinese have formed hatred in the past, and now the Vietnamese are taking advantage of this opportunity to retaliate. Mr. Zhou accused Vietnamese fishermen of gang-raping his 27-year-old pregnant wife while he was out fishing, and during the Great Purge the Vietnamese police came to his home to inform him that he would be arrested as a resident of Chinese descent (he has Vietnamese nationality). Frightened, Zhou Yinmao fled with his family "across the sea to a refugee camp in Beihai, Guangxi Province."
Some Vietnamese even often kill Chinese then brutally skin and nail human skins to the walls.
Think about how Chinese tighten your belts yourself, how you fatten up such a vicious "white-eyed wolf".
The PLA's policy of not harming villagers and giving preferential treatment to prisoners in the course of the battle was thoroughly understood by them when assisting Vietnam, knowing oneself and the other, and never losing a hundred battles, and it was they who were familiar with these mass disciplines of our army that increased the number of casualties of the PLA.
A squad leader who once participated in the war once said: When fighting in northern Vietnam, this place that once scared the French and Americans, the People's Liberation Army entered and was also full of dangers, and I don't know which Vietnamese in the corner of the house will suddenly shoot you.
Every village in Vietnam still bears a portrait of a mainland leader, and when you think it's your own country's village, you let your guard down.
The Vietnamese who have been fighting for decades have become very fierce, and the common people are all good at fighting jungle guerrilla, even children should not underestimate it, watching a group of children play hide-and-seek, turn your head, grenades take advantage of your inattention to throw you over.
Once, when the troops passed a village, an old woman came out and threw a bomb into the car, killing several people and injuring several people.
It was under such circumstances that our army suffered relatively large casualties, suffered heavy casualties, and the heavy equipment of our army could not be used, so it directly annoyed the PLA commanders and fighters.
Even more heinous, during the Battle of Lang Son on March 1, 1979, the Vietnamese 308th Division used chemical weapons in this battle!
At that time, international regulations had clearly prohibited the use of chemical weapons, which made General Xu Shiyou very angry. The lives of the troops were at stake, and the victory or defeat depended entirely on whether the Chinese army could quickly conquer Langshan.
Under the premise of heavy casualties and the use of biological and chemical weapons by the Vietnamese side, Xu Shiyou was furious and ordered: After the dawn attack began, not a single house in Langshan could be left, not an inch of grass was left, and blood washed Liangshan. Tens of thousands of rounds were dropped in 30 minutes, and in an instant, Lang Son City was blown up into a sea of fire.
Later people recalled that the shelling of Liangshan reached a frightening level, and when a handful of soil was picked up from the ground, there were nearly several shrapnel, which was enough to show the intensity of the battle at that time.
On March 5, Xinhua issued a statement announcing that the effect of self-defense and retaliation had been achieved, and that Chinese border troops had begun to withdraw.
Behind the former command post of the First Military Region of Vietnam was the capital of Vietnam, and Hanoi was plunged into chaos, and the withdrawal of troops at this time was the last face for Vietnam.
General Xu Shiyou, who was fighting vigorously, received the withdrawal of the troops, and then "arched" with the principle of punitiveness, paving the way for a smooth withdrawal of the troops, and at the same time enjoying it.
Xu Shiyou issued the last three orders that the enemy still feared: destroy the transportation infrastructure and lay mines on the way to cover the smooth withdrawal of our troops to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the situation to pursue; The second order was to recover or destroy all aid that the mainland had provided to Vietnam along the way; The third order: destroy the heavy industry where Vietnam was located, which we once aided.
Some Vietnam veterans recalled: Our army transported a train of explosives from China, and almost all the factories in Cao Binh and Lang Son were completely blasted.
We have all paid great aid and sacrifices to Vietnam, only to be met with constant border harassment and bloodshed. These measures all warn Vietnam that ungrateful aid can be destroyed and retrieved at any time.
In this context, the lightning capture of towns in Vietnam is conducive to establishing international prestige, on the one hand, teaching Vietnam in blood, on the other hand, a rapid retreat is more conducive to gaining international prestige, all in line with what China calls only limited "punishment". Practice has proved that the punitive anti-Vietnam self-defense counterattack war has dealt a great blow to Vietnam's arrogance.
The 1979 Counterattack War against Vietnam was another review of the authority of the Chinese military's successor to outstanding leaders and the military following the death of the great Mao Zedong.