Project Blue Sword-B

After the 1984 Battle of Laoshan, China decided to conduct training and practical exploration in the form of rotating the major military regions into the Laoshan area for defensive operations. from 30 April 1986, the Lanzhou Military Region began to take over the Yunnan Front Command, assuming the task of defensive operations in Laoshan. Chinese preparations On 30 April 1986 troops belonging to the Lanzhou Military Region entered the front line of Laoshan to take over the defence of the Jinan Military Region. The 47th Army Group Commander Qian Shugen selected the 604th position and the 968th high ground as the main targets during the combat meeting. The 11th Army of Kunming Military Region, the First Army of Nanjing Military Region and the 67th Army of Jinan Military Region had successfully attacked the 968th high ground three times and achieved certain results. Highland 968 was one of the more contested areas for both sides and the PAVN were quite sensitive to the defensive mentality. The choice of this area as the target for the first strike had the significance of dampening the morale of the PAVN and maintaining military pressure, while also allowing for initial battle practice on more familiar terrain. In addition, unlike the previous rotations by the Kunming, Nanjing and Jinan Military Districts, the Lanzhou Military Region came to Yunnan with not only infantry and artillery, but also an electronic countermeasures battalion directly under the military district. This was the first time that the PLA's electronic countermeasures soldiers were deployed to the front line of combat. To improve the PLA's defensive posture, the 47th Army Group's military headquarters resolved to take the 139th Division's 416th Regiment's 5 companies (5 companies of special merit) to strengthen the 6 companies' 3 platoons, the regiment's reconnaissance platoon, the regiment's engineer company's ground-burst platoon, and the division's ground-burst company's 2 platoons, with the support and cooperation of the artillery, electronic countermeasures section (detachment), and feint detachment, relying on forward positions, choose a favorable time to take a combination of frontal attacks and flank penetration, small formations, multiple waves, and The tactical means of continuous attack, fighting and suppressing at the same time, quick and total annihilation, captured the 604th position and 968th high ground, completely annihilated the defending enemy, destroyed the fortifications, waited for the opportunity to capture prisoners, collected the spoils of war and withdrew as ordered. At the same time the electronic countermeasures detachment invested a total of 5 ultra-shortwave 100-watt jammers, eight 40-watt jammers, twelve S207 receivers, 1 monitoring panorama receiver, 4 sets of shortwave 1600-watt jammers, 2 400-watt jammers, two 150-watt jammers, 3 bilateral band listening vehicles, 1 set of IBM PC/XT microcomputers; 171 troops (including 52 cadres and 119 soldiers) were invested. The unit was composed of 2 forward sub-groups, 1 basic group and 1 rear group. The group occupied 11 positions, including Basho Ping, No. 10 and 1175.4 heights in the direction of Balihe East Mountain, Mahei, No. 52, No. 50 and No. 49 positions, Tzhuiba, Lushui-dong, Anle and Xialaiyuan in the direction of Laoshan Mountain. Personnel of the Group Army Electronic Countermeasures Command Group (Military Region Electronic Countermeasures Working Group) entered the Group Army Command Post and 139th Division Forward Command Post and Jamming Group Command Post respectively. ==Battle==

The attack was originally planned for the early hours of 14 October, when the two heights were to be taken quickly by surprise. However, in the early hours of the morning, the battle area was covered in fog, but the start of the battle had to be postponed until the fog cleared to get a clear shot. At noon, the clouds cleared and the position was revealed. At this point it was no longer possible to carry out a sneak attack, and the command decisively changed its resolve from a sneak attack to a strong attack, after which the order was given to prepare the artillery fire. Gu Jinhai's steel helmet was pierced by shrapnel and his head was bleeding like water. When his comrades around him were about to send Gu Jinhai down to the position again, he shouted with force, "Save the captain first!" This shocking scene was filmed by a reporter at the time and was once broadcast on the news. On high ground 968, after commanding the second assault team to repel the PAVN's counter-attack, Qi Zhenwu led his men to continue searching the position hole by hole for the remnants of the enemy. From the beginning of the assault he was in the front, fighting hard, and by himself he successively killed eight of the enemy. The PLA used grenades, dynamite packs and flamethrowers to attack the PAVN troops hiding in sheltered fortifications and cantonment holes, combining hitting, bombing, burning and searching to clear out the remnants of the enemy point by point. At 14:14, the remaining VPA in position 604 and on high ground 968 were completely destroyed. Chinese retreat After receiving the battle report, the command ordered the two assault teams to retreat immediately after destroying the PAVN fortifications on the positions. At the same time, they organised four artillery companies and the regiment's direct fire detachment to block fire between positions 832 and 605, as well as the south side of 968 and all sections of the traffic trench from the prismatic position to 968 to prevent the PAVN from following them and to cover the retreat of the assault teams. After blowing up the Vietnamese caves, shelters and other fortifications in their positions, the First and Second Commandos began to retreat with the captured weapons and supplies, as well as the wounded, prisoners and the remains of martyrs. On the way back, the exasperated PAVN used direct fire to chase the assault team. To ensure the safety of the escorted prisoners, the first assault team's deputy captain, Luo Buji, jumped on the prisoners, but himself was hit by four pieces of shrapnel, pierced his waist and chest, and died. The second assault team leader Qi Zhenwu ordered his teammates to withdraw first, he insisted on checking the position before catching up with the team. When retreating to the front of the 604 position, it came under fire from the PAVN again. By 1558 hours, the assault team all withdrew to the original starting position. The command again ordered some of the artillery to switch to surveillance fire and the rest to mark targets for surveillance. At 2225 hours, about one Vietnamese company assembled at position 605 and stood by to prepare for a counterattack on high ground 968. The command immediately organised seven artillery companies to carry out a surprise fire attack on the PAVN in the assembly area at 2230–45 hours, killing and wounding one of them before they retreated. ==Aftermath==

The battle was the first offensive battle of the Lanzhou Military Region's turn against the Vietnamese, suppressing the VPA's firepower and communications with absolute artillery superiority and electronic jamming capabilities, allowing the infantry detachment to complete the assault with far fewer troops than the defending side. Artillery Following the lessons of the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War, the PLA has since the beginning of the Battle of Laoshan placed great emphasis and relied on artillery to reduce casualties by reducing the time infantry had to spend in short-range encounters with the enemy, with remarkable results. In this operation, the PLA mobilized 56 artillery batteries with a total of 336 assorted guns to support the attack of a reinforced company, which was considered by some reports as "finally fighting a broad battle". Electronic warfare The battle was also the first actual combat case in which the People's Liberation Army Electronic Warfare Troops were made public, and since then the People's Liberation Army has begun to pay more attention to the development of electronic warfare units. After the war, the Electronic Countermeasures Radar Division of the Lanzhou Military Region Communications Department concluded in the battle case that. Live TV streaming A film crew led by Wang Hong, a field photographer, followed the assault team throughout the battle, taking photographs and video from so close that Wang Hong himself was shot and wounded. Photographs and videos of the operation were widely circulated and the battle is considered to be the first "People's Liberation Army combat operation to be televised live". == References ==