Preface
At the time when the People's Republic of China had just been founded, China was immersed in joy, but Chairman Mao welcomed a special visitor, who was none other than Ho Chi Minh, the prime minister of Vietnam, and an old friend of ours.
The purpose of his walk to China was to help them, and although China had established a new regime, Vietnam was still plagued by invaders. After receiving Ho Chi Minh's call for help, Chairman Mao agreed without thinking about it, and then a new problem was put in front of Chairman Mao.
1. Vietnam asks for help
In response to Vietnam's request, Chairman Mao immediately convened a meeting, in which Chairman Mao expressed his readiness to send an advisory group to Vietnam to help, of course, its guns and ammunition are countless.
But this alone is not enough, although the mainland will send a team of officers to go, but it is still not enough, Chairman Mao means that the mainland will help Vietnam to completely drive the invaders out of Vietnam. Because China experienced that dark time, Chairman Mao was also very worried about the current situation in Vietnam.
Therefore, the chairman decided to send a senior commander of our party, who was attended by Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, President Zhu, and others at this meeting. On the question of candidates, Chairman Mao still wants to hear everyone's meaning. Mr. Zhu spoke first: "Do you want to let Mr. Lin go?"
Mr. Lin's command ability is beyond doubt, and he also commanded many large corps wars during the War of Liberation. But Chairman Mao shook his head: "He is indeed good in military command, but he is not suitable to serve as an adviser to him." ”
At this time, Liu Shaoqi said that there was a person - Deng Xiaoping, and it can be said that Deng Gong was indeed a good candidate, but Premier Zhou at this time raised objections. The current country is in the stage of development, and it can be said that it is inseparable from Deng Gong, and if he is sent to Vietnam, it will inevitably affect the country.
At this moment, Premier Zhou said a candidate - Chen Geng, Chen Geng has been on the battlefield for many years, experienced in a hundred battles, and is an all-round talent. What's more worth mentioning is that Chen Geng and Ho Chi Minh are also old acquaintances, so it is most appropriate to let Chen Geng go.
Then Chen Geng received an order from the central government, telling him to pack up and rush to the battlefield in Vietnam. After a short period of preparation, Chen Geng took the Chinese advisory team to Vietnam, and on the way, Chen Geng began to understand the situation in Vietnam and the division of troops between the enemy and our armies.
Immediately after arriving in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh organized Tran Geng and Vo Nguyen Gia together for the first military conference. Because he was not fighting in China at this time, but in Vietnam as an adviser, Chen Geng basically listened to Wu Yuanjia and a few people at this first meeting.
When I heard that they advocated a large-scale battle along the Sino-Vietnamese border to regain Cao Binh. For this tactic, Chen Geng is recognized. Subsequently, after an accurate understanding, Chen Geng believed that the battle was nine out of ten. But what he never expected was that he was still too optimistic.
2. Serve as a consultant
In fact, in the war with France, there was a reason why Vietnam was repeatedly defeated, and soon after Chen Geng's arrival, he discovered a fatal problem in the Vietnamese army. Their most basic thinking is wrong, and as we all know, our party never cared about the gains and losses of one city or one pool in the War of Liberation or in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression before, while Vietnam was just the opposite.
At the meeting on how to attack Gaoping, General Chen Geng can be said to have opened his eyes. Everyone is focused on how to take more territory, and they don't care at all about destroying the enemy's living forces. Listening to Wu Yuanjia and the others discussing how to occupy more territory, Chen Geng finally couldn't help but speak up.
It is worth mentioning that the current number of Vietnamese troops far exceeds that of the French army, but so far, the Vietnamese army has basically not won a single battle. Not to mention anything else, you can annihilate a regiment and a company, but there is none. Of course, General Chen Geng can't say it so ugly.
He said euphemistically: Gaoping is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the French army has also built many fortifications in order to be able to hold Gaoping. If the focus is on attacking Gaoping, it will be difficult to achieve victory, and it is better to concentrate forces to attack Dongxi, where the enemy's defense is weak. After the capture of Dongxi, Gaoping will be easy.
It can be said that this is a very clever strategy, but the Vietnamese generals are very skeptical of Chen Geng's tactics. Soon some people questioned why they didn't just take Gaoping and why they attacked Dongxi......
Chen Geng explained to the commanders of the Vietnamese army little by little. Dongxi was attacked because the Vietnamese army was completely sure that it could be captured. If you attack Gaoping, it is very likely that you will suffer heavy losses and return in vain, and secondly, if Dongxi is lost, the French army will inevitably mobilize troops to defend. Under Chen Geng's explanation, the Vietnamese generals were still skeptical.
In the end, with the full support of Wu Yuanjia, it was carried out in accordance with Chen Geng's tactics. Of course, General Chen Geng quickly sent his tactical telegram to Chairman Mao, and he understood Chen Geng's tactical chairman at a glance and gave him a high degree of support.
It is worth mentioning that the Vietnamese army is also bound to win this time, and the entire 7,000 Vietnamese troops are ready to go, while the French army stationed in Dongxi has only one battalion of troops, with a maximum of more than 400 people. With such a large gap in troops, there is no doubt about the victory in this battle. But General Chen Geng was still too optimistic. After the war began, things did not develop as Chen Geng expected.
Third, whether to fight or not
Here Chen Geng began to arrange nervously, originally saying that he would attack in several ways, but one of the main attacking troops lost contact with the headquarters, and such a low-level mistake can happen. The last resort can only delay the time of the main attack, but this does not affect the overall situation.
In the middle of the night, Chen Geng finally received the good news from Wu Yuanjia that the Vietnamese army had successfully entered the hinterland of the enemy army. Chen Geng, who learned the good news, could finally get a good night's sleep. Chen Geng received the news of Wu Yuanjia early in the morning, the Vietnamese army did not attack the hinterland, and now the two armies are in a stalemate, Chen Geng was stunned when he heard the news, and he said last night that he could not attack it again after attacking it for one night.
Chen Geng immediately rushed to the front line to understand the situation, and on the phone, Chen Geng told Wu Yuanjia to let the Vietnamese army hold their positions and not retreat for a single step. Chen Geng was on the road here, and the main force of the Vietnamese army over there openly disobeyed the order and began to retreat, and encountered interception by the French army on the road, suffering heavy casualties.
After Chen Geng arrived here, he learned about the battle situation, Chen Geng was furious, and he also discovered the problems of the Vietnamese army. During the attack, the officers hid behind the large army, and even the commanders were reluctant to move forward, and the soldiers were even more reluctant. Which commander in our army did not lead by example.
After learning what happened, Chen Geng redeployed to recover his losses. But this attack was still ineffective, Chen Geng found that it was still the same old problem as before, and he was afraid and didn't dare to move forward, and he fought for a full five hours, 7,000 people against 400 people, and he couldn't even enter the city center!
At this time, Wu Yuanjia called Chen Geng, meaning that he would not be able to attack for a long time, whether he would retreat and wait until he rested and recuperated. Hearing Wu Yuanjia's words, Chen Geng said bluntly from his heart: "If you don't fight, I will return to China, it is the critical moment of the attack, and as the commander-in-chief, I want to retreat!"
Subsequently, under Chen Geng's deployment, the phenomenon of escaping from the battle was strictly forbidden, and Dongxi was finally taken in the early hours of the morning. In this battle, the French army suffered less than 400 losses, while the Vietnamese army suffered more than 500 casualties.
epilogue
It was after this that Chen Geng clearly knew where the shortcomings of the Vietnamese army were, and after that, he focused on correcting the ideology and style of the leaders and soldiers in the army, and finally under the command of Chen Geng, the Vietnamese army successfully drove the French army out of Vietnam.