Author: Ni Chuanghui
After three days of adjustment and supplementation, on the 27th, the main forces of the 31st and 33rd Divisions gradually launched an attack on the defending enemy in the fiefdom area along both sides of the highway, successively capturing 11 unnamed heights, including the 755 Heights, the 560 Heights, and the Huinen and Jiebu Sinan Heights, and captured the county town of the Fentu at 19:10 on 3 March.
On March 4, the 11th Army advanced to the Fengdeng, Wang Dou, and Wang Bao areas with a force to contain the actions of the 316A Division.
In order to expand the results of the battle, on the afternoon of 5 March, the 91st Regiment of the 31st Division reinforced the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the Yunnan Provincial Independent Division and the 1st Battalion of the 93rd Regiment of the 33rd Division attached to the 14th Frontier Regiment.
At 17 o'clock on the 5th, the command post of the 31st Regiment of the 91st Division advanced to the vicinity of Banhuansan. In view of the lack of preparation for the offensive and the inconvenience of the attack at night, the 91st Regiment decided to postpone the attack. The 1st Infantry Battalion, which had not received an order from the regiment to postpone the attack, launched an attack on the enemy on Heights 1661 at 18:30 on the 5th as originally planned.
The defense of the 1661 heights was led by the 1st Battalion Headquarters of the 741st Regiment of the Vietnamese Army in Lai Chau Province, with 2 companies and a strength of nearly 300 people. The 1st Battalion attacked with 3 companies as the main attack, attacking from the east side of the 1661 Heights to the main peak; The 1st Company attacked from the southwest side of the 1661 Heights to the main peak.
At 2 o'clock on the 6th, the 1st Company attacked 11 times in a row, occupied the third trench, and stopped the attack due to heavy casualties. The 3rd Company did not reach the designated position because it went the wrong way.
At about 3 o'clock, the company advanced to the attack position of the 1st Company and launched a joint attack with the 1st Company, but it was still ineffective.
At 4:40 on the 6th, the battalion ordered the 1st Company to withdraw to the favorable terrain on the east side of the 1661 Heights to prevent enemy attacks, and the 2nd Company followed up with the 3rd Company as a reserve.
At 5:40 on the 6th, the 91st Regiment launched a regimental attack. With 9 companies, the first to capture the commanding heights in the Banhuansan area 2010 Heights. At 8:10 a.m., the 9th Company went to the vicinity of the saddle between the 1783 and 1642 heights, and found two Vietnamese soldiers washing vegetables in the ravine, killing one person immediately. The 9th Company quickly seized the favorable terrain in the saddle and launched an attack on the enemy, and after 37 minutes of fighting, captured the 1642 heights.
After the 9 company started the battle, the 3 battalion ordered the 8 company to attack the 2010 heights.
At 8:20, the 8th Company captured the heights of 1635 and 1653 in one fell swoop; capture of the 9 heights at 40:40 a.m. At 13 o'clock, the 1931 and 1822 heights were occupied, and then the 1783 heights were captured with a part of the troops and the 9th Company. With the cooperation of the 2nd Battalion and the 4th Company, the main force of the 3rd Battalion went forward to occupy the Banhuansan Bazaar.
The Chinese army attacked the fiefdom
At 10 o'clock, the 3rd Company of the 91st Regiment launched an assault on the unnamed high ground on the east side of the 1661 Heights, but was suppressed by the enemy's firepower and its advance was blocked.
At 13 o'clock, the 1st battalion ordered the 2nd company to support the 3rd company in battle.
At 16 o'clock, when the 2nd Company advanced to the unnamed high ground on the west side of the 1672 Heights, it encountered two platoons of the enemy, the first enemy deployed, the first enemy opened fire, killing 9 enemies, and the remaining enemy fled. The 2nd Company advanced to the designated position and stood by.
At 13 o'clock on the 6th, the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion advanced to the 1672 heights and found that the enemy's two platoons were approaching the heights from the northwest side of the 1672 heights. The 6th Company quickly seized the high ground and pushed the enemy back. At this time, the 4th Company had advanced to the east side of Heights 1661.
At 10 o'clock on the 6th, when the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the Yunnan Provincial Independent Division, which was assigned to the 91st Regiment and was responsible for interspersing, reached the southwest side of the 1550 Heights, it stopped advancing due to the unknown situation. At 18 hours, the 91st Regiment ordered the battalion to return to the vicinity of the regimental command post for reserve.
At 19:50 on the 6th, the regiment sent a deputy political commissar to the 1st battalion to strengthen the command. The 1st Battalion summed up the lessons and lessons of the attack on the 5th and 6th and adjusted its deployment. In order to quickly capture the 1661 heights, the division supported the battle with two 85 cannon batteries and one 107 rocket artillery company, and also reinforced a 100 mortar battery to the 91st regiment. The regiment decided to concentrate 2 100 mortar batteries and 2 82 mortar batteries to form an artillery group to support the 1 battalion in the battle.
At 8:30 a.m. on the 7th, the companies of the 1st Battalion began to engage the enemy. Artillery began to fire on it.
At 9 o'clock, the 2nd and 3rd companies each reinforced 2 recoilless guns and 2 heavy machine guns and launched an attack on the enemy on the 1661 heights.
After the second series of attacks were launched, Chiang Jinzhu, who was in charge of the assault mission, led the whole squad of soldiers to bravely and tactfully seize the first, second, and third trenches of the Vietnamese army. During the capture of the fourth trench, he was immediately knocked unconscious by a bullet in the head with a bullet of about 13 centimeters. After waking up, Chu Wanlin, the deputy squad leader, told him to go down.
Jiang Jinzhu said, "I haven't completed the task and can't go down." After saying that, he and his comrades threw themselves into the fifth trench.
During the advance, Jiang Jinzhu immediately threw out a grenade, bravely jumped into the trench, and knocked down five Vietnamese soldiers with a single bullet. During the battle, Jiang Jinzhu was wounded in several places, his left arm was broken by a bullet, and he fainted again.
When he woke up again and saw that the Vietnamese machine guns were still firing frantically, he crawled towards the enemy's position with astonishing perseverance, threw the last grenade with all his strength, blew up the enemy's heavy machine gun, and died a heroic death himself, leaving a seven-meter-long bloody trail where he crawled.
Chu Wanlin, deputy squad leader, continued to lead the soldiers of the squad to bravely and tactfully seize the five trenches of the Vietnamese army, opening up a channel for the troops to advance. After four hours of fierce fighting, they repelled three enemy counter-attacks, broke through the enemy's five trenches, captured the surface position of the 1661 Heights at 13 o'clock, and then turned into the enemy to annihilate the enemy in the shelter department.
The 4th Company interspersed the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the Yunnan Provincial Independent Division with Gaoxin Village to cut off the enemy's retreat. At this time, the 1st Battalion ordered the 1st Company to quickly join the battle, and coordinated with the 3rd Company to attack the unnamed heights on the east side of the 1661 Heights. At 18 o'clock, the surface position was occupied, and then the battle was transferred to the liquidation of the remnants of the enemy. The battle lasted until the early morning of the 8th, and there was no more gunfire within the attack range of the whole regiment, and the battle ended victoriously.
In this battle, the 1st Battalion of the 91st Regiment killed a total of 317 enemies, including 1 major, 2 captains, and 5 captured enemies; 13 artillery pieces, 27 machine guns, 119 guns, more than 126,000 bullets, 1,600 shells, 8,000 mines, 5 radio stations, 6 telephones, 1 switchboard, 1 automobile and a large amount of military supplies were seized. We lost 57 people.
In 22 days of fighting, the main forces of the 11th Army advanced 34 kilometers into Viet Nam and captured more than 60 of the enemy's main positions. It occupied an area of about 500 square kilometers and captured the enemy's fiefdom county.
The 1st Battalion of the 93rd Regiment of the 33rd Division, attached to the 14th Frontier Regiment, launched an attack on the 148th Heights at 6 p.m. on 5 March, and by the early morning of 8 March, all the enemies in the area had been annihilated. During the entire battle, a total of 711 enemies were killed, 315 were captured, and a batch of weapons, ammunition, and military supplies were captured.
The 32nd Division was the reserve of the Kunming Military Region, and was successively attached to the 14th Army and the 149th Division to participate in the Guo Shen offensive and the Sabah offensive. With the development of the campaign, he maneuvered 10 times in the direction of Jinping, Hekou, and Malipo, covering a distance of more than 15,000 kilometers, and fought several battles in Xiluolou, Saba, and Guoshen. During the 22-day operation outside the country, the enemy basically annihilated one formed regiment, three formed battalions, two public security cantonments, and border inspection posts. Partially annihilated 3 battalions of the enemy. A total of 2,899 enemies were destroyed and 58 were captured, successfully completing the combat mission assigned by the superiors.
In the battle of the 94th Regiment of the 32nd Division in coordination with the 14th Army's attack on Guoshen, Zhang Jincheng, squad leader of the 6th squad of the 1st Company, rushed to the enemy position with all the soldiers of the squad, was wounded in more than 50 places, and persisted in the battle for nearly three hours. After the war, he was awarded the honorary title of "Battle Hero" by the Central Military Commission.
On 27 February, during the battle of the 94th Regiment of the 32nd Division attacking the unnamed heights of Xiluolou, the instructor of the 6th Company, Zixing and the company commander, led a platoon to attack, but was stopped by Vietnamese fire, and the company commander was wounded. He stood up and picked up his machine gun, led his soldiers to rush to the enemy position, annihilated the enemy on the high ground, and died of nine bullets in his body, and was awarded the honorary title of "heroic and dedicated model instructor" by the Central Military Commission.
At 0:00 on 4 March, the Kunming Military Region ordered the 14th Army to reinforce the 32nd Division, and to retreat quickly after capturing Guo Shen on 5 March. Engineer units were ordered to blow up the Kou Thanh Bridge, implement road blockades and destroy public facilities in Viet Nam.
The task of erecting obstacles and destroying facilities along the road in the direction of Guo Shen was undertaken by the engineer battalion of the 32nd Division, and the chief of the division's engineering section, Section Chief Feng, was the commander-in-chief. After receiving the task, the engineer battalion convened a party committee to study and deploy a specific action plan:
First, the engineer company should lay mines and obstacles along both sides of the road to prevent or delay the enemy's possible pursuit;
Second, the Zhouqiao Company used 14 tons of TNT explosives to destroy Vietnam's military camps, factories, warehouses, roads, bridges, and other state-owned facilities, making it impossible for the region's economy to recover in the short term.
Third, the mechanical company will strengthen two infantry companies to serve as guards to ensure the safety of the operating troops.
After the war
After the tasks are separated, each company commander is responsible for organizing, and the battalion leaders are responsible for coordinating and strengthening key commands. The Zhouqiao Company set up a demolition team, with Su Wanyou, deputy battalion commander, as the team leader, and Hu Dongnian, the company commander, as the deputy leader.
There are 4 detachments:
The captain of the 1st detachment is Xia Guoqiang, the leader of the 1st platoon;
The leader of the 2nd detachment is Huang Kaiqi, the deputy instructor;
The captain of the 3rd detachment is Wu Xuezhen, the leader of the 2nd platoon;
The leader of the 4th detachment is Tang Wencan, the leader of the 7th squad.
They were responsible for the demolition of enemy bridges, roads, culverts, fortifications, barracks, factories and other state-owned facilities.
At 7:30 p.m. on March 4, the engineer battalion set off by car and marched along Highway 7 towards Guo Shen. Highway 7 is the only passage from Hanoi to Lao Cai to the north where it converges at Quo San, and the location is very important because it is surrounded by lofty mountains on both sides. Many permanent fortifications were built on both sides of the road, and everywhere there were traces of the fierce battles that took place between the 94th and 96th regiments of the 32nd Division and the enemy for these fortifications, which shows that the attacking troops paid a great sacrifice for this.
On the morning of March 5, the engineer battalion moved forward again. When the 56th kilometer from Lao Cai to the mouth of the river was reached, a road bridge was blown up by Vietnamese troops, cutting off the road for advance and retreat.
Section Chief Feng of the Engineer Section ordered the Zhouqiao Company to build a military bridge with local materials. After receiving the order, the Zhouqiao Company quickly organized the erection of a military bridge with local materials. Some were looking for timber, some blew up nearby houses to get timber, and some braved the artillery fire of the Vietnamese army to quickly carry out the bridge-building operation. The city was built with a bulldozer to launch the approach bridge. After four hours of assault, the bridge was finally built. The engineer company loaded explosives under the bridge and was ready to blow it up as soon as the attacking troops had withdrawn!
During this period, a squad leader of the fortification company was killed by enemy shelling while building a bridge.
On 5 March, in accordance with the order of the Central Military Commission and the instructions of the Western Front Group, the troops of the Western Front withdrew from the battlefield one after another on the afternoon of 6 March, in line with the principle of artillery first and then infantry, units with first-line defense tasks, units deployed in depth and units serving as cover, and subordinate units first, and units seconded by their own units.
After the construction of the military bridge in a hurry, the militia workers of the front branch of the 32nd Division to attack Guo Shen began to retreat, followed by the logistics personnel, and the combat troops also began to retreat.
In accordance with the plan and division of labor, the engineer company laid mines on both sides of the road, planted small flags with careful mines, and set up obstacles with mine formations to prevent the enemy from pursuing them. While sappers are laying mines, they should also be careful not to step on mines laid by the enemy. The fortification company and infantry were responsible for the guard.
The Zhouqiao Company began to carry out large-scale sabotage, entering their respective areas of operation according to the division of labor.
The 1st platoon was responsible for digging pits and charging at the narrowest points of several roads in preparation for the implementation of explosive circuit breaks;
The 2nd platoon was responsible for blowing up the enemy's barracks, fortifications, and other permanent facilities;
The 3 platoon was responsible for blowing up public facilities.
On a section of more than 10 kilometers, more than 50 state-owned or public facilities Viet Nam, including military camps, factories, and warehouses, were blown up one by one with bursts of explosions. In practice, a large number of houses have also been burned down, intentionally or unintentionally.
Chen Guokun, deputy squad leader of the 5th squad of Zhouqiao Company, was responsible for blowing up the power pole. With a series of explosions, one after another the poles were brought down.
He was humming the episode "Ah, Goodbye, Friend" from the Yugoslav film "The Bridge":
Ah, goodbye, friend, goodbye, goodbye, ......goodbye, If I die in battle......
There was a loud bang. Chen Guokun stepped on a mine of the Vietnamese army, his right leg was blown off, his right hand was blown off, and his right eye was blown away, and he was seriously injured and fell in a pool of blood. After his comrades-in-arms in the same group bandaged him briefly, he was lifted into the car and pulled back to the rear.
This song, which is full of revolutionary heroism and optimism, and has a cheerful and brisk melody, was the most taboo to sing among the later sappers.
After the 32nd Division attached to the 14th Army defeated Guo Shen and retreated within the prescribed time, the engineer platoon of the 96th Regiment blew up the Guo Shen Bridge. The Vietnamese artillery could only fire artillery at the southern end of the bridge to block the bombardment of our retreating troops. At this time, most of the artillery of our army was still on the way back and had not been deployed, and two veterans of the engineer company were killed by shells and four were wounded.
On 7 March, the infantry of the 32nd Division had not yet finished withdrawing, and the first platoon of the Zhouqiao Company of the engineer battalion at the front had to wait for all the infantry to withdraw before it could blow up the road, while the second platoon in the rear had to wait for the first platoon to retreat before it could blow up the road, and there were two other bombing points in the back that could not be blasted until the personnel in front had withdrawn.
The Vietnamese artillery bombarded the road along our retreat road intensively, and at this time the infantry had not yet completely withdrawn, and the 1st Platoon of the Boat Bridge Company in the front could not leave, and the dense shells hit them so that they could not raise their heads.
At the critical moment, Deputy Chief of Staff Xia and Section Chief Feng of the 32nd Division braved artillery fire to go to the 1st Platoon position, held with them and commanded the infantry to quickly retreat.
At the critical juncture when the engineer battalion was facing enemy bombardment on the one hand and was working intensively on the other, a herd of cattle was disturbed by the mines laid by the engineer company, and the engineer soldiers were so angry that they gritted their teeth.
The sound of the explosion alarmed Section Chief Feng, and after he rushed to the scene to understand the situation, he immediately gave an order: Fight the bull!
Suddenly, dozens of rifles, submachine guns, and light machine guns opened fire and swept through the herd. This Viet Nam cow is really a "cow", although hundreds of bullets were fired, the cow was hit by many bullet holes, still bleeding while running up the mountain, and finally all collapsed.
At about 10 p.m. on 7 March, all the troops attacking the direction of Guo Shen withdrew, and the engineer battalion of the 32nd Division blew up and blocked nearly 10 highways, and finally blew up the military bridge that was built in a hurry on 5 March, successfully completing the task of sabotaging and blocking the enemy.
To ensure a smooth withdrawal, the troops organized alternate cover and artillery cover.
The 38th Division held its position on the front line of the Waipo River and covered the withdrawal of the troops of the 14th Army in that direction;
The 115th Regiment, the 116th Regiment, and the 13th Frontier Regiment respectively controlled the key points on both sides of the Red River from the mouth of the river to Ba Sa, and from the north of Ba Sa to the Longbo River, to ensure the smooth flow of highways and the safety of the ferries, and to cover the evacuation of the boats and bridges.
At the same time, the artillery carried out planned artillery bombardment of the enemy's positions and important targets south of the Vabo River, killing and shocking the enemy.
On 7 and 8 March, the artillery carried out three more bombardments on the enemy in the aftermath, and in just one bombardment at 4:05 on 8 March, more than 90 enemy men were killed. As a result, the troops withdrew calmly and in an orderly manner, with no less than one man or one horse, and not a single wounded or martyr was lost.
In order to ensure the smooth withdrawal of our army, the railway troops successfully cut off 56.2 kilometers of railways in Viet Nam from March 2 to 10.
On the 13th, all combat units in the Yunnan direction were withdrawn.
The masses of border guards in Yunnan welcomed the triumphant return of the troops
In the direction of the Yunnan operation, the Western Front Group broke through to a depth of more than 40 kilometers into the enemy, captured the two cities of Laojie and Tangtang, and the five county towns of Mengkang, Saba, Basa, Fengtu, and Baosheng.
One division, five regiments, eight battalions, and 12 Gong'an Tun of the enemy army were basically annihilated, two regiments, four battalions, and most of the three public security tuns were annihilated, and four regiments and one unit were annihilated.
A total of more than 16,480 enemies were killed (the wounded enemy cannot be counted), 849 were captured, and a large amount of weapons, equipment, and military supplies were captured. Destroyed all military installations in the enemy's shallow and deep depths. The important towns in northern Vietnam have been controlled by our army, the situation of coercing Hanoi has been formed, and the strategic goal of counterattack operations has been achieved.
A total of 7,886 casualties were suffered on the Western Front, of which 2,812 were killed and 5,074 were wounded or missing.
In the 1979 self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, the eastern and western fronts captured 21 counties and cities in the four provinces of Cao Binh, Lang Son, Hoang Lien Son, and Lai Chau, as well as parts of Quang Hung and Ha Xuan provinces. Advance 40-100 km to the south and take full control of the northern part of Vietnam.
Annihilating strikes were dealt to the 3rd, 345th, and 346th Divisions of Vietnam, and 7 other regiments and 25 battalions (teams) of the 316A Division were severely damaged.
Partially annihilated 12 regiments (brigades) of the 325B, 327, 337, and 338th Divisions, uprooted 35 public security cantonments, and annihilated a total of 57,151 enemies. Among them, 2,173 people were captured, 916 artillery pieces of various kinds, 16,062 guns of various kinds, 40 rocket launchers, 40 grenadiers (guns and tools), 236 automobiles, 54 tanks and armored vehicles, 781 artillery pieces, and 594 automobiles were destroyed, and a large number of military installations in northern Vietnam were destroyed.