On August 21, 1979, the Party Committee of the 50th Army submitted to the Party Committee of the Chengdu Military Region the "Report on the Handling of Relevant Personnel Who Caused the Separation of Some Personnel of the 448th Regiment When They Withdrew" in response to the heavy damage suffered by the 44th Regiment when it returned to China. Subsequently, Deputy Military Commander Guan Huoming was removed from his post, and Deputy Political Commissar Hou Peiju warned within the party. As for Liu Zhonghe, the deputy commander was also demoted and transferred. So what exactly caused these cadres at the rank of military commander to be punished so severely? After the 448th Regiment lost in the process of withdrawing troops from Vietnam, what was the situation after returning home?
Reasons for defeat
Regarding this matter, we have to start with the withdrawal process of the 448th Regiment. On March 5, 1979, when the PLA completed its attack on Lang Son in Vietnam, it immediately began to withdraw its troops. As soon as the news was issued, the relevant border troops began to withdraw to China in an orderly manner. However, what people did not expect was that most of the troops had withdrawn in accordance with the command's requirements, but the members of the working group of the 150th Division of the 50th Army (Guan Huanming, deputy commander of the 50th Army, Liu Zhonghe, and Hou Peiju, deputy political commissar) believed that the troops had not yet completed the corresponding work and needed to continue to carry out the task of clearing and suppressing on the way back.
In this way, without a guide and without any preliminary preparations, the 448th Regiment was forced to go to Naga, Lang Trang and other places in Vietnam to carry out the task of clearing out the remnants of the enemy and collecting materials. However, just as the 448th Regiment was steadily advancing, the remnants of the Vietnamese army suddenly took advantage of the favorable terrain in the Naga area to launch a strong blockade of the troops. Originally, Division Commander Liu Tongsheng of the 150th Division was determined to let the soldiers retreat in time and preserve their vital strength, but the three members of the higher-level working group directly skipped Division Commander Liu and issued an order to the 448th Regiment to "fight to the death and not retreat".
In the eyes of the three members of the working group, the enemy situation was not serious, and the 448th Regiment was fully capable of successfully breaking through the defensive line and completing the task of clearing and suppressing. But what they don't know is that the intensity of the battle on the front line has far exceeded imagination. Especially when the enemy forces blocked and ambushed each other, the 448th Regiment had even lost personnel. It was not until the follow-up higher-level leaders inquired about the relevant situation of the 448th Regiment that Guan Xianming drafted the relevant telegram very vaguely, instructing the remaining combatants of the 448th Regiment to withdraw as soon as possible. It is precisely because of this that there are relevant penalties against these three people after returning to China.
Warrior reaction
So after the 448th Regiment returned home, how did the whole regiment react? In fact, it is mainly reflected in two aspects: fighters and cadres. First, the overwhelming majority of fighters have great resentment against the situation in which their superiors indiscriminately commanded and lost the battle. Not to mention that on the way back, there was no requirement to continue the liquidation operation, and it was a taboo for soldiers to rashly attack when the enemy's situation was not yet clear. Such a simple truth, ordinary soldiers understand, but the members of the working group directly intervene indiscriminately.
Second, almost all the soldiers of the regiment were very saddened by the negative impact of this defeat on the 448th Regiment. For whatever reason, the defeat of the 448th regiment in battle is an indisputable fact. In comparison with other regimental headquarters, this will inevitably fall into the downside. As a result, many fighters were depressed and uncomfortable. Even if the soldiers of other regiment headquarters can understand, the soldiers of the 448th regiment will have a pimple in their psychology. Such an asymmetric battle with information is completely meaningless to win, and the black pot is lost.
Third, in this low mood, there are still many soldiers who are actually very unconvinced. Because of the wrong command of the superior leadership, the personal combat career was seriously affected, why is this? In the future, when you want to climb up in the barracks, as long as others mention the origin of the 448th Regiment, they will think of the past defeat on the way back, which is too unfair. But what good is dissatisfaction or anger when things have already happened? The soldiers can only hide their emotions in their hearts and continue to move forward with this inexplicable heaviness.
Cadre level
As for the cadre level, the pressure is also far beyond ordinary people's imagination. Although it became clear through follow-up investigation that the defeat was entirely the obstinate actions of the members of the working group, the 448th Regiment suffered a defeat. But with such heavy casualties among his own troops, how could the relevant leaders stay out of the matter? In particular, Li Shaowen, commander of the 448th Regiment, and Li Zhaobi, political commissar, encountered such an unfair route arrangement in their own regiment, which was completely dumb and could not be said. That is, there is no way to explain to the superior leaders, and there is no way to explain to the soldiers under his command.
More importantly, after returning to China, they had nothing to say to question the party and the people. The other regiments were completely withdrawn to the border, why did the 448th Regiment suffer huge losses on the way? When the families who lost their loved ones washed their faces with tears, and when public opinion rushed to their faces, the psychological pressure of the leading cadres of the 448th Regiment can be imagined. It's just that as leading cadres, they have to resist all these storms. Those who made mistakes have already been punished, and what they need to do is to do a good job of follow-up work to prevent the people from being more harmed.
It is worth mentioning that judging from the actual situation at that time, many cadres even had the idea of changing jobs and returning to the field at an early date. This idea is common, but the motivation is worth investigating. Out of their own sense of responsibility, even if the members of the working group are misdirected, taken lightly, and talk on paper, they will still take the responsibility on themselves. Not only that, but every time I think of those soldiers who died in the retreat battle, how many people can empathize with their sadness?
Fortunately, in view of the above problems, the party organization specially analyzed the many reasons for this partial defeat, and specially provided relevant assistance to the 448th Regiment in terms of doing a good job in soldier work and paying close attention to cadre thinking. The Party Committee of the Central Military Commission also actively solved the practical problems that the 448th Regiment might face, adjusted the mentality of the cadres and soldiers of the whole regiment, and led the 448th Regiment out of the trough. The defeat has passed, and it can be regarded as a lesson for the whole regiment or even the whole army. The 448th Regiment still has a long way to go, and it must not be slumped by a single blow.