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According to military documents being leaked out in China, the
 Former
Soviet Union had planned to take massive military actions in an attempt
to wipe out China.
At that time, the USSR army had the following deployments in Asia.
Along the east then USSR-China border: three army groups and one army
infantry group under the Far East Military Command, totaled 18 infantry
divisions, one tank division and two airborne assault brigades; three
army groups under the Back Baikal Military Command, totaled ten infantry
divisions, three tank divisions; five infantry divisions under the
Siberia Military Command; three infantry divisions and two tank
divisions stationed in Mongolia.
Along the west then USSR-China border: eight infantry divisions, one
tank divisions under the Central-Asia Military Command; five infantry
divisions, one tank division and one airborne division under the
Turkistan Military Command.
Soviet Union's then total armed forces stationed in Asia included 1.27
million troops, 14,300 tanks and 4,200 airplanes. Among 59 army
divisions in total, 45 divisions, or 675,000 troops were stationed along
the USSR-China border.
On China's side, there were over 2 million troops regularly stationed
near the northern borders, among which the Shenyang Army Region alone
had 830 thousands.
In the Far East where transportations were long and difficult,
the best strategy for the Soviet Union to win a war against China at
that time was to plan a quick decisive attack, considering as what they
faced was a large country that had great long term defense abilities,
huge active armed forces and sufficient military reserves. In such a
strategy, they would first make full use of firepower to destroy China's
strongest military corps, i.e., the Shenyang Army Region, then seize
rich farm lands and oil fields in the northeast of China, and ultimately
force China's summation. But if they were to launch attacks along
the east border, they would need at least 1.2 to 1.5 million troops,
with three front armies surrounding the Shenyang Military Region, and
one front army containing the Beijing Military Region. For doing so,
they would have to dispatch 2 front armies, 67 army divisions, and the
entire command systems as well as forces of 14 army groups from the Back
Baikal and the Far East Regions so to reach a total scale of 4 front
armies, 20 army groups and 100 army divisions. Based on their
transportation abilities at that time, it would take to them at least 80
days to have all troops in place. That would be too slow; China could
easily figure it out and take pre-emptive attacks. On the other hand,
the inventories and transportation capacities USSR had in the Far East
wouldn't be able to support a protracted war. Therefore, the real
intention that the USSR had when they stationed massive military forces
along the USSR-China borders was to force China to come back to the
negotiating table. Their focus at that time was still on Europe.
On the other hand, China was prepared to defend possible USSR invasion
in all front lines with much bigger number of troops and military
equipments stationed in entire northern China. China realized that if
the Soviet Union was to launch attacks, they would come from three
directions, north, northeast and northwest. From north, the
well-equipped USSR Number 39 Mechanized Army Group stationed in Mongolia
could suddenly attack Beijing. Considering the Soviet military possessed
quick offensive tactics and advanced weapons and other equipments, it
was not impossible for them to reach Beijing city within 3 to 4 days.
China was aware of the extreme difficulties of holding onto Beijing
merely with the military forces in the region if the Soviet's invasion
was to happen. So they planed to move all people and government offices
out of Beijing as soon as the military actions took place. Yanshan
mountains is to the west of the city. Large mountains would effectively
reduce enemy's offensive momentum. The purposes of such a move were to
gain time so to position the country into a war time system and to wait
for new reinforcing troops dispatched from the southern military
regions.
In the 1970's, the Chinese troops were in general lack of training due
to a series of political events that lasted for long time. The average
education level of soldiers and officers was also low. These factors
caused military's comparably weak combat capabilities. The army
infantries might have better qualities, but other military divisions all
had problems. During the war of defending Zhenbao Island, for example,
the Chinese artillery had shown great weaknesses comparing the artillery
from the Soviet Union. The USSR military system had been in general
quarters constantly, their troops were highly capable and effective.
At that time, China's defense strategies in the west included "lure the
enemy in deep", pocket ambush, border gorillas and setting Lanzhou
as the final defense. In the east, China had planed to unitize the deep
mountain forests to form resistances, and to conduct "positional
warfare", "mobile warfare" and "guerrilla warfare" when possible. A
final line of defense in the east was set in Shanhaiguan. The most
problematic front for China to plan the defense against potential
invasion of the Soviet Union was still in the north, between Mongolia
and Beijing. The distance was too short. If a war were to begin, the
Soviet's Tank Army Group stationed in Mongolia would have headed
directly to Beijing. Therefore, Soviet's massive military deployments
along the borders had constituted great threats to China's safety and
security in the 60's to 70's. |
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