Many Vietnamese generals were not convinced by the final outcome of the 1979 self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, believing that they had not lost the war and that the PLA had not fought the main forces of the Vietnamese army at all.
【War against Vietnam】
To say that the Vietnamese army is really thick-skinned, at this time the Venus division guarding Lang Son was expelled from the main force, and Vietnam still frequently counterattacked and confronted the People's Liberation Army.
Unconvinced Vietnamese generals
There are many Vietnamese generals who agree with the theory of Vietnam's superiority in the 79-year war, including Lieutenant General Nguyen Huu Khan, whose resume is quite extraordinary, he was born in 1950, and when he retired, he served as the deputy chief of the general staff of the Vietnamese army, with the rank of lieutenant general, and is regarded as the core decision-maker of the Vietnamese army's top leadership.
【Vietnamese General】
Nguyen Huu Kang also participated in the Sino-Vietnamese battle in 79, he was the deputy political commissar of the 148th Regiment of the 316th Division of the Vietnamese Army at that time, and was promoted to the commander of the 316th Division in 1989, basically participating in the whole process of the Sino-Vietnamese border war.
According to Nguyen Huu Kang, after receiving the news of the PLA attack, the troops were still stationed in Hoang Lien Son for training, a certain distance from the war zone.
However, as a neighboring unit, Nguyen Huu Kang's 148th Regiment was urgently transferred to Lao Cai, where the fighting was fiercest, to block the PLA's attack.
【Lao Cai Battlefield】
Nguyen Huu Kang's 148th Regiment did not alleviate the situation on the Lao Cai battlefield, Nguyen Huu Kang said that the Chinese artillery completely dominated the rhythm of the battlefield, and the advance of the PLA infantry was accompanied by heavy artillery fire, and Lao Cai was completely lost in just one day.
In order to cover the pace of the further advance of the PLA, the 148 regiment was only able to destroy a number of bridges by order of the superiors.
Subsequently, the 148th Regiment was deployed to the front line in Sabah as part of a mobile combat unit, and although the situation was dangerous at that time, Nguyen Huu Kang said that he was still confident in defeating the enemy.
【Vietnamese Officers and Soldiers】
Because this is not the first time that the 148th Regiment has participated in a combat mission, more than eighty percent of the officers and men in the regiment are veterans who participated in the US-Vietnam War, and they are no strangers to war.
Nguyen Huu Kang was satisfied with the performance of his troops during the battle, telling reporters that his 10th company was responsible for the defense of the 608 heights, and that this company had blocked a seven-day siege by a division of the People's Liberation Army.
In the end, with the help of friendly forces, the PLA was forced to withdraw from the battlefield, which well blocked the advance of the PLA, but the battle mentioned by Nguyen Huu Kang was not recorded in the PLA's war history.
【Lao Cai Battlefield】
In fact, the 79-year war against Vietnam lasted less than a month, and Nguyen Huu Kang's claim that one company could withstand the attack of the superior forces of the Chinese army for seven days always sounds a little illogical.
Nguyen Huu Kang later said he did not want to recall the specifics of the battle, but he told reporters that the Chinese army eventually entered Sabah, and that he was awarded a medal in the battle and promoted to the commander of the 148th Regiment.
Lessons learned in battle
Immediately afterwards, Nguyen Huu Kang began to talk about his evaluation of the operation in '79, which partly reflected the general mentality of the Vietnamese generals at that time, and Nguyen Huu Kang admitted that the PLA's large-scale military operation against Vietnam in '79 was completely unexpected by the Vietnamese army's staff and troops.
[The People's Liberation Army's war against Vietnam]
Almost everyone thinks China will not use force for three reasons: First, the Chinese leader has just returned from a 15-day visit to the United States, which is an unpredictable point in time.
This just shows the success of the central government's decision-making at that time, which used the itinerary to visit the United States to gain the understanding of the Western world, confusing Vietnam and containing the Soviet Union, killing three birds with one stone in an extremely powerful step.
If Vietnam is allowed to prepare well before the war, it is really difficult to say whether the PLA can solve the battle in a month, after all, the Vietnamese army is not a weak brigade, not to mention that they still have the advantage of fighting at home.
【Vietnamese Army】
Second, the Vietnamese generals believed that China and Vietnam would resolve the dispute through diplomatic channels, and if this was not Nguyen Huu Kang's whitewashing of the Vietnamese army's aggressive and provocative actions on the border at that time, it would mean that there was indeed an information gap between Vietnam and Vietnam.
Nguyen Huu Kang was only a deputy political commissar of the regiment at the time, and he was considered a grassroots commander and fighter, and he may not have been aware of the provocative actions of the Vietnamese troops on the border.
Third, Vietnam believed that it had already signed a military alliance treaty with the Soviet Union at that time, and as the saying goes, it was up to the owner to beat a dog, and they could not imagine that China would dare to beat Vietnam in front of the Soviet Union.
【Vietnamese Army】
It can only be said that the Vietnamese army thought of one thing wrong, and the PLA even dared to face the Soviet Red Army that invaded Zhenbao Island, and it was completely wishful thinking for a Vietnamese to pull a tiger's skin to deter the PLA.
Nguyen Huu Kang told reporters that the tactical level of the Chinese army he saw on the battlefield was not high, and most of the soldiers looked very jerky and dazed in front of the veteran oil son of the Vietnamese army.
This is true, at that time, the PLA had not fought a war for more than 20 years, and there were still many recruits who participated in the war.
Nguyen Huu Khan also believes that the Chinese army is mainly strong in heavy firepower, while the Vietnamese are strong in the fighting spirit and morale of the soldiers, so if the 79-year operation continues, the PLA will suffer even greater losses.
【Vietnamese Operations】
In fact, when it comes to this, it can be clearly seen that Nguyen Huu Kang has some forcible behavior to save the Vietnamese army's defeat, and it seems that the PLA stopped advancing in time in 79, otherwise it would have suffered a catastrophe in the hands of the Vietnamese army.
Nguyen Huu Kang even arrogantly claimed that the PLA had not annihilated any of the main forces of the Vietnamese army at all, and that the PLA was pushing too slowly, and it took weeks to advance a few kilometers.
This is strange, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has completely eliminated the threat from half of Vietnam's territory in just half a month, and according to Nguyen Huu Kang, it is impossible for the PLA to achieve the results of that year.
【People's Liberation Army vs. Vietnam】
In fact, Nguyen Huu Kang's own 316A Division was beaten by the People's Liberation Army and discarded its armor and scattered from Highway 10 to Hoang Lien Mountain.
The Vietnamese army is so capable of fighting, but it can't even stop the PLA recruits who have no actual combat experience, which is a big joke.
Sources:
[1] Xu Linping, Guo Xiu. An Analysis of China's Self-Defense and Counter-Attack Operations Against Vietnam, VIP, 2013