Chapter 53: Sino-Vietnamese War (3)
The Red River is the boundary river of Yunnan and Vietnam, 160-200 meters wide, 3-5 meters deep, and cannot be waded. On the right bank of the Red River, there are highlands such as 230, 248, 318, 489, and Xin Guan, where the enemy is heavily fortified, controlling key points and blocking the river surface.
At 21:00 on February 16, the 13th Group Army of my Western Front took advantage of the night darkness to secretly and quickly move to the riverbank. Using assault boats and rubber boats, they crossed the Red River at seven crossing points. By 7:00 on the 17th, three reinforced infantry battalions and one border defense company successfully crossed the river, occupying the beachhead position, controlling key points, and covering the construction of a pontoon bridge for follow-up troops.
At 4:00 on the 17th, when each boat bridge unit began to build bridges, the enemy discovered our army's action plan and hastily organized resistance, but it was too late. At this time, my infiltrating troops were rapidly advancing towards the Longjin area, and the vanguard units of various departments began to fight against the enemy's defensive front support points.
The 111th Brigade launched a surprise attack on the 230 highland with sudden and fierce combat actions, capturing the highland at 7:30 and annihilating an enemy regimental headquarters and one reinforced infantry company. The brigade's 1st Regiment launched a night raid on the 248 highland, after two hours of intense fighting, killing an enemy company and part of the militia.
At 7 o'clock, our army bombarded the valley willow, and the enemy was in a state of panic. At 8 o'clock, three pontoon bridges were set up. By 10 o'clock, the main force of the 13th Army had crossed the Red River and joined the battle.
The 109th Brigade continuously captured the positions of Shen Dian, 152 and 171 highlands, killing 128 enemies; The 110th Brigade continuously captured the positions of Guo Sha, 221 and 218 highlands, killing 95 enemies. The 115th Brigade continuously captured the positions of Bo Guang, 251 and 305 highlands, killing more than 90 enemies.
The 113th and 112th Regiments, with the 1st Battalion and 7th Company, utilized the cover of night to secretly approach the enemy, employing a strategy of cutting off their retreat route, surrounding them, and then annihilating them. They successfully encircled and annihilated the enemy in the Baisha area. After 31 hours of fighting, they captured the Baisha area, killing 496 enemy soldiers and capturing 44. The 13th Border Defense Regiment, on the evening of the 18th, successively annihilated the enemy forces at Dong Sang, Nan Mi, Zhen Lan, and Xin Guan, killing over 200 enemy soldiers.
Thus, from the estuary to the Bohe River, a 48-kilometer section, our army broke through the entire line, annihilating more than a thousand enemies in one fell swoop and advancing deep. The enemy's attempt to use the Honghe River as a natural barrier to stop our army's victory plan completely failed.
Lao Cai is the capital of Hoang Lien Son Province, located at the confluence of the Hong River and Namxe River. It has both a railway to Hanoi and convenient highway and water transportation on the Hong River, making it an important gateway to northwest Vietnam. The Vietnamese army organized defenses in the Lao Cai, Small Cao, and 475 high ground areas, attempting to use the river as a barrier, relying on the heights, taking advantage of the terrain to defend against our advancing troops.
The Vietnamese army built a large number of trenches, permanent shelters and earthwork firing points around the outskirts of Laojie, and made shooting preparations for my main targets and advancing roads. My 14th Army ordered the 40th Armored Division to concentrate its main forces according to the combat mission assigned by the Military Region, and first annihilate the enemy in Laojie.
The 118th Regiment first used a portion of its forces to secretly cross the Nanxi River, annihilating the enemy in the Xiaocao area. Afterwards, it shifted its forces and adopted a strategy of dividing and encircling, breaking through from the sides and rear, and annihilated the enemy in the Laojie area. At 0:50 on the 17th, the 2nd Tank Battalion's 4th Company successfully crossed the Nanxi River and inserted itself into the 457 high ground. At 2:50, the 1st Tank Battalion launched an attack against the enemy north of Xiaocao, and the battle was extremely fierce. At 7:00, the neighboring 120th Regiment's Mechanized Infantry 7th Company captured the 3rd high ground. The 7th Company relied on its newly gained position to continuously repel six enemy counterattacks, and continued to launch 12 attacks against the enemy, capturing the 1st and 2nd high grounds at 13:40.
2nd Company occupied No. 5 high ground at 15:38, and then cooperated with the 7th Company of the 120th Regiment to occupy No. 218 high ground. The 4th Company inserted into Aman at 12:15; the 5th Company inserted into the east side of No. 36 high ground at 9:48, forming a standoff with the enemy; the 6th Company seized No. 20 high ground 6 meters ahead of the enemy and repelled 11 enemy counterattacks. At 12:40, the second echelon (3rd Battalion, 120th Regiment) joined the battle in the direction of Wutiaoban, launching an attack on Nos. 22, 23, and 24 high grounds.
After a day and night of fierce fighting, the enemy's defense in the Xiaocao area was breached, creating favorable conditions for the capture of Laojie. At 13:40 on the 18th, the 7th Company of the 3rd Tank Regiment reached the northwest ridge of Hill 10, where it came under heavy enemy fire. The company organized its forces to launch a multi-pronged attack and after two hours of fierce fighting, captured the hill, repelling 13 enemy counterattacks in succession and consolidating its position. At 19:17 on the 19th, the 2nd Company of the 120th Regiment captured Hill 37.
At 11:20, the 1st Battalion of the 118th Regiment joined the battle and launched an attack towards the No. 9 high ground. Under our strong artillery support, we quickly captured the No. 9, No. 8, and No. 7 high grounds. The 1st Company of the 120th Regiment captured the No. 10 and No. 11 high grounds. At this time, the 2nd and 3rd Companies of the 118th Regiment launched an attack on the No. 6 high ground from both sides, capturing it and then advancing straight to the 131 high ground, controlling the key point and blocking the enemy's retreat southward.
At 11:30, Tank Company 2 joined the battle from between Hill 5 and Hill 6, attacking towards Old Street and Pu Mei. At 12:09, 5 tanks entered the urban area of Old Street, and 3 tanks reached Pu Mei Station, destroying 7 enemy strongpoints and 2 vehicles. Infantry immediately followed up to search for remaining enemies in the urban area of Old Street. The battle ended in victory at 12:19. The entire battle lasted 60 hours and 45 minutes, killing 433 enemies and capturing 4.
After the enemy's defensive system in depth was destroyed by our army, Lao Shan ordered to defend the Gan Tang area. The enemy's 345th Division hastily adjusted its deployment and transferred one of its regiments from the Honghe area to the west, where it joined forces with the 121st Regiment to build fortifications in the areas of Gu Sa, Dian Na, Rong Hu, and Zhen Wei, blocking our army's advance southward.
At the same time, the main force of the enemy's 316A Division was moving east to reinforce, attempting to attack our army from the side and capture Guliang and Laojie, in order to relieve the siege of Gan Tang. On February 21, the Military Region transmitted the instructions of the Military Commission on fighting a big battle and a tough battle in the Gan Tang area, and issued the order to annihilate the enemy in Gan Tang. That evening, the 13th Group Army held an emergency combat meeting, made specific deployments, and decided to have the 37th Mountain Division take on the task of blocking reinforcements, capture the Dainai area, control key points, organize defense, and resist the eastward reinforcement of the 316A Division, ensuring the safety of our main force's flank; with the 38th Mechanized Division launching a pincer attack from both wings, splitting and annihilating the enemy in the Gan Tang area.
On the 22nd afternoon, the 116th Regiment launched an attack on the enemy in the Daini area. After a fierce battle of five hours, they captured Daini and its surrounding highlands. The enemy's 316A Division was extremely panicked and ordered its 148th Regiment to launch a frantic counterattack. The 1st Battalion of the 116th Regiment and the 2nd, 4th and 9th Battalions of the 117th Regiment relied on the advantageous terrain to put up a stubborn resistance.
From the 22nd to the 24th, they repelled the enemy's charge 30 times in a row, killing more than 900 enemies. The enemy never advanced further. Thanks to the successful blocking battle, it separated the 316A division and the 345 division, ensuring the safety of our main force's flank, creating favorable conditions for annihilating the enemy at Gan Tang. The attack on Gan Tang started at 7:00 on February 23rd.
Our army concentrated powerful artillery and launched a surprise attack for 25 minutes, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. Then, our armored forces launched a fierce attack, breaking through the enemy's defense in just one hour, winning battle after battle, advancing 7 kilometers deep that day. After a day of intense fighting, most key points north of Rongxian and Zhenwei were captured by our army, opening the door to the north of Gantang.
On the 24th, the 37th and 38th Divisions launched a pincer attack, pursuing and annihilating the enemy fleeing towards Gan Tang. The 109th Brigade advanced along Langjian, Chunzeng, and Langdun, directly inserting itself at the Waibo River suspension bridge. The 2nd Battalion of the 111th Brigade formed an encirclement with the enemy at Langren at 19:40. After annihilating the enemy at Langdun, the 110th Brigade occupied the Langdun area at 11:00.
After the 112th and 113th Regiments captured the high grounds of 312 and 563, they continued to advance southward. The 113th Regiment inserted into the unnamed high ground southeast of Langwa at 18:55, coordinating with the 37th Mountain Division to encircle the enemy in Gantang. The main force of the 114th Regiment inserted into Tuanshui and Jiashu, annihilating the enemy in the Gantang phosphorus mine.
At 12:00 on the 25th, the main force of the 13th Army successfully completed the task of capturing the northwest town of Gan Tang City in Vietnam. More than 2,600 enemy soldiers were killed, including the commander of the 345th Division, and the rest were captured. This battle thoroughly crushed the enemy's attempt to defend Gan Tang City to the death and launch a pincer attack on our army, and dealt a head-on blow to the arrogance of the 316A Division.
By March 4, the Eastern Route Army advanced 20-40 kilometers into enemy territory, capturing cities and strategic locations including Gaoping, Liangshan, Heguang, Chaling, Guanghe, He'an, Tonglong, Shian, Chongqing, Changding, Wenlang, Gaoluo, Leping, and Tongdeng. The Western Route Army broke through the enemy's defenses to a depth of 40 kilometers, capturing cities including Laojie, Gan Tang, Ba Sa, Bao Sheng, Meng Kang, Feng Tu, Sha Ba, and advancing to Guo Can and Pu Lou. All major towns in northern Vietnam were under our control, posing a threat to Hanoi, achieving the strategic goal of counterattack operations.
Historically, our army has withdrawn back to the country after completing strategic tasks, but now it has only completed the initial strategic goal. Currently, Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is in a state of chaos, and the Vietnamese side has urgently ordered its main force in Cambodia to withdraw quickly and prepare to defend against China's invasion.
At the beginning of Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia, the Vietnamese army attempted to capture all of Cambodia in one fell swoop through a surprise attack. To this end, it concentrated 18 divisions with more than 200,000 regular troops and launched a large-scale blitzkrieg against Cambodia from five directions at the end of December 1978, preparing to occupy the area east of the Mekong River in Cambodia first, and then seize the opportunity to capture western Cambodia.
Due to the huge disparity in strength between Cambodia and Vietnam, after Vietnam occupied all of Cambodia, it only lost 20,000 people. Now it will quickly withdraw its main force of 150,000 troops that invaded Cambodia back to the country, leaving only more than 30,000 Vietnamese soldiers in Cambodia while organizing a Cambodian puppet army of 50,000.
However, what the Vietnamese army did not expect was that their every move was under the surveillance of Chinese reconnaissance satellites and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. After Lin Feng received intelligence that the Vietnamese army had begun to march into the country, he consulted with Prince Sihanouk to prepare for an airborne operation in Cambodia. The vanguard was 30,000 Cambodian new troops, who after a year of training, their combat effectiveness was basically on par with the elite forces of Vietnam.
Prince Sihanouk stood in front of this elite Cambodian army with some excitement, a year ago it was unthinkable to even think about it, and the prince spent the past year in this unit. Now this unit is going to fulfill its historical mission. The prince said loudly: "Great Cambodian soldiers, now our motherland is suffering from foreign invasion, people are in dire straits, now we are returning to our motherland with the help of Chinese friends, we must always remember the selfless help of the Chinese people, now we are going back to save our country and nation. I hope everyone will fight bravely, sacrifice without fear, and strive for the final victory! Long live the Chinese nation! Long live the Cambodian people! Long live Sino-Cambodian friendship!"
Suddenly the entire airport was filled with shouts of "Long live" everywhere, and these new Cambodian soldiers could all speak Chinese, which also made it convenient for them to master military technology. Later, 30,000 troops from the Cambodian coalition were divided into several batches to take planes and warships to the occupied area in Vietnam, starting their journey to recover their country.
