On August 20, 1969, the Soviet ambassador to the United States, Dobrynin, informed the United States of the plan to "carry out a nuclear strike on China" and intended to carry out a nuclear assault on China's two major missile bases in Jiuquan and Xichang, as well as in the first-tier industrial cities in North China.
Although this idea was not implemented, it aroused great attention from China, and then China began to popularize the knowledge of "anti-nuclear, biological, chemical and air raids" among the people, and to find out the strength and deployment of the Soviet Union.
Soon, we determined the number of Soviet troops deployed in the Far East, speculating on paper strength of 1.1 million to 1.3 million men.
As war was imminent, China hastily prepared for the "North China Exercise" to simulate a confrontation with the Soviet army, but the results of this exercise were surprising.
Unexpectedly, the 114,000-strong PLA troops could not eat two reinforced regiments of the Soviet Army, and the "North China Military Exercise" undoubtedly gave us a profound lesson.
After the military exercises, China began to carry out military reform, first disarming 1 million troops, and then following the example of the Soviet army to engage in "synthesis".
So, what happened to the North China military exercise that year?
Battle of Zhenbao Island: Lao Maozi underestimated China
Many people may not know that Chinese civilization almost faced extinction in 1969, and our opponent was the Soviet Union, which was at the pinnacle of world military affairs at that time.
At that time, there was a saying in the international community that it was even easier for the Soviet Union to build a missile than it was for China to build a sausage, and the ambassador to the United States at that time repeatedly sent notices to the United States, saying that it was a surgical nuclear strike for us.
Although our people and the People's Liberation Army were not afraid of the Soviets, in the context of those turbulent times, there was still a feeling of being on the verge of a great enemy, and the state mobilized its troops to conduct exercises in order to prevent unexpected situations.
The simple reason for this is that there is a small island in Heilongjiang with an area of only 0.75 square kilometers, and since the mid-19th century, China and Russia have been arguing over the ownership of the territory.
According to the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing signed between the Qing government and Tsarist Russia in 1860, the main channel of the Ussuri River is the boundary line, and Zhenbao Island is close to China, so the island is under the jurisdiction of China.
It's a pity that at that time, this agreement was signed in Russian, and the officials of the Qing government were not familiar with Russian, and it took a long time to communicate with each other, and many details were not determined during this period, which also left room for the Soviet Union to cheat and cheat.
Later, Khrushchev was founded in New China and became the supreme leader of the Soviet Union, and their development path was different from that of China, and there were many differences of opinion.
From 1960, Sino-Soviet relations became dull until the outbreak of the Zhenbaodao War in 1969, and Sino-Soviet relations reached a historical freezing point.
At that time, the world was divided into two bureaus, and the two camps of China and the West were in a Cold War situation, and no one dared to act rashly when both had atomic bombs.
In the battle of Treasure Island, in fact, the two sides did not fight hotly, and even several battles were hand-to-hand combat, but the Slavs were sturdy and suffered a lot in close combat.
Later, Chen Xilian, commander of the Shenyang Military Region, summoned elite soldiers from all over the country, and these soldiers all had unique skills, and some even practiced Shaolin martial arts, which overwhelmed Lao Maozi's arrogance.
The Soviets were deflated and felt aggrieved, so they drove their special 62 tanks out, and on March 2, the battle officially began, and both sides invested a large number of troops and weapons to station in the border area.
At the beginning, Su Jun was full of confidence, their military could be said to be leading the world at that time, and they did not suffer much in the war, but it didn't take long for the Soviet army to taste the bitterness.
The leaders specially talked to the soldiers and formed a secret 62 group, the Soviet army drove tanks and walked on the ice of the Ussuri River, their route was single, for fear of falling into the river, and it was precisely because of this characteristic that we had the opportunity to ambush the Soviet tanks.
Before dawn in the morning, the 62 group set off, and the soldiers laid mines on the river, and finally covered them with white towels.
Sure enough, the Soviet tank crews were quickly hit, and although the tank as a whole was not too badly damaged, the mine directly blew a large hole in the frozen river, and the tank sank.
Later, it took a lot of effort to salvage this tank, for China, this special 62 tank is ironclad evidence of their invasion of China, we also need advanced tank models for analysis and research, which is of great significance for China's military development.
With the escalation of the conflict, the Soviet hawks could not sit still, they wanted to use nuclear weapons to strike at China in all directions, and the momentum was huge, which attracted widespread attention from the people of the world, after all, no one wants a nuclear war.
Some people believe that this is a smoke bomb released by the Soviet side, the thunder is loud and the rain is small, and they do not dare to attack it easily in the turbulent situation in the world, not to mention that China and the Soviet Union are in the same camp.
However, we still mustered up the spirit of 12 points, organized a large-scale military exercise in North China, and even arranged simulated confrontation training to test the actual combat performance of the PLA troops.
Considering that this military exercise may be peeped upon by the outside world, the senior cadres strategic study group held a special meeting to discuss it. A detailed plan of secrecy was agreed, and the operation was codenamed "Meeting 801".
The exercise lasted for three years, and different arms of the armed forces had to fight against each other in different environments, which was a training method that had never been done before, and the purpose was to simulate actual combat, mainly to confront the army.
The first military exercise was scheduled for North China, when 114,000 people were dispatched to simulate a confrontation with 6,000 Soviet troops.
With this lesson learned, Deng Gong decided to carry out military reform, repeatedly stressing the importance of modernization and regularization, and that in the past, wars were fought by numbers, but now the times have changed, and it is necessary to win with advanced military science and technology and superb tactics.
In 1985, the disarmament plan began to agree that we should not blindly pursue quantity, but also pursue quality, so there was the later, million-dollar disarmament.
Military spending is limited, and the money saved can be used for research and development, and later it implemented synthetic reforms, slowly moving closer to the model of the Soviet army.
Nowadays, history has fully proved to us the correctness of the reform of Deng Gong's army, and China's science and technology are also at the forefront of the world.
Text: Uncle Luo Ying
Edited by Uncle Luo Ying
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