Battle of Cao Bang (1979)

Battle of Cao Bằng
Part of the Sino-Vietnamese War
A Vietnamese soldier standing on the wreckage of a Chinese tank in the Battle of Cao Bằng
Date 17 February–5 March 1979 Location Cao Bằng Province, Vietnam Result Indecisive: Chinese belated capture of Cao Bang Chinese failure in destroying Vietnamese regular forces
Belligerents
China	Vietnam
Commanders and leaders
Xu Shiyou	Đàm Văn Ngụy
Strength
~84,000[1]–200,000[2]	1 regular division[3] (2 divisions after 1 March) ~15,000 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

According to Edward C. O'Dowd, 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.^[4] However, Xiaoming Zhang has given much lower figures of Chinese strength in this front, claiming that the 129th Division of the 43rd Army was the only additional unit besides the leading 41st and 42nd Armies.^[5] In contrast, O'Dowd includes this division in the Chinese order of battle in Lạng Sơn.^[6]

Facing them were elements of the VPA 346th Division, which had been converted from an economic construction unit into a combat unit since April 1978, consisting of three infantry and one artillery regiments. Its 246th Regiment was stationed at Sóc Giang northwest of Cao Bằng, while the sister 677th Regiment was tasked with defending the Trà Lĩnh area. The remaining infantry regiment, the 851st, had its initial role of a reserve unit. Fire support was provided by the 188th Artillery Regiment, which took its positions along the area between Lũng Lợi and Phù Ngọc. The division was assisted by the independent 31st Regiment positioned at Phục Hòa, the 567th at Trùng Khánh, the 576th at Trà Lĩnh, and a force of 15,000 paramilitaries, including one public security regiment, five local force battalions, and a series of 11 public security stations.^[7] The defense at the township of Cao Bằng itself was undertaken by the VPA 481st Regiment.^[2]

Battle

Chinese forces launched their offensive in Cao Bằng at dawn of 17 February.^[8] 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 (otherwise the 129th Division^[9]) 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.^[10] The heaviest fighting was witnessed at Sóc Giang, as the PLA 122nd Division needed five days to end Vietnamese resistance there, instead of two days in original calculation. On 20 February, two Chinese companies and their support elements were pinned down by Vietnamese forces in two separate clashes, resulting in a total of 296 Chinese casualties and six tanks damaged.^[7]

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.^[10] However, it had failed to meet the 24-hour schedule to obtain the objectives around Cao Bằng, due to difficult terrain and frequent Vietnamese ambushes. The PLA 121st Division had to march for six days to arrive their destination at Khau Đồn, southwest of Cao Bằng.^[11] Previously, on 20 February, a Chinese tank unit from the 42nd Army 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.^[10]

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.^[12]

On 23 February, the PLA command realized that Cao Bằng was actually held by only a small number of Vietnamese troops. Instead of waiting for the 41st Army to break through enemy defense from the north, General Xu Shiyou, the overall commander of the Chinese campaign in Vietnam, ordered an immediate assault on the city.^[13] Cao Bằng fell on 25 February, yet fighting still went on intensely in other areas throughout the province.^[10] On 26 February, the VPA Cao Bằng Front Command 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 Infantry Regiments plus the 456th Artillery Regiment.^[14] On 27 February, Chinese forces captured the Guen Tiat airfield, southwest of Thất Khê, which continued to be contested by both sides 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.^[10] On 5 March, the Chinese government announced the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam.^[15]

Aftermath

Although the Chinese had eventually captured Cao Bằng from the Vietnamese 346th Division, the belated capture of the city had seriously spoiled their original plan.^[16] 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 and friendly units had been tied down for nearly ten days by a single Vietnamese division.^[10] 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.^[16] 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.^[13]

Various accusations of Chinese war crimes were made by Vietnamese authorities, most prominently the massacre at the village of Tổng Chúp, Hòa An District on 9 March, in which troopers of the PLA 42nd Army had reportedly executed 43 civilians by axes. Allegations remain largely unverifable and unbeknownst to the international commnunity, as no Western correspondents were able to access the Sino-Vietnamese border region when fighting was occurring. The Xinhua News Agency denied any Chinese involvement in such atrocities.^[17]

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