The longer you defend the rights, the more unpleasant the sediment.
Another serious combat clash, after the battles on about. Damansky, occurred thousands of kilometers from the Ussuri River, in Kazakhstan, in the area of Lake Zhalanashkol in the Semipalatinsk region. In Kazakhstan, the Chinese chose the so-called Dzhungar ledge as a target for provocations. Although there were no such large-scale provocations as in the Far East, the border guards constantly felt the hostility of the neighboring side. The Chinese seemed to be probing the entire line of the border.
In May 1969, the Chinese side brought large army forces to the area of the so-called Dzhungar Gate. Just like on Damansky, the Chinese at first acted without opening fire, using improvised means - sticks, hooks and butts. Soviet frontier posts served in an enhanced regime. On May 20, about 10 Chinese soldiers tried to capture Sergeant Nikolai Varlakov's senior detachment. Fortunately, the rest of the border guards came to the rescue in time. As a result of the fight, the sergeant was beaten off.
(Height Kamennaya, 10 km east of the settlement Zhalanashkol in the Semipalatinsk region)
The most tense section in the area of the Zhalanashkol outpost was the section of the Stone Gates. The control and trail strip there passed between the hills, the so-called Kamenny heights, which complicated control over the territory. Three heights: Left, Stone and Right, were on Soviet territory, the rest - on Chinese.
It was on this site that incidents constantly occurred between Soviet and Chinese soldiers.
Yevgeny Govor, who has been acting as deputy head of the Zhalanashkol outpost since July 1969, says: “The Maoists are constantly impudent. If earlier, when passing by us, they pretended not to notice either a Soviet officer or a soldier, now they were grimacing, spitting and shouting insulting words. Once, before my eyes, they ran into our territory. I demanded to get out - they did not respond. He gave a warning shot upwards - they chickened out, immediately disappeared. They ran behind the hill and watched me, took pictures”.
(Lieutenant E. B. Govor, deputy head of the Zhalanashkol outpost)
12th of August
The events at Zhalanashkola began on 12 August. The outfit at the observation post under the command of Sergeant Mikhail Tyukalin noticed the movement of reinforced groups of Chinese military personnel on the adjacent side. This was reported to the head of the Eastern Border District, Lieutenant General Mikhail Merkulov. Merkulov offered the Chinese side negotiations. But the Chinese remained silent. Merkulov brought the Zhalanashkol outpost, in front of which the movements of the Chinese were noticed, and the neighboring one, Rodnikovaya, to a state of high alert.
Captain Pyotr Terebennikov, assistant chief of staff of the motorized maneuver group, was sent to Zhalanashkol. He was supposed to assist the acting head of the outpost, Lieutenant Evgeny Govor (the head of the outpost, Captain Nikolai Samokrutov, was on vacation at that moment). Also at the outpost were three more officers: the deputy head of the Dzhungarskaya outpost, Senior Lieutenant Gennady Devin, and the platoon commander of the maneuver group, Junior Lieutenant Vladimir Puchkov.
(Area of lake Zhalanashkol. Stone height)
Eugene Govor says: “We were closely watching the neighboring side. We were particularly alarmed by the appearance of two new groups of servicemen at the Chinese post "Terekty". They took turns going up the stairs. The question is why? It smelled of provocation. I had a staff officer at the outpost, Captain Terebennikov. I consulted with him. Together they made a plan to protect the border for the next day. In the evening I went to the site, from midnight - he ".
Terebennikov ordered to equip a stronghold in the most threatened area. Two armored personnel carriers of the mangroup were withdrawn to the flanks of the strong point. They were commanded by Olshevsky and Puchkov. Armored vehicles were hidden in caponiers. Observation posts were ordered to strengthen control over the adjacent territory.
August 13
On the night of August 13, several sabotage groups crossed from China to Soviet territory. All of them were discovered by border guards. The Maoists went deep to a depth of 700-800 meters from the border line and began to dig in on the Stone Heights.
3.50 One of the groups was discovered by an outfit led by a dog service instructor, Sergeant Mikhail Dulepov. The enemy hastily dug in on the crest of the Kamennaya height and at the height indicated on the map as Right. According to the instructions, Dulepov demanded that the Chinese leave Soviet territory. A few minutes later, the Soviet border guard repeated the demand, using a Russian-Chinese phrase book. But the Chinese remained silent.
Having received a report from the detachment about the violation of the border, Lieutenant Govor raised the outpost on command "to the gun." The outpost with the reserve attached to it advanced to the Stone Heights. The reserves of neighboring outposts, raised on alarm, rushed there. The chief of staff of the detachment, Lieutenant Colonel Nikitenko, supervised the actions of the forces. He made reconnaissance of enemy positions with the help of a helicopter.
After arriving at the site of the breakthrough of all units, Nikitenko assessed the situation. The observers reported on the discovered positions both on our and Chinese territories. On our side, the enemy dug in on the northern slopes of the Kamennaya and Pravaya heights. The number of Chinese who had taken refuge in the trenches was unknown. On the right flank, on the Chinese side, a car with soldiers was seen. In addition, another group of 12 people moved on the left flank, from the Chinese post "Terekty". The group walked along the control strip towards the Kamennaya height.
After assessing the situation, Nikitenko ordered Lieutenant Govor to advance in an armored personnel carrier towards the Chinese positions and read out a demand to leave the territory. Two more armored personnel carriers, under the command of junior lieutenant Puchkov, Nikitenko sent to intercept the group that was walking from the Terekty post with the order to detain the group, but not to open fire. Nikitenko hoped to the last to avoid a collision. But a group of Chinese, despite the Soviet armored personnel carriers, continued to move towards Kamennaya.
Lieutenant Govor drove up to the Chinese positions and through a megaphone read out an appeal in Chinese: “You violated the Soviet border. Move away immediately. We warn you".
In response, the Chinese opened fire on the APC with small arms. The speaker ordered to leave.
The confrontation between the Chinese and the border guards lasted until 7.00. At this time, information was flowing in an uninterrupted stream from the outpost to higher authorities. But, as during the events on Damansky, there was a paralysis in decision-making in the ruling elite. Officials footballed information "from higher authorities." The enemy, meanwhile, continued to dig in. As a result, Lieutenant Colonel Nikitenko, chief of staff of the border detachment, assumed responsibility for making the decision. He ordered the Chinese to be squeezed out of Soviet territory.
7.40 Armored personnel carriers, under the cover of assault groups, left the caponiers and moved towards the heights. The Chinese opened fire. The border guards hit back. Almost immediately, an enemy group marching from the side of the Chinese post was destroyed. Pyotr Terebennikov recalled: “When we were ordered to attack, the soldiers immediately got out of the armored personnel carrier and, dispersed, at an interval of six to seven meters, ran to the hill. The Chinese fired not only from Kamennaya, but also from the border line. I had a handgun. Seeing a small hillock, he lay down behind him, fired several bursts through the trenches. At this time, the soldiers were making a dash. When they lay down and opened automatic fire, I ran. So, supporting each other, and moving".
The armored personnel carrier number 217 (commanded by Puchkov) moved to the flank of the Chinese positions. His task was to bypass the hills and prevent the approach of reinforcements from the Chinese side. The Chinese, assessing the danger, concentrated fire on this armored personnel carrier. The density of fire on the armored personnel carrier was very high. All external equipment was demolished with bullets and shrapnel, wheels were riddled, armor was pierced. The turret was jammed from a grenade explosion. One of the bullets, possibly armor-piercing, pierced the armor of the armored personnel carrier. Puchkov, who was sitting at the machine guns, was wounded in the thigh. Bandaging the wound, he continued to fire. The same bullet wounded the driver of the armored personnel carrier, private Viktor Pishchulev. Reinforcements arrived at the border guards from the detachment's reserve under the command of Major Mstislav Lie, head of the detachment's combat training department. A group of eight fighters led by Olshevsky moved to the rescue of the 217th armored personnel carrier. They were supposed to cut off the Chinese retreat. As soon as this group disappeared behind the slope of the height, Terebennikov raised the border guards to attack.
Turning around in a chain, they went to storm the heights. At that moment, reinforcements approached the battlefield - three armored personnel carriers of the mangroup, which immediately entered the battle. Terebennikov sent two armored personnel carriers to help Olshevsky's group. Cars moved around the height. Crews covered each other. Against our armored personnel carriers, the enemy threw grenade launchers. One of them managed to approach a dangerous distance from the car commanded by Sergeant Murzin. This was noticed by the gunner junior sergeant Vladimir Zavorotnitsyn. He managed to hit the grenade launcher with machine guns.
One of the bullets hit the grenade directly, and the Chinese grenade launcher was torn to pieces. The armored personnel carriers of the border guards constantly maneuvered back and forth, preventing enemy grenade launchers from conducting aimed fire. At the same time, they tried to stick to the enemy with frontal armor.
Corporal V. Shcherbina receives the machine gun of the deceased Sergeant Dulepov.
Half an hour after the start of the battle, armored personnel carrier No. 217 was finally disabled. Puchkov ordered the crew to leave the car and get into one of the approaching armored personnel carriers. Meanwhile, a group of border guards attacked Pravaya Hill. She came under heavy fire from the Chinese and suffered losses. Mikhail Dulepov was killed. He was wounded twice on the way up. On the crest he got the third bullet - fatal. In addition, 8 more border guards were wounded. One of them, Sergeant Viktor Ovchinnikov, continued to walk forward with two broken hands! The commander of the assault group, Senior Lieutenant Olshansky, was also wounded in the leg. But he also did not withdraw from the battle.
Lieutenant Govor recalled: “In battle, I commanded one of the groups. We bypassed the Pravaya hill and attacked it. There were fewer Maoists here than on Kamennaya. We, supported by an armored personnel carrier, quickly dealt with them. From the Right, the ridge of Kamennaya was clearly visible, the trenches with the Maoists who had settled in them. Having installed machine guns, we hit them ". In the last minutes of the battle, Private Viktor Ryazanov managed to throw grenades at the lying Chinese, but he himself was mortally wounded. He died on the way to the hospital aboard a helicopter. Following Ryazanov's grenades, grenades from other border guards flew into the Chinese cops. The Chinese faltered and tried to break into Chinese territory. But Olshevsky's group cut off their path. Despite heavy Chinese fire, Olshevsky's eight fighters did not retreat.
Unable to stand it, the Chinese began to jump up and run towards the border. The flight began along the entire line of Chinese defense. In pursuit of the fleeing border guards fired. Private Alexei Khramov seized a Chinese machine gun and fired at the enemy from it. A few pockets of resistance remained, but they were quickly crushed.
8.15 By then the fight was over. Most of the Chinese military personnel went beyond the border line. The crews of two Soviet Mi-4 helicopters under the command of Captain Gennady Andreev and Lieutenant Vladimir Klyus conducted aerial reconnaissance. According to their reports, the enemy retreated from the border line and did not plan repeated attacks. 19 corpses of Chinese soldiers were found on the battlefield. Three more were captured. The prisoners were immediately sent to Uch-Aral. But only one was delivered, the rest died on the way from their wounds. During the battle, two border guards were killed. More than 15 were injured and shell-shocked. Already during the battle, the evacuation of the wounded to the outpost began. The heaviest with the help of helicopters were sent to Uch-Aral. Those who received moderate injuries were received at the outpost. Here, before the arrival of doctors, first aid was provided by the wife of the deputy head of the outpost, Lyudmila Govor. She was assisted by employees of the local weather station Nadezhda Metelkina and Valentina Gorina, as well as the store clerk Maria Romanova.
What was the meaning of this provocation remains unclear. A photograph of all the saboteurs was found in the quote book of one of those killed. It was pierced by a bullet, but the faces of most of those who posed can be distinguished. No documents or inscriptions on clothes could be found. The provocateurs were armed with Chinese analogues of Soviet weapons: AK-47 assault rifles, RPD machine guns, TT pistols and RPG-2 grenade launchers.
A curious trophy was found on one of the corpses. It was an award sign with a portrait of the "great helmsman" Mao Zedong. Under the portrait was engraved the inscription: “Commended in honor of the victorious repulse of the aggression of the Soviet revisionists on the island of Zhenbaodao (Damansky). Made in Shenyang parts". Apparently, a "specialist" in the fight against border guards, who fought on Damansky, arrived at Zhalanashkol.
Two corpses of cameramen with movie cameras were found on the battlefield. This suggested that some kind of propaganda action was being prepared in the Zhalanashkol area. What exactly, the border guards could only guess.
9.30 The head of the district reported on the results of the battle to Moscow. From there came the order: "Take more corpses and trophies". The corpses of the Chinese were collected and transported to the outpost. The heat that day reached forty degrees. The question arose of what to do with all this next. From Moscow, some official asked in bewilderment: “Why did you get so many of them. One or two is enough". The head of the district decided to photograph each corpse and draw up an act for each.
One copy of the act was placed in the coffin, the other was filed in a special file. The next day, Moscow officials needed corpses to prove a Chinese provocation. Upon learning that they had already been buried, they were indignant. The border guards suggested that they come to Kazakhstan and deal with the corpses decomposing in the heat. No one else called from Moscow. Based on the results of the battle, a secret order was signed on May 7, 1970 on rewarding those who distinguished themselves. Terebennikov and Puchkov became holders of the Order of Lenin. The victims were posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Six more were awarded the Order of the Red Star, two - the Order of Glory 3rd degree, ten - the medal "For Courage".
Effects
After the defeat of the Chinese forces in the Zhalanashkol region in August 1969, the Chinese government decided to negotiate. September 10 Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR A.N. Kosygin landed at the Beijing airport on the way from Vietnam. Here, right at the airport, he met with Zhou Enlai. The High Contracting Parties agreed on the status quo of Damansky Island. The troops of both sides remained where they were on 10 September and ceased firing.
There were no more fights, but the provocations did not stop. So in 1970-1972. 776 provocations were recorded in the Far Eastern border district alone, in 1977 - 799, and in 1979 - more than 1000. In total, in 1975-1980. 6894 violations of the border regime were committed by the Chinese side. In 1979, the Chinese mastered 130 out of 300 islands of the Amur and Ussuri rivers, including 52 out of 134, where they were not allowed to do business by the Soviet side.
The final point in this Soviet-Chinese border conflict was set in 1991. On May 16, an agreement on the border was finally signed between the USSR and the PRC, an exchange of maps and a redemarcation of the border were carried out. On February 13, 1992, the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution "On the ratification of the Agreements between the USSR and the PRC on the Soviet-Chinese border in its eastern part."
Time disposed of the ill-fated Damansky in the most unexpected way. Gradually, the channel that separated the island from the Chinese coast silted up, and it merged with the Chinese coast, turning into a peninsula on the Chinese side. Now it is called Zhenbaodao. PLA soldiers occupied the new Chinese territory, and a building was built on it, in which a museum of Chinese military glory was opened.
There is no doubt that when the required amount of time has passed, the statute of limitations will expire, and documents on the events of the border conflict near Lake Zhalanashkol in 1969 will be declassified. between the USSR and the People's Republic of China, the public, according to seemingly long-known facts, is waiting for new discoveries. We'll have to rewrite the section in Wikipedia and not only. There are reasons for this. In the autumn of 1998, at one of the civil defense events held at the Technical Lyceum No. 7 of the city of Pavlodar, the Republic of Kazakhstan, I was lucky to meet representatives of various organizations Nikolai Aleksandrovich Ebel, then deputy head of the repair service of the Heating Networks enterprise. There was a lot of time, he turned out to be an interesting conversationalist, and, among other things, he said that he directly took part in the hostilities on the border of the PRC and the Kazakh SSR, when he served in the army.
I was able to see the first material devoted to these events in the media only in 2004, in “Arguments and Facts” No. 42 of October 20, entitled “One step away from the world war” and I was quite surprised by the discrepancies in the description of the events presented by Ebel ON THE. and the author of the newspaper material Oleg Gerchikov. I offer you their comparative analysis.
Backstory first, taken from Wikipedia:
After the events of the spring of 1969 on Damansky Island, provocations by the PRC did not stop. In May-June of the same year, the situation on the Dzhungar ledge of the Kazakh section of the border escalated. On August 12, in the territory of the PRC, in the immediate vicinity of the Soviet border outposts "Rodnikovaya" and "Zhalanashkol", the movement of reinforced groups of Chinese military personnel was noticed. The head of the border troops of the Eastern District offered the Chinese side to negotiate, but did not receive a response. Both outposts were put on high alert, trenches were dug along the border, a system of trenches and communication passages was created in the most threatened areas, and two armored personnel carriers of the maneuver group were deployed on the flanks.
The materials of Wikipedia and AiF rather complement each other and differ slightly, telling about the heroism of Soviet border guards who are able to solve complex problems on their own, only AiF, albeit in passing, exploits the rather hackneyed theme of “Moscow's silence”.
"AiF" - At night, the head of the political department of the Eastern Border District, Colonel (now General) Igor Petrov, called the Main Directorate of the Border Troops in Moscow. He was listened to, politely thanked for the message and hung up. The same thing was repeated with the KGB officer on duty. The behavior of Moscow alerted the colonel, and he tried to "ring out" the situation through personal connections. An acquaintance from the headquarters of the border troops secretly said that the leadership was "in the know", but remained silent.
And at this time ... according to Ebel N.A. who served as a private in the special forces, something happened that was never written about in AiF and Wikipedia.
August 12, 1969 our unit received an order to board the An 12 transport aircraft, and already in flight we changed the insignia on our uniforms for the buttonholes and shoulder straps of the border troops. They gave out caps.
Order. The conflict is border, which means that it cannot go beyond the scope of the border troops, otherwise it is a war.
Strange, I personally do not understand the explanation. How was it next?
They landed at night, guided by the light signal of hand lamps. There was a wind, a greater dispersion during the landing, by the morning only 25-30 people left the company from the company. Moved to the line, to the heights, dug in.
But how could someone get to the Chinese, because the landing was carried out in the immediate vicinity of the state border?
I don't know what the landing plan was. Perhaps it was the plane with our group that passed in close proximity to the border. We were given a task and we completed it. In addition, the section of the state border, which should have been blocked, was quite long, the entire brigade was parachuted. It was possible to expect provocations in several places, but we were the lucky ones, so to speak.
Don't remember the names of georeferences? Lakes? Hill?
No. But you never know there, what lakes and mounds. All we knew was that we were on the border with China in the Ucharal region of the Kazakh SSR.
With the mention of the Ucharal district of the Kazakh SSR, the presentation of events by the parties begins to partially coincide. Why partially? Wikipedia and AiF say that Chinese soldiers on August 13, 1969. penetrated deep into the territory of the USSR up to 400 meters, and for what purpose is not indicated. Nevertheless, they had a goal, Nikolai Alexandrovich says about this:
The Chinese moved border posts to our territory, the old pits from which they pulled them out, buried them and masked them with turf. If you want, you won't find it.
But it turned out later. Of course, Ebel N.A. he could not know how events had developed before that, what character the provocations had, the time of their beginning, he told what he knew. When the Chinese soldiers reached the line of their trenches, butting began with pushing each other on the parapets, which grew into a hand-to-hand dump. Was there an order to “squeeze out” the violators, as AiF and Vicki wrote? Perhaps there was, but at that moment the guys were left to their own devices, 30 of our soldiers against more than 70 on their side, here the information of the parties converges. Company against platoon. Nikolai Alexandrovich claims that there was a strict order - not to open fire and not let the Chinese go any further, adding with sincere bewilderment:
It was hard. All entirely two-meter kids. But where did they get two-meter Chinese?
A very interesting reservation for a thin man with a height of 1 meter 85 cm. There is no doubt that the PRC had the same "personnel border guards" as our hero. In any case, a provocation differs from a misunderstanding in that it is carefully prepared and requires special skills. Nevertheless, our special forces turned out to be stronger.
The first shot was fired by the Chinese military, says Nikolai Aleksandrovich (AiF and Wikipedia suggest this).
My friend Vitaly Ryazanov was killed next to me. After that, I was the first to open fire from our side. Then there were three more days of fighting with a blow deep into the territory of the PRC, there were many victims, blood.
To the last words of Ebel N.A. should be treated with caution, as a significant personal factor intervenes here. According to the participant himself, after these events, he was under investigation, sat in the guardhouse for about a month, on the fact that he was the first to open fire without an order. They wanted to transfer his case to the military tribunal. Fortunately, it worked out.
I imagine myself in the place of an officer of a special department, but what else could a soldier do in those conditions? Do what you must and be what will be, let the diplomats deal with the subtleties.
Nikolai, single shots were fired from the violators. And how many times did you shoot back?
And also two ... three ... automatic horns.
In any case, no matter how different the testimonies of the participants in those events are, it seems quite obvious that the events near Lake Zhalanashkol are an example of the brilliant actions of both Soviet intelligence and special forces of that time, which turned out to be head and shoulders above the Chinese comrades, which we once anything else remains to be seen. Separately, many thanks must be said to the soldiers who performed their duty.
Attached to the text is a scanned photograph from AiF, taken from the archive of the FSB border troops, alas, for some reason it turned out to be inaccessible in the Internet archive of the newspaper, so I apologize for its poor quality. It allegedly captures the participants in the conflict, the person circled with a marker is surprisingly similar to Ebel N.A., but this may be a coincidence.
Another serious combat clash, after the battles on about. Damansky, occurred thousands of kilometers from the Ussuri River, in Kazakhstan, in the area of Lake Zhalanashkol in the Semipalatinsk region. In Kazakhstan, the Chinese chose the so-called Dzhungar ledge as a target for provocations. Although there were no such large-scale provocations as in the Far East, the border guards constantly felt the hostility of the neighboring side. The Chinese seemed to be probing the entire line of the border.
In May 1969, the Chinese side brought large army forces to the area of the so-called Dzhungar Gate. Just like on Damansky, the Chinese at first acted without opening fire, using improvised means - sticks, hooks and butts. Soviet frontier posts served in an enhanced regime. On May 20, about 10 Chinese soldiers tried to capture Sergeant Nikolai Varlakov's senior detachment. Fortunately, the rest of the border guards came to the rescue in time. As a result of the fight, the sergeant was beaten off.
(Height Kamennaya, 10 km east of the settlement Zhalanashkol in the Semipalatinsk region)
The most tense section in the area of the Zhalanashkol outpost was the section of the Stone Gates. The control and trail strip there passed between the hills, the so-called Kamenny heights, which complicated control over the territory. Three heights: Left, Stone and Right, were on Soviet territory, the rest - on Chinese.
It was on this site that incidents constantly occurred between Soviet and Chinese soldiers.
Yevgeny Govor, who has been acting as deputy head of the Zhalanashkol outpost since July 1969, says: “The Maoists are constantly impudent. If earlier, when passing by us, they pretended not to notice either a Soviet officer or a soldier, now they were grimacing, spitting and shouting insulting words. Once, before my eyes, they ran into our territory. I demanded to get out - they did not respond. He gave a warning shot upwards - they chickened out, immediately disappeared. They ran behind the hill and watched me, took pictures”.
(Lieutenant E. B. Govor, deputy head of the Zhalanashkol outpost)
12th of August
The events at Zhalanashkola began on 12 August. The outfit at the observation post under the command of Sergeant Mikhail Tyukalin noticed the movement of reinforced groups of Chinese military personnel on the adjacent side. This was reported to the head of the Eastern Border District, Lieutenant General Mikhail Merkulov. Merkulov offered the Chinese side negotiations. But the Chinese remained silent. Merkulov brought the Zhalanashkol outpost, in front of which the movements of the Chinese were noticed, and the neighboring one, Rodnikovaya, to a state of high alert.
Captain Pyotr Terebennikov, assistant chief of staff of the motorized maneuver group, was sent to Zhalanashkol. He was supposed to assist the acting head of the outpost, Lieutenant Evgeny Govor (the head of the outpost, Captain Nikolai Samokrutov, was on vacation at that moment). Also at the outpost were three more officers: the deputy head of the Dzhungarskaya outpost, Senior Lieutenant Gennady Devin, and the platoon commander of the maneuver group, Junior Lieutenant Vladimir Puchkov.
(Area of lake Zhalanashkol. Stone height)
Eugene Govor says: “We were closely watching the neighboring side. We were particularly alarmed by the appearance of two new groups of servicemen at the Chinese post "Terekty". They took turns going up the stairs. The question is why? It smelled of provocation. I had a staff officer at the outpost, Captain Terebennikov. I consulted with him. Together they made a plan to protect the border for the next day. In the evening I went to the site, from midnight - he ".
Terebennikov ordered to equip a stronghold in the most threatened area. Two armored personnel carriers of the mangroup were withdrawn to the flanks of the strong point. They were commanded by Olshevsky and Puchkov. Armored vehicles were hidden in caponiers. Observation posts were ordered to strengthen control over the adjacent territory.
August 13
On the night of August 13, several sabotage groups crossed from China to Soviet territory. All of them were discovered by border guards. The Maoists went deep to a depth of 700-800 meters from the border line and began to dig in on the Stone Heights.
3.50 One of the groups was discovered by an outfit led by a dog service instructor, Sergeant Mikhail Dulepov. The enemy hastily dug in on the crest of the Kamennaya height and at the height indicated on the map as Right. According to the instructions, Dulepov demanded that the Chinese leave Soviet territory. A few minutes later, the Soviet border guard repeated the demand, using a Russian-Chinese phrase book. But the Chinese remained silent.
Having received a report from the detachment about the violation of the border, Lieutenant Govor raised the outpost on command "to the gun." The outpost with the reserve attached to it advanced to the Stone Heights. The reserves of neighboring outposts, raised on alarm, rushed there. The chief of staff of the detachment, Lieutenant Colonel Nikitenko, supervised the actions of the forces. He made reconnaissance of enemy positions with the help of a helicopter.
After arriving at the site of the breakthrough of all units, Nikitenko assessed the situation. The observers reported on the discovered positions both on our and Chinese territories. On our side, the enemy dug in on the northern slopes of the Kamennaya and Pravaya heights. The number of Chinese who had taken refuge in the trenches was unknown. On the right flank, on the Chinese side, a car with soldiers was seen. In addition, another group of 12 people moved on the left flank, from the Chinese post "Terekty". The group walked along the control strip towards the Kamennaya height.
After assessing the situation, Nikitenko ordered Lieutenant Govor to advance in an armored personnel carrier towards the Chinese positions and read out a demand to leave the territory. Two more armored personnel carriers, under the command of junior lieutenant Puchkov, Nikitenko sent to intercept the group that was walking from the Terekty post with the order to detain the group, but not to open fire. Nikitenko hoped to the last to avoid a collision. But a group of Chinese, despite the Soviet armored personnel carriers, continued to move towards Kamennaya.
Lieutenant Govor drove up to the Chinese positions and through a megaphone read out an appeal in Chinese: “You violated the Soviet border. Move away immediately. We warn you".
In response, the Chinese opened fire on the APC with small arms. The speaker ordered to leave.
The confrontation between the Chinese and the border guards lasted until 7.00. At this time, information was flowing in an uninterrupted stream from the outpost to higher authorities. But, as during the events on Damansky, there was a paralysis in decision-making in the ruling elite. Officials footballed information "from higher authorities." The enemy, meanwhile, continued to dig in. As a result, Lieutenant Colonel Nikitenko, chief of staff of the border detachment, assumed responsibility for making the decision. He ordered the Chinese to be squeezed out of Soviet territory.
7.40 Armored personnel carriers, under the cover of assault groups, left the caponiers and moved towards the heights. The Chinese opened fire. The border guards hit back. Almost immediately, an enemy group marching from the side of the Chinese post was destroyed. Pyotr Terebennikov recalled: “When we were ordered to attack, the soldiers immediately got out of the armored personnel carrier and, dispersed, at an interval of six to seven meters, ran to the hill. The Chinese fired not only from Kamennaya, but also from the border line. I had a handgun. Seeing a small hillock, he lay down behind him, fired several bursts through the trenches. At this time, the soldiers were making a dash. When they lay down and opened automatic fire, I ran. So, supporting each other, and moving".
The armored personnel carrier number 217 (commanded by Puchkov) moved to the flank of the Chinese positions. His task was to bypass the hills and prevent the approach of reinforcements from the Chinese side. The Chinese, assessing the danger, concentrated fire on this armored personnel carrier. The density of fire on the armored personnel carrier was very high. All external equipment was demolished with bullets and shrapnel, wheels were riddled, armor was pierced. The turret was jammed from a grenade explosion. One of the bullets, possibly armor-piercing, pierced the armor of the armored personnel carrier. Puchkov, who was sitting at the machine guns, was wounded in the thigh. Bandaging the wound, he continued to fire. The same bullet wounded the driver of the armored personnel carrier, private Viktor Pishchulev. The armored personnel carrier number 217 (commanded by Puchkov) moved to the flank of the Chinese positions. His task was to bypass the hills and prevent the approach of reinforcements from the Chinese side. The Chinese, assessing the danger, concentrated fire on this armored personnel carrier. The density of fire on the armored personnel carrier was very high. All external equipment was demolished with bullets and shrapnel, wheels were riddled, armor was pierced.
The turret was jammed from a grenade explosion. One of the bullets, possibly armor-piercing, pierced the armor of the armored personnel carrier. Puchkov, who was sitting at the machine guns, was wounded in the thigh. Bandaging the wound, he continued to fire. The same bullet wounded the driver of the armored personnel carrier, private Viktor Pishchulev.
Reinforcements arrived at the border guards from the detachment's reserve under the command of Major Mstislav Lie, head of the detachment's combat training department. A group of eight fighters led by Olshevsky moved to the rescue of the 217th armored personnel carrier. They were supposed to cut off the Chinese retreat. As soon as this group disappeared behind the slope of the height, Terebennikov raised the border guards to attack.
Turning around in a chain, they went to storm the heights. At that moment, reinforcements approached the battlefield - three armored personnel carriers of the mangroup, which immediately entered the battle. Terebennikov sent two armored personnel carriers to help Olshevsky's group. Cars moved around the height. Crews covered each other. Against our armored personnel carriers, the enemy threw grenade launchers. One of them managed to approach a dangerous distance from the car commanded by Sergeant Murzin. This was noticed by the gunner junior sergeant Vladimir Zavorotnitsyn. He managed to hit the grenade launcher with machine guns.
One of the bullets hit the grenade directly, and the Chinese grenade launcher was torn to pieces. The armored personnel carriers of the border guards constantly maneuvered back and forth, preventing enemy grenade launchers from conducting aimed fire. At the same time, they tried to stick to the enemy with frontal armor.
Corporal V. Shcherbina receives the machine gun of the deceased Sergeant Dulepov.
Half an hour after the start of the battle, armored personnel carrier No. 217 was finally disabled. Puchkov ordered the crew to leave the car and get into one of the approaching armored personnel carriers. Meanwhile, a group of border guards attacked Pravaya Hill. She came under heavy fire from the Chinese and suffered losses. Mikhail Dulepov was killed. He was wounded twice on the way up. On the crest he got the third bullet - fatal. In addition, 8 more border guards were wounded. One of them, Sergeant Viktor Ovchinnikov, continued to walk forward with two broken hands! The commander of the assault group, Senior Lieutenant Olshansky, was also wounded in the leg. But he also did not withdraw from the battle.
Lieutenant Govor recalled: “In battle, I commanded one of the groups. We bypassed the Pravaya hill and attacked it. There were fewer Maoists here than on Kamennaya. We, supported by an armored personnel carrier, quickly dealt with them. From the Right, the ridge of Kamennaya was clearly visible, the trenches with the Maoists who had settled in them. Having installed machine guns, we hit them ". In the last minutes of the battle, Private Viktor Ryazanov managed to throw grenades at the lying Chinese, but he himself was mortally wounded. He died on the way to the hospital aboard a helicopter. Following Ryazanov's grenades, grenades from other border guards flew into the Chinese cops. The Chinese faltered and tried to break into Chinese territory. But Olshevsky's group cut off their path. Despite heavy Chinese fire, Olshevsky's eight fighters did not retreat.
Unable to stand it, the Chinese began to jump up and run towards the border. The flight began along the entire line of Chinese defense. In pursuit of the fleeing border guards fired. Private Alexei Khramov seized a Chinese machine gun and fired at the enemy from it. A few pockets of resistance remained, but they were quickly crushed.
8.15 By then the fight was over. Most of the Chinese military personnel went beyond the border line. The crews of two Soviet Mi-4 helicopters under the command of Captain Gennady Andreev and Lieutenant Vladimir Klyus conducted aerial reconnaissance. According to their reports, the enemy retreated from the border line and did not plan repeated attacks. 19 corpses of Chinese soldiers were found on the battlefield. Three more were captured. The prisoners were immediately sent to Uch-Aral. But only one was delivered, the rest died on the way from their wounds. During the battle, two border guards were killed. More than 15 were injured and shell-shocked. Already during the battle, the evacuation of the wounded to the outpost began. The heaviest with the help of helicopters were sent to Uch-Aral. Those who received moderate injuries were received at the outpost. Here, before the arrival of doctors, first aid was provided by the wife of the deputy head of the outpost, Lyudmila Govor. She was assisted by employees of the local weather station Nadezhda Metelkina and Valentina Gorina, as well as the store clerk Maria Romanova.
What was the meaning of this provocation remains unclear. A photograph of all the saboteurs was found in the quote book of one of those killed. It was pierced by a bullet, but the faces of most of those who posed can be distinguished. No documents or inscriptions on clothes could be found. The provocateurs were armed with Chinese analogues of Soviet weapons: AK-47 assault rifles, RPD machine guns, TT pistols and RPG-2 grenade launchers.
A curious trophy was found on one of the corpses. It was an award sign with a portrait of the "great helmsman" Mao Zedong. Under the portrait was engraved the inscription: “Commended in honor of the victorious repulse of the aggression of the Soviet revisionists on the island of Zhenbaodao (Damansky). Made in Shenyang parts". Apparently, a "specialist" in the fight against border guards, who fought on Damansky, arrived at Zhalanashkol.
Two corpses of cameramen with movie cameras were found on the battlefield. This suggested that some kind of propaganda action was being prepared in the Zhalanashkol area. What exactly, the border guards could only guess.
9.30 The head of the district reported on the results of the battle to Moscow. From there came the order: "Take more corpses and trophies". The corpses of the Chinese were collected and transported to the outpost. The heat that day reached forty degrees. The question arose of what to do with all this next. From Moscow, some official asked in bewilderment: “Why did you get so many of them. One or two is enough". The head of the district decided to photograph each corpse and draw up an act for each.
One copy of the act was placed in the coffin, the other was filed in a special file. The next day, Moscow officials needed corpses to prove a Chinese provocation. Upon learning that they had already been buried, they were indignant. The border guards suggested that they come to Kazakhstan and deal with the corpses decomposing in the heat. No one else called from Moscow. Based on the results of the battle, a secret order was signed on May 7, 1970 on rewarding those who distinguished themselves. Terebennikov and Puchkov became holders of the Order of Lenin. The victims were posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Six more were awarded the Order of the Red Star, two - the Order of Glory 3rd degree, ten - the medal "For Courage".
Effects
After the defeat of the Chinese forces in the Zhalanashkol region in August 1969, the Chinese government decided to negotiate. September 10 Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR A.N. Kosygin landed at the Beijing airport on the way from Vietnam. Here, right at the airport, he met with Zhou Enlai. The High Contracting Parties agreed on the status quo of Damansky Island. The troops of both sides remained where they were on 10 September and ceased firing.
There were no more fights, but the provocations did not stop. So in 1970-1972. 776 provocations were recorded in the Far Eastern border district alone, in 1977 - 799, and in 1979 - more than 1000. In total, in 1975-1980. 6894 violations of the border regime were committed by the Chinese side. In 1979, the Chinese mastered 130 out of 300 islands of the Amur and Ussuri rivers, including 52 out of 134, where they were not allowed to do business by the Soviet side.
The final point in this Soviet-Chinese border conflict was set in 1991. On May 16, an agreement on the border was finally signed between the USSR and the PRC, an exchange of maps and a redemarcation of the border were carried out. On February 13, 1992, the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution "On the ratification of the Agreements between the USSR and the PRC on the Soviet-Chinese border in its eastern part."
Time disposed of the ill-fated Damansky in the most unexpected way. Gradually, the channel that separated the island from the Chinese coast silted up, and it merged with the Chinese coast, turning into a peninsula on the Chinese side. Now it is called Zhenbaodao. PLA soldiers occupied the new Chinese territory, and a building was built on it, in which a museum of Chinese military glory was opened.
By 1969, Soviet-Chinese relations had heated up to the limit. Diplomacy was reduced to threats, the armies of both states were put on alert. The whole world was waiting for a war between the communist regimes of Moscow and Beijing. In March 1969, an armed conflict broke out on Damansky Island on the Ussuri River. Who started first is still not known. The Chinese claim that the Soviet border guards started the aggression, ours say that the Maoists are to blame.
In fairness, the island of Damansky, in Chinese Zhenbao, territorially should belong to China, which is evident even from the geographical position. The island itself did not represent and does not represent any value, both economically and strategically. A small piece of flooded land, not particularly needed by anyone. But the political factor came into play. The Chinese categorically and aggressively demanded: "Give back the island." The Soviet Union stood up in a pose: "No, we will not give up the island." The decision was probably the right one - it was impossible to show weakness and make concessions then.
In the autumn of 1968 and the winter of 1969, hand-to-hand skirmishes between patrols of border guards became more frequent on Damansky Island. Tall, strong Soviet fighters pushed the undersized Chinese with their fists and kicks. Then the Chinese sent their special forces to the island, trained in hand-to-hand combat, wushu and karate. Group fights escalated. But all these Chinese martial arts on ice and in sheepskin coats were, to put it mildly, ineffective. One of the karate masters tried to show his skill, but slipped and, having broken his back, remained disabled for life.
On March 2, 1969, during a fight between our border guards and the Chinese, the first shot was fired.
Most likely, from the side of the Maoists, because on the orders of the Soviet command, our fighters went to the outfit with unloaded weapons. The bloodbath began. Several hundred Chinese soldiers, who had previously been in ambush, opened fire. 32 of our border guards were killed within 10 minutes. Only the reinforcements on the armored personnel carrier that arrived from the neighboring outpost, bypassing the enemy from the flank and opening heavy fire, knocked out the Chinese from the island.
On March 15, the Maoists launched a larger offensive against the island. More than 700 enemy soldiers attacked and captured Damansky. Our border guards again acted inefficiently. By introducing their units into battle in parts, they allowed the Maoists to concentrate large forces on the island and dig in. The tank platoon that was brought into battle began a pattern attack, advancing from the flank. But the Chinese, taught by bitter experience, managed to prepare trenches and anti-tank guns. Several of the newest secret T-62 tanks were hit, 1 destroyed. The commander of the Iman border detachment, Colonel Leonov, died. Only by pulling up artillery and hitting the island with Grad rocket launchers, ours managed to drive the Maoists out of Damansky Island. During the conflict, 57 Soviet soldiers were killed, 180 people were injured, about 200 soldiers and officers from China were killed.
The fighting on Damansky was promoted by the Chinese media as a complete victory. Our propaganda presented the conflict as a rebuff to the Chinese militarists. In both great states, a mass hysteria of hatred was inflated, the sides saber-rattled. The whole world waited with horror for a nuclear catastrophe.
On August 13, 1969, the Chinese undertook another armed sortie, this time on the territory of Kazakhstan, near Zhalanashkol Lake, in the area of the Dzungarian Gates. Although the conflict in the Zhalanashkol region is smaller than in Damansky, it was more serious.
Lake Zhalanashkol is not a semi-flooded, useless island, it is one of the strategic strongholds of the Dzungarian Gates, and the Dzungarian Gates are an open way to Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Altai and Siberia. This is the eternal path of conquerors, starting from the hordes of the Huns of Attila and the iron tumens of Genghis Khan. Whoever owns the Dzungarian Gate practically owns Central Asia. Here, in August 1969, the Maoists decided to deliver a well-prepared blow, but, unlike the Damansky, the border guards of the Uch-Aral detachment reacted clearly and effectively. Already on August 12, suspicious movement of Chinese troops near the border was noticed.
The Soviet outposts were brought to full combat readiness, trenches were dug, weapons and equipment were brought into combat condition. In the early morning of August 13, 2 groups of Chinese soldiers penetrated our territory and began to fortify themselves on the hill, which later became known as Kamennaya. The advance of the Chinese was timely noticed by the outfit of junior sergeant Mikhail Dulepov. The border guards demanded that the Maoists leave our territory. The Chinese did not answer, continuing to feverishly strengthen themselves on the hill. They were approached by several more groups of soldiers with a total number of up to 40 people. Several hundred enemy special forces began to accumulate on the Chinese side. Soviet border guards came to the rescue in 2 armored personnel carriers, led by the head of the outpost, Lieutenant Vadim Olshansky. On the repeated demand to leave the Soviet territory, the Chinese opened fire on the armored personnel carrier. As soon as the first shot was fired, our soldiers began to act harshly and decisively. Armored personnel carriers landed maneuverable groups, which immediately began the assault on the hill. One car cut off the hill from the border and from the Maoists trying to come to the aid of their comrades. The second, under the command of junior lieutenant Vladimir Puchkov, opened fire from a heavy machine gun on the dug-in Chinese. 8 fighters led by Lieutenant Olshansky fought from the border, a group of Lieutenant Peter Terebenkov led the assault from the front.
Twice wounded sergeant Mikhail Dulepov received a third, already fatal, wound. Private Vitaly Ryazanov, throwing grenades at the enemy's machine gun, was the first to burst onto the hill and received a fatal bullet.
The fight lasted 65 minutes. Eight border guards were wounded, two were killed. 19 corpses of Chinese soldiers remained on the hill, three were captured (two of them died from wounds).
The rest fled. How many Maoists died trying to break through to Kamennaya is unknown.
On the hill, 4 TT pistols and an RPD machine gun remained as trophies. 9 SKS carbines, 4 anti-tank grenades. 27 hand grenades, a radio station, 6 cumulative projectiles, 2 movie cameras, a camera and other equipment. The Chinese did not have any documents, but everyone had a quote book of Mao Zedong in their pocket. Of particular interest was the medal on the chest of one of the corpses "To the Winner on Zhenbao Island." This suggests that the soldiers who started the conflict at Zhalanashkol were the same Chinese special forces who had undergone combat training at Damansky.
But here, at the Dzungarian Gates, they received a fitting rebuff.
With skillful clear actions, using only small arms, the border guards of the Uch-Aral detachment were able to nip the conflict in the bud, preventing it from flaring up.
Interestingly, not a word was said about the conflict near Lake Zhalanashkol in the Chinese press, although the events on Damansky were talked about excitedly.
Zhalanashkol forced the Chinese leadership to think. The Soviet army is strong not only in technology, but also in trained brave soldiers and talented commanders. Therefore, when the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Kosygin visited China in September 1969, he was met, albeit coldly, but courteously and with a willingness to compromise. The negotiations ended successfully, the conflict was settled, the border along the Ussuri was drawn along the fairway. Damansky and other islands were given to China
At the Dzungarian Gates, the border did not move a single meter.
By the way, regarding the mentality of Soviet and Chinese soldiers. As mentioned above, one of the wounded Chinese was captured - a boy no older than 18 years old. He underwent treatment in Almaty. A month and a half, that the Chinese was in the hospital, he did not utter a word. He was silent, like a partisan under interrogation. The mentality of a young Chinese fanatic. But we are closer to our native character, "Soviet". When the dead Maoists were handed over to the Chinese authorities, they made wooden coffin-like boxes for them. And one of our soldiers drew a quality mark with an indelible pencil and wrote "Made in the USSR." The officers noticed this at the last moment, when the Chinese arrived for the coffins. They expected an international scandal, notes of protest. The commander of the border troops was preparing for his resignation. But everything worked out: either the Chinese did not notice, or they decided not to aggravate relations. A couple of months later, as an anecdote, they told L.I. Brezhnev. He laughed and said, “Okay. Let them know that we are not only good at making tractors.”
, Kazakh SSR, USSR
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the USSR the USSR |
PRC PRC |
Border conflict near Lake Zhalanashkol- a battle that took place on August 13, 1969 between Soviet border guards and Chinese soldiers who violated the border of the USSR. As a result, the violators were pushed out of Soviet territory.
In China, this border conflict is known as incident at Terekta(铁列克提事件), after the name of the river flowing from the Yumin County of China towards Zhalanashkol Lake. The Terekty river, known on the Kazakh (Soviet) side of the border as Kusak, crosses the modern Kazakh-Chinese border for about 45°37′00″ N sh. 82°15′30″ E d. HGIOL, and the line of the Soviet-Chinese border (indicated on Soviet maps) is somewhat to the east (mark No. 40 on a topographic map).
background [ | ]
Events August 13[ | ]
On the left flank, from the side of the Terekty border post, a group of 12 Chinese soldiers also violated the border. Soldiers were moving along the control strip to the Kamennaya hill. On the orders of lieutenant colonel Nikitenko, junior lieutenant Puchkov, together with border guards on 2 armored personnel carriers, cut off the path of Chinese soldiers. Puchkov demanded that the Chinese return to their territory. At 7.40 armored personnel carriers under the cover of border guards moved towards the heights. The Chinese soldiers responded by opening fire with machine guns. The Soviet border guards were forced to respond.
“When we were ordered to attack,” Terebenkov recalled, “the soldiers immediately got out of the armored personnel carrier and, spreading out at an interval of six to seven meters, ran to the hill. The Chinese fired not only from Kamennaya, but also from the border line. I had a light machine gun. Seeing a small hillock, he lay down behind it, fired several bursts through the trenches. At this time, the soldiers were making a dash. When they lay down and opened automatic fire, I ran. So, supporting each other, we moved."Soon, several dozen more Chinese soldiers crossed the border, armed with small arms and anti-tank weapons. The Chinese occupied one of the hills. Border guards on 3 armored personnel carriers entered the battle with them. Under the command of Senior Lieutenant Olshevsky, a group of 8 fighters, supported by 2 armored personnel carriers, entered the rear of the Chinese soldiers, who had to take up all-round defense.
The Govor group attacked Pravaya Hill. During the attack, she came under fire from the Chinese, Dulepov was killed, and 8 more border guards were wounded. However, despite the losses, the height was taken. Groups of Olshevsky and Terebenkov threw grenades at the Chinese trenches. At the same time, the border guards suffered losses, so Private V. Ryazanov was mortally wounded. By 9 o'clock the height was recaptured, the Soviet soldiers fortified on the border. The Chinese did not plan any more attacks.
On the battlefield, 4 TT pistols, 9 SKS carbines, an RPD machine gun, 4 anti-tank grenades and 27 hand grenades, 6 cumulative shells, a radio station, 2 movie cameras, 1 camera and other things were found.
Losses [ | ]
The losses of the Soviet side amounted to 12 people, of which 10 were wounded and 2 were killed. Among the Chinese, 19 people were killed, 3 were captured, of which two died from their injuries on the way to
