As early as 1945, after the end of World War II, the Soviet Union made initial contact with Vietnam and opened the road of military assistance to Vietnam for nearly 40 years, but because the war had just ended, the Soviet Union's national strength had not yet recovered, and it did not give Vietnam substantial assistance, but only sent the captured German weapons in World War II to the Viet Cong, and the only actual foreign aid in Vietnam at that time was the mainland. Nine years later, Vietnam, along with Laos and Cambodia, drove out the French.
Soviet air defense assistance
After 1964, the war between North and South Vietnam escalated, and the Soviet Union gradually strengthened its national power and began to strengthen its assistance to Vietnam. With the agreement reached on the exchange of visits between Pham Van Dong of Vietnam and Kosygin of the Soviet Union, an aid agreement was signed, and by 1965, Le Duan would visit the Soviet Union to further determine the form and amount of aid, including military aid. It greatly strengthened Vietnam's combat air defense capability. Throughout the Vietnam War in the United States, the USSR supplied Vietnam with 95 battalions of C-75 "Dvina" anti-aircraft missile systems. It can be said that the reunification of Vietnam was supported by the Chinese army, and the Soviet Union provided air defense support.
The expansion of Vietnamese ambitions
After Vietnam completed the reunification of the north and the south, it has always hoped to restore the Indochinese federation established by the French and intervene in other Southeast Asian countries. In 1975, Vietnam invaded Laos, because Laos was too weak to resist much, and it was occupied in three months, expanding its sphere of influence.
The expansion of Vietnam did not hurt much for the USSR. Therefore, on November 3, 1978, Vietnam and the Soviet Union signed the Vietnam-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in Moscow, and the Soviet Union provided weapons and logistical assistance, and the Vietnamese army was equipped with a large number of Soviet-style weapons. Just one month later, Vietnam deployed more than 200,000 troops, and on December 25, 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia.
The selfishness of the Soviet Union's aid to Vietnam
Expand the boundaries of influence
During the Khrushchev era, the Soviet Union was at a disadvantage in the Cold War, and in the Asian direction, the Soviet Union had long since withdrawn from Dalian Bay, and only a large semi-ice-free port remained in Vladivostok, a naval port in the Far East. In return for the signing of the Soviet-Vietnamese Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with Vietnam, the Soviet Union was granted the right to use Cam Ranh Bay for a period of 25 years, which was automatically renewed for 10 years after the expiration of the contract. Subsequently, the Soviet Union successively expanded the wharf and airport of the Cam Ranh Bay base, and Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, gradually became the largest overseas base of the Soviet Union. With a total area of 100 square kilometers, the base has a maximum of 7,000 garrisons, and more than 10,000 Soviet troops and their families in Cam Ranh Bay.
Cam Ranh Bay became the Soviet Union's military springboard in Southeast Asia, the forefront of the Soviet Union's overseas military power, and its military tentacles could reach the Strait of Malacca in the Pacific Ocean. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, due to economic problems in Russia, it was not renewed, and it was evacuated from Cam Ranh Bay in May 2002.
Contain China
The Soviet Union's aid to Vietnam had another purpose - to contain China. During the Khrushchev period, the Soviet-Chinese war began, and the Soviet Union deployed more than 50 divisions in the Far East, totaling more than 1.1 million troops, and even provoked several wars on the border. Aid to Vietnam is undoubtedly about sharing the pressure. After the reunification of the north and the south, Vietnam has more than 1.5 million troops, and Vietnam is still receiving a large amount of military and civilian material assistance from us.
Treasure Island scenery
Soviet support for Vietnam
At the time of the outbreak of the Sino-Vietnamese War, Vietnam was in the midst of its second five-year plan, with the Soviet Union promising $1.92 billion and another $700 million in supplies. Le Duan even publicly promised the Vietnamese:
"In ten years, society will prepare people for life, and every family will have a radio, a refrigerator and a television, as well as spiritual needs and the sound of singing every day. Militarily, Vietnam has not only failed to reduce military spending, but has embarked on the path of military expansion.
From 1978 to 1980, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and participated in the Sino-Vietnamese War, during which the Soviet Union provided Vietnam with $1.82 billion in economic aid, including 5.4 million tons of food, $120 million in oil and other materials per year.
By 1980, there were more than 200,000 Vietnamese troops in Cambodia. There are also more than 50,000 Vietnamese troops stationed in Laos, and more than 250,000 foreign troops stationed in Laos, ranking third in the world.
On February 19, 1979, the Soviet Union sent a military advisory group led by General Obaturov to Hanoi to assist the Vietnamese army in commanding the operation. He even went to the front line in the direction of Lang Son to conduct battlefield reconnaissance and report to Moscow to provide Vietnam with a large amount of weapons and equipment assistance.
Direct assistance with weapons
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Soviet Army in Moscow established contact with the General Staff of the Vietnamese Army in Hanoi, and satellite reconnaissance photos of the front-line units of the Chinese army were transmitted from Moscow to Hanoi. The Soviet Army's Il-76 and An-22 long-range military transport aircraft were painted as Soviet civil airliners, and more than 400 tanks and armored vehicles, 400 deep-barreled artillery pieces and mortars, 50 BM-21 self-propelled rocket launchers, and 800 RPG-7 rocket launchers were successively provided to Vietnam.
Air force and anti-aircraft weapons assistance
During the Sino-Vietnamese War in February-March 1979, a large number of modern weapons and equipment were received. By 1982, the Soviet Union had provided Vietnam with 14 "Volga" anti-aircraft missile battalions, 526 V-755 missiles, and the ACYPK-1M automatic command system. Between 1984 and 1987, the Soviet Union delivered 14 "Volga" anti-aircraft missile battalions, 866 V-759 missiles and other equipment. During the same period, the Soviet Union also supplied more than 40 battalions of S-125 anti-aircraft missiles and 1,788 V-601PD missiles. There are also dozens of Su-22 fighter-bombers.
Assist Vietnam in the deployment of troops
The Soviet Union also helped Vietnam withdraw troops from the front line of the Cambodian War to the North Vietnamese theater, and during the 28 days of the Sino-Vietnamese border war, 20,000 main Vietnamese troops, more than 1,000 pieces of equipment, 20 military aircraft of various types, and more than 3,000 tons of weapons and ammunition were transferred from the Cambodian battlefield to northern Vietnam. The Vietnamese army deployed two corps and six divisions in Hanoi. However, according to the proposal of the Soviet side, the troops were concentrated near the mouth of the three rivers in the capital Hanoi, which was covered with a dense water network, and made a defensive combat posture.
Peripheral military assistance
On February 5, 1979, the Soviet Union had a premonition that war would break out between China and Vietnam, so it could form a task force with the "Minsk" aircraft carrier as its flagship to sail around the world from the Black Sea to the South China Sea to carry out missions. Twelve days after the Soviet Navy set sail, the Sino-Vietnamese War broke out. "Minsk" then entered Vladivostok, the station of the Soviet Pacific Fleet.
After the withdrawal of our troops from Vietnam, on 12 March, the six major military regions of the Soviet Union entered a state of combat readiness, and 20 army composite divisions, airborne divisions, and aviation divisions were transferred from the Transbaikal Military District, the Far Eastern Military District, and the troops stationed in Mongolia to conduct military exercises in Mongolia. A large number of other troops also took part in the exercise. In addition, the 106th Guards Airborne Division was dispatched from distant Moscow to carry out parachute exercises in Mongolia's South Gobi Province near the Chinese border, rehearsing a 1.5-hour airborne landing in China, and the Soviet Mongolian cluster was tasked with a wartime blitzkrieg attack on Beijing.
In order to further increase pressure on China, joint military exercises were conducted in Mongolia and in the Pacific Ocean. A total of 250,000 troops, 2,600 tanks, 900 aircraft and 80 warships participated in the exercise.
China's plan is comprehensive
China had already made a very complete strategic assessment before the war. The strategy of "attacking the south and defending the north, based on the big fight" has been set. In the southern part of the country, about 560,000 infantry divisions and supporting units of 29 field armies were mobilized to fight against Vietnam. The Soviet Union was on alert on all fronts in the north, and the troops in the northeast, north, and northwest were on alert on all fronts, with 17 field armies and nearly 60 infantry divisions, totaling more than 100,000 troops, entering first-class combat readiness along the northern border. Thousands of field expeditions were also conducted before the war to evaluate plans for layers of defense.
From 1979 to 1985, with the help of Soviet advisers, the entire northern theater conducted dozens of exercises at the level of military district coordination, army strategic planning, and infantry division tactical guidance, improving the organizational ability of the command. It also planted the seeds for the subsequent 10-year Sino-Vietnamese two-mountain round war.