Author: Mo Guyan
" Snake Valley Adventures ", filmed in 1989, should be the latest film with the theme of counterattack against Vietnam. This film can be said to be an alternative among domestic war films. It not only has grand and fiery war scenes, but also has hot Vietnamese female agents and passionate rock electroacoustic music. It is a film that draws on Hong Kong-style gunfight action. A military-themed commercial film with a movie style. The author watched an outdoor movie in the factory back then and found it refreshing and addictive.
The story of the film is not a fiction, but a real battle example as a creative blueprint, that is, the 43rd Army Tank Regiment's Dongxi Interval Operation. This is also the largest HT tank cluster battle conducted by our army to date. The tactical planning was originally a dangerous move for the troops, and the battle process was even more dangerous and full of twists and turns.
Gaoping is the main battlefield on the Eastern Front. The front finger of the Guangzhou Military Region is determined to concentrate its forces in this area to fight the war of annihilation. To this end, two battalions of the 43rd Army Tank Regiment are specially assigned to the 126th Division of the 42nd Army, plus the directly affiliated military region An engineering regiment and a company of pontoon bridge are a veritable multi-arms coordinated operation. According to the previous intention, the 43rd Army Tank Regiment cooperated with the 376th Infantry Regiment to cross in the direction of Dongxi, with the purpose of cutting off Highway 4 and ensuring the 42nd Army's direct march to Gaoping. In the movie, it is shown as the handsome battalion commander Xiao Jun's proposal to cross the Snake Valley and crush the Vietnamese anti-tank rangers codenamed "Flying Fist".
Dongxi is just an inconspicuous small county, but it is a battleground in the military. This is the only way from Gaoping to Lang Son, and it is also the key point in the Vietnamese army's defense system. Hitting the snake seven inches away and concentrating the tank troops to take Dongxi directly was undoubtedly an earth-shattering and bold move. Commander Xu Shiyou's order to the commander-in-chief of the Southern Group Wu Zhong was: Within 3 hours after the launch of the battle, the tanks must be driven into Dongxi.
Xu Shiyou visited and expressed condolences to the representatives of heroic models in the Vietnam counterattack
However, no matter how imaginative the plan for the operation in the picture is, in the end it is up to the officers and soldiers to find ways to realize the commander's intention. The road leading to Dongxi is a 3-meter-wide narrow path with several rivers to cross. Five of the six bridges passing by can't be crossed by tanks. Organizing tank troops to intersect under such terrain conditions will undoubtedly involve taking great risks. Once the Vietnamese army is ready, deploys heavy troops in this area, and is equipped with sufficient anti-tank weapons, our tank troops will inevitably suffer heavy losses.
The reason why Qianzhi dared to use troops in this way was because he expected that the Vietnamese army was negligent and could attack them unprepared. This tactical idea is quite similar to the "Operation Sickle" in which the German armored divisions raided the French hinterland through the Ardennes region in World War II. In fact, the Vietnamese army did not deploy heavy troops here, but only deployed some local armed forces. However, the Vietnamese army did not do anything. They deployed four lines of defense, and various forts and bunkers formed a horseshoe-shaped defensive position. In addition, the mines, bamboo sticks, and traps ubiquitous in the tropical jungle made every attempt to Troops passing through here will escape death.
Our army's tank troops held a swearing-in meeting before setting off.
The tanks our army participated in the war against Vietnam were mostly Type 62 light tanks suitable for the southern water network zone. They had the fatal shortcomings of too weak armor and poor battlefield survivability. However, the 43rd Army Tank Regiment is equipped with the 59 medium tank . Although it is slightly less maneuverable, its frontal armor is 220 mm thick and its defensive capabilities are much stronger than the Type 62. It is also equipped with a 100 mm rifled gun, which was considered very powerful at the time. Fierce firepower. The 43rd Army Tank Regiment is stationed in Baofeng, Henan Province. To participate in the battle in southern Xinjiang, it is a long-distance military mission. It can be seen that the superiors attach great importance to the unit.
According to the combat deployment, the 43rd Army Tank Regiment was assigned to the 376th Regiment of the 126th Division, carrying infantry forward; the 378th Regiment walked on small roads on foot. The two armies on the left and right took Dongxi directly.
's journey is extremely difficult. Shortly after crossing the border, the No. 105 tank at the front was stuck in the chassis by a stone, and the No. 108 tank on which instructor Lin Mengzhu was riding turned into a sharp-edged vehicle. When they reached the vicinity of Banbo, the No. 108 tank slipped into a pit on the roadside due to soft soil. Its tracks were stuck by weathered stones, making it unable to move. It also blocked the tank behind it.The Vietnamese army's rockets were coming one after another. The situation was very urgent. Lin Mengzhu simply drove the No. 108 tank in reverse and tipped over. Then he transferred to the No. 101 tank and commanded the whole company to press the left track of the No. 108 tank through the deep ditch. .
Lin Mengzhu, who joined the army in 1964 and was born in Liaocheng, Shandong Province, was awarded first-class individual merit. The Wuhan Military Region awarded him the honorary title of "Combat Model"
There is a scene in the movie: a tank rolled over while passing through a dangerous area, and the soldiers Not confident enough to complete the mission, the battalion commander Xiao Jun commanded properly and finally passed smoothly. This plot is also based on a real prototype and is much more exciting and exciting than in the movie.
Engineers used explosives to blow up a road, but there was a downhill section several hundred meters long in the middle. There were three huge stone ridges across the slope. Among them, the bluestone slope in the middle section was the steepest, with an angle of 56 degrees, and there were also three huge stone ridges in the middle. There was a large rock about 3 meters high that didn't explode, so we had to make a 45-degree turn. The maximum climbing angle of the Type 59 Tucker is 36 degrees, and the maximum descending angle does not exceed 50 degrees. If it exceeds this angle, there is a risk of overturning.
The situation is very urgent, and this is the only way to go, so you can get through it biting the bullet. Li Zhishan, the deputy commander of the 3rd Battalion, has the best driving skills. He stepped forward at the critical moment and was the first to break through the ghost gate. He used combined braking to allow the tank to coast slowly by gravity. Just when the front of the car was halfway out of the ridge, it lost its center of gravity due to the steep slope, and the front of the car suddenly fell down. People screamed in surprise. The tank slid down the high bluestone slab, but fortunately it was blocked by the big stone in the middle of the road.
Li Zhishan's skills are indeed amazing, and his luck is also very good. He passed the seemingly insurmountable danger. Under his command, the officers and soldiers placed rocks on dangerous areas and corners to increase the resistance of the tanks' sliding. Each tank also adopted joint braking, gravity sliding, and passed in turn.
When the vanguard company rushed to the Yueshan Pass, a protruding boulder blocked the road. It was too late for the engineers to blast, and it was a dead end for them to fire. In desperation, Lin Mengzhu commanded the No. 101 tank to smash the boulder into pieces. The whole battalion rushed out of the pass and forced its way through Songshan Mountain.
The terrain of Songshan Mountain is more complicated, and there are dozens of sharp turns on the winding mountain road. When the 2nd Tank Battalion and the division and regiment arrived here, they encountered a fierce blockage from the Vietnamese army. The tank in front was hit by the anti-tank rocket launcher and fell down. The tank behind was blocked on the road and became a target for the Vietnamese army. The infantrymen riding the tanks suffered heavy casualties.
There are two antennas erected on the armored command vehicles. The experienced Vietnamese army knew at a glance that the commander was sitting inside, so they concentrated their firepower and attacked wildly. The command vehicle was hit and caught fire, and the crew had to leave the vehicle. Lin Fengyun, deputy political commissar of the 126th Division, abandoned his vehicle and directed the battle on foot. Unfortunately, he was shot in the chest and died.
When the 1st Tank Battalion rushed into Dongxi County, it was 15 minutes ahead of the time set by Xu Shiyou. The victory in the battle came at a heavy price. More than a dozen tanks in the entire battalion were destroyed, and there were more than ten casualties, including 6 sacrifices. At the end of the movie, battalion commander Xiao Jun, played by Zheng Xiaoning , stood on the destroyed tank and stared into the distance. The setting sun was like blood, and the atmosphere was very tragic.
There were no military reporters following this interspersed operation, so the thrilling scenes of cutting mountains and opening roads were not left behind. When the troops retreated triumphantly, a reporter from Bayi Film Studio approached Li Zhishan and wanted to ask him to drive a tank across the stone slope again and take pictures. Li Zhishan was a real person, and he said that during the war, he took the risk of driving out of passion and passion, and he was forced to do so by military orders. Now I'm doing it again just to shoot a few shots, and I really don't have the confidence anymore. Once the car crashes and someone is killed, it’s really not worth it!
The heroes of the 1st Tank Company took pictures with the tanks after the war. The first one on the left is the sharp knife car No. 101
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