Sun Tzu's Art of War has a cloud: "A soldier is also a treacherous way." "In a war, the general who can achieve the final victory must be able to see the battle situation clearly, and seek the best deployment plan from it, and use strategy skillfully.
Throughout the 5,000 years of China, almost every era has begun with war and ended with war, and the intelligent Chinese nation has already comprehended many flexible and mysterious ways of war from this ever-changing war situation. Even in the modern history that was once suppressed and humiliated, the people have risen up again in the ruins and used their wisdom and flesh and blood to defeat the invaders who are more powerful in terms of weapons and numbers.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the expected peace and stability did not come, and the impression of being weak still existed in the minds of the surrounding countries and those powerful countries that ranked in the forefront of strength, even if New China had woken up from the chaos and gradually stepped on the road to becoming a powerful country, but those greedy eyes were still firmly attached to China, a vast land rich in resources.
As a neighboring country, Vietnam has always been eager to try on the Sino-Vietnamese border, constantly challenging China's bottom line, so on February 17, 1979, China launched a war of self-defense and counterattack against Vietnam.
This war lasted less than a month and ended with a landslide victory for the Chinese side, but in this war, only the Chinese army can be seen fighting, and the air force has only a few planes for patrol and reconnaissance.
The beginning of the war
"An enemy is more reliable than a friend when he becomes a friend, and a friend is more dangerous than an enemy when he becomes an enemy. "Once in modern history, the Chinese nation and the Vietnamese nation were in a certain sense related to their fate, and China and Vietnam have also been working hand in hand to support each other on the road of fighting against artillery fire and bayonets.
However, with the end of World War II, in order to develop, New China had no choice but to re-establish diplomacy with the superpower of the United States, in the face of the cooling alliance relationship with the Soviet Union.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union gradually deviated from Lenin's stance on Soviet power and became expansionist and aggressive, so that the Soviet Union, which gradually leaned towards ruthless capitalism, and China, which still implemented the ideas of proletarian Marxism, seemed to be walking on two different roads, moving farther and farther apart. In the face of the still difficult struggle against the United States, Vietnam had no choice but to choose the Soviet bloc of the Cold War with the United States.
"A friend of an enemy is also an enemy, and an enemy of an enemy is a friend. As Vietnam's ties with the Soviet Union deepened, China, which had established diplomatic relations with the United States, gradually ceased to be a friend and comrade-in-arms in Vietnam's eyes, but became a neighboring "enemy."
Under the condition of cold diplomatic relations with China, Vietnam, with the support of the Soviet Union, gradually became tainted with the idea of expanding its territory, and used the weapons and equipment provided by the Soviet Union to fight the idea of Cambodia.
In 1978, Vietnam launched a war of aggression against Cambodia and invaded the whole of Cambodia with great rapidity. In the face of Vietnam's sudden war of aggression, the mainland deeply feels that if Vietnam is allowed to win this war, it will pose an extremely serious threat to its neighbors.
The Chinese nation has always advocated peace since ancient times, and all wars in modern history are aimed at seeking a stable and peaceful development environment.
The absence of the Air Force
Vietnam's terrain is dominated by tropical rainforests, and under such high mountains and dense forests, the combat effectiveness of the army is actually very low, and both the mainland PLA and the Vietnamese army are greatly limited in the jungle.
At that time, China had just experienced a special decade of chaos and uncertainty, and although the PLA soldiers still received arduous and rigorous training, they lacked actual combat experience, so they could not achieve an extremely fast advantage in the face of the Vietnamese army, but fell into a situation of hard fighting.
Since the Army could not open the situation, the use of the Air Force seemed to be a great opportunity. However, even if the army is locked in a fierce war, the Chinese side still does not choose to use the air force on a large scale, but only uses the air force as a reconnaissance and survey tool.
If China abandons the large-scale use of its air force, then the Vietnamese army, which has a strong air force, should send its own air force to dominate the land with the air.
However, in this Sino-Vietnamese war, Vietnam completely abandoned the use of air force as if it had never had an air force, and still used its army strength to compete with the PLA.
Neither side of the war will use air power, which is a "gentlemen's agreement" that limits the military power of China and Vietnam to the army, and allows shells and guns to rain down in the rainforest.
China has scruples
"First be invincible, and then wait for the enemy to be invincible. "The Chinese leaders who have emerged from the arduous revolutionary battles have a clear and far-reaching vision, and will never focus all their attention on the Sino-Vietnamese war alone, but follow the line of this war to trace the driving force behind it.
The reason why it did not choose to use a large number of air forces was precisely because the Chinese side knew very well that this war could not be expanded again, so that the Soviet Union, which was standing behind Vietnam, would have the opportunity to participate in the war.
In addition to preventing another beast from entering the battlefield and causing huge losses to our side, there is another important reason not to use the air force - our own air force is limited.
The era of chaos and internal damage had just ended, and the country was in ruins, and the Air Force, as a unit that had not yet fully matured and perfected in China, could not be called the best in terms of technology or actual combat experience. If such an air force were to confront the Vietnamese army head-on, it might not be able to achieve the desired advantage, but rather expose its weakness.
At the same time, our army chose to send nearly 10,000 artillery pieces in the later stage, and the number of artillery exceeded 100,000. Under the cover of artillery fire, without using the air force, the mainland has been able to gain the greatest advantage on the battlefield.
What the Vietnamese side thinks
In China's view, the advantages of not using the air force definitely outweigh the disadvantages, so what is the reason for Vietnam, which has air force strength, not to use the air force?
Even if a child has a powerful weapon in one day, it is still impossible to have the ability to use it. Vietnam is like a child who has acquired weapons, after getting the American and Soviet-style fighters, which are in the forefront of the world's technologically advanced technology, but there is a lack of pilots to use the fighters.
Soldiers who are unfamiliar with fighter planes cannot properly use such powerful weapons, and Vietnam's claim of strong air force is nothing more than a lie like paper paste, and if it is really put into battle, it will inevitably be exposed in an instant.
Under such circumstances, the Vietnamese side decided not to use its air force but to continue to use its army for combat, not to be confused, but to preserve its own fighter equipment for future military development.
It was precisely because the two sides were not confident in the control of the air force that in this war of less than a month, only the army was seen fighting in the rainforest, and the artillery fire shook the earth, while the sky stained by gunpowder smoke and gray saw only dirty clouds, and the heroic posture of the fighters flying was not seen.
Brief summary:
"A hundred battles are won, and those who are not good are good, and those who surrender without a fight are also those who are good. "The Chinese nation, which has endured aggression and bullying, has rebuilt its homeland, regained its former freedom and independence, and is also developing towards strength and prosperity through one war after another to defend itself.
However, Sun Tzu said in the Art of War that simple war cannot make the enemy finally submit, and only its own absolute strength can make the enemy retreat.
In the Sino-Vietnamese War, although we won the war, we also exposed the mainland's military problems, and it was precisely by facing these weaknesses and working hard to correct them that the mainland's military strength became truly strong.