Battle of Cao Bang (1979)

For Viet Minh campaign during the First Indochina War in 1949, see Battle of Cao Bằng.
Battle of Cao Bằng
Part of the Sino-Vietnamese War

A Vietnamese personnel standing on the wreckage of a Chinese tank destroyed in the Battle of Cao Bằng
Date17 February–6 March 1979
LocationCao Bằng Province, Vietnam
Result Chinese strategic victory
Vietnamese tactical victory
Belligerents
China China Vietnam Vietnam
Commanders and leaders
China Xu Shiyou Vietnam Đàm Văn Ngụy
Units involved
China 12th Army
China 20th Army
China 41st Army
China 42nd Army
China 50th Army		 Vietnam 311th Division
Vietnam 346th Division
Vietnam Militia, regional, and border guard units
Strength
200,000+ regulars, unknown number of tanks 1 regular division (2 divisions after 1 March)
Militia, regional troops, and border guards.
Casualties and losses
Unknown but heavy Unknown but heavy

The Battle of Cao Bằng was fought between the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) over the city of Cao Bằng and its vicinity, from the beginning of the Sino-Vietnamese War on 17 February, to 6 March 1979. After the capture of Cao Bằng on 25 February, Chinese forces still had to struggle for days to gain control over other areas in the province against badly outnumbered Vietnamese defenders. Contrary to the Chinese intention to battle against and defeat some major regular units of the VPA, the PLA found themselves encountering mostly small units of Vietnamese border guards and militia, which had clearly outperformed their enemy.

Order of battle

The Chinese invasion in Cao Bằng Province was conducted by elements of five armies, spearheaded by the PLA 41st and 42nd Armies from the Guangzhou Military Region and supported by the 50th Army from the Chengdu Military Region, and the 12th and 20th Armies from the Nanjing Military Region. The number of troops probably totaled over 200,000 men, assembling in springboards around Jingxi and Longzhou Counties, Guangxi Province.[1] Facing them were elements of the VPA 346th Division, with the 677th, 246th, and 852nd Regiments defending Trà Lĩnh, Hòa An, and Thông Nông Districts respectively. The 481st Regiment was positioned in the township of Cao Bằng as a reserve and its primary defenders.[2]

Battle

Chinese forces launched their offensive in Cao Bằng at dawn of 17 February.[3] The PLA 41st Army was charged with striking Cao Bằng from the north after seizing Trà Lĩnh, while the 42nd Army was assigned to attack the city from the southeast after taking Quảng Uyên. Another force from the 42nd would be sent through Highway 4 to join with friendly units north of Lạng Sơn, thus enabling the transfer of troops between the two fronts, as well as blocking enemy reinforcements from Thái Nguyên.[2]

The PLA 41st Army's advance was gravely hampered, as it immediately ran into contact with the VPA 677th Regiment on the way. It took the Chinese five days to capture Trà Lĩnh on 22 February, yet only to intrude no more than 10–15 km in another direction against Trùng Khánh. Other elements of the 41st were also bogged down in engagements with Vietnamese forces near Thông Nông.[4] The situation was more endurable for the 42nd Army, as by 22 February they had taken Phục Hòa, Thất Khê, Quảng Uyên, and Đông Khê, penetrating some 25 km into Vietnamese territory from Shuikouguan. Previously, on 20 February, a Chinese tank unit from the 42nd leading the advance into Bắc Sơn had been intercepted and lost a number of tanks to Vietnamese anti-tank missiles; the force had only survived after receiving reinforcements from its parental unit.[4] According to report from the Vietnamese side, they had severely mauled four Chinese battalions and destroyed scores of enemy tanks and vehicles after the first three days of fighting in the province.[5]

On 23 February, the PLA command realized that Cao Bằng was actually held by small number of Vietnamese troops. Instead of waiting for the 41st Army to break through enemy defense from the north and then putting it in charge of the operations against Cao Bằng, General Xu Shiyou, the overall commander of the Chinese campaign in Vietnam, ordered an immediate assault on the city.[6] Cao Bằng fell on 25 February, yet fighting still went on intensely in other areas throughout the province.[4] On 26 February, the VPA Command of the Cao Bằng Front was established, headed by Colonel Đàm Văn Ngụy. The new 311th Division was founded three days later to fight alongside the exhausted 346th, comprising the 169th, 529th, and 531st Regiments.[7] On 27 February, Chinese forces captured the Guen Tiat airfield, southwest of Thất Khê, at which two sides continued to fight for control afterwards. On the same day, Vietnamese forces staged counter-attacks against the occupied towns of Quảng Uyên and Trà Lĩnh, where Chinese control had not been restored until 2 and 3 March respectively. At 19:30 on 3 March, Chinese forces took Đức Long, a town on Highway 4, thus successfully connecting the Chinese areas of operations in Cao Bằng and Lạng Sơn.[4] However, it was not until 6 March that the VPA 346th Division gave up its resistance around Cao Bằng Province.[8]

Aftermath

Although the Chinese were able to secure Cao Bằng and strategically defeated the Vietnamese 346th Division, the belated capture of the city had seriously spoiled their original plan.[8] By 26 February, China claimed to have annihilated the VPA 677th, 681st (probably the 481st), and 246th Regiments. Even if this had been true, it could have not denied the fact that two full armies of the PLA plus friendly units had been held up for nearly ten days by a single Vietnamese division.[4] Chinese forces also failed to seek and engage the bulk of Vietnamese regular units. For instance, it took the PLA a whole day searching for VPA regulars in the Ke Map Nua area, 3 km north of Cao Bằng, without any results.[8] With the exception at Sóc Giang, most of the clashes were fought against Vietnamese militia and citizen-soldiers, which had inflicted heavy losses on Chinese troops and held off their invasion.[6]

Notes

  1. ↑ O'Dowd, p. 58-59.
  2. 1 2 O'Dowd, p. 59
  3. ↑ O'Dowd, p. 58.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 O'Dowd, p. 60.
  5. ↑ Chen. p. 108.
  6. 1 2 Zhang, p. 94.
  7. ↑ (in Vietnamese) Trường Sơn, "Biên giới phía Bắc 1979: 30 ngày không thể nào quên (3)", Infonet, 17 February 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 Zhang, p. 95.

References

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