Author: Zhu Bingdong
On February 17, 1979, when the 63rd Division of the 55th Army attacked Tongdeng, the 8th Company and 9th Company (one less platoon) of the Army Tank Regiment were assigned to the 489th Regiment, and they attacked Tan mou after the Tongdeng side in a roundabout way. After wang Hanquan found out, he ordered three platoons to take cover, took advantage of the three platoons to exchange fire with the enemy, led a platoon plus the mount of the commander of the 3rd tank battalion, and 5 Type 62 tanks drove on the road from Gaoping to Lang Shan. The Eighth Company did not tangle with the Vietnamese stragglers on both sides of the road, and adopted the tactics of leaping forward shooting, alternating cover and trying to advance.
Vietnamese anti-tank missiles
The Vietnamese troops on The 339 Heights, which were fighting in the same direction, suddenly found our tanks on the road, which was really unexpected. Hurriedly turning the artillery around, Wang Hanquan ordered a platoon of enemies to open fire and charge forward!
High-explosive shells exploded in Vietnamese artillery positions, blowing up several 85 cannons into the air and tilting their bodies to the ground. After a brief panic, the Vietnamese immediately organized artillery fire and concentrated on our tanks.
Violent explosions rang out, shells blew up rubble and dust on the highway and on nearby mountain packs, and our tanks appeared like warships through the rough seas, looming in the smoke of gunfire. Our tanks carefully bypassed the crater and charged towards Tan. The tanks rushed too fast and were out of touch with the infantry.
Vietnamese artillery positions
After a while, the tanks rushed out of the Vietnamese fire circle and came to the rear of the 339 highland side, in front of a small bridge on the river bank. A row of 801 tanks was adjusting its direction to cross the river, and just at this moment, a jeep came from the opposite bank and braked with a "creak". Jumping out of the car was an officer in a big hat. As soon as this guy got out of the car, he took the "official step", walked without bending his feet, walked to a distance of 20 meters from the 801 tank, crossed his waist with one hand, waved at the tank with the other, and shouted in his mouth. It meant that the tank should go back and make way for him. A platoon leader, Zhu Sizhen, saw in the periscope the Vietnamese officer walking toward the tank in a lively manner, wondering. Looking at the enemy's movements, I realized that the Vietnamese army did not expect to encounter our tanks. Zhu Sizhen couldn't help but feel funny: What is the training? You still haven't figured out who Lao Tzu is! At this time, two large trucks also came to the back of the jeep and listened to the officer's scolding.
Gun Commander Tran Wai Man saw the arrogant appearance of the Vietnamese officers and aimed them with parallel machine guns to shoot. Zhu Sizhen stopped him and said, "Don't be busy!" Drive up, close up and hit again. Let him see clearly, and die to understand.
After the 801 started, it rushed up the small bridge and aimed at the enemy officer. The Vietnamese officer saw that the tank actually did not obey the order, and drove over, so angry that he blushed and stomped his feet. When he saw the "Bayi" five stars on the turret, his open mouth could not be closed, he turned around and ran towards the jeep, one foot just stepped into the door, Chen Weiwen opened fire, and a shuttle hit him covered in blood.
On the two trucks behind, the first was full of sappers and the second was loaded with mines. The Vietnamese soldiers on the first truck saw that the leading officer on the jeep was killed, immediately panicked, and was about to jump out of the car, the 801 car fired head-on, destroying the front of the car, with the sound of the explosion, the body shook violently, and the Vietnamese soldiers on the car landed on the ground. Some were killed, some were thrown to the ground by the air waves. The gasoline bursting out of the car's fuel tank turned into a cloud of flames and splashed on the body and head of the Vietnamese soldiers. As they fled, they tore off their burning clothes, some of them just ran away, collided together, and some cried out in pain. Vehicle 801 ran over the jeep, knocking away the wreckage of the first truck and the second truck. Chen Weiwen swept away with a machine gun. On the road, in the nearby rice paddies, a sheet of Vietnamese corpses fell. A platoon of sappers, almost all wiped out.
Vietnamese army information photo
At 10:20, after turning a few corners, the eight companies attacked tandem half an hour earlier than the time specified by the command headquarters!
Tan Mou was still a light and breezy scene, and the Vietnamese army saw that our tanks were still waving. However, as the guns on the tanks fired in unison, the rumbling tanks became a nightmare for the Vietnamese army. The enemy ran out of tents and huts and fled in all directions, like a soup pouring ant nests. Eight companies of 5 tanks were rampageing through a certain probe, artillery shelling and crushing, gunshots, explosions and enemy shouts intertwined. The Vietnamese army's tents, clothing, books and newspapers were everywhere. The crushed ammunition box, the crashed car, the collapsed hut, in just a few minutes, the probe became a mess.
After all, the Vietnamese army is also a unit that has experienced actual combat, after the initial panic, it was found that our army only had a few tanks inserted into the fight alone, there was no follow-up strength, and there was no infantry, and it quickly reacted and began to mobilize anti-tank weapons and troops from the 339 highlands, exploring a certain position, and the ghost tun battery.
The Type 62 light tank armor is 45 mm on the front and 35 mm on the side, not to mention the 40 bazooka, even the M79 small gun captured by the Us army in the hands of the Vietnamese army can also cause damage to the Type 62 tank.
The Vietnamese used bazookas to ambush our tanks
Our army's tanks were destroyed
All 5 tanks of the 8th Company were shot, 2 of which were destroyed, and Hu Yangfa, commander of the 3rd Tank Battalion, Zhu Sizhen, a platoon commander, Wei Zhongchu, commander of the 803 vehicle, Huang Jinfei, the commander of the artillery, and Zhang Yihan, the second gunner, were killed. After half an hour of fierce fighting, three wounded tanks of the Eight Companies returned to our positions.
The Eighth Company destroyed 1 enemy train, 6 cars, 10 artillery pieces, 5 rocket launchers, 14 fire points, and annihilated more than 100 enemy troops. At the same time, it disrupted the Vietnamese defenses and disrupted the Deployment of the Vietnamese Army.
After the war, the 8th Company of the Tank Regiment of the 55th Army was awarded the "Heroic Tank Company" by the Central Military Commission. 801, 803 Che Rongli collective first class merit, Chen Weiwen, possession can be honored with first class merit. Martyrs such as Hu Yangfa, He Guanniu, Zhu Sizhen, Wei Zhongchu, Huang Jinfei, and Zhang Yihan were posthumously honored with first-class merits. The 802, 807 and 912 tanks were awarded the second class of collective merit.
The officers and men of the tank regiment of the 55th Army who were the vanguard of the 43rd Army tank regiment and the 42nd Army tank regiment who fought in Dongxi were not afraid of life and death and had high morale, but a series of problems of our army were also exposed in this operation.
First, it is not clear how many troops a certain Vietnamese army has, thinking that the enemy has only one infantry company with reinforced artillery, but the actual enemy has two infantry battalions plus an anti-aircraft artillery company.
Second, the step and the tank are disjointed, the contact between the tank and the infantry has no direct communication channel, and there are several examples of infantry knocking on the tank turret to communicate with the tank. The operations of the 8th Company of Tanks, the battles of the 7th Company of Tanks after the 8th Company, including the sacrifice of Li Degui, the commander of the 7th Company, were all tanks rushing into the enemy position, without infantry support, and only relying on tanks to fight alone, resulting in heavy losses of tank weapons.
Third, the enemy situation is unclear, the terrain is unknown, the 8th Company and 9th Company of Tanks were all trapped in the anti-tank trenches of the Vietnamese Army at the beginning of the attack, and all 12 tanks of the 7th Company of Tanks were trapped in rice paddies. The 8th Company' road was unknown, and it mistakenly entered the Vietnamese ambush circle, and the 8th Company of Tanks had 3 platoons, and only two of them returned with wounded tanks.
Nowadays, young people may question why the Air Force is not used? Why not use the "Qiang V" ground attack aircraft in Northern Vietnam? Why don't even the maps of Northern Vietnam be re-mapped, using old Maps from the French decades ago? In fact, when we look back at the war, only by turning the clock back to the previous year and restoring it from the internal and external environment, the conditions of the times, and the logic of thinking can we truly understand the war and understand the war. All questioning divorced from the age of the war is futile.
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