In 1979, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) launched a thunderous counterattack against Vietnam, shocking the world, especially Vietnam.
But in fact, before China's self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, China repeatedly warned Vietnam that it was the Vietnamese side itself that did not take it seriously, because there had been a saying in their country before, that is, "one Vietnamese soldier can fight 30 People's Liberation Army."
In Vietnam, known as the "Napoleon of the East", Vu Yuanjia also confidently believes that if a fight really starts, Vietnam will "win the battle".
【High-spirited Wu Yuanjia】
The reason why they are so crazy is because they think they have the following three advantages.
First, the Vietnamese army has a lot of combat experience
Since the founding of the People's Republic of Vietnam in 1945, Vietnam has almost never stopped fighting, first fighting with the French who invaded them for the second time for 9 years, and then because of the internal political split, South Vietnam and North Vietnam began to fight in 1955.
【The Brutal U.S.-Vietnam War】
According to the Vietnamese military, they are the only nation in Asia that can defeat two white countries in a row.
They have also always believed that Vietnam is the third largest military power in the world after the United States and the Soviet Union, and as for China, they have long not known what rank it is.
Moreover, because Vietnam is located in Southeast Asia and belongs to the tropics, the land is covered with a large number of dense forest vegetation, such jungle terrain is the home of Vietnam's native army, and Chinese soldiers are not good at fighting on this terrain.
[The Vietnamese army is very good at fighting jungle warfare]
Moreover, among the 9 combat divisions and 8 production divisions arranged by the Vietnamese army, the 3rd Division, the 316A Division and the 346th Division are known as the trump cards of the Vietnamese army and are the most bullish combat units in the Vietnamese army.
Therefore, Vu Yuanjia also believes that the Vietnamese army has absolute strength, and it is more than enough to fight against China.
Second, the Chinese army has little combat experience
Although China was world-renowned for its bravery during World War II, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, except for the Chinese People's Volunteers who assisted North Korea in 1950, they fought large-scale battles, and then for nearly 30 years, the Chinese army had no large-scale combat experience.
【The Chinese People's Liberation Army during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea】
During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, China dispatched 2.4 million troops, and in 1965, when it resisted US aggression and aided Vietnam, it dispatched a total of 320,000 troops, mainly technicians, which is indeed not a large scale in comparison.
Moreover, most of the Chinese soldiers with a lot of combat experience have been demobilized because of age and other reasons, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army at that time, in the eyes of Vietnam, was like a fragile newborn.
Moreover, the commander-in-chief of the front line of China's self-defense counterattack against Vietnam is 73-year-old Xu Shiyou, even if he has peerless martial arts, he can't stand the twilight of heroes.
[Xu Shiyou (right) in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam]
Wu Yuanjia believes that Xu Shiyou is not to be afraid, if Chen Geng fights, perhaps the Chinese People's Liberation Army still has a chance of victory.
Because when China helped the Vietnamese army resist France, Chen Geng was sent to Vietnam as a military adviser, and his strategic vision and military level shocked the Vietnamese, and even more shocked Wu Yuanjia, who cooperated with him day and night.
It can be said that the Chinese general that Wu Yuanjia admires the most is Chen Geng, but unfortunately God is jealous of talent, Chen Geng died of illness in 1961, otherwise Vietnam may not be so arrogant.
[Chen Geng (second from right) helped him resist the French in Vietnam]
Thirdly, the support of the USSR
After the Sino-Soviet relations were broken, the Soviet Union obviously focused on India, Vietnam and other countries in finding allies, and the Soviet Union also gave Vietnam a lot of help during the Vietnam War of Resistance against the United States.
The most obvious is that the Vietnamese army is equipped with a large number of Soviet weapons, because all kinds of advanced weapons have been supported by the Soviet Union to Vietnam.
The period of China's self-defense and counterattack against Vietnam was also a period when China and the United States were further considering formally establishing diplomatic relations, while the Soviet Union was more hostile to China and frantically suppressed China.
[Soon after the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, Deng Gong was invited to visit the United States]
As a result, after the conflict between China and Vietnam, the Soviet Union immediately provided a large amount of support to Vietnam.
The Soviet Union first organized a military advisory group of 20 people, all of whom were well-known Soviet generals, led by the First Deputy Director General of the Soviet Ministry of Defense, General Obaturov, and went to the front line in Vietnam together.
Then, the Soviet Union sent Vietnam more than 20 fighter planes, more than 100 anti-aircraft guns, more than 400 tanks and armored vehicles, and more than 1,000 SAM missiles.
These military equipment are enough to arm a small and medium-sized country, which shows how much the Soviet Union cares about Vietnam.
At this time, China has just experienced a special period, and the level of military equipment is really not high, and from the perspective of other countries in the world, against the all-Soviet Vietnamese army, the Chinese People's Liberation Army is indeed at a disadvantage.
summary
It is precisely because of these three reasons that the Vietnamese people do not take China seriously, they steal trees on the Chinese border, injure and kill Chinese border residents, invade China's border land, and challenge China's bottom line again and again.
In the face of China's accusations and warnings, Vietnam did not take it seriously and continued to go its own way, and even they did not recall the main force of the Vietnamese army from Cambodia, because in their opinion, the main force was not needed to deal with the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
In the end, China could not bear it anymore and launched a counterattack against Vietnam in the early morning of February 17, 1979.
[People's Daily front page news on February 17, 1979]
The strength of the nine armies of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was pushed to the hinterland of Vietnam in only 28 days, and the entire line of Vietnam collapsed.
The result of the battle was obvious, and Vietnam was really dumbfounded, they did not expect that China would actually send 9 armies for this "trivial matter", with weapons that did not have their advanced weapons, and beat them to the ground.
Looking back at the three reasons why Vietnam prides itself on its nobility, objectively speaking, it is indeed the real situation between China and Vietnam at that time.
[China's territory is inviolable]
But what Vietnam has not thought clearly about is how much power is contained in China's thousands of years of history and the belief of Chinese bloodline.
Resources:
[1] [Vietnam Documentary] General Vo Nguyen Giap: One Life, One Generation, Vietnam TV
[2] February 17, 2nd World War History: Our army carried out a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam by the Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China