In March 1969, the two most powerful socialist powers at that time - the USSR and the PRC - almost started a full-scale war over a piece of land called Damansky Island.
In our photo story, we tried to restore the chronology of events.
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1. Damansky Island on the Ussuri River was part of the Pozharsky District of Primorsky Krai and had an area of 0.74 km². It was located a little closer to the Chinese coast than to ours. However, the border did not run along the middle of the river, but, in accordance with the Beijing Treaty of 1860, along the Chinese bank.
Damansky - view from the Chinese coast
2. The conflict on Damansky occurred 20 years after the formation of the People's Republic of China. Until the 1950s, China was a weak country with a poor population. With the help of the USSR, the Celestial Empire was not only able to unite, but began to develop rapidly, strengthening the army and creating the conditions necessary for modernizing the economy. However, after Stalin's death, a period of cooling began in Soviet-Chinese relations. Mao Zedong now claimed almost the role of the leading world leader of the communist movement, with which Nikita Khrushchev could not agree.
At the same time, the policy of the Cultural Revolution pursued by Zedong constantly demanded to keep society in suspense, to create new images of the enemy both inside and outside the country, and the process of “de-Stalinization” in the USSR in general threatened the cult of the “great Mao” himself, which gradually formed in China. As a result, in 1960, the CPC officially announced the “wrong” course of the CPSU, relations between countries escalated to the limit, and conflicts often began to occur along the border with a length of more than 7.5 thousand kilometers.
3. On the night of March 2, 1969, about 300 Chinese soldiers crossed to Damansky. For several hours they remained unnoticed, the Soviet border guards received a signal about an armed group of up to 30 people only at 10:32 in the morning.
4. 32 border guards under the command of the head of the Nizhne-Mikhailovskaya outpost, senior lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, left for the scene. Approaching the Chinese military, Strelnikov demanded that they leave Soviet territory, but small arms fire was opened in response. Senior Lieutenant Strelnikov and the border guards following him died, only one soldier managed to survive.
Thus began the famous Damansky conflict, which for a long time was not written anywhere, but which everyone knew about.
5. Shooting was heard at the neighboring outpost "Kulebyakiny Sopki". Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Bubenin went to the rescue with 20 border guards and one armored personnel carrier. The Chinese actively attacked, but retreated after a few hours. Residents of the neighboring village of Nizhnemikhailovka came to the aid of the wounded.
6. On that day, 31 Soviet border guards were killed, 14 more soldiers were injured. According to the KGB commission, the losses of the Chinese side amounted to 248 people.
7. On March 3, a demonstration took place near the Soviet embassy in Beijing; on March 7, the PRC embassy in Moscow was picketed.
8. Weapons captured from the Chinese
9. On the morning of March 15, the Chinese went on the offensive again. They brought the strength of their forces to an infantry division, reinforced by reservists. Attacks by the method of "human waves" continued for an hour. After a fierce battle, the Chinese managed to push back the Soviet soldiers.
10. Then, to support the defenders, a tank platoon headed by the head of the Iman border detachment, which included the Nizhne-Mikhailovskaya and Kulebyakiny Sopki outposts, Colonel Leonov, moved to counterattack.
11. But, as it turned out, the Chinese were prepared for this turn of events and had a sufficient amount of anti-tank weapons. Due to their heavy fire, our counterattack failed.
12. The failure of the counterattack and the loss of the latest T-62 combat vehicle with secret equipment finally convinced the Soviet command that the forces put into battle were not enough to defeat the Chinese side, which was prepared very seriously.
13. Then the forces of the 135th motorized rifle division deployed along the river entered the business, the command of which ordered its artillery, including a separate BM-21 Grad division, to open fire on the positions of the Chinese on the island. This was the first time that Grad rocket launchers were used in combat, the impact of which decided the outcome of the battle.
14. The Soviet troops withdrew to their shore, and the Chinese side did not take any more hostile actions.
15. In total, during the clashes, Soviet troops lost 58 soldiers and 4 officers killed and died from wounds, 94 soldiers and 9 officers were wounded. The losses of the Chinese side are still classified information and, according to various estimates, range from 100-150 to 800 and even 3,000 people.
16. For their heroism, four servicemen received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union: Colonel D. Leonov and Senior Lieutenant I. Strelnikov (posthumously), Senior Lieutenant V. Bubenin and Junior Sergeant Yu. Babansky.
In the photo in the foreground: Colonel D. Leonov, Lieutenants V. Bubenin, I. Strelnikov, V. Shorokhov; in the background: the personnel of the first frontier post. 1968
The post used materials from Russian77.ru and Ogonyok magazine.
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Historical reference
The passage of the Russian-Chinese border was established by numerous legal acts - the Nerchinsk Treaty of 1689, the Burinsky and Kyakhta treatises of 1727, the Aigun Treaty of 1858, the Beijing Treaty of 1860, and the Treaty of 1911.
In accordance with generally accepted practice, borders on rivers are drawn along the main fairway. However, taking advantage of the weakness of pre-revolutionary China, the tsarist government of Russia managed to draw a border on the Ussuri River along the water's edge along the Chinese coast. Thus, the entire river and the islands on it turned out to be Russian.
This obvious injustice persisted after the October Revolution of 1917 and the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, but did not affect Sino-Soviet relations in any way. And only at the end of the 1950s, when disagreements arose between the leadership of the CPSU and the CCP, did the situation on the border become constantly aggravated.
The Soviet leadership was sympathetic to the desire of the Chinese to draw a new border along the rivers and was even ready to transfer a number of lands to the PRC. However, this readiness disappeared as soon as the ideological and then the interstate conflict flared up. Further deterioration of relations between the two countries eventually led to an open armed confrontation on Damansky Island.
Damansky Island in the late 60s belonged to the Pozharsky district of Primorsky Krai, bordering on the Chinese province of Heilongjiang. The distance of the island from the Soviet coast was about 500 m, from the Chinese - about 300 m. From south to north, Damansky is extended by 1500 - 1800 m, and its width reaches 600 -700 m.
These figures are quite approximate, since the size of the island is highly dependent on the time of year. For example, in spring and during summer floods, the island is flooded with the waters of the Ussuri, and it is almost hidden from view, and in winter Damansky rises among the frozen river. Therefore, this island does not represent any economic or military-strategic value.
The events of March 2 and 15, 1969 on Damansky Island were preceded by numerous provocations by the Chinese on the unauthorized seizure of the Soviet islands on the Ussuri River (starting from 1965). At the same time, the Soviet border guards always clearly adhered to the established line of conduct: provocateurs were expelled from Soviet territory, the border guards did not use weapons.
On the night of March 1-2, 1969, about 300 Chinese troops crossed to Damansky and lay down on the higher western coast of the island among bushes and trees. The trenches were not torn off, they simply lay down in the snow, laying down mats.
The equipment of the border violators was quite consistent with the weather conditions and consisted of the following: a hat with earflaps, which differs from a similar Soviet earflap in the presence of two flaps on the left and right - in order to better capture sounds; padded jacket and the same cotton pants; insulated lace-up boots; cotton uniform and warm underwear, thick socks; military-style mittens - thumb and index finger separately, the rest of the fingers together.
The Chinese soldiers were armed with AK-47 assault rifles and SKS carbines. The commanders have TT pistols. All Chinese-made weapons, manufactured under Soviet licenses.
The offenders were in white camouflage coats, they wrapped their weapons with the same camouflage cloth. The ramrod was filled with paraffin - so as not to rattle.
There were no documents or personal belongings in the pockets of the Chinese.
The Chinese extended a telephone connection to their shore and lay in the snow until morning.
To support the intruders, positions of recoilless guns, heavy machine guns and mortars were equipped on the Chinese coast. Here the infantry with a total number of 200-300 people was waiting in the wings.
On the night of March 2, two border guards were constantly at the Soviet observation post, but they did not notice or hear anything - neither lights nor any sounds. The advance of the Chinese to their positions was well organized and completely covert.
At about 9:00 a.m., a border detachment consisting of three people passed through the island, the detachment did not find the Chinese. Violators also did not begin to unmask themselves.
At about 10.40, a report was received at the Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost from the observation post that a group of up to 30 armed people was moving from the Chinese border post of Gunsy in the direction of Damansky.
The head of the outpost, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, raised his subordinates on command "to the gun", after which he called the operational duty officer of the border detachment.
The personnel plunged into three vehicles - GAZ-69 (7 people led by Strelnikov), BTR-60PB (about 13 people, senior sergeant V. Rabovich) and GAZ-63 (a total of 12 border guards led by junior sergeant Yu. Babansky ).
GAZ-63, on which Yu. Babansky advanced with his group, had a weak engine, so on the way to the island they lagged behind the main group by 15 minutes.
Arriving at the place, the commander's "gazik" and the armored personnel carrier stopped at the southern tip of the island. Dismounting, the border guards moved in the direction of the violators in two groups: the first was led along the ice by the head of the outpost himself, and Rabovich's group walked in a parallel course directly along the island.
Together with Strelnikov, there was a photographer from the political department of the border detachment, Private Nikolai Petrov, who filmed what was happening with a movie camera, as well as with a Zorkiy-4 camera.
Approaching the provocateurs (at about 11.10), I. Strelnikov protested about the violation of the border and demanded that the Chinese military personnel leave the territory of the USSR. One of the Chinese answered something loudly, then two pistol shots rang out. The first line parted, and the second opened a sudden automatic fire on Strelnikov's group.
Strelnikov's group and the head of the outpost himself died immediately. The Chinese who ran up snatched a movie camera from Petrov's hands, but did not notice the camera: the soldier fell on him, covering him with a sheepskin coat.
The ambush on Damansky also opened fire - on Rabovich's group. Rabovich managed to shout "To battle", "but this did not solve anything: several border guards were killed and wounded, the survivors ended up in the middle of a frozen lake in full view of the Chinese.
Part of the Chinese got up from their "beds" and went on the attack on a handful of Soviet border guards. They took an unequal battle and fired back to the last.
It was at this moment that Y. Babansky's group arrived in time. Having taken a position at some distance behind the dying comrades, the border guards met the advancing Chinese with machine gun fire.
The raiders reached the positions of the Rabovich group and here they finished off several wounded border guards with automatic bursts and edged weapons (bayonets, knives).
The only one who survived literally by a miracle was Private Gennady Serebrov. He told about the last minutes of the life of his friends.
There were fewer and fewer fighters left in the Babansky group, ammunition was running out. The junior sergeant decided to retreat to the parking lot, but at that moment the Chinese artillery covered both vehicles. The car drivers took refuge in an armored personnel carrier left by Strelnikov and tried to enter the island. They did not succeed, because the coast was too steep and high. After a few failed attempts overcome the rise of the armored personnel carrier withdrew to the shelter on the Soviet coast. At this time, the reserve of the neighboring outpost, led by Vitaly Bubenin, arrived in time.
Senior Lieutenant V. Bubenin commanded the neighboring outpost of Sopka Kulebyakina, located 17-18 km north of Damansky. Having received a telephone message on the morning of March 2 about shooting on the island, Bubenin put about twenty fighters in an armored personnel carrier and hurried to the rescue of his neighbors.
At about 11.30 am, the armored personnel carrier reached Damansky and entered one of the ice-covered channels. Hearing heavy gunfire, the border guards disembarked from the car and deployed in a chain in the direction of the gunshots. Almost immediately they ran into a group of Chinese, and a fight ensued.
The violators (still the same, in "beds") noticed Bubenin and transferred fire to his group. The senior lieutenant was wounded and shell-shocked, but did not lose control of the battle.
Leaving in place a group of soldiers led by junior sergeant V. Kanygin, Bubenin and 4 border guards plunged into an armored personnel carrier and moved around the island, going into the rear of the Chinese ambush. Bubenin himself stood up to a heavy machine gun, and his subordinates fired through the loopholes on both flanks.
Despite the multiple superiority in manpower, the Chinese found themselves in an extremely unpleasant situation: from the island they were fired on by groups of Babansky and Kanygin, and from the rear - by a maneuvering armored personnel carrier. But the Bubeninskaya car also got it: the sight was damaged by fire from the Chinese coast on the armored personnel carrier, the hydraulic system could no longer maintain the required tire pressure. The head of the outpost himself received a new wound and concussion.
Bubenin managed to bypass the island and take cover on the river bank. Having reported by phone to the detachment about the situation and then reseeding in Strelnikov's armored personnel carrier, the senior lieutenant again went out to the channel. But now he drove the car directly across the island along the Chinese ambush.
The climax of the battle came at the moment when Bubenin destroyed the Chinese command post. After that, the violators began to leave their positions, taking with them the dead and wounded. The Chinese left mats, telephones, shops, and several pieces of small arms in place of the "beds". There in in large numbers(almost in half of the "beds") used individual dressing packages were found.
Having shot the ammunition, Bubenin's armored personnel carrier retreated to the ice between the island and the Soviet coast. They stopped to take on board two wounded, but at that moment the car was hit.
Closer to 12.00, a helicopter with the command of the Iman border detachment landed near the island. The head of the detachment, Colonel D.V. Leonov remained on the shore, and the head of the political department, Lieutenant Colonel A.D. Konstantinov, organized a search for the wounded and dead directly on Damansky.
A little later, reinforcements from neighboring outposts arrived at the scene. Thus ended the first combat clash on Damansky on March 2, 1969.
After the events of March 2, reinforced detachments (at least 10 border guards armed with group weapons) constantly went to Damansky.
In the rear, at a distance of several kilometers from Damansky, a motorized rifle division of the Soviet Army was deployed (artillery, Grad multiple rocket launchers).
The Chinese side also accumulated forces for the next offensive. The 24th Infantry Regiment of the National Liberation Army of China (PLA) numbering about 5,000 (five thousand military personnel) was preparing for combat operations near the island in the territory of the PRC.
At about 15.00 hours on March 14, 1969, the Imansky border detachment received an order from a higher authority: to remove the Soviet border guards from the island (the logic of this order is not clear, just as the person who gave this order is unknown).
The border guards withdrew from Damansky, and immediately a revival began on the Chinese side. Chinese servicemen in small groups of 10-15 people began to move to the island in dashes, others began to take up combat positions opposite the island, on the Chinese coast of the Ussuri.
In response to these actions, the Soviet border guards on 8 armored personnel carriers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel E. Yanshin turned into battle formation and began to advance towards Damansky Island. The Chinese immediately withdrew from the island to their shore.
After 00.00 on March 15, a detachment of Lieutenant Colonel Yanshin, consisting of 60 border guards in 4 armored personnel carriers, entered the island.
The detachment settled down on the island in four groups, at a distance of about 100 meters from each other, dug trenches for prone firing. The groups were commanded by officers L. Mankovsky, N. Popov, V. Solovyov, A. Klyga. Armored personnel carriers constantly moved around the island, changing firing positions.
Around 9:00 am on March 15, a loudspeaker installation started working on the Chinese side. Soviet border guards were urged to leave "Chinese" territory, to renounce "revisionism", and so on.
A loudspeaker was also turned on on the Soviet coast. The broadcast was conducted in Chinese and in rather simple words: "Think about it before it's too late, before you are the sons of those who liberated China from the Japanese invaders."
After some time, silence fell on both sides, and closer to 10.00, Chinese artillery and mortars (from 60 to 90 barrels) began shelling the island. At the same time, 3 companies of Chinese infantry went on the attack.
A fierce battle began, which lasted about an hour. By 11:00, the defenders began to run out of ammunition, and then Yanshin delivered them from the Soviet coast in an armored personnel carrier.
Colonel Leonov reported to his superiors about the superior forces of the enemy and the need to use artillery, but to no avail.
At about 12.00 the first armored personnel carrier was knocked out, twenty minutes later - the second. Nevertheless, Yanshin's detachment steadfastly held its position even in the face of the threat of encirclement.
Stepping back, the Chinese began to group on their shore opposite the southern tip of the island. From 400 to 500 soldiers clearly intended to hit the rear of the Soviet border guards.
The situation was aggravated by the fact that communication between Yanshin and Leonov was lost: the antennas on the armored personnel carriers were cut off by machine-gun fire.
In order to frustrate the enemy's plan, the grenade launcher crew of I. Kobets opened well-aimed fire from his shore. This was not enough under the circumstances, and then Colonel Leonov decided to make a raid on three tanks. The tank company was promised to Leonov on March 13, but 9 vehicles came up only at the height of the battle.
Leonov took a seat in the lead car, and three T-62s moved towards the southern tip of Damansky.
Approximately at the place where Strelnikov died, the command tank was hit by the Chinese with a grenade launcher (RPG). Leonov and some crew members were injured. Leaving the tank, we headed for our shore. Here a bullet hit Colonel Leonov - right in the heart.
The border guards continued to fight in scattered groups and did not allow the Chinese to reach the western coast of the island. The situation was heating up, the island could be lost. At this time, it was decided to use artillery and bring motorized rifles into battle.
At 5:00 pm, the "Grad" installation division launched a fire attack on the places of accumulation of manpower and equipment of the Chinese and their firing positions. At the same time, the cannon artillery regiment opened fire on identified targets.
The raid turned out to be extremely accurate: the shells destroyed the Chinese reserves, mortars, shell piles, etc.
Artillery hit for 10 minutes, and at 17.10 motorized infantry and border guards went on the attack under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov and Lieutenant Colonel Konstantinov. The armored personnel carriers entered the canal, after which the fighters dismounted and turned towards the rampart along the western bank.
The enemy began a hasty retreat from the island. Damansky was liberated, but around 19.00 some Chinese firing points came to life. Perhaps at that moment it was necessary to deliver another artillery strike, but the command considered it inappropriate.
The Chinese tried to recapture Damansky, but three of their attempts ended in failure. After that, the Soviet soldiers retreated to their shore, and the enemy did not take any more hostile actions.
Epilogue (Russian version)
On October 20, 1969, talks were held in Beijing between the heads of government of the USSR and the PRC. The result of these negotiations: it was possible to reach an agreement on the need to carry out demarcation measures on sections of the Soviet-Chinese border. As a result: during the demarcation of the border between the USSR and China in 1991, Damansky Island went to the PRC. Now he has a different name - Zhenbao-dao.
One of the points of view widespread in Russia is that the point is not who, in the end, Damansky went to, but what the circumstances were at a particular historical moment in time. If the island had then been given to the Chinese, this would, in turn, have created a precedent and would have encouraged the then Chinese leadership to further territorial claims to the USSR.
According to many Russian citizens, in 1969 on the Ussuri River for the first time after the Great Patriotic War real aggression was repulsed, which was aimed at seizing foreign territories and solving specific political issues.
Ryabushkin Dmitry Sergeevich
www.damanski-zhenbao.ru
Photo - http://lifecontrary.ru/?p=35
That's how in 1969 the Soviet Union was on the verge of a big war. Until recently, friendly China has turned into a bitter enemy, a fight with which could just about turn into a bloody massacre. Analysts drew the most gloomy scenarios up to the use of nuclear weapons.
A piece of sushi in the middle of Ussuri
The epicenter of passions was the small island of Damansky on the Ussuri River, named in memory of a Russian engineer who once died in the waters of a treacherous river. The islet about 1700-1800 m from north to south and about 600-700 m from west to east was not of great strategic or economic value, but the struggle for control over it became a matter of principle.
Participants in the fighting during a provocation on the Soviet-Chinese border on Damansky Island on the Ussuri River on March 2, 1969 from the Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost: junior sergeant Yuri Kozus, privates Pavel Kovalev, Andrey Bikuzin, Vasily Vishnevsky, Vladimir Razmakhnin and junior sergeant Yuri Babansky
In 1860, the Russian Empire concluded with China the extremely beneficial Beijing Treaty, which determined the border between the two countries from the Ussuri River to the sea.
The agreement assumed, in particular, that the border on the Amur and Ussuri passed along the Chinese coast. Thus, only representatives of Russia could conduct economic activities on the rivers and islands.
border problem
But many assessed this treaty as predatory and advocated changing it. Moreover, after the Paris Conference of 1919, a provision appeared that provided for the passage of the state border on the rivers in the middle of the main fairway.
But both the Soviet Union and China had more important things to do in the first half of the 20th century, and the question of the border crossing remained open. In the border areas, relations were good-neighbourly, and there were no conflicts. After the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, an idyll ensued, enclosed in the formula "Russian and Chinese are brothers forever."
After Stalin's death, the situation gradually began to change. Comrade Mao, who recognized the leadership of Joseph Vissarionovich in the world communist movement, did not at all consider it fair to transfer this role to Nikita Khrushchev. In addition, Mao Zedong categorically did not like the "debunking of the cult of personality" in the USSR. 
The Cultural Revolution Needs Enemies
The deterioration of relations between the two countries led to the fact that the issue of the border arose acutely.The Soviet Union did not renounce its previous promises, but bilateral consultations were not successful. The reason was sharp disagreements on global issues, reflected in the border issue.
Since the early 1960s, the number of minor incidents on the Soviet-Chinese border has been growing, usually related to the penetration of the Chinese into disputed territories. Usually, the Soviet border guards exhibited uninvited guests without any problems, but the behavior of the Chinese became more and more impudent. 
The "Cultural Revolution" in China that began in 1966 further aggravated relations between Moscow and Beijing. Comrade Mao pointed not only to internal but also to external enemies. The call to "smash the heads of the Soviet revisionists on the stones of Red Square" did not bode well.
“Where are the people? - Yes, everyone is on the ice, they are fighting with the Chinese!
By the beginning of 1969, representatives of the border troops reported to the Kremlin: China was preparing a major action on the border. Among the possible areas of future events, Damansky Island was also indicated. The directive of the Soviet leadership read: "Do not open fire, do not succumb to provocations!"
Meanwhile, on the border, things were already reaching hand-to-hand fights. The Soviet-Chinese border conflict in 1969.
A rampant crowd of Red Guards with quotes from Mao Zedong is trying to break into the territory of the USSR. Frame from the film "What happened on the Ussuri"
Yuri Babansky, one of the heroes of the events on Damansky, recalled: “We were sent to the 2nd outpost of the Iman border detachment, now the famous Nizhne-Mikhailovka. At that time there were intense fights going on. Almost every day on the ice of the Ussuri, fistfights broke out with the Red Guards, who made claims to our islands.
On the 25th of January I was thrown from a helicopter. I came to the outpost. Look, it's empty. To meet Kolya Dergach, fellow countryman, studied together at the vocational school. “Where are the people?” he asked. - “Yes, everyone is on the ice, they are fighting with the Chinese!” Then a car drove up for help: cooks, stokers. I grabbed someone's machine gun and together with everyone - forward. I remember it was a frosty sunny day. And I, who came from the detachment, sat up on the garrison "lip", warmed up a little there.
Junior Sergeant Yuri Babansky took command in the battle with the Chinese on Damansky Island after the death of Senior Lieutenant Strelnikov
The Chinese media accused the Soviet border guards of attacks on peaceful Chinese citizens. Public opinion was led to the idea that Soviet provocations deserved a tough and decisive response.
The last photo of Private Petrov
The border guards are on patrol. Border outpost "Nizhne-Mikhailovka"On the night of March 1-2, 1969, more than 70 Chinese troops crossed to Damansky and lay down on the high western coast of the island.
Their presence was not immediately detected by the Soviet side.
Around 10:20 local time on March 2, about three dozen Chinese border guards were discovered moving across the ice of the Ussuri River in the direction of the island.
Soviet-Chinese border conflict on Damansky Island in 1969. A chain of Chinese provocateurs is waiting for the Soviet border guards. The picture was taken by Private N. Petrov, who died in battle on March 2, 1969 while defending the Soviet Far Eastern border.
The head of the 2nd Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost of the 57th Iman border detachment, senior lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, with a group of 31 people in two cars and one armored personnel carrier, arrived at the southern tip of the island at about 10:40.
Here the border guards were divided into two groups. The first, led by Strelnikov himself, moved towards the Chinese, who were on the ice in front of the island. A group under the command of Sergeant Vladimir Rabovich was supposed to cut off the Chinese who moved inland. The border guards did not know about the prepared ambush. At 10:45 a.m. Senior Lieutenant Strelnikov protested the violation of the border and demanded that the Chinese servicemen leave the territory of the USSR.
Private Nikolai Petrov filmed what was happening on the camera. He was fond of photography, and at the outpost he was instructed to record Chinese provocations.
Private Petrov took his last picture seconds before his death. On it, the commander of the Chinese branch, Wu Yungao, makes a conventional hand sign: it was a signal for an ambush to open fire on Soviet border guards. The camera will be found in the sheepskin coat of the murdered Nikolai Petrov: his pictures will become documentary evidence of the first minutes of the battle on Damansky.
1969 The Chinese provoke our border guards on Damansky Island
They didn't back down
Everyone in Strelnikov's group died. Heavy fire was also opened on Rabovich's group, in which almost everyone was also destroyed.The command of the surviving border guards was taken over by junior sergeant Yuri Babansky. His squad was delayed with the advance from the outpost and managed to disperse, joining the battle together with the crew of the armored personnel carrier.
The advantage of the Chinese was overwhelming. After 20 minutes of the battle, eight people remained alive in the Babansky group, after 35 minutes - five.
A group of 23 border guards from the 1st outpost "Kulebyakiny Sopki" under the command of Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Bubenin came to their aid. 
Bubenin made a decisive contribution to the outcome of the battle on March 2. On his armored personnel carrier, he went to the rear of the Chinese, shooting the infantry. When the armored personnel carrier was hit, Bubenin and his subordinates returned to the Soviet coast, moved to the armored personnel carrier of the deceased Strelnikov and carried out a new attack. This time he managed to destroy the Chinese command post. However, while trying to evacuate the wounded, a second APC was also shot down.
But time has been won. The Chinese understood that new reinforcements were about to approach the border guards. Around 13:00, Chinese units began to withdraw from Damansky.
Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Bubenin, who was wounded in battle during a provocation on the Soviet-Chinese border on Damansky Island on the Ussuri River on March 2, 1969, is being treated in a hospital.
Messed up embassy
When reinforcements arrived at the battlefield at half past one, led by the commander of the Iman border detachment, Colonel Democrat Leonov, it only remained to sum up the bloody day.31 border guards were killed and 14 more were injured. According to data subsequently obtained through the channels of the KGB of the USSR, the losses of the Chinese on March 2 left about 39 people dead.
All this resembled the beginning of a war rather than a border incident. Moreover, the Chinese were not going to stop. The deployment of the 24th PLA Infantry Regiment with a total strength of about 5,000 began on their shore. Pravda and its Chinese counterpart, the People's Daily, exchanged angry editorials in which each side blamed the opponent.
A demonstration took place in front of the Soviet embassy in Beijing. In Moscow, the answer was yes, yes: the Chinese embassy was bombarded with vials of ink, as well as other polluting items.
The police looked on calmly. Nothing like this happened in the capital until 1999, when the bombing of Yugoslavia began and the demonstrators threw everything at the US embassy.
A protest demonstration outside the Chinese Embassy in Moscow against a provocation on the Soviet-Chinese border on Damansky Island on March 2, 1969.
ten to one
The directive of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU read: do not involve army units in the conflict, repel provocations by border guards.Nevertheless, the 135th motorized rifle division of the Soviet army with artillery was deployed in the rear of the border troops, as well as secret BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers at that time. They were to play a decisive role.
Soviet border guards went out on patrol in units of 10 people, while usually they include two or three people. Everyone understood that there would be a sequel. Sappers carried out mining in case of a Chinese attack.
E. Yanshin, participant in the battles on Damansky Island
On March 14, the Chinese again tried to enter the island, but were driven away. Having driven them out, the border guards, on the orders of the command, also left Damansky. Then the Chinese again repeated their attempt and were again driven away.
In the evening, the head of the motorized maneuver group of the 57th border detachment, Lieutenant Colonel Yanshin, received an order with a group of 44 people, supported by four armored personnel carriers, to take up positions on Damansky.
On March 15, 1969, the Chinese turned on the loudspeakers: they called on the border guards to abandon "revisionism" and "leave the territory of China."
A return broadcast was turned on from our shore: the Chinese were reminded of military friendship and joint struggle with the Japanese militarists.
Without persuading each other, the parties proceeded to active actions. Chinese artillery hit the positions of the border guards, mortars started to work. After that, against 45 fighters of the Yanshin group, three Chinese companies with a total number of up to 450 people went on the attack. The advantage of 1 to 10 began to affect. Despite the fierce resistance of the border guards, they began to be taken into the "ring". 4 T-62 tanks, commanded by Colonel Leonov, came forward to help. For some time, the advance of the Chinese was slowed down, but then the commander's tank was hit. Getting out of a burning car, Leonov died from a sniper's bullet.
Yanshin and his fighters were running out of ammunition, and around 15:00 they were ordered to retreat. Damansky came under the control of the Chinese.
Strikes "Grad"
The Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General Pavel Plotnikov, commanded units of the Soviet Army on the spot. He reported to the commander of the Far Eastern Military District, Lieutenant General Oleg Losik: Chinese units had occupied the island and were beginning to gain a foothold on it. It will not be possible to knock them out with the forces of the border guards, this will only lead to new losses.
Losik, like Plotnikov, was a Hero of the Soviet Union, he received his award for the liberation of Belarus. The two generals were well aware of the situation. General Losik around 17:00 allowed Plotnikov to use all the forces and means at his disposal.
A few minutes later, Grads hit the Chinese positions. This was the first combat use of forty-barreled installations, which released a full package of ammunition in 20 seconds.
Field Chinese telephone left on Soviet territory
The effect was amazing. A flurry of fire destroyed Chinese fortifications, mortar positions, ammunition, and equipment. How many Chinese soldiers and officers died is still unknown, radio interception data indicated that the number was in the hundreds.
After the strike of the Gradov and artillery, the border guards of the 2nd motorized rifle battalion of the 199th motorized rifle regiment went on the attack. The Chinese were driven out of Damansky. In the evening they attempted to launch a counterattack, but it was beaten off.
When it became clear that there would be no new attacks, the Soviet units were ordered to retreat to their own shore. The small island, soaked in Soviet and Chinese blood, was empty again.
In 1991 Damansky became Zhenbao
The Chinese side made no new attempts to resolve the problem by force. In Beijing, they realized that the USSR was ready for a big fight, although it was not eager to participate in it.There were no more major clashes: the Chinese tried to enter Damansky in small groups, but they were driven away by warning fire.
In September 1969, at the Beijing airport, the heads of government of the USSR and China, Alexei Kosygin and Zhou Enlai, held blitz talks, at which an agreement was reached on the cessation of hostilities.
At the same time, the Soviet side de facto recognized the Chinese claims to Damansky: the day before the negotiations, the border guards were ordered not to open fire on the Chinese, and they, taking advantage of this, went to the island.
The border on the Ussuri according to international standards, that is, along the main fairway, was already drawn up under Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1991, Damansky Island was officially transferred to the PRC, turning into Zhenbao ("Precious").
In conscience, of course, he should have been called Bloody.
They fought for their country
The border guards of the outpost "Nizhne-Mikhailovka" receive parcels and letters from the inhabitants of the USSR, which express admiration for the heroism and courage of the defenders of the border In the battles on Damansky, the Soviet army and border guards lost 58 people killed and 94 wounded. How many the Chinese lost is still unknown.
Five military personnel were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for participating in the battles on Damansky Island: Colonel Democrat Leonov (posthumously), Senior Lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov (posthumously), Junior Sergeant Vladimir Orekhov (posthumously), Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Bubenin, Junior Sergeant Yuri Babansky.
Several dozen people, dead and alive, were awarded orders and medals.
Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Bubenin, who was wounded and shell-shocked in the battles on Damansky, after being cured, entered the Lenin Military-Political Academy, and a few years later became the first commander of the legendary Alpha special unit.
Damansky conflict
Background of the conflict
The history of the origin of the conflict goes back to 1860, when China (then still the Qing Empire) ceded vast lands in Central Asia and Primorye to Russia under the Aigun and Beijing treaties.
After the Second World War in the Far East, the USSR received a very reliable and loyal ally in the form of the People's Republic of China. Soviet assistance in the war with Japan 1937-1945. and in civil war in China against the forces of the Kuomintang made the Chinese Communists very loyal to the Soviet Union. The USSR, in turn, willingly used the benefits of the created strategic situation.
However, already in 1950, peace in the Far East was destroyed by the war that broke out in Korea. This war was a logical consequence of the Cold War that had begun four years earlier. The desire of the two superpowers - the USSR and the United States - to unite the Korean Peninsula under the rule of a friendly regime led to bloodshed.
Initially, success was entirely on the side of communist Korea. Her troops managed to break the resistance of the small army of the South and rushed deep into South Korea. However, the US and UN forces soon came to the aid of the latter, as a result of which the offensive stopped. Already in the autumn of 1950, an assault was landed in the area of \u200b\u200bthe capital of the DPRK, the city of Seoul, in connection with which the North Korean army began a hasty retreat. The war threatened to end with the defeat of the North as early as October 1950.
In this situation, the threat of the emergence of a capitalist and clearly unfriendly state near the borders of China has increased more than ever. The specter of a civil war still hung over the PRC, so it was decided to intervene in the war in Korea on the side of the communist forces.
As a result, China became an "unofficial" participant in the conflict, and the course of the war changed again. In a very short time, the front line again fell to the 38th parallel, which practically coincided with the demarcation line before the war. Here the front stopped until the end of the conflict in 1953.
After the Korean War, in Soviet-Chinese relations, the most noticeable was the desire of China to get out of the "suzerainty" of the USSR in order to conduct its own, completely independent foreign policy. And the reason was not long in coming.
The gap between the USSR and China
In 1956, the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU was held in Moscow. It resulted in the Soviet leadership's rejection of the personality cult of I. V. Stalin and, in fact, a change in the country's foreign policy doctrine. In China, these changes were closely followed, but they were not enthusiastic about them. Ultimately, Khrushchev and his apparatus were declared revisionists in China, and the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party abruptly changed the foreign policy of the state.
That period in China is called the beginning of the "war of ideas between China and the USSR." The Chinese leadership put forward a number of demands on the Soviet Union (for example, the annexation of Mongolia, the transfer of nuclear weapons, etc.) and at the same time tried to show the United States and other capitalist countries that the PRC was no less an enemy of the USSR than they were.
The gap between the Soviet Union and China widened and deepened. In this regard, all Soviet specialists who worked there were taken out of the PRC. In the highest echelons of the USSR, irritation grew over the foreign policy of the "Maoists" (as the followers of Mao Zedong's policy were called). On the Chinese border, the Soviet leadership was forced to keep a very impressive grouping, being aware of the unpredictability of the Chinese government.
In 1968, events took place in Czechoslovakia, which later became known as the "Prague Spring". The change in the political course of the country's government led to the fact that already at the end of August of the same year, the Soviet leadership was forced to intervene in this process in order to avoid the beginning of the collapse of the Warsaw Pact. The troops of the USSR and other countries of the Warsaw Pact were introduced into Czechoslovakia.
The Chinese leadership condemned the actions of the Soviet side, as a result of which relations between the countries deteriorated to the limit. But as it turned out, the worst was yet to come. By March 1969, the situation for a military conflict was fully ripe. It was fueled by the provocations from the Chinese side that took place in huge numbers since the early 1960s. Not only the Chinese military often entered Soviet territory, but also peasants, defiantly engaged in economic activities in front of the Soviet border guards. Nevertheless, all violators were expelled back without the use of weapons.
By the end of the 1960s, full-fledged clashes involving servicemen from both sides took place in the area of \u200b\u200bDamansky Island and other parts of the Soviet-Chinese border. The scale and audacity of the provocations grew steadily.
The Chinese leadership pursued the goal of not only and not so much a military victory as a clear demonstration to the US leadership that the PRC is an enemy of the USSR, and therefore, can be, if not an ally, then at least a reliable partner of the United States.
Fighting March 2, 1969
On the night of March 1-2, 1969, a group of Chinese military personnel numbering from 70 to 80 people crossed the Ussuri River and landed on the western coast of Damansky Island. Until 10:20 am, the group remained unnoticed by the Soviet side, as a result of which the Chinese soldiers had the opportunity to conduct reconnaissance and plan further actions based on the situation.
At about 10:20 a.m. on March 2 soviet post observation spotted a group of Chinese military personnel on Soviet territory. A group of border guards headed by the head of the 2nd Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost, senior lieutenant I. Strelnikov, left for the place of violation of the USSR border. Upon arrival on the island, the group split up. The first unit, under the command of I. Strelnikov, moved in the direction of the Chinese military personnel stationed on the ice near the southwestern tip of Damansky Island; another group under the command of Sergeant V. Rabovich moved along the coast of the island, cutting off a group of Chinese troops advancing deep into Damansky.
After about 5 minutes, Strelnikov's group approached the Chinese servicemen. I. Strelnikov protested to them in connection with the violation of the state border of the USSR, but the Chinese in response suddenly opened fire. At the same time, another group of Chinese soldiers opened fire on the group of V. Rabovich, as a result of which the Soviet border guards were taken by surprise. In a short-lived battle, both Soviet groups were almost completely destroyed.
The shooting on the island was heard by the head of the neighboring 1st outpost "Kulebyakiny Sopki" senior lieutenant V. Bubenin. He decided to advance with 23 fighters in an armored personnel carrier towards Damansky to help his neighbors. However, approaching the island, the senior lieutenant's group was forced to take up defense, because the Chinese troops went on the offensive in order to capture Damansky Island. Nevertheless, the Soviet military personnel courageously and stubbornly defended the territory, not allowing the enemy to throw them into the river.
Realizing that this state of affairs could not continue for a long time, Senior Lieutenant Bubenin made a very brave decision, which, in fact, decided the outcome of the battles for Damansky Island on March 2. Its essence was to raid the rear of the Chinese group with the aim of disorganizing it. On the BTR-60PB, V. Bubenin went to the rear of the Chinese, skirting the northern part of Damansky Island, inflicting serious damage on the enemy. However, Bubenin's armored personnel carrier was soon shot down, as a result of which the commander decided to get to the armored personnel carrier of the murdered senior lieutenant I. Strelnikov. This plan was successful, and soon V. Bubenin continued to move along the orders of the Chinese troops, inflicting losses on the enemy. So, as a result of this raid, the Chinese command post was also destroyed, but soon the second armored personnel carrier was hit.
The group of surviving border guards was commanded by junior sergeant Yu. Babansky. The Chinese did not manage to force them out of the island, and already at 13 o'clock the violators began to withdraw troops from the island.
As a result of the fighting on March 2, 1969, on Damansky Island, Soviet troops lost 31 people killed and 14 wounded. The Chinese side, according to Soviet data, lost 39 people killed.
Situation 2-14 March 1969
Immediately after the end of the fighting on Damansky Island, the command of the Imansky Border Detachment arrived here to plan further action and prevent further provocations.
As a result, it was decided to strengthen the border detachments on the island, the transfer of additional forces of border guards. In addition to this, the 135th motorized rifle division was deployed in the area of the island, reinforced with the latest Grad multiple rocket launchers. At the same time, the 24th Infantry Regiment was deployed from the Chinese side for further operations against the Soviet troops.
However, the parties were not limited to military maneuvers. On March 3, 1969, a demonstration was held at the Soviet embassy in Beijing. Its participants demanded that the Soviet leadership "stop aggressive actions against the Chinese people." At the same time, Chinese newspapers published false and propaganda materials claiming that Soviet troops had allegedly invaded Chinese territory and fired on Chinese troops.
On the Soviet side, an article was published in the Pravda newspaper, in which the Chinese provocateurs were branded with shame. There, the course of events was described more reliably and objectively. On March 7, the Chinese embassy in Moscow was picketed, demonstrators pelted it with ink vials.
Thus, the events of March 2-14 essentially did not change the course of events, and it became clear that new provocations on the Soviet-Chinese border were not far off.
Fights March 14-15, 1969
At 3 pm on March 14, 1969, Soviet troops received an order to leave Damansky Island. Immediately after that, the island began to occupy the Chinese military. To prevent this, the Soviet side sent 8 armored personnel carriers to Damansky, seeing which, the Chinese immediately retreated to their shore.
By the evening of the same day, the Soviet border guards were ordered to occupy the island. Shortly thereafter, a group under the command of Lieutenant Colonel E. Yanshin carried out the order. On the morning of March 15, from 30 to 60 barrels of Chinese artillery suddenly opened fire on Soviet troops, after which three companies of the Chinese went on the offensive. However, the enemy failed to break the resistance of the Soviet troops and capture the island.
However, the situation was becoming critical. In order not to allow the Yanshin group to be destroyed, another group under the command of Colonel D. Leonov advanced to help her, which entered into a head-on battle with the Chinese at the southern tip of the island. In this battle, the colonel died, but at the cost of serious losses, his group managed to hold their positions and inflict significant damage on the enemy troops.
Two hours later, the Soviet troops, which had used up ammunition, were forced to begin a withdrawal from the island. Taking advantage of the numerical advantage, the Chinese began to re-occupy the island. However, at the same time, the Soviet leadership decided to launch a fire strike on the enemy forces from the Grad installations, which was done at about 17 hours. The result of the artillery strike was simply stunning: the Chinese suffered huge losses, their mortars and guns were disabled, the ammunition and reinforcements that were on the island were almost completely destroyed.
10-20 minutes after the artillery preparation, the motorized riflemen went on the offensive together with the border guards under the command of lieutenant colonels Smirnov and Konstantinov, and the Chinese troops hurriedly left the island. At about 19:00, the Chinese launched a series of counterattacks, which quickly bogged down, as a result of which the situation remained practically unchanged.
As a result of the events of March 14-15, Soviet troops suffered losses of 27 people killed and 80 wounded. Chinese casualties were strictly classified, but it can be tentatively said that they range from 60 to 200 people. The main part of these losses, the Chinese suffered from the fire of Grad multiple rocket launchers.
Five Soviet servicemen were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the heroism shown in the battles on Damansky Island. These are Colonel D. Leonov (posthumously), Senior Lieutenant I. Strelnikov (posthumously), Junior Sergeant V. Orekhov (posthumously), Senior Lieutenant V. Bubenin, Junior Sergeant Yu. Babansky. Also, approximately 150 people were awarded other government awards.
Consequences of the conflict
Immediately after the end of the battles for Damansky Island, Soviet troops were withdrawn across the Ussuri River. Soon the ice on the river broke, and the crossing for the Soviet border guards was very difficult, which was used by the Chinese military. At the same time, contacts between Soviet and Chinese troops were reduced only to machine-gun skirmishes, which were put to an end in September 1969. By this time, the Chinese had effectively occupied the island.
However, provocations on the Soviet-Chinese border did not stop after the conflict on Damansky Island. So, already in August of the same year, another major Soviet-Chinese border conflict took place - the incident at Lake Zhalanashkol. As a result, relations between the two states reached a truly critical point - a nuclear war between the USSR and the PRC was closer than ever.
Another result of the border conflict on Damansky Island was that the Chinese leadership realized that it was impossible to continue its aggressive policy towards its northern neighbor. The deplorable state of the Chinese army, once again revealed during the conflict, only strengthened this guess.
The result of this border conflict was a change in the state border between the USSR and China, as a result of which Damansky Island came under the control of the PRC.
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and Chinese People's Republic. The Daman conflict is another indicator of human irresponsibility and cynicism. Calm had not yet reigned in the world after the Second World War, and pockets of armed confrontation arose here and there. And before colliding face to face, the USSR and China actively participated in various confrontations that did not directly concern them.
background
After the Second Opium War ended, countries such as France, Russia and Great Britain were able to sign treaties with China on favorable terms. So, in 1860, Russia supported the Beijing Treaty, according to its terms, a border was drawn along the Chinese bank of the Amur, and Chinese peasants did not have the right to use it.
For a long time, the countries maintained friendly relations. The frontier population was sparse, so there were no conflicts about who owned the deserted river islands.
In 1919, the Paris Peace Conference was held, as a result, a provision on state borders appeared. It stated that the border should run in the middle of the main fairway of the river. As an exception, it could pass along the coast, but only in two cases:
- This is how it happened historically.
- As a result of the colonization of land by one of the parties.
At first, this decision did not provoke any disagreements and misunderstandings. Only after a while, the provision on state borders was taken seriously, and it became an additional reason for the emergence of the Daman conflict.
In the late 1950s, China began to seek to increase its international influence, therefore, without much delay, it entered into conflict with Taiwan (1958), and took an active part in the border war with India. Also, the PRC has not forgotten about the provision on state borders and decided to use it to revise the existing Sino-Soviet borders.
The ruling elite of the Soviet Union was not opposed, and in 1964 a consultation was held on border issues. True, it ended to no avail - everything remained the same as it was. During the Cultural Revolution in the PRC and after the Prague Spring, the Chinese government declared that the Soviet Union began to support "socialist imperialism", relations between the countries escalated even more. And at the center of this conflict was the island question.
What else could be the prerequisites for the Daman conflict?
After World War II, China became a powerful ally for the USSR. The Soviet Union provided assistance to China in the war with Japan and supported in the civil war against the forces of the Kuomintang. The Chinese communists began to be loyal to the USSR, and there was a short calm.
This fragile peace continued until 1950, when the Cold War broke out between Russia and the United States. Two big countries wanted to unite the Korean peninsula, but their "noble" aspirations led to global bloodshed.
At that time, the peninsula split into communist and South Korea. Each of the parties was sure that it was their vision of the country's development that was true; on this basis, an armed confrontation arose. At first, communist Korea was in the lead in the war, but then to the aid of South Korea came America and the UN forces. China did not stand aside, the government understood that if South Korea, then the country will have a strong enemy who will certainly attack sooner or later. Therefore, the PRC is on the side of communist Korea.
During the conduct of hostilities, the front line shifted to the 38th parallel and remained there until the end of the war, until 1953. When the confrontation subsided, the PRC government rethought its position in the international arena. China decides to get out of the influence of the USSR and pursue its own foreign policy, which would not depend on anyone.
This opportunity presented itself in 1956. At that time, the 20th Congress of the CPSU was held in Moscow, at which it was decided to abandon the personality cult of Stalin and radically change the foreign policy doctrine. The PRC was not enthusiastic about such innovations, the country began to call Khrushchev's policy revisionist, and the country chose a completely different foreign policy course.
This split became known as the war of ideas between China and the Soviet Union. If the opportunity arose, the PRC tried to show that it was opposed to the USSR, like some other countries of the world.
In 1968, a period of liberalization (Prague Spring) began in Czechoslovakia. The first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubchenko, proposed reforms that significantly expanded the rights and freedoms of citizens and also assumed the decentralization of power in the country. The inhabitants of the state supported such changes, but for the USSR they were not acceptable, so the Soviet Union sent troops into the country. This action was condemned by the PRC, this became another, really real reason for the start of the Daman conflict.
Feelings of superiority or deliberate provocation
Historians argue that as a result of the aggravation of relations between countries in the USSR, a sense of superiority over the inhabitants of China began to be cultivated. Russian border guards chose the exact location of the border for deployment and frightened Chinese fishermen by driving boats near their boats at high speed.
Although according to other sources, it was the Chinese side that arranged the provocations. The peasants crossed the border and went about their business, not paying attention to the border guards, who had to catch them and send them back. The weapon was not used.
Perhaps these were the main causes of the Daman conflict.
Islands
O. Damansky at that time was part of the Pozharsky district of Primorsky Krai, on the Chinese side it was located not far from the main channel of the Ussuri River. The size of the island was small: the length from north to south was approximately 1700 meters, from west to east - 600-700. total area- 0.74 km 2. When floods come, the land is completely submerged. But despite this, there are several brick buildings on the island, and water meadows are a valuable natural resource.
Due to the increased number of provocations from China, the situation on the island became more and more tense. If in 1960 there were about 100 illegal border crossings, then in 1962 their number increased to 5 thousand. The conflict on Damansky Island was approaching.
Information began to appear about the attack of the Red Guards on the border guards. Such situations were not isolated, their number was already in the thousands.
On January 4, 1969, the first mass provocation was carried out on Kirkinsky Island, more than 500 Chinese residents took part in it.
To our time, the memoirs of a junior sergeant who served at the frontier post that year, Yuri Babansky, have survived:
In February, he was unexpectedly appointed to the post of commander of the outpost section, the head of which was Senior Lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov. I come to the outpost, and there, except for the cook, there is no one. “Everything,” he says, “is on the shore, they are fighting with the Chinese.” Of course, I have a machine gun on my shoulder - and to the Ussuri. And there is actually a fight. Chinese border guards crossed the Ussuri on the ice and invaded our territory. So Strelnikov raised the outpost "in the gun." Our guys were both taller and healthier. But the Chinese are not born with a bast - dexterous, evasive; they do not climb on the fist, they try in every possible way to dodge our blows. While everyone was thrashed, an hour and a half passed. But without a single shot. Only in the face. Even then I thought: "Merry Outpost".
These were the first prerequisites for the conflict on Damansky Island. According to the Chinese version, it was the Russians who acted as provocateurs. They beat Chinese citizens for no reason who were peacefully going about their business on their own territory. During the Kirkinsky Incident, the Soviet military used armored personnel carriers to force out civilians, and on February 7, 1969, they fired several automatic shots at the Chinese border guards.
True, no matter whose fault these clashes were, they could not lead to a serious armed conflict without the approval of the government.
Culprits
Now the most common opinion is that the military conflict on Damansky Island was a planned action by China. Even Chinese historians directly or indirectly write about this in their writings.
Li Danhui wrote that at the end of the 60s of the last century, the directives of the CPC Central Committee forbade the Chinese to respond to the "provocations" of Soviet soldiers, only on 01/25/1969 it was allowed to plan retaliatory military operations. Three companies of soldiers were brought in for this purpose. On February 19, the decision on retaliatory military operations was approved by the General Staff and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC. There is also an opinion that Marshal Lin Biao warned the USSR government in advance about the upcoming action, which then turned into a conflict.
An American intelligence bulletin, which was released on July 13, 1969, said that China was conducting propaganda, the main ideas of which emphasized the need to unite citizens and urged them to prepare for war.
Sources also say that intelligence informed the forces of the Soviet Union about the armed provocation in a timely manner. In any case, the impending attack was somehow known. In addition, it was hard not to notice that the Chinese leadership wanted not so much to defeat the USSR as to clearly demonstrate to America that it was also an enemy of the Soviet Union, and therefore could be a reliable partner for the United States.
The beginning of the conflict. March 1969
The conflict with China on Damansky Island in 1969 began on the first night of March - from the 1st to the 2nd. A group of Chinese soldiers of 80 people crossed the Ussuri River and landed in the western part of the island. Until 10 am, no one noticed these unauthorized intruders, as a result, the Chinese military was able to improve the location and plan further actions.
At about 10:20 a.m., Chinese military personnel were spotted at a Soviet observation post.
A group of Russian border guards headed by Senior Lieutenant Strelnikov immediately went to the place of violation of the border. Arriving on the island, they were divided into two subgroups: one led by Strelnikov went to the Chinese military, the other, led by Sergeant Rabovich, moved along the coast, thereby cutting off the Chinese military group from moving inland.
The Chinese conflict on Damansky began in the morning, when Strelnikov's group approached the violators and protested against the unauthorized invasion. The Chinese soldiers suddenly opened fire. At the same time, they open fire on Rabovich's group. The Soviet border guards were taken by surprise and almost completely destroyed.
The conflict on March 2, 1969 on Damansky Island did not end there. The shots were heard by the head of the Kulebyakiny Sopki outpost, which was located next door, Senior Lieutenant Bubenin. He quickly decided to advance with 23 fighters to help. But as soon as they approached the island, Bubenin's group was forced to immediately take up a defensive position. The Chinese military launched an offensive operation with the goal of completely capturing Damansky Island. Soviet soldiers courageously defended the territory, not giving the Chinese the opportunity to throw themselves into the river.
True, such a conflict on the Damansky Peninsula could not continue for a long time. Lieutenant Bubenin made a fateful decision, which on March 2 determined the outcome of the battle for the island. Sitting on an armored personnel carrier, Bubenin went to the rear of the Chinese troops, thereby trying to completely disorganize them. True, the armored personnel carrier was soon knocked out, but this did not stop Bubenin, he got to the transport of the murdered lieutenant Strelnikov and continued his movement. As a result of this raid, the command post was destroyed, the enemy suffered serious losses. At 13:00, the Chinese began to withdraw troops from the island.
Due to the military conflict between the USSR and China on Damansky Island on March 2, the Soviet army lost 31 people, 14 were wounded. According to Soviet data, the Chinese side was left without 39 soldiers.
Events from 2 to 14 March 1969
After the end of the first stage of the military conflict, the military command of the Imansky border detachment arrived on the Damansky Peninsula. They planned activities that could stop similar provocations in the future. It was decided to increase the border detachments. As an additional increase in combat capability, the 135th motorized rifle division settled in the area of the island with the latest Grads in its arsenal. On the Chinese side, the 24th Infantry Regiment was put up against the Soviet army.
True, the countries did not limit themselves to military maneuvers: organizing a demonstration in the center of the capital is a sacred thing. So, on March 3, a demonstration took place near the Soviet embassy in Beijing, the participants of which demanded an end to aggressive actions. Also, the Chinese press began to publish completely implausible and propaganda materials. The publications said that the Soviet army invaded China and opened fire on the troops.
The Moscow newspaper Pravda also did not remain indifferent and expressed its point of view on the border conflict on Damansky Island. Here the events that took place were more reliably described. On March 7, the Chinese embassy in Moscow was picketed and pelted with ink vials, apparently the public learned about the implausible rumors that were circulating among the Chinese about the Soviet army.
Whatever it was, and such provocative actions on March 2-14 did not significantly affect the course of events, a new border conflict on Damansky Island was just around the corner.
Fight in the middle of March
On March 14, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Soviet army received an order to retreat, the Russian participants in the Daman conflict had to leave the island. Immediately after the retreat of the Soviet army, the territory of the island began to be occupied by the Chinese military.
The government of the USSR could not calmly look at the current situation, obviously, the border conflict on Damansky Island in 1969 was forced to move to the second stage. The Soviet army sent 8 armored personnel carriers to the island, as soon as the Chinese noticed them, they immediately moved to their shore. On the evening of March 14, the Soviet border guards were ordered to occupy the island, a group under the command of Lieutenant Colonel E. Yanshin immediately carried it out.
On March 15, fire was opened on Soviet troops in the morning. The Daman conflict of 1969 entered its second phase. According to intelligence data, about 60 enemy artillery barrels fired at the Soviet troops, after the shelling, three companies of Chinese fighters went on the offensive. However, the enemy did not succeed in capturing the island, the Daman conflict of 1969 was just beginning.
After the situation became critical, reinforcements advanced to the Yanshin group, a group led by Colonel D. Leonov. The newly arrived soldiers immediately entered into battle with the Chinese in the south of the island. In this conflict on Damansky Island (1969), Colonel Leonov dies, his group suffers serious losses, but still does not leave their positions and inflicts damage on the enemy.
Two hours after the start of the battle, the ammunition was used up, and the Soviet troops had to retreat from Damansky Island. The 1969 conflict did not end there: the Chinese felt their numerical advantage and began to occupy the vacated territory. But at the same time, the Soviet leadership gives the green light to the use of Grads to deliver a fire strike on enemy forces. At about 5 pm, Soviet troops opened fire. The Chinese suffered heavy losses, mortars were disabled, ammunition and reinforcements were completely destroyed.
Half an hour after the artillery attack, motorized riflemen began to attack the Chinese, followed by border guards under the command of lieutenant colonels Konstantinov and Smirnov. The Chinese troops had no choice but to hastily leave the island. The conflict with China on the Damansky Peninsula continued at seven o'clock in the evening - the Chinese decided to counterattack. True, their efforts were fruitless, and the position of the Chinese army in this war did not change significantly.
During the hostilities on March 14-15, the Soviet army lost 27 soldiers, 80 were wounded. As for the losses in the Daman conflict of the Chinese side, these data were strictly classified. Tentatively, it can be assumed that they lost about 200 people.
Confrontation Settlement
During the conflict with China on the Damansky Peninsula, Soviet troops lost 58 people, among the dead were four officer soldiers, 94 people were injured, including 9 officers. What losses the Chinese side suffered is still unknown, this is classified information, and historians only assume that the number of dead Chinese soldiers ranges from 100 to 300 people. Biocin County is located memorial cemetery, on which the ashes of 68 Chinese soldiers rest, who died in the Daman conflict in 1969. One of the Chinese defectors said that there were other burials, so the number of buried soldiers could exceed 300 people.
As for the side of the Soviet Union, five military men received the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" for their heroism. Among them:
- Colonel Democrat Vladimirovich Leonov - the title was awarded posthumously.
- Senior Lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Strelnikov - awarded posthumously.
- Junior Sergeant Vladimir Viktorovich Orekhov - received the rank posthumously.
- Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Dmitrievich Bubenin.
- Junior Sergeant Yuri Vasilyevich Babansky.
Many border guards and military personnel received state awards. For conducting hostilities on Damansky Island, the participants were awarded.
- Three orders of Lenin.
- Ten Orders of the Red Banner.
- Order of the Red Star (31 pieces).
- Ten Orders of Glory, Third Class.
- Medal "For Courage" (63 pieces).
- Medal "For Military Merit" (31 pcs.).
During the operation, the Soviet army left the T-62 tank on enemy soil, but due to constant shelling, it could not be returned. There was an attempt to destroy vehicle from a mortar, but this idea was not crowned with success - the tank ingloriously fell through the ice. True, a little later, the Chinese were able to pull it to their shore. It is currently a priceless exhibit in the Beijing Military Museum.
After hostilities ended, Soviet troops left the territory of Damansky Island. Soon the ice around the island began to melt, and it was difficult for Soviet soldiers to cross to its territory with their former agility. The Chinese took advantage of this situation and immediately took up positions on the lands of the border islands. To interfere with the plans of the enemy, Soviet soldiers fired at him with cannons, but this did not give a tangible result.
The Damansky conflict did not stop there. In August of the same year, another large Soviet-Chinese armed conflict took place. It went down in history as an incident near Lake Zhalanashkol. Relations between states have indeed reached a critical point. The possibility of starting a nuclear war was closer than ever between the USSR and the PRC.
Provocations and military clashes along the Soviet-Chinese border continued until September. As a result of the border conflict, the leadership was nevertheless able to realize that it was impossible to continue an aggressive policy towards the northern neighbor. The condition in which the Chinese army was, only once again confirmed this idea.
September 10, 1969 received an order to cease fire. Apparently, in this way they tried to create a favorable environment for political negotiations, which began the day after receiving the order at the Beijing airport.
As soon as the shooting stopped, the Chinese immediately took up stronger positions on the islands. This situation played an important role in the negotiations. On September 11, in Beijing, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR A.N. Kosygin, who was returning from the funeral of Ho Chi Minh, and Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai met and agreed that it was time to stop hostilities and all sorts of hostile actions. They also agreed that the troops would remain in the positions they had previously taken. Roughly speaking, Damansky Island passed into the possession of China.
Negotiation
Naturally, this state of affairs did not please the government of the USSR, so on October 20, 1969, another negotiations took place between the Soviet Union and the PRC. During these negotiations, the countries agreed that it was necessary to revise the documents confirming the position of the Soviet-Chinese border.
After that, a whole series of negotiations were carried out, which were alternately held either in Moscow or in Beijing. And only in 1991, Damansky Island finally became the property of the PRC (although de facto this happened back in 1969).
Nowadays
In 2001, the archives of the KGB of the USSR declassified photographs of the discovered bodies of Soviet soldiers. The images clearly indicated the presence of the fact of abuse from the Chinese side. All materials were transferred to the Dalnerechensk Historical Museum.
In 2010, a series of articles was published in a French newspaper stating that the USSR was preparing a nuclear strike against the PRC in the fall of 1969. The materials referred to the People's Daily newspaper. A similar publication appeared in the print media in Hong Kong. According to these data, America refused to remain neutral in the event of a nuclear attack on China. The articles stated that on October 15, 1969, the United States threatened to attack 130 Soviet cities in the event of an attack on the PRC. True, the researchers do not specify from which sources such data were taken and themselves admit the fact that other experts do not agree with these statements.
The Daman conflict is considered a serious disagreement between two powerful states, which almost led to tragedy. But no one can say how true this is. Each country held to its own point of view, disseminated the information that was beneficial to it, and furiously concealed the truth. As a result, dozens of lost lives and ruined destinies.
War is always a tragedy. And we, those who are far from politics and the noble desire to shed blood for a lofty ideal, are completely incomprehensible why it is necessary to take up arms without fail. Mankind has long since left the caves, cave drawings of old times have become quite understandable speech, and besides, you no longer need to hunt for survival. But the rituals of human sacrifice have been transformed and turned into completely legitimate armed confrontations.
The Daman conflict is another indicator of human irresponsibility and cynicism. It seems that the tragedy of the Second World War should have taught the rulers of all countries of the world one simple truth: "War is bad." Although this is bad only for those who do not return from the battlefield, for the rest of any confrontation, you can get some benefit - "here's a medal for you, and disappear completely." This principle was also applied during the Damansky conflict: the soldiers were sure that the enemy was provoking them, while government officials, meanwhile, resolved their issues. Some historians believe that the conflict was only an excuse to divert public attention from what is really going on in the world.
