Chapter 3: 6.10 Border Conflicts

"We were in the process of prostrate and tactical training, and at this time, the deputy company commander brought us a few maps for our platoon commander Li to see. Pen~Fun~Pavilion www.biquge.info These maps have just been distributed to the border stations by the military sub-districts. Because in the past, there were no maps at the border posts, and everyone was very familiar with the protected jurisdiction, so they didn't expect to need a map. But if you really start a war, you can't do it without a map. If it were not for the tense situation on the Sino-Soviet border and the fact that they were faced with war with the invading Soviet troops, the military sub-district would not have issued these operational maps to the border defense stations.

In the past, there were no maps, and no one thought that they should learn to read maps, but now that they have maps, they can't read them, because it is a matter of winning or losing a battle. Platoon Commander Li took the map and looked at it for a while, but when he didn't understand it, he called me over and said, 'Yuan Guoxiao, this is a map drawn by the Soviet Union in the thirties. In fact, my education level is not high, after graduating from primary school, I only dealt with junior high school for more than a year, and then joined the army. But I still have a relatively high level of education in the border station. But I've never looked at the battle map, and I can't understand anything about the lines and icons on it. The deputy company commander showed the map to a number of people, but none of them could understand it.

Suddenly, someone shouted, 'Look at that. We all looked at the place where the soldier was pointing, and we saw a helicopter circling not far above us, and we all raised our guns and aimed at the plane, and as soon as the deputy company commander gave the order, we would immediately shoot and we would definitely be able to knock down the helicopter gunship that had invaded our airspace. However, the plane circled around and quickly turned and flew back.

Nothing like this has ever happened before. Because there have never been helicopters here, not even tanks, but they have all appeared recently. The deputy company commander immediately called the Tacheng Military Sub-district to report the incident, and also reported to the sub-district that the Soviet troops had been moving tanks at night, helicopter flights, and artillery drills.

In the afternoon, an emergency meeting was held at the station. Instructor Wei conveyed the spirit of the instructions of the Tacheng Military Sub-district, saying: 'In the morning, we reported to the military sub-district on the various abnormal phenomena of the Soviet army recently, and the leaders of the military sub-district immediately held a meeting, and in view of these phenomena and in light of the incidents that occurred at other border stations, they pointed out that this was the Soviet army carrying out military readjustment and military redeployment, and it was very likely that it would provoke military conflicts in Tielekti or other border areas. Crush any form of military provocation by the Soviet army at all times. ’

On the morning of 10 June, a leader of the Tacheng Military Sub-district came to our station to convey confidential documents on Sino-Soviet relations to all the officers and men of our station. This kind of document is generally only conveyed to leaders at and above the battalion level, perhaps in order to boost the morale of the soldiers and enable the border officers and men to have a clear understanding of the Sino-Soviet border situation. The content of the document is that some people put forward that on the Sino-Soviet border, the Soviet army has 55 infantry divisions, 12 campaign rocket divisions, 10 tank divisions, and 4 air force corps, with a total strength of more than 1 million troops. To this, Chairman Mao replied, 'A million army, what is this? I have an army of 5 million to contend with. Even if he had 10,000 tanks to break through my first and second lines of defense. But in the depths of the predetermined battlefield, they find themselves surrounded by a catastrophe of annihilation. By that time, they would have no food or grass, no shelter, no fuel for their cars, and no ammunition for their guns. 800 million people, 800 million soldiers, thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, thousands of miles of camps. The supply lines of the Soviet army for thousands of miles will be cut off by us everywhere, and the troops who will attack first will be broken in front of our iron wall. Our fleet of real combat aircraft will beat the Soviet army's big-bellied transport planes to the ground. At that time, not only will this million-strong army not be able to fight the trapped beasts, but our iron army will also cross the border and lead the war to the territory of the Soviet Union. If Beijing is not guaranteed, Moscow will also be gone. Hmph, without 4 million troops, he doesn't want to fight my idea. But the total strength of the Soviet army was only 3.2 million. As for nuclear war, does Brezhnev really dare to risk the world's condemnation to start the button of nuclear war? ’

Just as he was conveying the documents, the correspondent suddenly entered the large conference room and whispered to Instructor Wei who was sitting on the rostrum for a while, and when he saw that Instructor Wei's face suddenly became nervous, he hurriedly asked the leaders of the military sub-district to stop, and then, by name, asked the platoon commander Li Yongqiang, the principal and deputy squad leaders of the three squads, and three shooting experts to immediately assemble at the company headquarters. As soon as we saw this situation, we knew that this must have encountered a sudden emergency, and it was related to the border conflict, otherwise, how could we send Platoon Commander Li to take the principal and deputy squad leaders of three squads and shooting experts to carry out the mission?

During the break in the venue, we wanted to go to the company headquarters to inquire about the news and see what was going on. However, as soon as we came out of the large conference room, we saw Platoon Commander Li, with six squad leaders and deputy squad leaders and three military backbones, fully armed, riding out of the gate of the border guard station at a high speed. Later, we learned that the Tacheng Military Sub-district had just called and said that someone had reported that a large number of people had suddenly appeared at the junction of the Tasti River and the Usgan River, and that through binoculars, it seemed that many people wearing big caps had gathered together, and it was very similar to that Soviet personnel were setting up a new observation post and asking the border guard station to send someone to inspect it. Therefore, Instructor Wei asked Li Yongqiang to lead people to gallop away on horseback, ready to negotiate with the Soviet army. Because each border station has jurisdiction over the border line of nearly 100 miles, and it happens to be under our jurisdiction.

It is forty or fifty kilometers away from our border station, and the mountain road is difficult, and it takes more than two hours to walk on horseback at the earliest. Almost none of our recruits ever went. Therefore, all day long, we were worried about the safety of Platoon Commander Li. Because we know that the Soviet army has not been idle these days, and is making all kinds of preparations to launch a military provocation against our side. Moreover, they will definitely use tanks and helicopters, and Platoon Commander Li they only have light weapons like submachine guns. If we really fight, we will definitely lose.

The day passed very long, and the leaders also gathered at the company headquarters. The day's learning and training activities are cancelled at short notice. Normally, when there is no study and training, the fighters usually gather on the basketball court and in the table tennis room, or stay in the dormitory to play chess and poker. But today, everyone stayed in the barracks, as if anxiously waiting for something to happen. Everyone did not dare to go out, for fear that in case the troops would gather urgently. In fact, everyone's mood was very conflicted, they didn't want anything to happen and let Platoon Commander Li and them come back safely, and at the same time, they were also thinking that once something happened, they could rush to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions. Because everyone had something on their minds, the camp seemed very quiet all day, but the silent anxiety was evident on everyone's face.

The weather was fine and sunny until the evening when it rained heavily. Everyone felt a little happy in their hearts, thinking that the rain would be detrimental to the movement of Soviet tanks and planes. It was dark late in Xinjiang, and it was almost ten o'clock before it was completely dark. However, Platoon Commander Li and the others have not yet returned. Everyone didn't have the heart to sleep, so they just lay on the bed with their clothes on.

It was a long time after the lights went out, about eleven o'clock, when I heard some movement outside the barracks. Someone looked out of the window, and then shouted Platoon Commander Li and they were back. Everyone in our dorm room sat up from their beds at once. After a while, the deputy squad leader entered the house, everyone hurriedly lit the gas lamp, surrounded him, some helped the deputy squad leader take the gun, some took off the bullet belt for the deputy squad leader, and some people took off the grenade for the deputy squad leader, and then pressed the deputy squad leader on a chair, and asked nonsense, 'Deputy squad leader, you didn't fight the Soviets?' The deputy squad leader said, 'Why didn't we do it, we killed six of them at once, and wounded many of them.' Someone asked, 'What about our people?' The deputy squad leader sighed, and after a long time, he said, "One of us has died here, and it is a female member of the agricultural reclamation company, named Sun Longzhen." ’

So, everyone asked the deputy squad leader to tell what happened. The deputy squad leader took a sip of the tea that everyone had made for him, and began to say, "Here's the thing, Zhang Chengshan, a herdsman from the 5th Company of the 12th Regiment of the Ninth Agricultural Division, drove the sheep to graze in the morning, and walked to a triangle with fat and tender grass, and the sheep rushed over and ate the grass. Zhang Chengshan knew that this was a 'disputed area' unilaterally recognized by the Soviet army, so he hurriedly stepped forward to drive the sheep out, but a group of Soviet border patrol soldiers rode over and tied him up without saying a word. A herdsman saw that Zhang Chengshan had been kidnapped by the Soviets and hurried back to the company to report. The men of the Reclamation Company took up their shovels and clubs, and shouted and rushed to the triangle. Zhang Chengshan's wife, Sun Longzhen, is only 29 years old, a mother of two children, and is 6 months pregnant. She also picked up the shovel and came with everyone to rescue Zhang Chengshan. At that time, we rode for more than two hours to get there, hid our horses behind a small forest, loaded our bullets, closed the insurance, prepared for battle according to Platoon Commander Li's orders, and then walked to the place of the incident, ready to negotiate with the Soviet troops. The Soviet troops, numbering more than 40 people, kidnapped Zhang Chengshan, a Chinese herdsman, and dragged a four-year-old child by the arm toward the Soviet side. At this time, when they saw us coming, they immediately turned around and let go of the child, but they pressed Zhang Chengshan, who was tied up with five flowers, to the ground and pressed hard. When the boy saw us, he ran towards us. But the Soviet machine gunners immediately lay down and turned their guns at us. The Soviet soldiers brazenly crossed hundreds of meters across the border into our border, and recklessly arrested our herdsmen and children, which filled us with righteous indignation. We used to rescue Zhang Chengshan, but the Soviet army, with a large number of people, besieged one of us with three or four people, surrounded us, punched and kicked us, and even hit us with the butt of a gun, and we also fired back with the butt of a gun. I don't know who threw it at them with the butt of his gun, and the magazine cut the neck of a Soviet soldier, and the blood flowed, making him scream in pain.

At this time, Zhang Chengshan's wife, Sun Longzhen, and other herdsmen rushed with shovels to rescue Zhang Chengshan, who was being tied up. However, the Soviet commander immediately opened fire, killing Sun Longzhen, and then began to fire signal flares into the sky. Originally, the two sides only fists and kicks, or hit with the butts of their guns, and avoided firing the first shot. Now, however, the Soviets have fired the first shot. This indicates that the situation has changed radically.

"Watching the invaders invade my borders, shoot my unarmed herders, and now fire the first shot at us. This made us unbearable any longer, and together we set our eyes on Platoon Commander Li and asked him to give an order. However, in order to shoot back at the enemy, it is necessary to consult the leadership first. This made Platoon Commander Li a little embarrassed. At this moment, after seeing the signal flare in the air, a large group of Soviet cavalry was speeding towards us from the right front, and tanks and armored vehicles were also coming from the river at full speed on the left and front, and two helicopters were already flying above us. In this extremely urgent situation, Platoon Commander Li had no choice but to say to everyone, '-for-tat, not an inch of land.' Open the insurance and get ready for battle. Then he led the group backwards and occupied a small dirt bag behind him. The Soviets, thinking we were retreating, stood there, waving their guns and cheering and laughing.

Retreating to a distance of 50 meters from the Soviet troops, Platoon Commander Li asked for a soldier's semi-automatic rifle, aimed it at the Soviet troops and began to shoot. Platoon Commander Li is a top marksman in the Tacheng Military Division, and his shots have always been 100 shots. Only two gunshots were heard, and two Soviet soldiers immediately fell to the ground. When the fighters saw that the platoon commander had fired, they also shot along with him, throwing grenades. Platoon Commander Li ordered the first and second squad leaders to retreat with two combat groups while fighting. Before the battle had been fought for a while, suddenly lightning and thunder roared, and heavy rain poured down. After a while, it began to get dark. Seeing that the Soviet army had left with Zhang Chengshan, we carried Sun Longzhen's body back.

When the deputy squad leader said this, he heard someone outside shouting for the deputy squad leader to go to the cafeteria to eat. The deputy squad leader said to everyone, 'Everyone go to bed quickly, and I will talk about it tomorrow if I have something to say.' Seeing that the deputy squad leader went to the cafeteria, everyone began to go to bed while talking. ”