In the Battle of Hongshantou between China and India, artillery approached and fired
In October p>1962, the situation on the border between China and India suddenly became tense, and the Indian army attempted to seize territory by force, resulting in a fait accompli in order to expand its territory. With the Nehru authorities in India constantly stirring up troubles on the border, causing bloodshed, refusing peace talks and massing heavy troops on the Sino-Indian border, China decided to resolutely counter the Indian army's aggression in order to combat its arrogance and safeguard the security of the border areas.
Sikh soldiers of the Indian Army who were fortified in the western section of the Sino-Indian border
On October 17th, they issued the "Operational Order to Destroy the Invading Indian Army", and decided to annihilate the Indian Army invading the North Kejilang Valley and the Indian Army troops returning to Tawang area with the existing forces of the Tibet Military Region. In order to cooperate with the above actions, in the western region, with the existing strength of the Xinjiang Military Region, the Indian troops in the Jialewan Valley and Hongshantou will be wiped out first, and then the Indian troops in the two defense areas of Heweitan River Astronomical Point will be cleared.
On the whole, the eastern section of the Sino-Indian border is the main battlefield. As the main force in the eastern section, the Tibetan 419 unit of our army went to the front line to stand by, and its main task was to annihilate the enemy's effective forces in mobile operations. The military action in the western section, as a cooperation and response to the eastern section, is mainly to attack the key points and make it clear that the Indian army has occupied the stronghold.
At this time, in the western section of the Sino-Indian border, before August of that year, the Indian army * * * had 114 brigades and four infantry battalions (Jammu and Kashmir National Battalion 7 and 14, the 8th Gurkha United Battalion 1 and Jeter United Battalion 5) * * * with more than 4, people. In order to strengthen the second-line mobile forces, the Indian army transferred the 3rd Battalion of Jeter United and 13th Battalion of Kumar Ang, which belong to the 7th Brigade, to Liecheng and Chushule in September and October, thus increasing India's forces in the western region to 5,6, of which more than 3, of the 5th Battalion of the 114th Brigade of the Indian Army were scattered on the 6-kilometer-long border, and more than 1,3 were stationed at 43 strongholds that invaded our territory.
55-type 12mm mortar developed by China on the basis of Soviet PM-3 mortar
The primary task of our army in the western section is to remove these military strongholds, but it is obviously difficult to gnaw down these hard bones if we only rely on the class weapons we carry with us. So before the war, the Xinjiang Military Region specially assigned capable artillery units to frontline combat troops as fire support, in which the 3rd Battalion of the 1th Infantry Regiment was assigned a 12 mortar company and a recoilless gun platoon, which was responsible for annihilating Indian troops in 14 good positions in the Galwan Valley, and the 3rd Battalion of the 11th Infantry Regiment was assigned a 12 mortar battalion, a cannon company and a recoilless gun platoon, which mainly attacked the 6th position in Hongshantou. The rest of the troops are responsible for bypassing and cutting off the contact between the Indian army's various positions.
The Soviet-made ZIS-3 cannon participated in the military parade in p>1951, and China developed the Type 54 cannon on this basis.
In view of the fact that the western region is located in the plateau, the air is thin and the roads are rugged, the Type 54 122 mm howitzers, the Type 56 152 mm howitzers and the Type 59 13 mm cannons, which are the main means of fire output of our army, are difficult to be located in high altitude areas because of their heavy weights. Finally, the Xinjiang Military Region chose the 55-type 12mm mortar and 54-type 76mm cannon of an artillery regiment of a certain division, which were respectively developed according to the PM-3 mortar and ZIS-3 cannon aided by the Soviet Union. Although the firepower was not comparable to that of our main howitzer/cannon, it was more than enough to deal with the temporary fortifications built by the Indian army.
Our army's recoilless gun also played a good supplementary role in firepower. The picture shows our army's recoilless gun troops during the Sino-Soviet border conflict.
The most important thing is that they are moderate in weight, easy to transport for a long distance and have strong maneuverability. For example, the total weight of the 54-type cannon is 12kg in the marching state, while the 55-type mortar is only 5kg.
The mortar battalion heading for the front line of the western section carried 12 Type 55 mortars, and the second company of the cannon battalion carried 4 Type 54 cannons. Due to the tight time, these artillery equipment set off from Kashgar by car and headed south for the astronomical point defense area. When the new Tibet Highway was completed in 1957, it was only a simple gravel highway, especially when going forward from Yecheng, it was a large uninhabited plateau, so the supply was very difficult. When the troops set off, all the trucks were loaded with artillery equipment, and there was no extra space to carry enough supplies. The officers and men put their heads together, and by temporarily heightening the carriage and increasing the loading capacity, they simply carried one-third more materials in Yecheng.
However, when we started from Yecheng and traveled to the rugged mountain road in the Karakorum Mountain area, we encountered some problems such as the low air pressure, which caused the car to boil prematurely, and the soldiers suffered from altitude sickness. It is under such difficulties and hardships that the artillery force just gritted its teeth and climbed over Osaka, Seljak, at an altitude of 4,2 meters, and the mountainous area of Qitai, at an altitude of 5,2 meters. After four days and four nights of urgent marching, it finally arrived at the protected area at noon on October 13th. The Soviet-made gith 151 is the main vehicle for our army to transport logistics materials when fighting against India, and the old liberation truck was developed on the basis of it
At this time, the officers and men of the army were exhausted, and the Soviet-made gith 151 truck used by the army could not be used. The officers and men took the time to rest and recover their physical strength. At the same time, the commanders and soldiers also used this gap to familiarize themselves with the surrounding terrain, focusing on the terrain near Hongshantou occupied by the Indian army.
The artillery unit of our army set out from Kashgar, and a Type 54 cannon was loaded on the truck of Gith.
This area is actually a highland about 1 kilometers southwest of astronomical point, with gentle slopes in the east, west and south directions, and only cliffs difficult to climb in the north. The Indian army has built 12 fortresses of various sizes here, which are connected with trenches and traffic trenches to form a three-dimensional circular position. There is a sandy dry river bed between Hongshantou and our astronomical outpost, and the terrain is open. If we rush to charge with infantry without artillery support, it will easily become a living target of enemy machine guns on the top of Hongshan.
In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, the superior instructed the artillery to destroy the Indian fortress at the first time when preparing for artillery fire, and then suppress the fire net on the Indian position when the infantry launched a full-scale attack. In order to maximize the shelling effect, the troops decided to choose the artillery position directly on the sandy beach 9-12 meters away from the enemy line, and use direct aiming to approach and shoot. This kind of shelling method similar to "artillery bayonet" is extremely bold, and the artillery position will be exposed to the fire of the Indian army with a little carelessness. At first, our army set all the artillery observation posts on the hillside of Astronomical Peak. On the 15th night, officers and men used the cover of darkness to measure the positions of the main fortifications and emplacements of the Indian army, and drew an accurate shooting schematic diagram. On the second day, they conducted fire distribution and pre-war drills for all troops.
on the afternoon of 17th, the troops received instructions from their superiors: after nightfall that day, all troops entered the attack position, and shelled at 5 a.m. the next day. Dozens of repaired military vehicles carried or dragged mortars and cannons to the preset positions. When approaching the war zone, they turned off the lights uniformly and were guided by infantry. After arriving at the preset gun position, quickly spread out the front line and put the gun in place. At this time, the officers and men of the 11 th Regiment and the 3 rd Battalion, who were the main attack, also arrived at the starting position and stood by. The actions of artillery and infantry did not arouse the slightest awareness of the Indian army of the other side.
Indian troops building simple bunkers in Hongshantou area in the western section
At 5 o'clock in the morning, it was still dark and most Indian troops were still asleep, while our cannons and mortars had adjusted their shooting parameters and aimed at the preset shelling targets. At 5: 15, just after the artillery commander "released", the mortar fired first, and the 55-type mortar on each position instantly sprayed fierce artillery fire. The shells roared through the air and accurately hit the enemy positions and fortresses.
The Indian army, who was sleeping soundly, woke up with a start. I don't know what happened, and immediately fell into a panic. Many soldiers picked up rifles and machine guns and shot them aimlessly before putting on their pants.
At the Indian trench position in Hongshantou, the western section
At this time, the artillery commander received the instruction of "increasing the artillery firepower", and the cannon and recoilless gun also began to join the war. Our army's firepower was fully open, especially the 54-type 76 mm cannon with direct fire, whose shells directly knocked the Indian army's fortress made of gravel into a gap. After the first rapid shooting, the Indian army's fortress fortifications collapsed one after another, and the position. After the second rapid shooting, the whole red hill position has been shrouded in smoke and flames, and the blown-up fortifications, machine gun parts and Indian bodies are scattered everywhere, and the resistance of the Indian army disappears instantly.
Indian artillery who struggled to consign British 6-pound guns at high altitude in the western section. Due to the limited level of training and logistics equipment, Indian artillery did not play any role in the war in the western section.
The artillery preparation for Hongshantou lasted for 3 minutes. The artillery units fired more than 1,1 shells of various types, and the Indian army's fortifications were completely destroyed, and their only mortars were also dumb. After the artillery fire, the infantry quickly launched an attack, and the artillery also entered the extended shooting state to provide cover for the infantry. The infantry armed with explosive barrels and flame throwers swept away the Indian troops who were still fighting in the bunkers and trenches.
During the fire protection, the mortar battalion also concentrated on the ammunition depot set up by the Indian army at Hongshan Head, which caused a soaring explosion. After 8 minutes of fierce fighting, the soldiers of 3rd Battalion and 7th Company planted the red flag on the top of Hongshantou Mountain. In the battle for the whole Red Peak, our army killed 42 Indian troops and captured 2 at the cost of sacrificing 8 people and injuring 26 others. Three mortars, two trucks and four light machine guns were seized, and all kinds of rifles and submachine guns were not counted. It achieved the first victory since the start of the western defense war. In this great victory, the accurate and rapid artillery preparation and extended shooting of our artillery units played a crucial role.
Indian soldiers who crawled out of the ruins and surrendered to the officers and men of 3rd battalion of our army after Hongshantou was destroyed.
After Hongshantou, our artillery unit followed the border guards to barrigas and Bangongluo in the western section, and won several battles in the first and second stages, which dealt a powerful blow to the arrogance of the Indian army and showed the officers and men of our army the power of our artillery.
In contrast, the mortar units attached to the front-line troops of the Indian Army are short of ammunition and lack of training, and the 82mm mortars of the Indian Army can't match our 12 mortars in terms of range and power, while the howitzer units with relatively strong firepower can't advance to the front line to provide fire support because of their poor mobility. In the face of our strong artillery fire, the Indian army can only rely on the bunker fortifications that are not strong, and the result can only be a fiasco.