Battle of Lao Cai

Battle of Lào Cai
Part of Sino-Vietnamese War
Sapa town in Lào Cai Province
Date 17 February–5 March 1979 Location Northern Hoàng Liên Sơn Province and northeastern Lai Châu Province, Vietnam Result Chinese strategic victory Vietnamese tactical victory
Belligerents
China	Vietnam
Commanders and leaders
Yang Dezhi	Unknown
Units involved
11th Army 13th Army 14th Army	316th Division 345th Division Militia, regional, and border guard units
Strength
~125,000	~20,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown Vietnamese claim: 11,500 casualties	Unknown Chinese claim: 1,398 killed 920 wounded 35 captured

The Battle of Lao Cai was fought during the brief but bloody Sino-Vietnamese War. Though the Chinese themselves took a heavy toll from the Vietnamese defending the area, they were eventually successful in capturing and occupying the province from a mixed force of regulars, militia, and government border troops.^[1]

Planning and order of battle

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Kunming Military Region took responsibility for Chinese operations in Lào Cai direction, which involved the 11th and 13th Armies from the Kunming Military Region itself, and the 14th Army from the Chengdu Military Region, totalling about 125,000 troops. The invasion comprised three prongs of advances: while the 11th Army was assigned to attack Phong Thổ before hooking up to Sapa and Lào Cai from the west, the 14th Army was ordered to take Mường Khương and move against Lào Cai from the east; the central thrust was undertaken by the 13th Army, targeted directly on Lào Cai and the township of Cam Đường to the south.^[2]

For the Vietnamese side, it is believed by historians that the defense of the Hoàng Liên Sơn Province (modern-day Lào Cai and Yên Bái Provinces) was conducted by several regiments of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA), some of which consisted of the regular 345th and 316th Divisions.^[3][4] A force at the size of two divisions was equivalent to around 20,000 Vietnamese troops present in Lào Cai area at the beginning of the war.^[3]

Battle

The battle was begun before the dawn of 17 February by a Chinese artillery barrage against Vietnamese positions.^[5] The first objectives for the PLA were the towns of Bát Xát, Mường Khương, and Pha Long. No attack was staged against Phong Thổ at all on the first day of the war.^[3]

The brunt of Chinese assaults fell on the VPA 345th Division, which resisted toughly. Not until 14:00 on 19 February did the PLA capture Lào Cai City. Having Lào Cai taken, the PLA then sent a group of troops (probably from the 13th Army) to Cam Đường to the south, and another group (probably from the 14th Army) advancing along Highway 4D to Sapa, which was 38 km to the southwest. The VPA 316th Division was then ordered to march from Sapa to meet the approaching Chinese forces, and ran into contact on the secondary road between Lào Cai and Sapa on 22 February. By that day, the PLA had intruded by only two kilometers into Vietnamese territory, despite having used a force of two armies against the sole VPA 345th Division. By 25 February, the Chinese had seized Cam Đường, yet were still struggling to exterminate pockets of Vietnamese resistance in Lào Cai and other towns under their control, a situation which was not ended until 27 February.^[3]

At 14:45 on 1 March, Sapa fell to the PLA. On the eastern wing of the offensive, Khoc Tiam was captured after a night assault raging from 20:00 on 2 March to 14:45 on 3 March. Chinese efforts now concentrating on cutting off the retreat of the VPA 316th Division, as a PLA force skirted around Mount Phan Xi Pang and maneuvered toward the direction of Bình Lư, which was 44 km west of Sapa. At 19:00 on 3 March, all roads that connected Phong Thổ with Bình Lư and Pa Tần had been secured. On 4 March, Chinese forces eventually captured the town, thus successfully blocking the supply route to the VPA 316th Division from Lai Châu; the blocking position was at least 40 km from the Sino-Vietnamese border, becoming the deepest Chinese penetration in the war. However, it was not until 5 March that the Vietnamese division finally ceased to fight.^[6]

Aftermath

In the battle, the Chinese claimed to have killed 1,398, wounded 920, and captured 35 Vietnamese soldiers.^[6][7] On the other hand, Vietnamese accounts put the number of Chinese casualties at 11,500.^[8] Similar to the fighting in other fronts, during the Lao Cai campaign, the "human wave" tactic was thoroughly applied by the PLA for every smallest objective, as portrayed by a Vietnamese soldier in an interview by French journalist Jean-Pierre Gallois: "The Chinese infantry advance shoulder to shoulder to make sure the minefields are cleared... When they moved out of Lao Cai they were as numerous and close together as rice in the paddy fields."^[6][9]

Notes

References