Battle of Dong Dang (1979)

Battle of Đồng Đăng
Part of the Battle of Lang Son, Sino-Vietnamese War
Date 17–23 February 1979 Location Đồng Đăng and vicinity, Lạng Sơn Province, Vietnam Result Chinese operational victory
Belligerents
China	Vietnam
Commanders and leaders
Xu Shiyou Zhu Yuehua	Nguyễn Duy Thương Nguyễn Xuân Khánh
Units involved
55th Army 163rd Division 164th Division 165th Division 54th Army Unit 33980	3rd Division 12th Regiment Militia, regional, and border guard units
Casualties and losses
Unknown Chinese source: 531 killed out of 2,220 casualties	Unknown Chinese source: 3,973 killed

55th Army

54th Army

3rd Division

The Battle of Dong Dang was the initial phase of the Battle of Lang Son during the Sino-Vietnamese War, taking place in the town of Đồng Đăng and vicinal positions between 17–23 February 1979.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) began their operations at 05:00 on 17 February with a barrage of more than 6,000 artillery shells pounding on Vietnamese strongpoints and gun positions. The Chinese had paved the way for their offensive throughout the night before by infiltrating the Vietnamese territory, cutting telephone lines and conducting sabotages. Waves of PLA troops from the 55th Army quickly overwhelmed Hill 386, a position situated 1.5  km south of the border, killing 118 Vietnamese. Though pockets of resistance were continued near the Friendship Pass and in Đồng Đăng, most of the Vietnamese defense was by then undertaken by the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) 12th Regiment southerly in the area around the hamlet of Thâm Mô. The hamlet was situated on a low hill nearby the intersection of Highways 4A and 1B and Lạng Sơn–Nanning railroad, with Hills 423 and 505 in the east and Hill 339 in the west. The headquarters of the 12th Regiment was set up on Hill 438, located 1,000 m to the west of Hill 339. Between Thâm Mô and Hill 339 was the French Fort, a large fortification supported by 1.5-meter-thick concrete wall lying on a hill to the southwest of Đồng Đăng. The fort, together with Thâm Mô and Hill 339, created a triangular mutually-supporting defensive structure, which was able to provide fire suppression against any attack on Đồng Đăng.

After taking Hill 386, the PLA 163rd Division was tasked with capturing Đồng Đăng, as well as striking Thâm Mô and Hills 339, 423, and 505. The attack was backed by small groups of tanks arriving on Highway 4A. These initial assaults were thwarted with heavy losses, including the loss of nearly half of the tanks supporting the PLA 163rd Division. The PLA responded by conducting two enveloping thrusts on the flanks of the Thâm Mô perimeter; one was carried out by Unit 33980 of the 54th Army to the east of Thâm Mô on the village of Thâm Lũng, and another was on Cồn Khoang, a position in the rear of Hill 339.

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