In the 1970s, the People's Liberation Army had to maintain a relatively large army due to the backward industrial base of the entire country and insufficient military equipment construction. However, China has a vast territory and numerous land threats. Especially when facing heavy pressure from the Soviet Union, China's millions of land troops are still unable to meet its national defense needs.
Type A and Type B are divided into
The People's Liberation Army adopted Type A and Type B establishments at that time. Type A troops were basically fully staffed, with more than 12,000 people, and could fight if they were pulled out. Type B troops were simplified, and their main tasks were production and construction. The number was only half of the Type A troops, and they needed large-scale expansion and training before they could be put into actual combat.
Therefore, as soon as the central government decided to launch a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam , the People's Liberation Army began to expand the B-type troops participating in the war. According to statistics, among the 29 divisions in the Vietnam War in 1979, only 8 divisions were the original Category A troops, and the rest were upgraded from Category B troops.
In addition to the backbone officers and soldiers drawn from other units, recruits who have just joined the army are the bulk of the supplementary force. In some divisions, more than half of the infantry companies are recruits, and their military technology and tactical literacy are obviously not as good as those of Category A troops.
This is also one of the main reasons why the People's Liberation Army suffered relatively high casualties in the early days of the war. Many recruits were not skilled in tactics and tactics, were not vigilant on the battlefield, and did not know how to protect themselves, resulting in unnecessary casualties.
But if you think that the recruits can't fight, you are totally wrong. The recruits of the People's Liberation Army are by no means strong men of the Kuomintang. They cherish the dream and pride of defending the motherland and destroying the enemy, and often show amazing combat effectiveness. There are even recruits who took the initiative to stand up when the cadres and veterans were injured and commanded everyone to win the battle.
Achieving great achievements with bare hands
html On February 17, the 13th Yunnan Border Guard Regiment was ordered to annihilate the enemies of Xinguan in Lao Cai, Vietnam. The 13th Border Defense Regiment has 1 battalion as its main combat force, plus 2 companies and 3 militia companies from the independent battalion of the Mengzi Military Division.The new official guarding the enemy consisted of about 1 reinforced company 140 people, mixed with the public security and civilian troops. With 119, 180, and 178 heights as the core, nearly a hundred bunkers and shooting bunkers were built, and they could also receive reinforcements from the rear.
At 1:30 in the morning, the 1st Battalion of the 13th Border Defense Regiment began to sneak across the Red River , and successfully landed on the south bank under the eyes of the enemy. At 7:35, the People's Liberation Army used artillery to wake up the sleeping Vietnamese soldiers, and the soldiers immediately rushed towards the enemy's positions.
The fortifications of the main position of the Vietnamese army were very clever, which exposed the People's Liberation Army to fire from multiple directions. The offensive was not smooth. The 1st company, which was mainly attacking, temporarily came to a standstill because the company commander was injured and was evacuated, and had to retreat to No. 4 Heights. The
1 battalion ordered the militia artillery battery to open fire in an effort to suppress the Vietnamese army's machine gun firepower points. However, the terrain in this area was extremely complex, and multiple rounds of shelling failed to clear the enemy's firepower points. The battalion commander discussed with several company commanders and decided to organize blasters to blow up the attack channel.
Soon, the 11 blasters divided into multiple groups and moved towards the enemy position, including Fang Renren, a new soldier from Guizhou. Fang Renmin had just joined the army in January, and his military service was less than half a month old. This kind of dangerous task was not originally suitable for recruits like Fang Renmin. He volunteered for it himself, and the battalion commander approved it after seeing that he was a clever man.
The people on the other side carried one explosive pack and six grenades , and used the terrain to leap forward step by step. If they were discovered by the enemy, they would throw a grenade and use the smoke to approach the blind spot of the enemy's firepower point. Finally, they would stuff the explosive pack inside and blow up the enemy's firepower point into the sky. The battalion commander took the opportunity and ordered the whole battalion to charge and captured the enemy's main position.
achieved the first blasting success in his life. After taking down the first enemy bunker, the people of Fang became more courageous. They even searched forward with their bare hands, completely ignoring the enemy who was armed to the teeth.
When the people came to a big banyan tree, they suddenly heard soft voices. There were enemies nearby! After careful identification, he found that there was a hole at the root of the big banyan tree, from which the voice came, and a gun barrel was half exposed at the hole.
The people on the other side crept around the side of the tree hole, rushed forward and grabbed the barrel of the gun. Before the enemy inside could react, they had already pulled out the gun. It was an AK47 rifle. Fang Renren immediately turned his gun and fired a whole box of bullets into the hole. After waiting for a while and confirming that there was no movement in the cave, Fang Renmin stuck his head out to check and found three enemy corpses lying inside.
People on the other side were awarded first-class merit after the war for blowing up the enemy's bunker and killing three enemies with their bare hands. In the battle of Xinguan, 134 defenders were wiped out, 123 of whom were killed and 11 captured, while 20 of our troops died and 25 were wounded.
The new officer battle can well reflect the characteristics of our army and the Vietnamese army. Although the Vietnamese army has a small number of troops, they are basically veterans who have fought in the war. They have rich actual combat experience and have terrain and fortifications as support. They are a difficult nut to crack.
The 1st Battalion of the 13th Border Defense Regiment of the People's Liberation Army has many recruits like Fang Renmin, who entered the battlefield less than half a month after joining the army. No wonder the arrogant Vietnamese army dared to claim that one of them could fight thirty Chinese soldiers. But the people taught them a good lesson, and the recruits can still blow up their bunkers and dig holes in them!
Recruits take the lead
Also on February 17, also on the Yunnan front line, when the people of Fang and they had just finished the battle of Xinguan, the first part of the 14th Army, which was fighting fiercely in deep areas in Vietnam, faced an even more dangerous situation. The 1st platoon of the 3rd company of the
121 regiment was ordered to seize the unknown highland southwest of the 1336 highland south of Pha Long, Vietnam. It was already dark at this time, and they were walking through dense mountain forests. As they walked, Squad 2 found that they had lost contact with the main force of the platoon and were alone deep behind enemy lines.
2 squad leader Wang Wenhua decided to continue to advance to the unknown highlands and cooperate with the main force of the platoon to complete the task. The enemies on the unknown high ground were very alert, and after discovering the 2nd squadron, they concentrated their firepower to intercept them. Squad leader Wang Wenhua and deputy squad leader Yang Jinxiong were wounded one after another, and the entire squad was suppressed under a large rock by enemy machine gun fire. There are only 2 veterans and 5 recruits left in
2 class. Without command, the morale of the military may weaken at any time. At this time, recruit Yang Daolun stepped forward and said: "Please believe me, I will command the whole class to fight. As long as we have people here, we can win the unknown high ground!"
Now standing up to command, it is the lives of the soldiers and the victory or defeat of the battle. This is a heavy responsibility, not a good opportunity for promotion. Yang Daolun was a recruit who just joined the army in January, but he dared to take the lead at the critical moment.
Although he was a new recruit, Yang Daolun was no stranger to combat command. He divided the seven people into three groups, with two veterans each leading a group and outflanking them from the left and right wings. He and Liang Zhengshu, a recruit who joined the army on the same day, took on the most dangerous task of attacking from the front and attracting enemy firepower.
Everyone acted separately. Yang Daolun and Liang Zhengshu approached the enemy step by step. Bullets kept flying over their heads. Fortunately, it was dark and the slope of the unknown highland was a bit steep. There were big trees and vines everywhere, so the bullets never hit the two of them.
Yang Daolun found a stone crevice in front of him, so he led Liang Zhengshu to climb up desperately. Climbing to the top of the stone crevice, I saw six enemy soldiers shooting at the side. Yang Daolun threw several grenades one after another, killing them all.
Then, Yang Daolun occupied this advantageous position, recruited the other two soldiers in the squad, and continued to attack towards the top of the mountain. The sky began to darken, and the fog rose from the depths of the dense forest. The enemy could only fire randomly at this white fog.
Yang Daolun had an idea. Before the war, he heard from the leaders that many Vietnamese troops in this area could understand Chinese, so don't be fooled by them. If that's the case, why can't you lie to them in turn? We are now in the dark, and the enemy is in the open, and they are even more afraid.
Yang Daolun asked everyone to play a shuttle together, creating the illusion of preparing for a large-scale attack. He shouted at the top of his voice: "Class 1 goes to the right, Class 3 goes to the left, attack quickly, and cannot let away an enemy!"
He led the whole class to jump up and captured the enemy's first trench in one breath. The Vietnamese army must have heard his shouting and thought that the main force of the People's Liberation Army was coming. Not only did they not dare to counterattack the first trench, they also abandoned their respective positions and fled.
Taking this opportunity, Squad 2 occupied the enemy's main position and began to search for the remaining enemies. Yang Daolun also used grenades to kill five Vietnamese troops hiding in the thatched hut, and captured one enemy soldier alive. He cleared the unknown high ground and moved to defense. The
2 squad was able to seize the unnamed high ground despite losing command. It can be said that it was mainly due to Yang Daolun's calmness in the face of danger, decisively organized the remaining soldiers to regroup and fight, and wittily and bravely eliminated the enemy, completing the task assigned to squad 2 by his superiors.
In the following defensive battle, Yang Daolun commanded the whole class to repel the enemy's many counterattacks, keeping the unknown high ground firmly in the hands of our army. He was not carried off his position until he was wounded by enemy artillery shells and sent to the rear.
Yang Daolun, a new recruit who had been in the army for half a month, commanded the whole class to kill 22 enemies, wound 4 enemies, capture 1 enemy, and captured 21 guns of various types and more than 4,000 rounds of bullets. After the war, the Kunming Military Region awarded Class 2 the honorary title of "Tiger Class", and Yang Daolun was personally awarded first-class merit by the 41st Division.
Fang Renren and Yang Daolun are outstanding representatives among the new recruits. Their performance and record are no worse than those of the veterans. They are also key figures in achieving victory in the battle. They have perfectly inherited the glorious tradition of the People's Liberation Army of loving the army, practicing martial arts, and dedicating themselves to the country.
The disadvantages of Type A and Type B establishments have attracted great attention from the People's Liberation Army. With the change in national strategic thinking in the 1980s, Type A and Type B establishments began to be completely abolished, and the training system was significantly reformed, turning the People's Liberation Army into a modern elite force.
Of course, the first thing that every recruit who steps into the PLA barracks must cultivate is a high fighting will, just like seniors such as Fang Renmin and Yang Daolun, who have the courage to take responsibility, overcome all difficulties and complete tasks, and live and fight without stopping!
