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The Battle of Mountain Laoshan, Second Sino-Vietnamese War

translated by Xinhui

 

 

This report was written by a PLA Artillery Regiment commander during the Second Sino-Vietnamese war. I am not sure how authentic it is but is petty close to what I had read from the Second Sino-VN war. This report does give great details.

Note:
Mountain Laoshan, height 1422 meter above sea level. Laoshan means "The Old Mountain" in Chinese. Mt. Laoshan is located inside Vietnamese territory near the Chinese border. After the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War, Mt. Laoshan has been used as a stage point for Vietnamese forces to conduct large scale raids into China.

Early 1984, our regiment (Regt) received order to take Mt. Laoshan. Feb. 18, advanced to Ei-Liang. 20th to Ma-Sho Hill. Then 40 days of preparation. April 1, 3 companies were join the "142 project", they fire a few around and then retreat to forces enemy to return fire and give out their position. We use heavy guns to suppress them. April 26, everything is ready and the 119th Artillery Task Force were created.

To take a fire base, we advanced at night. No one can makes any sound. We took apart the Type 85 gun. We reassemble it after we moved it to the firebase. The fire OP is only 500 meter away from the enemy. To help to see the road during darkness, white bed sheet were used. Our guns were park next to the right side of an abandoned house. 4th Company (Coy) was so close to the enemy, only 400 meters away, it will act as direct fire.

April 28, 0550, artillery fire began. After 34 minutes of artillery Bombardment, the earth started to move. By 0624, infantry started to attack right after the Bombardment stop. The VN force reacted in two minutes. First shoot took out the platoon (Plt) leader. He is the first comrade to die at Laoshan. We gave support fire for our infantry. Infantry advanced by jumping from one shell crater to another. After 9 minutes, they took the 662.6 high ground. 54 minutes later, Mt. Laoshan was in our hands. By 1530, the 20 or so high grounds east of 662.6 high ground was in our hands also. We also knock out an enemy tank with 5 direct artillery hits.

June 11, 0300, a single flare was fired into the dark sky. We begin to question what was going on. For half an hour, we could not connect to other units with telephone calls. 2nd coy was also cut off. Only one Plt commander reported in and order us to fire. We refused because our men are up there. We ordered 5 recon troop from 2nd Btn to the front, but they where push back by enemy fires. Sunrise, recon commander with a Plt of recon also get push back. At this point we knew our forward position has been by over ran by enemy. 0530, with the support of a howitzer Bnt, we launched our counterattack. Within half an hour, we took our position back. 0600, next wave of enemy started their attack. Our infantry kept calling for arty fire supports. 500 to 600 enemy troops were attacking our lines when our multiple rocket launchers (MRL) began to fire. We were able to hold our positions with estimated 100 enemy killed. A second howitzer Btn join the bombardment. Until 1500, enemy forces were unable to reach our line. A reinforced enemy company was trying to cross the river and attack our flank. The division (Div) commander ordered me to fire. We first fire 10 degree to the left and then 10 degree to the right. The enemy company did not made it back to their side...

 

 

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