1979's Lang Son Battle is the largest and most intense battle in the entire self-defense counterattack against Vietnam . The victory of the Lang Son Battle also marked that the battlefield initiative of against Vietnam was taken down by our army by , and the Vietnamese army was no longer able to prevent our army from entering Vietnam.
"Behind Lang Son is Hanoi"
Before the Battle of Lang Son started, the Vietnamese army deployed more than 20,000 people in the northern part of Lang Son, including its ace combat force, the 3rd Infantry Division, the 338th Division, and many local troops.
The reason why the Vietnamese army valued Lang Son so much was because Lang Son was in a key strategic position in the Sino-Vietnam War that could move towards in the battle situation around .
Lang Son borders Pingxiang City, Guangxi, my country. Because it is the gateway to Hanoi, it has been an important military town of in northern Vietnam since ancient times. Historically, the Central Plains dynasty attacked Jiaozhi (Vietnam), and Lang Son was a place where military strategists must fight .
Both sides are very clear about the importance of Lang Son. According to the memories of the Vietnamese commanders, although the Battle of Lang Son was the first major battle after the People's Liberation Army entered the Vietnam border, it was basically equivalent to the decisive battle between the two armies of China and Vietnam. Once Lang Son is lost, the road to Hanoi will be no longer dangerous to defend.
Lang Son battle from the perspective of the Vietnamese army
In December 1979, the fierce battle started in the direction of and . PLA's offensive was not divided into primary and secondary, and the entire line was blooming. The two sides fought fiercely on many battlefields such as Tongdeng Town, the former French Fort site, the 339 Heights, etc.
PLA has better weapons and equipment and more sufficient firepower, and the Vietnamese Ace Third Division is not at a disadvantage due to its understanding of the battlefield and its long-term combat experience with the US military.
On the entire joint front, both sides changed hands several times in many key positions. According to the authoritative information "50 Years of the Vietnamese People's Army" written by the Military History Institute of the Ministry of Defense of Vietnam, Vietnamese officers and soldiers were very impressed by the People's Liberation Army's accurate and dense artillery support.
Often, the People's Liberation Army had just evacuated its defensive position, and the precise and deadly artillery fire immediately overturned the attacking Vietnamese troops. The People's Liberation Army regained the defensive position without any effort. When the People's Liberation Army launches an attack, the supported artillery fire can often destroy the Vietnamese army's preset firepower points before the infantry between the two sides fight.
PLA's battle in the direction of Changding and Luping was much smoother. The reason is that the Vietnamese army responsible for defense on these two fronts are militia units, and their combat effectiveness is far inferior to that of the People's Liberation Army. Although the Vietnamese army's blockade was still very tenacious, the People's Liberation Army still occupied the important places in Changding and Luping one week later.
Tactical Highlights of the Vietnamese Army
338 Division used a very effective interspersed tactics in the defensive battle. At that time, in order to alleviate the dilemma of friendly troops being suppressed by the People's Liberation Army, the 338th Division drew a main combat regiment in the fierce battle, and interspersed to the rear of the PLA front to launch an attack .
The People's Liberation Army's offensive firepower was suddenly disturbed by the enemy from both sides, and a loophole appeared on the front line. The 338th Division severely damaged a PLA combat battalion that was fighting bloody with the Vietnamese army. After tearing open the PLA's defense line, the engineering troops sent by the 338th Division also launched an attack on our army's logistics facilities and the rear. delayed the pace of our army's opening up the situation on the front battlefield .
Although it did give some blows to the PLA, the results recorded by the Vietnamese army in historical materials are still somewhat exaggerated.
The Vietnamese engineers in charge of the raiding operation claimed that they went deep into China's borders nearly 20 kilometers, blew up two bridges in China, and destroyed Guangxi Ningming Airport. In fact, after only four kilometers of Chinese territory, they were discovered by our border guards and militia, and drove them back to Vietnam .
Langshan urban combat
28, the People's Liberation Army commanders and fighters, who knew that the battle had entered a white-hot stage, sent reinforcements of tanks and artillery troops to join the battle to capture Langshan urban . Because in the early stage of the Lang Son battle, the Vietnamese army used chemical weapons, including poison gas, to attack the PLA troops, irritated senior commanders and fighters.
In order to avoid the Vietnamese army's repeated use of the same trick in the battle in Lang Son City, before the ground troops entered Lang Son City, the People's Liberation Army mobilized more than 300 heavy field artillery to bombard all important military and political facilities in Lang Son City.
The fierce artillery fire caused the Vietnamese army defending the city to be defeated before they met the People's Liberation Army. The entire Langshan City was shaking, and the Vietnamese soldiers had nowhere to escape and could only be torn to pieces by the explosion shells.
After the People's Liberation Army entered the city, the surviving Vietnamese troops failed to organize effective defense , and could only shrink their troops and handed over Lang San City to the People's Liberation Army. The remaining troops gathered and organized defenses outside Lang Son to prepare for the People's Liberation Army troops that continued to move south.
After learning from the lessons of the PLA using heavy artillery to open the battlefield situation, the Vietnamese army also learned something. mobilized the rocket artillery battalion on the Qiongqi river bank.
The war is about to begin, but after the People's Liberation Army captured Lang Son, the road to Hanoi has been completely exposed to the vanguard of our army. The Central Committee of the Party believes that the punishment purpose of self-defense counterattack against operations has been achieved, and ordered our army to retreat to China from now on.
But in "50 Years of the Vietnamese People's Army", the Vietnamese army held the credit for our retreat on its own, claiming that was the attack of the Vietnamese army forcing the People's Liberation Army to withdraw all the way back to the country . The description of the Lang Son Battle is even more ignoring the facts, saying that the number of casualties in the Lang Son Battle of the People's Liberation Army was as high as 19,000 , which is nearly twice the real casualties of the People's Liberation Army .
’s anti-armored units also claimed that destroyed the People’s Liberation Army tanks and armored vehicles 76 , which was the final victory of the Battle of Lang Son by the Vietnamese army.
In fact, during the entire Lang Son Battle, our army paid the price of more than 29,000 casualties in , almost wiped out the main force , led by the 3rd Infantry Division of the Vietnam Army, destroying the defense system that the Vietnamese army had operated in the entire Lang Son area for several years.
On the way back to China, it completely destroyed the Vietnamese government's northern industrial base , which spent several years and countless financial and manpower, and degenerated Vietnam from an emerging industrial country with complete industrial capabilities at the beginning of the war to an agricultural country with backward industries. completely shattered the Vietnamese ambitions' attempt to divide our territory .
