Vi Xuyen Front: Untold Stories About July 12, 1984

During the border defense war, Vi Xuyen - Ha Giang was one of the fiercest battlefields, with a large concentration of Chinese troops and firepower. Soldiers from 9 main divisions of the Vietnam People's Army fought valiantly, and thousands of them fell in battle.

The nation and its people will never forget you.

Thirty-two years ago, on July 12, 1984, the fiercest battle took place on the Ha Giang border front, codenamed MB84. Since then, July 12 has become the anniversary of the battle for the 356th Division, when 600 soldiers sacrificed their lives in just one day.

Vi Xuyen - the frontier region at the northernmost tip of the Fatherland - has been revived.

In July, Thanh Thuy (Vi Xuyen, Ha Giang) becomes more bustling with people from all over the country. All are heading towards the Vi Xuyen Martyrs' Cemetery and the memorial to the heroic martyrs on Hill 468… which were recently inaugurated at the end of June 2016.

They are veterans who participated in the Thanh Thuy front during the border war 32 years ago.

On July 14, 2016, the Liaison Committee of the Veterans Association of the Vi Xuyen - Ha Giang Front, consisting of 31 members, was launched at the Ministry of National Defense auditorium with the participation of nearly 600 delegates.

Major General Nguyen Duc Huy, former Deputy Commander of Military Region 2, Head of the Liaison Committee of the Veterans Association of the Vi Xuyen - Ha Giang Front. Photo: PX

Major General Nguyen Duc Huy, former Deputy Commander of Military Region 2, is the Head of the Liaison Committee. Lieutenant General Dang Quan Thuy, former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly and former Commander of Military Region 2, is the Honorary Chairman.

For the first time, the former Deputy Commander of Military Region 2, who directly commanded the campaign, announced the figures: More than 4,000 soldiers from 9 main divisions sacrificed their lives defending the Vi Xuyen border; more than 9,000 wounded and sick soldiers, along with many other units directly involved in the fighting, repelling the Chinese invasion.

In February 1979, over 600,000 Chinese troops invaded Vietnam's border, penetrating up to 50km inland in some areas, destroying and leveling the towns of Lao Cai, Cao Bang, part of Lang Son, and many villages.

During that conflict, from April 1984 to May 1989, China successively deployed over 500,000 troops from 8 out of 10 military regions to launch a full-scale offensive along the Ha Giang border, focusing on Vi Xuyen district with the intention of redrawing the border north of Thanh Thuy stream.

To defend the border, 9 main divisions along with many regiments and battalions directly participated in the fighting at the Vi Xuyen front.

The battles fought by the Vietnamese army to defend their territory were extremely fierce on the high points 1509, 1100, 772, 685, Doi Dai, Co Ich, Bon Ham… Some high points were leveled by more than 3 meters due to artillery fire, so intense that they were called the "century's lime kiln". The Vietnamese army and people killed and wounded tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers, forcing the Chinese army to withdraw back across the border.

According to Major General Nguyen Duc Huy, there are still more than 2,000 martyrs scattered across the Vi Xuyen battlefield whose remains have not been collected, many martyrs' graves are not named in cemeteries, and thousands of hectares of hills and mountains still contain unexploded ordnance, affecting the lives of the people.

Veterans of the Vi Xuyen front light incense to commemorate their fallen comrades on the anniversary of the battle of the 356th Division, July 12, 2016.

The reunion in Hanoi, 32 years and 2 days after the fierce battle on July 12, 1984, was not only a long-awaited event for over 80,000 soldiers from 9 divisions, but also deeply moved Lieutenant General Dang Quan Thuy, as it was the first time such a reunion had been held in over 30 years.

According to him, in the battle to defend the Vi Xuyen border, our army and people had to confront large, strategic Chinese army units. But we still defeated them; that was a victory of determination to firmly defend our border sovereignty.

Provincial Party Secretary Trieu Tai Vinh reported: During this war, Ha Giang mobilized 12,000 civilian laborers and 20,000 militia from the lowlands to dig tens of thousands of meters of trenches and roads, and provided food and supplies… to build a border defense line against encroachment.

The Secretary of the Ha Giang Provincial Party Committee stated that the Central Party Secretariat has agreed to allow Ha Giang to renovate and upgrade the Vi Xuyen Martyrs' Cemetery to a national-level cemetery and to construct a victory monument complex.

A cauldron of fire in the border region

According to historical records, in February 1979, China launched a simultaneous attack on the border of six northern provinces. After 30 days of fierce fighting, the local armed forces and ethnic minority people of the six border provinces, relying on people's war tactics and outnumbered forces, defeated the Chinese army's "human wave tactics and deep penetration sabotage," forcing them to withdraw from Vietnam on March 18th.

Soldiers aged 18 and 20 participating in the Vi Xuyen front. (Archival photo)

However, China did not completely withdraw its troops but maintained forces along the border and in Vietnamese territory, causing the fighting to continue for the next 10 years.

From April 1984, gunfire was incessant on the Ha Tuyen border (Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang provinces). China mobilized infantry and artillery to attack and occupy several high points in the mountainous region of Ha Tuyen.

Ha Tuyen is divided into two lines: the front line is the combat zone within the range of Chinese encroachment and artillery fire, while the rear line consists of relatively stable areas supporting the front line.

Border encroachment at the Thanh Thuy and Vi Xuyen fronts was part of the sabotage war that China waged after its failure in the large-scale invasion of the northern border provinces in February 1979. This was a special type of warfare in terms of its methods of combat, weapons used, time, and location.

In the direction of Military Region 2, with the focus on Vi Xuyen and Thanh Thuy, China concentrated a large force of troops and firepower, consisting of 4 army groups and 4 independent corps belonging to 8 major military regions: Kunming, Chengdu, Nanjing, to take turns attacking and encroaching on the border region.

Vi Xuyen Martyrs' Cemetery

China used aircraft, reconnaissance units, and commandos to infiltrate deep into Vietnamese territory to gather intelligence, while simultaneously employing concentrated artillery and mortar fire to suppress high ground, transportation routes, and infantry forces attacking and encroaching on our land. Their tactics were unpredictable, occurring day and night, concentrating large amounts of destructive fire on key areas such as Dai Hill, Co Ich Hill, Hill 685, Cot Ep, and the four-tunnel area. The average daily amount of enemy artillery and mortar shells ranged from 10,000 to 20,000, reaching over 65,000 on some days (January 7, 1987).

Over a period of more than five years (1984-1989), China fired over 2 million artillery shells at Ha Tuyen, 60% of which were mortar rounds. The enemy's shelling was concentrated in the two communes of Thanh Duc and Thanh Thuy, covering an area of ​​approximately 20 square kilometers.

To counter China's plot, Vietnam assembled a large force comprising regular troops, local troops, and militia. The armed forces stationed in the six northern border provinces numbered approximately 300,000 people. Vi Xuyen alone – a key strategic area – regularly housed three infantry regiments and two to three divisions.

In late June 1984, Vietnam decided to launch a counterattack. In the battle to retake Hill 772, the 356th Division launched dozens of assaults under heavy enemy fire from above.

The Vi Xuyen - Thanh Thuy front was identified as the most fiercely contested battleground in the war against border encroachment in the North from 1984-1989. Within four months (April 1984 - August 1984), Vietnam eliminated approximately 7,500 Chinese troops from combat.

According to Vietnamnet.vn