.

As the first large-scale landing operation of the Chinese army, the battle on May 11 is very organized.

The early firepower preparations were continuous, and all support forces arrived at the exact time. The high-intensity bombing and artillery lasted for more than ten hours. At the end of the early firepower preparations, the aviation troops dropped a total of nearly 4,000 tons of bombs, and the fleet consumed more than 3,000 large-caliber shells in the artillery attack.

At 7:30 am on May 11, the landing troops set off.

The first batch of Marine Corps officers and soldiers boarded the landing craft were not the landing craft, but the assault troops that took helicopters to conduct vertical landings.

Before eight o'clock, the first assault force set foot on Vietnamese territory.

In the next half hour, all the air assault battalions of the Second Land Force Division arrived, and then the amphibious assault battalions of the Third Land Force Division also landed ashore on the south side of the cave.

At this time, the battle was not fierce.

The Vietnamese army guarding the beachhead position had only one battalion, and had not yet recovered from the large-scale artillery bombardment at the end of seven o'clock, let alone organize defensive operations.

After controlling the beach, the Marines, led by amphibious armored combat vehicles, began to assault inland.

The beachhead position is not just a beach, but in a narrow sense, it includes at least three to five kilometers of defensive depth, and in a broad sense, it includes at least one port. In other words, the capture of the cave harbor will become a sign of the successful landing of the Marines. Before this, the Marines may have been driven into the sea by the Vietnamese army.

Because the landing forces were not large, the Marines did not establish a temporary dock before attacking Donghai.

In the case of numerous landing forces, temporary docks must be established as soon as possible to allow ships carrying materials to dock, otherwise the Marine Corps' logistics supply will not be guaranteed. In the case of supporting only one land brigade, logistic support can be completed with landing crafts, helicopters, and amphibious vehicles.

Because it is necessary to attack Donghai immediately, it is impossible to expand the depth of the defense line. Pang Yuelong can only send a small group of troops to carry out infiltration operations behind enemy lines to prevent the Vietnamese army from reinforced Donghai. The scouts carrying out infiltration operations only have one task: call for air support and artillery support when they discover the Vietnamese army.

The battle is very organized and regular.

After the first batch of landing troops landed ashore, the second batch of landing troops boarded the landing craft.

If everything goes well, the two land brigades will all arrive at the beachhead before dark and attack Donghai on the morning of May 12th.

It was not until this time that the Chinese Ministry of Defense officially announced that the Marine Corps had recovered the Nansha Islands.

When the news was announced, the Ministry of Defense clearly mentioned that in order to prevent Vietnam from invading Chinese territory again, China will carry out a limited-scale defensive counterattack operation.

Obviously, this is looking for reasons to log in to Vietnam.

It was not until this time that the Vietnamese army realized that the focus of the Chinese army was on landing battlefields, rather than launching ground attacks with landing as a cover.

Before this, the Vietnamese commanders and even US military advisers believed that the focus was on the northern battlefield.

There was nothing strange about it. On the night of May 9, two heavy armies deployed near the Sino-Vietnam border entered the offensive position and carried out the first round of artillery bombardment of military targets in Vietnam in the early morning of the 10th. The Chinese Air Force subsequently bombed the Vietnamese border defense line.

Compared with the two heavy armies, the two land combat brigades are nothing.

According to the forecast of US military advisers, the Chinese army will use landing as a cover to force the Vietnamese army to send its main force to Guangping Province, and then launch a strategic offensive in the north, advancing from Laojie and Lang Son to Hanoi respectively. As long as the Vietnamese army adjusts its defensive deployment, the Chinese army has the ability to conquer Hanoi within five days.

Affected by this, the Vietnamese army did not adjust its defense deployment until the morning of May 11th.

At that time, the most elite troops in the Vietnamese army were all deployed on the northern border defense line and entered the defensive position, preparing to fight to the death with the Chinese army.

In fact, until the Marines were on the sea of ​​caves, the Vietnamese army was still staring at the two heavy armies in the north.

In the afternoon of the same day, the 7th Division of the Vietnamese Army stationed in Hanoi was ordered to head to Laojie, while the 11th Division headed to Lang Son to strengthen the northern border defense line.

It was not until the evening that the 22nd Division stationed in Rong City was ordered to go south.

It can be seen that the Vietnamese army had major strategic misjudgment, and the main attack direction of the Chinese army was not clear until the night of May 11th.

You should know that the 7th Division and the 11th Division are both elite capital garrison troops, and the latter is also the only armored division of the Vietnamese army.

Before the war broke out, the 11th Division had received 120 m1a3 main battle tanks, replacing the T-72m that had been in service for decades. If the war broke out a few months later, the 11th Division could still obtain more than 100 m1a3s, becoming the first American main force in the Vietnamese army.

The 7th Division is a typical infantry division, but in the Vietnamese army, more than half of the officers and soldiers have received special combat training. They are known as the most elite special combat force in Southeast Asia. They are very good at special combat under complex terrain such as mountains and jungles.

Like the 11th Division, the 7th Division is also changing clothes.

Before the war broke out, half of the troops of the 7th Division had replaced the weapons and equipment provided by the United States, mainly individual weapons suitable for special operations. For example, the equipment of the division's reconnaissance battalion came completely from the United States, and from rifles to communication equipment to individual combat tools, they copied the standard equipment of the US special forces.

In comparison, the 22nd Division is a typical second-line preparation division.

The division is also an infantry division, but as a reserve division, the in-commission rate is only two-thirds, all of which are old Russian-made equipment. The only heavy weapon is the twelve 120 mm mortars of the artillery battalion. There are only more than 100 vehicles in the entire division, which are basically pure infantry.

In terms of combat effectiveness, the 22nd Division is obviously not as good as the two elite main divisions.

The result of using a pure infantry unit to attack the Marines armed to the teeth is conceivable. Under air strikes and artillery fire strikes, whether the 22nd Division can reach the Donghai is a question. Even if it arrives, the remaining Vietnamese army may not have much courage to launch an attack.

On May 12, the combat operation to attack Donghai officially began.

The main force is the Third Land War Brigade affiliated to the South China Sea Fleet, and the Second Land War Brigade is responsible for peripheral defense and logistics support.

The offensive action was much smoother than Pang Yuelong expected.

The one who stationed in Donghai was an infantry regiment with less than 1,200 troops. Before the Marines launched an attack, they had already lost one-third of the officers and soldiers in bombardment and shelling. The remaining officers and soldiers were not entrenched in fortifications, but were scattered in the port to avoid bombardment and shelling.

The decentralized defensive forces were soon divided and surrounded by the Marines.

At noon, the vanguard of the Third Land War Brigade broke into the port area.

In order to effectively support Marine Corps operations, four frigates with smaller displacement arrived at the periphery of the port to provide direct artillery fire support to the Marine Corps.

Before dark, the battle in the harbor ended.

After nearly 700 officers and soldiers were annihilated, the remaining more than 400 Vietnamese officers and soldiers surrendered, becoming the first batch of prisoners of war in the ground war.

By this time, only seven Marines were killed and twenty-six were injured.

After nightfall, two small transport ships with a displacement of only 4,000 tons entered Donghai Port and sent ammunition and other combat supplies to the Marine Corps, as well as a large number of daily necessities.

It was not the Marine Corps who needed daily necessities, but the more than 200,000 residents of Donghai.

Troubles followed one after another. After announcing the implementation of military control, Pang Yuelong had to transfer a logistics battalion and set up more than ten relief stations and a field hospital in Donghai to provide living assistance to residents who were poisoned by the war and treat civilians injured in the war.

Fortunately, the preparations for the relevant aspects are very in place.

The medical ship "Li Shizhen" of the South China Sea Fleet has arrived and can accommodate up to 1,200 wounded people. Because the Marines have not suffered heavy casualties, the main task of the medical ship is to treat civilians. In two days, the medical ship "Bian Que" of the East China Sea Fleet will also arrive. If necessary, Mu Haoyang can also mobilize the medical ship "Hua Tuo" of the North China Sea Fleet and the medical ship "Sun Simiao" of the Indian Ocean Fleet. These four medical ships can accommodate up to 5,000 wounded people, and all have complete medical facilities and treatment conditions.

As for the daily necessities used to stabilize the people's hearts, they have already been prepared.

In fact, because the combat operations were more smooth than expected and the combat consumption was not large, there was no need to transport combat supplies to the Marine Corps immediately.

In the early morning of May 13, heavy troops of the Marine Corps landed on the shore of the Donghai Harbour.

It is much more convenient and more efficient to allow the landing ship to move to the dock to unload heavy equipment than to use the landing craft to deliver.

Before dawn, the armored battalions of the Third Land War Brigade and the Second Land War Brigade had arrived ashore.

In the morning, the artillery battalions of two land brigades arrived.

Although the Marines were able to launch another attack after a short rest, Pang Yuelong did not rush to achieve success, but set the attack time on the morning of the 14th.

Mu Haoyang did not urge Pang Yuelong because the combat operation was too smooth and the progress was far beyond expectations.

It was not until this time that the Vietnamese army realized that the real focus of their consciousness was in Guangping Province, and the heavy army entrenched on the north side of the border would not go south for the time being.

The problem is that by the afternoon of the 13th, the 22nd Division had only advanced less than 100 kilometers, and was still fifty kilometers away from the Cave Sea.

At this speed, it was impossible for the 22nd Division to arrive at the Cave Sea in the early morning of the 14th.

More importantly, starting from the afternoon of the 12th, the 22nd Division was bombed one after another, and the propulsion speed was greatly slowed down and non-combat casualties increased significantly. Even if the division could reach the Donghai, it did not have the ability to launch a counterattack, and perhaps it would be surrounded and suppressed by the Chinese Marine Corps.

One division is not enough to deal with two land combat brigades.

The Vietnamese army had to increase its troops and had to send more main forces.

The problem is that all the main forces in the Red River Delta region are concentrated on the northern border defense line, and it will take as soon as three days to reach the Donghai Sea, while the main forces in the Mekong Delta region are concentrated near Ho Chi Minh City, and it will take as soon as three days to arrive.

Near Donghai, besides the 24th Division stationed in Guangping Province, there are only the 23rd Division in Hajing Province and the 25th Division in Guangzhi Province. These two divisions are second-line reserve divisions, and they are both infantry divisions, without armored power, and seriously lack heavy firepower.

The 24th Division has been defeated by the Marines.
Chapter completed!