Author: Sasha
This article was originally written by Sasha and is not allowed to be reproduced by any media
The ace of the People's Liberation Army support mortar of the Sino-Vietnamese War: the Infantry Protector Type 67 82mm mortar
The main character today is the PLA Type 67 82-mm mortar. It was the standard 82mm mortar of the Sino-Vietnamese War, which played a huge role in the whole field. For the front-line infantry of the People's Liberation Army, it is difficult to get artillery support in jungle and mountain operations, and Type 67 is their protector, which is of great significance. Listen to Sasha.
In the 50s, the PLA copied the Soviet M1937 type 82-mm mortar, introducing the Type 53 mortar.
For the next 20 years, the Type 53 mortar was the standard artillery of the People's Liberation Army.
The M1937 mortar is a Soviet standard artillery in World War II, and it is a mature weapon that has withstood the test of brutal large-scale wars, and its performance is naturally excellent.
For the PLA, each infantry battalion has an artillery company under its jurisdiction. Each artillery company has three platoons, two of which are armed with three Type 53 82-mm mortars and the other is equipped with recoilless guns.
In other words, each infantry battalion can be supported by 6 Type 53 mortars, and each company can be supported by an average of 2.
In the 1959 Tibetan Counterinsurgency War and the 1962 Sino-Indian Border War, the Type 53 mortar performed very well, especially suitable for highland and mountain operations, and severely damaged the Indian army, which was strong and capable in the outside world.
In addition to the PLA's own equipment, Type 53 mortars are also exported in large quantities or aided by friendly countries free of charge.
For example, North Vietnam received a large number of Type 53 mortars, which became the main firepower output of front-line infantry.
In the famous Battle of Khe Son, the 304th Infantry Division, the main force of North Vietnam, was armed with 54 82-mm mortars, an average of 4 per battalion, and 6 at the regimental level.
The American troops in the Battle of Khe Son were deeply troubled by the 82-mm mortars of the North Vietnamese.
The US military has air supremacy and superior artillery firepower, and can effectively deal with North Vietnamese 130-mm cannons, 152-mm cannons, and 122-mm rocket artillery, which have large targets.
Under the counterattack of US fighters and artillery, the survivability of North Vietnam's large artillery was worrying, and it was difficult to shell for a long time.
During the Battle of Khe Son, the US military dispatched more than 20,000 sorties of F-4, F-105, B-52, A-1, A-7 and other types of fighters, and dropped more than 80,000 tons of ammunition on the Vietnamese troops around Khe Son. In addition to the ammunition fired by the US ground forces, the amount of ammunition dropped by the US military reached 100,000 tons in about 70 days of the Battle of Keisan, which was higher than the explosive yield of the two atomic bombs dropped by the US military on Japan during World War II.
Obviously, the operation of large artillery in North Vietnam was very difficult.
On the contrary, the US military is completely incapable of dealing with 82-mm mortars. Such artillery was only a few tens of kilograms and could be disassembled into three parts to be carried by infantry or horses. As long as the infantry can go, the 82mm mortars can go, and they can quickly move positions, so that American artillery fire and fighters cannot be locked.
During the six months that the Battle of Khe Shan lasted, the American army was bombarded by 82-mm mortars at every moment. This 82-mm mortar shell looks small and has a maximum kill radius of up to 25 meters. Even if the soldier can lie down and hide in time, the killing radius of the mortar shell is 15 meters.
In this battle, 990 American troops were killed and about 4,500 were wounded, and the total number of casualties was as high as more than 5,000.
North Vietnamese casualties were even greater, with more than 2,000 killed in battle alone.
Most of the more than 5,000 U.S. casualties were the result of North Vietnamese mortars.
Ironically, it was not only the U.S. military that suffered the North Vietnamese mortar losses.
In the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979, the Vietnamese People's Army, as the defending side, used a large number of 82-mm mortars aided by the mainland to bombard the attacking PLA, causing serious casualties to our army.
In the famous novel "Wreath Under the Mountain", it is recorded that the Vietnamese army manipulated mortars with a small number of troops and condescended to repeatedly bombard our army: the battle became more and more brutal.
As soon as the two sugar canes we had each been given had been chewed, the enemy on the main peak condescended and once again shelled us. The shelling was crazier and more ferocious than the previous ones, and the shelling lasted for half an hour. On the nameless heights, the trenches on which we relied and stood were riddled with craters in front and back, left and right. The smoke of gunpowder kept us open, and the smell of TNT choked us out of breath. As soon as the shelling stopped, the two enemy forts halfway up the main peak mountain fired flat-firing anti-aircraft machine guns and light and heavy machine guns at our nameless heights......
Obviously, the enemy is about to fight back from the south!
"Three platoons, suppress enemy fire!" Liang Sanxi shouted loudly.
As soon as we poked our heads out of the trench, we saw that a group of enemies had climbed the steep cliff in front of the trench, only a dozen meters away from us! "Hit!" Liang Sanxi shouted while holding up the light machine gun and swept at the enemy group! Rise up at full speed and fire at the enemy group that sneaks in, and in an instant, the enemy in front of the position is beaten by us like a king stealing a watermelon, rolling, crawling......
This group of enemies came down from the main peak. Taking advantage of the fact that we could not observe during the shelling, they crossed the recess between the main peak and the unnamed heights and attacked the front of our position. It's dangerous, if we catch them a few seconds later, they'll pounce in our trenches!
When the enemy's counterattack was repulsed by us, the enemy and us calmed down again.
"Hold on, you find a way to persevere! We will hold on until tomorrow before we can go up! "Don't stop, the battalion commander will reduce the road," the regiment commander instructed, if it is difficult to capture the main peak, you will stick to the nameless heights, and wait for us to go up! "No, we can't hold on to this nameless plateau! If you want to die, you can only die on the main peak! "What? Are you Liang Sanxi or Jin Kailai, the complaint is not light! "Report to the battalion commander, Jin Kailai has sacrificed, I am Liang Sanxi!" Liang Sanxi's face turned pale, "There is an enemy mortar position on the main peak, and they are shooting at our heads one by one. If you persist on this nameless high ground until the first afternoon of tomorrow, the Ninth Company will definitely be wiped out! ”
Liang Sanxi said to the party members and non-party members who gathered around: "We can no longer be passively attacked, we must take the initiative!" I propose to form a party member assault team, go to take the main peak in front of you, and occupy the enemy artillery position! ”
The soldier "Beijing" picked up and said: "The words of the company commander are extremely reasonable. It seems that there are not many enemy forces on the main peak, and they mainly rely on artillery to kill and wound us. Only when we stand on the enemy's artillery position can our Ninth Company have a sense of security. ”
Far from it.
Although the overall performance of the Type 53 mortar is good, and it is also a weapon that has been tempered a lot, it is an artillery designed before the outbreak of World War II. After 30 years of service, the Type 53 inevitably became obsolete.
Taking the Sino-Indian War as an example, the Type 53 mortar showed some shortcomings, and the officers and soldiers were dissatisfied.
One is that the Type 53 is relatively heavy, the whole gun weighs more than 50 kilograms, and after being disassembled into three pieces, each piece is close to 20 kilograms. On the march on the plateau, the weight-bearing capacity of the soldiers dropped to fifty percent of the normal.
In other words, the weight of 20 kg of mortar parts, which is equal to 40 kg, overwhelms the artillerymen;
The second is that the design of the circular base of the Type 53 is defective, which is not conducive to processing and manufacturing, and is not conducive to rapid shelling and ensuring the accuracy of shelling, which is a relatively backward design;
The third is that the Type 53 does not have a pulling mechanism, and can only be fired with a muzzle-loaded mortar. This method of firing does not allow for flat firing of enemy fortifications, and it is also difficult to fire some special shells (it is better for soldiers to leave the artillery when firing), which does not conform to the world trend.
As the firepower pillar of the front-line infantry, the PLA attaches great importance to 82mm mortars.
Back in the 60s, the PLA decided to improve the Type 53 mortar.
After a long period of research, a new generation of mortars was finalized in 1968 and mass production began in 1971, which is the Type 67 82-mm mortar.
The Type 67 was an improvement over the Type 53, but it was not a new cannon designed out of thin air.
The improvements of Formula 67 are as follows:
First, the weight is greatly reduced.
The total weight of the Type 67 is only 35 kg, which is more than 10 kg lighter than the Type 53.
After the disassembly of the Type 67, the heaviest part of the gun body is only 13 kg, which is more than 5 kg lighter than the Type 53.
Don't underestimate these 5 kilograms, in the long-distance march on the front line, a light 1 kilogram also greatly reduces the burden on the artillery, which can effectively improve the ability to sustain combat.
The most popular thing for front-line officers and soldiers is the weight reduction of Type 67.
Second, the base has been improved.
Instead of the quirky circular base of Type 53, the Type 67 adopted a triangular base.
Theoretically, this design can improve the stability and accuracy of the Type 67 shelling, and improve the rapid response ability.
Thirdly, a hair pulling mechanism was added.
The tail of the Type 67 gun is equipped with a pulling mechanism, which is convenient for flat firing and firing special shells, which is in line with the world trend.
In addition, the Type 67 also had several other improvements, such as the muzzle was changed to an inner cone for easy loading of shells, and the buffer device was changed to a single-barrel structure.
The Type 67 can use long shells weighing 6 to 8 kilograms, and the range is reduced to 1000 meters, and it is mainly used to kill enemy infantry in large numbers or break obstacles.
The radius of explosion of such shells increased to more than 30 meters, which can be considered a sapper weapon.
The overall performance of the Type 67 is similar to that of the Type 53, the range, power, and rate of fire have not changed, and the accuracy has been improved to a certain extent.
It can be said that the Type 67 can be regarded as a Type 53 with 1 door that reduces weight and improves accuracy, which is more suitable for the PLA with insufficient transportation capacity.
After the birth of the Type 67, mass production began in the 70s.
At this time, the Type 53 mortar was generally in service for more than 15 years, and it was still quite old!
Mortars have a certain peculiarity, that is, there is more training in artillery in peacetime, otherwise it is impossible to train excellent gunners.
Even if these mortars did not go into the war, a large number of shells were fired over the past 10 years and needed to be decommissioned.
From the late 70s, the Type 67 gradually replaced the old Type 53 82-mm mortar and became the standard artillery of the People's Liberation Army.
And the main stage of Type 67 is the Sino-Vietnamese War!
Type 67 fought all over the Sino-Vietnamese War, and it was present in almost every battle!
On the surface, the Sino-Vietnamese War was a grand event of large-caliber artillery, and it could even be said that it was an artillery war.
In the fierce artillery battle between the two sides, even 100-mm mortars were not in the stream, let alone 82-mm at all.
However, the PLA infantry has a lot of trust in the Type 67 82-mm mortar, and they also value it very much. Why? It is the most needed direct fire cover for infantry.
When infantry needs fire support, the Type 67 is the support gun that can fire in the shortest time.
Let's take a look at these examples.
After the People's Liberation Army regained Lao Son, the Vietnamese army has been brewing a large-scale counteroffensive.
In 1984, the Vietnamese army formulated the "MB-84" campaign plan, preparing to mobilize 40,000 troops for a full-scale counteroffensive to recapture Lao Son and other places in one fell swoop.
Our army has already received information and is ready to do so.
In the early morning of July 12, the Vietnamese army sent agents deep into the positions of our troops and began to secretly open up the offensive road in preparation for a full-scale offensive.
At 3 o'clock in the morning, Vietnamese artillery began shelling a number of heights of our army.
At 5 o'clock, the Vietnamese army took the battalion as a unit, and the infantry began a full-scale attack, and the PLA infantry on the position struggled to defend, and the two sides fell into a tug-of-war.
In this battle, both sides used artillery as the main attack force, trying to kill and injure a large number of the opponent's living forces and force them to retreat.
The 122nd Infantry Regiment of the People's Liberation Army defended the East Mountain of the Bali River, used part of the infantry to establish positions, and was responsible for delaying the enemy, and the battalion Type 67 82 mm mortars and the regiment 100 mm mortars were on standby.
On the same day, the 1st battalion of the vanguard of the Vietnamese army, under the cover of artillery, raided a number of high ground on the front line of the 122nd Regiment.
In just one day, the Vietnamese army carried out up to 15 assaults.
The front-line infantry of the People's Liberation Army used small arms to block the Vietnamese army's approach to the position, but the main firepower to kill and wound the Vietnamese army was still artillery.
The regiment was part of a long-barreled artillery group and 160-mm heavy mortars, which were responsible for shelling the enemy at long distances. The battalion's Type 67 82-mm mortars and 100-mm mortars were responsible for suppressing the Vietnamese assault infantry at a distance of 100 to 150 meters from the forward positions.
Under the heavy shelling of Type 67 82-mm mortars, a stable barrage was formed in front of the positions of our troops, and any soldier who entered the barrage could not escape casualties. The first wave of the Vietnamese attack was quickly crushed, leaving behind more than 30 corpses.
Subsequently, the Vietnamese army charged many times, but the mortar shells were smashed away.
Seeing that such a fight could not be done, the Vietnamese army first set up anti-aircraft machine guns on the high ground, fired directly at the PLA position with powerful firepower, and then mobilized one reinforced company to attack the No. 30 high ground of our army.
The Vietnamese anti-aircraft machine guns had strong firepower and a long range, and the PLA on the position had no counter-weapons for a while, and was completely suppressed by enemy fire.
The reinforced company of the Vietnamese army took the opportunity to attack the No. 30 height, and the soldiers of the two armies were only 100 meters apart, and the situation was critical.
In this case, the defending PLA infantry company immediately called on the battalion for artillery support.
Some Vietnamese troops have already rushed into their positions and bombarded them with powerful but not very high-precision large-caliber long-barreled artillery, which can easily injure their own people by mistake.
As a result, the battalion immediately fired a large number of shells using Type 67 82-mm mortars and 100-mm mortars, which landed extremely accurately in the ranks of the attacking Vietnamese troops. The Vietnamese army suffered heavy casualties and had no choice but to stop advancing, but these shelling did not hurt our officers and men who were close at hand.
Subsequently, the mortars carried out precise artillery fire, completely destroying the anti-aircraft machine guns on the positions of the Vietnamese troops.
This offensive of the Vietnamese army was again repulsed.
By 15 o'clock in the afternoon, the exhausted Vietnamese army carried out its last large-scale offensive. The Vietnamese army used 1 company to pounce on the junction of our position, trying to find a gap to attack. In previous attacks, the Vietnamese army used a large number of artillery and even anti-tank missiles, and the PLA positions were damaged a lot, and almost all the telephone lines were blown up.
The front-line PLA had difficulty calling for large-caliber artillery support from the rear, and the Vietnamese army saw this as a good opportunity and made a desperate attack.
Unexpectedly, the Type 67 82-mm mortars and 100-mm mortars of the PLA infantry battalion did not need any guidance at all. By looking directly at the enemy's position, they can open fire, and the shelling is very accurate.
The 18th Company and 3rd Platoon of the PLA defenders, under the cover of our army's intensive artillery fire, repelled the Vietnamese army again in only 15 minutes.
So far, the Vietnamese army has charged 15 times that day, leaving behind more than 250 corpses and wounding at least 200 people.
On the other hand, due to the good fire support of artillery, especially the Type 67 82-mm mortars, only 5 people were killed in the 2nd battalion of the defense, and 26 were wounded.
In defensive operations, the Type 67 can provide the artillery support that front-line infantry needs most, covering a distance of 100 meters in front of the position, which other artillery cannot do.
You know, a good PLA fighter can throw a grenade at a distance of up to 60 meters. The Type 67 can cover up to 100 meters away with artillery fire, which is equivalent to a single shot, and it is enough to rely on it to defend.
This is a defensive operation, but what about the offense?
In the offensive, the Type 67 82-mm mortars played a greater role.
There was a famous female militia gunner in the war, named Duan Guolan. She was a female rubber factory worker and the deputy squad leader of the county militia Type 67 82 mortar squad at the age of 21.
In an artillery squad, the squad leader is responsible for commanding and the deputy squad leader is responsible for aiming, both of which are very important.
Normally, both positions would be filled by male soldiers who were more responsive, with female soldiers mainly serving as ammunition men.
Duan Guolan had excellent results in training, often reaching the level of 3 shots and 2 hits, and was appointed as the deputy squad leader.
After the outbreak of the Sino-Vietnamese War, the People's Liberation Army did not allow female militiamen to enter Vietnam to fight, considering the brutality of the fighting and the Vietnamese army's tradition of abusing female prisoners of war.
Duan Guolan was very dissatisfied, repeatedly asked to participate in the war, and even wrote a letter asking for war blood.
Unable to resist their requests, the eight female militiamen from the county were eventually allowed to fight in Vietnam.
On February 17, 1979, when the fighting began, the militia of the county was responsible for attacking the Pannam Gong Gongan Tun in Vietnam. The public security tun is not a regular army of the Vietnamese army, similar to our armed or militia units.
Their backbone personnel are mainly veterans with rich combat experience, but they are older and less effective than the regular army.
The quality of the soldiers in the public security tun is not high, and the weapons and equipment are quite good.
China had provided North Vietnam with large quantities of weapons, leading to a flood of weapons in the country, and many armed police and militias were equipped as well as the regular army.
Taking the public security tun as an example, in addition to being equipped with various automatic rifles and semi-automatic rifles, a company-level public security tun also has six machine guns, two 40-rocket launchers, and even two 82-mm mortars, and some units are also equipped with 60-mm mortars, 82 recoilless guns, anti-aircraft machine guns, and other weapons.
The public security tun is the defensive side, and it will definitely rely on strong field fortifications to defend it, and it is not so easy to deal with them.
After fierce fighting between the two sides, the main position of the public security tun in Bannangong was captured by the Chinese militia.
As the militia continued to advance, they were met with heavy and light machine gun fire from the Vietnamese army on the nearby heights.
The Vietnamese troops in the Gong'an Tun, who had been repulsed, fled into the second-line positions in a hurry, and began to violently block the road with the light and heavy machine guns set up here.
The Chinese militia is not a regular army, and its combat effectiveness is limited. If the frontal hard fight is adopted, the casualties may be large, and it may not be possible to occupy the high ground.
In this case, it was Duan Guolan's turn to use the power of the Type 67 82mm mortar.
They were a mortar company with a total of 9 Type 67 guns.
Under the orders of the superiors, 9 Type 67 guns opened fire fiercely, and a large number of shells accurately flew into the Vietnamese army's high ground. Not long after, several machine guns of the Vietnamese army were all knocked out.
Even the irregular army of Gong'an Tun is very tenacious. It was clear that the machine guns had been knocked out, but they held on.
Just as the Chinese militia was preparing to attack the high ground, suddenly the Vietnamese army took out another 60mm mortar and began to shell continuously.
The information reads: The higher authorities ordered the artillery company to quickly destroy the enemy's small cannon. However, the enemy was very cunning, and with the help of herringbone fortifications that had already been built, he dodged left and right. When I hit the left, it slipped to the right, and when I hit the right, it slipped to the left, Duan Guolan and his comrades were extremely angry and determined to destroy it. With the help of the company observation post, Duan Guolan and his comrades-in-arms divided the enemy's herringbone fortifications into three sections: left, center, and right, and the nine guns were divided into three groups, each responsible for one section.
War is brutal and different from daily training.
Duan Guolan had fired a lot of artillery in training, but he had never fired at such a high speed.
Originally, the sound of the 82-mm mortar was not very loud, and it was far worse than the long-barreled artillery, and the artillery still had to cover his ears when firing.
However, with such a high speed of artillery bombardment, it is necessary to destroy the enemy as soon as possible, and the artillerymen do not care to cover their ears, resulting in serious hearing problems.
When bombarding the enemy's machine-gun fortifications on the high ground, Duan Guolan felt a buzzing in his ears and a terrible pain. In your life-and-death battle, she doesn't care about her ears at all.
The county armed forces minister on the side suddenly noticed that Duan Guolan's ears were bleeding, and hurriedly shouted at her.
At this time, Duan Guolan could no longer hear, and the Minister of Armed Forces was so anxious that he ran to her side and shouted loudly into her ear.
Duan Guolan understands that it is possible to lose her hearing for the rest of her life and become deaf. But the battle was so urgent that she didn't even bother to think about it.
Duan Guolan still insisted on shelling, and finally destroyed the enemy's 60-mm mortar.
She just wanted to check the bleeding from her ear, who knew that the Chinese militia had just rushed to the high ground when a wave of Vietnamese reinforcements came.
The Vietnamese army was a regular army, well-armed, with four light and heavy machine guns, two 60-mm mortars, two 82-mm mortars and one 40-rocket launcher.
With their strong firepower, the Vietnamese army stopped the Chinese militia in the middle of the mountain, and it was impossible to advance at all.
At this time, they could only rely on Duan Guolan's 82mm mortars again.
Duan Guolan's shelling was the most accurate, and her superiors decided to let her shell alone first, as a benchmark run, and the other artillery would follow.
At this time, Guolan basically couldn't hear the voice, and completely relied on the squad leader to gesture and write to communicate with her.
Deaf, she did not panic, and fired steadily and continuously, accurately hitting the enemy. The remaining 8 guns followed suit and fired hundreds of shells from front to back, completely annihilating the Vietnamese army, and the high ground was successfully occupied by our troops.
In this battle, Duan Guolan's artillery squad fired more than 260 shells a day. For the militia, this is quite remarkable and the key to victory in the fortification.
In order to protect the militias, the state then did not allow the militia fighters to fight deep into the territory of Vietnam, allowing them to return to the country.
Duan Guolan did not have the opportunity to fire again in actual combat, but he still practiced his artillery skills hard.
She can shoot simply, that is, without a scope, without a gun mount and gun carriage, with only one barrel.
During a performance, Duan Guolan fired three shells at a target 300 meters away in succession, all of which hit the target.
The war still affected Duan Guolan, and her hearing never returned to normal levels, and she has been disabled ever since.
Although Type 67 fought all over the Sino-Vietnamese War, the front-line officers and soldiers gradually discovered the problem.
The Type 67 improved the circular base of the Type 53 and adopted a triangular base, which improved the accuracy of shelling and the ability to sustain shelling.
Before each shelling, the artillerymen first had to dig a pit to bury the base in the soil to increase stability.
Unexpectedly, as long as the Type 67 shells at high speed for a period of time, the base will sink seriously due to the strong recoil, and the soil will not be able to withstand it at all, which will greatly affect the accuracy of the shelling.
In desperation, the artillerymen had no choice but to use the earth method to deal with it, and the planks of the ammunition box were padded between the earthen pit and the base of the artillery.
In addition, the barrel was 53 kg lighter than the Type 53 at the expense of 5.
As long as the Type 67 is engaged in rapid shelling, the barrel will quickly overheat.
What is especially frightening is that the barrel will also swell at this time. After artillery measurements, the barrel at this time can expand from 82 mm to more than 83 mm, which seriously affects the accuracy and has great safety risks.
For mortars, such a flaw cannot exist.
At the end of the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1987, the PLA again improved the Type 67 and introduced the Type 87 82mm mortar.
And Type 67 has been eliminated from active service one after another, and the disarmament has returned to the field!
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