Battle of Lạng Sơn (1979)
The Battle of Lạng Sơn was fought during the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War, days after the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) advanced 15 to 20 kilometres (9.3 to 12.4 mi) deep into the northern provinces of Vietnam. The fighting occurred primarily at the city of Lạng Sơn, a few kilometres from the Sino-Vietnamese border.
| Battle of Lạng Sơn | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Sino-Vietnamese War | |||||||||
A Vietnamese soldier armed with an RPG-7 rocket launcher defending Lạng Sơn in 1979 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| China | Vietnam | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Xu Shiyou |
Hoàng Đan Nguyễn Duy Thương | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
|
43rd Army
55th Army |
3rd Division 327th Division 337th Division 338th Division 166th Artillery Regiment 272nd Anti-Aircraft Regiment Militia, regional, and border guard units | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| ~130,000 troops |
By 17 February: ~13,000 troops By 6 March: 3 regular divisions | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
Chinese source: 1,271 killed 3,779 wounded Vietnamese source: ~19,000 casualties |
Vietnamese source: 3rd Division: 6.6% killed, 8.4% wounded (equivalent to 660 killed and 840 wounded) 327th Division: no data 337th Division: 650 killed 338th Division: 260 killed Chinese source: 10,401 casualties | ||||||||
After capturing the northern heights above Lạng Sơn, the Chinese surrounded and paused in front of the city in order to lure the Vietnamese into reinforcing it with units from Cambodia. This had been the main strategic ploy in the Chinese war plan as Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping did not want to risk an escalation potentially involving the Soviet Union. The Vietnam People's Army (VPA) high command, after a tip-off from Soviet satellite intelligence, was able to see through the trap, however, and committed reserves only to Hanoi. Once this became clear to the PLA, the war was practically over. An assault was still mounted, but the Vietnamese only committed one VPA regiment defending the city. After three days of bloody house-to-house fighting, Lạng Sơn fell on 6 March. The PLA then took the southern heights above Lạng Sơn.
Although the PLA managed to capture and briefly occupy Lạng Sơn and its nearby vicinities, the campaign was slower and more costly than the Chinese leadership had anticipated, with the PLA's regular units suffering heavy casualties against the guerilla tactics of Vietnamese militia and irregular units.
According to the Washington Post, analysts described the battle as being an important Chinese victory for capturing the Vietnamese capital of Lạng Sơn. "They beat the hell out of the Vietnamese," stated one analyst in describing the battle around Lạng Sơn. "The Vietnamese know that; the Russians know that. That is all the Chinese are interested in." Vietnamese resistance being too heavily preoccupied elsewhere near Lao Cai and Cao Bang in the middle of the front was highlighted as a contributing factor to the Vietnamese defeat in Lạng Sơn. Some Bangkok analysts stated Vietnam was at least successful in keeping their losses low by avoiding direct battles between its Hanoi based main-force units with the Chinese forces.