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On February 17, 1979, a war broke out at the border, opening a painful history for the Chinese military. It was a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, and behind the victory of a battle, there was a huge cost of casualties. This is a history that we must not forget.
At the moment when the battle broke out, our army quickly began to act, but there were huge problems hidden behind it. Under the long-term abandonment of armaments, the combat effectiveness of our army has seriously declined. Although the plan began as early as October 1978, due to numerous problems, the offensive plan was repeatedly postponed and was not implemented until February 1979. This delay became the trigger for casualties.
General Zhang Zhen, who was the chief of logistics at that time, personally inspected the troops, but found a series of shocking problems. Weapons and equipment frequently malfunctioned, ammunition was substandard, and even grenades were mostly duds. These problems can lead to disastrous consequences on the battlefield. In addition, there is an influx of recruits, without systematic training, and many are not familiar with even basic shooting.
The problem of the commander is no less serious. Some commanders have no real combat experience and cannot even understand military maps. This leaves them unresponsive at critical moments, which can lead to irrational decision-making.
During the long period of stagnation, many units were not adequately trained, which seriously weakened their combat effectiveness. For example, in the 128th Division, except for the 8th Company of the 383rd Regiment, the other units did not undergo formal training for two consecutive years, and most of the time they were engaged in production tasks. Such a situation would obviously seriously weaken combat effectiveness.
There are also major intelligence deficiencies. The Vietnamese army has been influenced by the mainland and adapted to a variety of tactical styles, but more than a decade has passed since the mainland's self-defense counterattack against India in 1962, and it has not experienced large-scale battles and lacked actual combat experience. Our side also had obvious deficiencies in pre-war intelligence collection, resulting in the understanding of the Vietnamese army stuck in the period of the Vietnam War of Resistance Against the United States, and did not carry out intelligence collection and comprehensive understanding in a timely manner. This created problems during the battle, especially the lack of knowledge of the situation of the military equipment of the Vietnamese army.
Geography is also a challenge. Vietnam's complicated terrain and humid and hot climate affected the offensive route and speed of maneuver of the troops, making it impossible for our superior forces and heavy equipment to play their full role. This also led to our soldiers getting sick on the battlefield and logistics transportation being attacked by Vietnamese militia, further increasing casualties.
However, despite the difficulties, the PLA adjusted very quickly. The casualties in the early stages of the war were concentrated in the early stages, but as the battle progressed, our side gradually learned lessons and constantly improved and adjusted our tactics. This ability to continuously learn and improve ultimately helped us win.
On March 16, 1979, when our side began to withdraw our troops, Deng Xiaoping also made a speech, in which he emphatically pointed out: "Many problems were exposed, the casualties in the first five days were heavy, the ranks could not be deployed, and the cadres did not know how to spread out the troops, and they were very dense; The enemy used artillery fire, used ravines, and suffered many casualties. But there is one point, no matter how many casualties are, we do not 'release ducks', very heroic, cadres and fighters are very heroic, this is very precious, heroic and dedicated is easy to do. ”
Although the battle suffered huge casualties, it also made the central government aware of the problem and accelerated the modernization of the army. Pain and victory coexist, they are part of our history and a memory that cannot be forgotten.
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