Military conflict with China in Daman. Damansky, Dulaty, Zhalanashkol - unknown pages in the history of the Soviet-Chinese conflict

45 years ago, a conflict began on the Sino-Soviet border. During the clashes, 58 Soviet soldiers and officers were killed. However, at the cost of their lives, they managed to stop the great war.

Daman (Zhengbaodao)  - a small uninhabited island on the Ussuri River. It is about 1500-1700 m long and about 500 m wide. The island was 47 m from the Chinese and 120 m from the Soviet coast. However, in accordance with the Beijing Treaty of 1860 and the map of 1861, the border line between the two states ran not along the fairway, but along the Chinese coast of Ussuri. Thus, the island itself was an integral part of Soviet territory.

In the spring of 1969, the CPC Central Committee set about preparing for the IX Congress of the CPC. In this regard, the Chinese leadership was very interested in a "victorious" conflict on the Sino-Soviet border. First, striking the USSR could rally the people under the banner of the "great helmsman." Secondly, a border conflict would confirm Mao’s right to turn China into a military camp and prepare for war. In addition, the incident guaranteed the generals a solid representation in the country's leadership and the expansion of the powers of the military.

In mid-1968, the Chinese military leadership studied the option of striking in the Suifenhe area. Here, the main posts of the Soviet border guards were located near the territory of the PRC and it was not difficult to capture them. To solve this problem, units of the 16th Field Army were sent to Suifenh. However, ultimately the choice fell on Damansky Island. According to Li Danhui, an employee of the Research Institute of Contemporary China of the Academy of Social Sciences of the PRC, the Damansky region was not chosen by chance. On the one hand, as a result of border negotiations in 1964, this island supposedly already departed to China, and, therefore, the reaction of the Soviet side should not have been too stormy. On the other hand, Damansky since 1947 was under the control of the Soviet army, and, therefore, the effect of the action on this section of the border would be greater than in the region of other islands. In addition, the Chinese side took into account that the Soviet Union in the place chosen for the attack has not yet created a sufficiently reliable base, which is necessary for conducting offensive operations, and, therefore, will not be able to deliver a large-scale retaliatory strike.

On January 25, 1969, a group of officers from the Shenyang Military District completed the development of a combat plan (code name "Retribution"). For its implementation, it was supposed to use about three infantry companies and a number of military units secretly located on Damansky Island. On February 19, the plan, code-named "Retaliation," was approved by the General Staff, agreed with the Foreign Ministry, and then approved by the CPC Central Committee and personally by Mao Zedong.

By order of the PLA General Staff, border outposts in the Damansky area were given at least one reinforced platoon converted into 2-3 patrol groups. The success of the action was to provide a surprise factor. After completing the task, a quick withdrawal of all forces to previously prepared positions was provided.

Moreover, special attention was paid to the importance of seizing from the enemy evidence of his guilt in aggression - samples of Soviet weapons, photo documents, etc.

Further events unfolded as follows.

On the night of March 1 to 2, 1969, a large number of Chinese military personnel secretly concentrated on their shore of the island. It was later established that it was a regular PLA battalion, numbering more than 500 people, with a five-troop structure supported by two mortar and one artillery batteries. They were armed with recoilless guns, large-caliber and easel machine guns, and hand grenade launchers. The battalion was manned and armed in wartime states. Subsequently, there was evidence that he had undergone six months of special training for conducting military operations at the border. That same night, with the help of three infantry companies of about 300 people, they entered the island and took up defense along the boundary of the natural rampart. All Chinese servicemen were dressed in camouflage uniforms, and their weapons were fitted in such a way that they did not make an unnecessary sound (ramrods were flooded with paraffin, bayonets were wrapped in paper so they would not shine, etc.).

The positions of two 82-mm batteries and artillery (45-mm guns), as well as heavy machine guns, were positioned so that direct fire could be fired at Soviet vehicles and personnel. Mortar batteries, as combat analysis later showed, had clear firing coordinates. On the island itself, the battalion’s fire system was organized so that it was possible to conduct barrage fire from all fire weapons to a depth of 200 to 300 meters, along the entire front of the battalion.

March 2 at 10.20 (local time) from the Soviet observation posts received information about the nomination by the Chinese border post "Gunsy" of two groups of military personnel of 18 and 12 people. They defiantly headed towards the Soviet border. The chief of the Nizhne-Mikhaylovka outpost, senior lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, received permission to expel the Chinese, with a group of border guards on the BTR-60PB (No. 04) and two cars advanced to meet the offenders. The chiefs of neighboring outposts V. Bubenin and Shorokhov were also informed about the incident. The chief of the Kulebyakiny Sopa outpost, senior lieutenant V. Bubenin, was ordered to insure Strelnikov’s group. It should be said that, despite the fact that the Chinese were pulling up military units in their immediate border area for a week, and before that they had been improving the way out to the border for a long time, no measures were taken to strengthen the outposts or military surveillance by the command of the Pacific Border District It was. Moreover, on the day of the Chinese invasion, the Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost was only half-staffed. On the day of events at the outpost, instead of three state officers, there was only one - senior lieutenant I. Strelnikov. A bit more personnel were at the Kulebyakiny Sopa outpost.

At 10.40, Senior Lieutenant I. Strelnikov arrived at the scene of the violation, ordered his subordinates to dismount, take the assault rifles "to the belt" and turn around in a chain. Border guards broke into two groups. The main commander was Strelnikov. The second group of 13 people was led by Junior Sergeant Rabovich. They covered Strelnikov’s group from the shore. Approaching the Chinese about twenty meters, Strelnikov said something to them, then raised his hand and pointed towards the Chinese coast.
The head of the outpost is Senior Lieutenant I. Strelnikov.
Private Nikolai Petrov, who was behind him, was taking pictures and filming, fixing the fact of breaking the border and the procedure for expelling the violators. He took several frames with the Zorkiy-4 FED camera, and then raised the movie camera. At that moment, one of the Chinese waved a sharp hand.

LAST PICTURES TAKEN BY PHOTOCHRONICER SERIES N. PETROV. THROUGH A MINUTE, THE CHINESE WILL OPEN A FIRE FOR A DECEASE AND PETERS WILL BE KILLED.

The first line of the Chinese parted, and the soldiers standing in the second line opened automatic fire on the Soviet border guards. Shooting was carried out at close range from 1-2 meters. The outpost commander, senior lieutenant I. Strelnikov, detective of the special department of the 57th border detachment, senior lieutenant N. Buinevich, N. Petrov, I. Vetrich, A. Ionin, V. Izotov, A. Shestakov, died on the spot. At the same time, fire was launched from the side of the island against the Rabovich group. It was fired from machine guns, machine guns and grenade launchers. Several border guards were killed immediately, the rest scattered and returned fire. However, being almost in open space, they were very soon completely destroyed. After that, the Chinese began to finish off the wounded with bayonets and knives. Some gouged out their eyes. Of the two groups of our border guards, only one survived - ordinary Gennady Serebrov. He received bullet wounds in the right hand, leg and lower back, a "control" hit with a bayonet, but survived. Later, Serebrov, who had lost consciousness, was taken out by border guard sailors from the brigade of patrol boats, who arrived to the aid of the Novo-Mikhailovka outpost.

By this time, a group of junior sergeant Y. Babansky arrived at the scene of the battle, lagging behind Strelnikov (the group was delayed in transit due to a technical malfunction of the machine). The border guards dispersed and fired on the Chinese who are lying on the island. In response, the PLA soldiers opened fire from machine guns, machine guns and mortars. The mortar fire was concentrated on the armored personnel carriers and cars standing on the ice. As a result, one of the cars - GAZ-69 was destroyed, the other GAZ-66 was badly damaged. A few minutes later, the crew of armored personnel carrier No. 4 came to the rescue of Babansky. He put down the enemy firing points using tower machine guns, which made it possible for the five surviving border guards of the Babansky group to escape from the fire.


10-15 minutes after the start of the battle, a man-group from the 1st Kulebyakiny hills frontier guard commanded by Senior Lieutenant V. Bubenin approached the scene of the battle.

“Having landed from the APC, under the cover of the east coast,” V. Bubenin recalls, “we turned into a chain and jumped out onto the island. It’s about 300 meters from the place where the tragedy just happened. But we did not know about it yet. We there were 23 people, in combat order, they began to move in the direction of fading fire. When they went down about 50 meters, they saw that they were attacking us from the shaft to the platoon of Chinese soldiers. They ran towards us, screamed and fired. The distance between us was from 150 to 200 meters It contracted rapidly. I not only heard the shooting "but he also saw well that flames were coming out of the trunks. He understood that the battle had begun, but he also hoped that it was not true. He hoped that they would take fright at idle."

With a decisive attack, the Chinese were driven back behind the bulk wall on the island. Despite the injury, Bubenin, leading the survivors, bypassed the island on an armored personnel carrier, suddenly attacked the Chinese from the rear.

“A dense mass of Chinese,” writes V. Bubenin, “after jumping off a steep bank, rushed to the island through the channel. The distance to them was up to 200 meters. I opened fire with both machine guns to defeat. Our appearance in their rear turned out to be so much for them unexpectedly, that the running crowd drastically slowed down and stopped, as if it had stumbled upon a concrete wall. They were completely at a loss. They didn’t even fire at first. The distance between us was quickly decreasing. The gunners also fell in. The Chinese fell as if knocked down, many turned and threw they climbed to their shore, they climbed onto it, but, slain, crawled down. The Chinese opened fire on their own, trying to return them to battle. Everything mixed up in this heap, fighting, ebullient. Those who were deployed began to make their way to the island. At some point, they were so close that we shot them at point blank range, hit them with the side and crushed the wheels. "

Despite the death of many border guards, the second wound of V. Bubenin and the damage to the APC, the battle continued. Reseeding on the armored personnel carrier of the 2nd outpost, Bubenin hit the Chinese on the flank. As a result of an unexpected attack, the command post of the battalion and a large number of enemy manpower were destroyed.

Sergeant Ivan Larechkin, ordinary Petr Plekhanov, Kuzma Kalashnikov, Sergey Rudakov, Nikolai Smelov fought in the center of the battle formation. On the right flank, Junior Sergeant Aleksey Pavlov led the battle. In his department were: Corporal Viktor Korzhukov, privates Alexei Zmeev, Alexey Syrtsev, Vladimir Izotov, Islamgali Nasretdinov, Ivan Vetrich, Alexander Ionin, Vladimir Legotin, Petr Velichko and others.

By 2:00 p.m., the island completely came under the control of the Soviet border guards.

According to official figures, in more than two hours, the Soviet border guards were destroyed only on the island, not counting the channels, up to 248 Chinese soldiers and officers. During the battle on March 2, 31 Soviet border guards were killed. About 20 border guards received injuries of varying severity, and Corporal Pavel Akulov was captured. After severe torture, he was shot. In April, his disfigured body was dropped from a Chinese helicopter into Soviet territory. On the body of the Soviet border guard, 28 bayonet wounds were counted. Eyewitnesses recall that almost all the hair on his head was torn out, and those shreds that remained were completely gray.
The dead Soviet border guards
The Chinese attack on the Soviet border guards excited the Soviet political and military leadership. On March 2, 1969, the USSR government sent a note to the PRC government, in which it sharply condemned the Chinese provocation. It stated, in particular: "The Soviet government reserves the right to take decisive measures to suppress provocations on the Soviet-Chinese border and warns the Government of the People's Republic of China that all responsibility for the possible consequences of an adventurous policy aimed at aggravating the situation on the border between China and the Soviet Union, lies with the government of the People's Republic of China. " However, the Chinese side ignored the statement of the Soviet government.

In order to prevent possible repeated provocations, several reinforced motorized maneuver groups from the reserve of the Pacific Border District (two motorized rifle companies with two tank platoons and a 120 mm mortar battery) were transferred to the Nizhne-Mikhailovka and Kulebyakiny Sopost outposts. The 57th border detachment, which included these outposts, was additionally assigned a Mi-4 helicopter link of the Ussuri border squadron. On the night of March 12, units of the 135th motorized rifle division of the Far Eastern Military District (commander General Nesov) arrived in the area of \u200b\u200brecent battles: the 199th motorized rifle regiment, the artillery regiment, the 152nd separate tank battalion, the 131st separate reconnaissance battalion and the jet BM-21 Grad division. The task force created by the head of the troops of the Pacific Frontier District, headed by the deputy chief of the district’s troops, Colonel G. Sechkin, is also located here.

Simultaneously with the strengthening of the border, intelligence activities were intensified. According to intelligence, including aviation and space, the Chinese concentrated large forces in the area of \u200b\u200bDamansky Island - mainly infantry and artillery units. In depths of up to 20 kilometers, they created warehouses, control centers and other structures. On March 7, concentration at the PLA infantry regiment with reinforcements was revealed in the Daman and Kirkinsk directions. At 10-15 kilometers from the border, intelligence discovered up to 10 large-caliber artillery batteries. By March 15, a Chinese battalion was identified in the guberovskoy direction, a regiment with attached tanks on the imansky one, up to two infantry battalions on the panteleimonovskiy one, and the battalion on the pavlovo-fedorovskiy one. In total, the Chinese concentrated near the border a motorized infantry division with reinforcements.

These days, the Chinese were also conducting intensive intelligence, even using aviation for this. The Soviet side did not interfere with this, hoping that when they saw the real strength of the Soviet side, they would stop provocative actions. That did not happen.

On March 12, a meeting of representatives of the Soviet and Chinese border troops took place. During this meeting, an officer at the Chinese border post Hutou, referring to the instructions of Mao Zedong, expressed the threat of using armed force against Soviet border guards guarding Damansky Island.

On March 14, at 11.15, Soviet observation posts noticed the advance of a group of Chinese troops towards Damansky Island. With machine gun fire, she was cut off from the border and forced to return to the Chinese coast.

At 17.30 two Chinese groups of 10-15 people left on the island. They installed four machine guns and other weapons at firing positions. At 18.45, they took up their starting positions directly on the shore from it.

To forestall the attack by 6:00 on March 15, an reinforced maneuvering group of the border guard detachment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel E. Yanshin (45 people with grenade launchers) for 4 BTR-60PB was advanced to the island. To support the group, a reserve was concentrated on the shore - 80 people (a school of sergeants of the 69th border detachment of the Pacific border region) on seven armored personnel carriers with LNG and machine guns.

At 10.05, the Chinese began to capture the island. The attacking road was cleared by the fire of about three mortar batteries, from three directions. The shelling was carried out on all suspicious sections of the island and river, where Soviet border guards could take refuge.

Yanshin's group entered the fray.

"... the commander’s car was full of thunder, child, powder smoke,” Yanshin recalls. and standing pouring fire.

Without looking back, a hand reaches for a new can. Charging Kruglov only manages to charge the tape. Silently work, with one gesture they understand each other. “Don't get excited,” I shout, “save ammo!” I point him to the goal. And the enemy, under cover of fire, went on the attack again. A new wave rolls to the shaft. Due to continuous fire, explosions of mines and shells of adjacent APCs are not visible. I command an open text: "I am going to counterattack, to cover Mankovsky and Klyge with fire from the rear." My driver Smelov pulled the car forward through the fire curtain. Cleverly maneuvers among the funnels, creates the conditions for aimed shooting. Then the machine gun stopped. Sulzhenko was confused for a moment. Recharges, presses the electric trigger - only a single shot follows. And the Chinese are running in growth. Sulzhenko opened the machine gun cover, fixed the malfunction. Machine guns have earned. Smelov command: "Forward!" We repelled another attack ... "

Having lost several people killed and three armored personnel carriers, Yanshin was forced to retreat to our shore. However, at 14.40, replacing the personnel and the damaged armored personnel carriers, replenishing ammunition, he again attacked the enemy and knocked him out of his occupied positions. Pulling up reserves, the Chinese concentrated on the group massive mortar, artillery and machine gun fire. As a result, one APC was shot down. 7 people died immediately. A few minutes later, the second APC caught fire. Senior lieutenant L. Mankovsky, covering up the departure of his subordinates with machine gun fire, remained in the car and burned down. The APC, commanded by Lieutenant A. Klyga, was also surrounded. Only half an hour later, the border guards, "feeling" a weak area of \u200b\u200benemy positions, broke through the encirclement and connected with their own.

At that time, when there was a battle on the island, nine T-62 tanks approached the command post. According to some information - by mistake. The border command decided to seize the opportunity and repeat the successful raid of V. Bubenin on March 2. A group of three tanks was led by the head of the Iman border detachment, Colonel D. Leonov.

However, the attack failed - this time the Chinese side was ready for such a development. When Soviet tanks approached the Chinese coast, dense artillery and mortar fire was opened on them. The host car was almost immediately hit and lost speed. The Chinese concentrated all the fire on her. The remaining platoon tanks retreated to the Soviet coast. The crew trying to get out of a wrecked tank was shot from small arms. Killed and Colonel D. Leonov, who was fatally wounded in the heart.

Damansky Island - a view from the Chinese side.

Two other tanks still managed to break through to the island and take up defense there. This allowed the Soviet soldiers to hold out on Damansky for another 2 hours. Finally, having shot all the ammunition and not having received reinforcements, they left Damansky.

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 entered into the battle were not enough to defeat the Chinese side, which was prepared very seriously.

Captured T-62 tank in the museum of the PLA. Beijing.

Despite heavy losses among the border guards, Moscow was still wary of introducing army personnel into the battle. The position of the Center is obvious. While the border guards fought, it all came down to a border conflict, albeit with the use of weapons. The retraction of regular units of the armed forces turned the clash into an armed conflict or a small war. The latter, given the mood of the Chinese leadership, could result in a full-blown - and between the two nuclear powers.

The political situation, apparently, was clear to everyone. However, in a situation where border guards perished nearby, and army units were in the role of passive observers, the indecision of the country's leadership caused disagreement and natural indignation.

“The army team got on our line of communication, and I heard the regiment commanders guiding their superiors for indecision,” recalls Lieutenant Colonel AD Konstantinov, the head of the political department of the Imansky detachment. “They were torn into battle, but were bound hand and foot with all kinds of directives.” .

When a report came from the scene of the battle about two Yanshin’s armored personnel carriers that were damaged, Major P. Kosinov, deputy chief of staff of the Grodekovsky detachment, on his own initiative, moved to help. Approaching the wrecked cars, he covered their crews with the side of his armored personnel carrier. The crews were removed from the fire. However, with the departure of his armored personnel carrier was hit. When leaving the last burning car, Major Kosinov was wounded in both legs. After some time, the unconscious officer was dragged out of the battle and, having been counted dead, put in the barn where the dead lay. Fortunately, a border guard doctor examined the dead. According to the pupils, he determined that Kosinov was alive, and ordered the wounded to be evacuated by helicopter to Khabarovsk.

Moscow was still silent, and the commander of the Far Eastern Military District, Lieutenant General O. Losik, made the sole decision to help the border guards. The commander of the 135th MSD was ordered to suppress the enemy’s manpower with artillery fire, and then attack with the forces of the 2nd battalion of the 199th motorized rifle regiment and motorized maneuver groups of the 57th border detachment.

Around 17.10, the artillery regiment and the Grad installation division of the 135th MSD, as well as mortar batteries (Lt. Col. D. Krupeynikov) opened fire. It was conducted for 10 minutes. The attacks were carried out to a depth of 20 kilometers in Chinese territory (according to other sources, the area of \u200b\u200bfire was 10 km along the front and 7 km in depth). As a result of this strike, reserves, ammunition points, warehouses, etc. of the enemy were destroyed. Inflicted severe damage to his troops advancing to the Soviet border. A total of 1,700 mortar shells and Grad multiple launch rocket systems were fired on the Daman and Chinese coasts. At the same time, 5 tanks, 12 armored personnel carriers, the 4th and 5th motorized rifle companies of the 2nd battalion of the 199th regiment (commander - Lieutenant Colonel A. Smirnov) and one motorized group of border guards advanced in the attack. The Chinese fought stubbornly, but were soon knocked out of the island.

In the battle on March 15, 1969, 21 border guards of 7 motorized rifles (members of the Soviet Army) were killed, 42 border guards were wounded. The loss of the Chinese amounted to about 600 people. In total, as a result of the fighting on Damansky, Soviet troops lost 58 people. The Chinese - about 1000. In addition, 50 Chinese soldiers and officers were shot for cowardice. The number of wounded from the Soviet side, according to official figures, was 94 people, from the Chinese - several hundred.

At the end of hostilities, 150 border guards received government awards. Including five, they were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (Colonel D.V. Leonov - posthumously, senior lieutenant I.I. Strelnikov - posthumously, senior lieutenant V. Bubenin, junior sergeant Yu.V. Babansky, commander of the machine gun department of the 199th Motor Rifle Regiment Junior Sergeant V.V. Orekhov), 3 people were awarded the Orders of Lenin (Colonel A.D. Konstantinov, Sergeant V. Kanygin, Lieutenant Colonel E. Yanshin), 10 people were awarded the Order of the Red Banner, 31 - the Order of the Red Star, 10 - Order of Glory III degree, 63 - with the medal "For Courage", 31 - medal "For Military Merit".

Vitaly Bubenin, participant in the conflict on Damansky Island: “You don’t need to remember this every day, but you also don’t have to forget it ...

In China, events at Daman were proclaimed a victory for Chinese weapons. Ten Chinese troops became Heroes of China.

In the official interpretation of Beijing, the events at Damansky looked as follows:

"On March 2, 1969, a group of Soviet border troops of 70 people with two armored personnel carriers, one lorry and one passenger car invaded our island Zhengbaodao, Hulin County, Heilongjiang Province, destroyed our patrol and then destroyed many of our border guards with fire. This forced our soldiers to take action self defense.

On March 15, the Soviet Union, not paying attention to the numerous warnings of the Chinese government, launched an offensive against us with 20 tanks, 30 armored personnel carriers and 200 infantry, supported by air from its aircraft.

For 9 hours, courageously defending the island, fighters and people's militias withstood three enemy attacks. On March 17, the enemy tried to pull out a tank that had been previously hit by our forces using several tanks, tractors and infantry. "Hurricane retaliatory artillery fire of our artillery destroyed part of the enemy’s forces, the survivors retreated."

After the end of the armed conflict in the Damansky area, the motorized rifle battalion, a separate tank battalion and the BM-21 Grad jet division of the 135th motorized division remained in combat positions. By April, only one motorized rifle battalion remained in the defense area, which soon also departed to the place of permanent deployment. All approaches to Damansky from the Chinese side were mined.

At this time, the Soviet government took steps to resolve the situation by political means.

On March 15, the leadership of the USSR sent a statement to the Chinese side, in which a sharp warning was issued about the inadmissibility of armed border conflicts. In it, in particular, it was noted that "if further attempts are made to violate the inviolability of Soviet territory, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, all its peoples will decisively defend it and will give a crushing rebuff to such violations."

On March 29, the Soviet government again made a statement in which it called for the resumption of negotiations on border issues that had been interrupted in 1964 and suggested that the Chinese government refrain from border actions that could cause complications. The Chinese side did not respond. Moreover, Mao Zedong at a meeting of the Cultural Revolution Group on March 15, raising the issue of current events, called for urgent preparations for war. Lin Biao, in his report to the 9th CPC Congress (April 1969), accused the Soviet side of organizing "continuous armed incursions into the territory of the PRC." There, the course on "continuous revolution" and preparation for war was confirmed.

Nevertheless, on April 11, 1969, the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a note to the DPRK Foreign Ministry, in which it suggested resuming consultations between the plenipotentiary representatives of the USSR and the PRC, expressing readiness to start them at any time convenient for the PRC.

On April 14, in response to a note from the Soviet Foreign Ministry, the Chinese side stated that the proposals regarding the settlement of the situation on the border were “being studied and an answer would be given.”

During the “study of proposals”, armed border clashes and provocations continued.

On April 23, 1969, a group of 25-30 Chinese people violated the USSR border and entered the Soviet island No. 262 on the Amur River, located near the Kalinovka settlement. At the same time, a group of Chinese troops concentrated on the Chinese coast of Amur.

On May 2, 1969, another border incident occurred in the area of \u200b\u200bthe small village of Dulaty in Kazakhstan. This time, the Soviet border guards were ready for the Chinese invasion. Even earlier, to reflect possible provocations, the Makanchinsky border detachment was significantly strengthened. By May 1, 1969, he had 14 outposts of 50 people each (and the Dulat border guard - 70 people) and a maneuver group (182 people) in 17 armored personnel carriers. In addition, a separate tank battalion of the okrug was concentrated in the detachment area (Makanchi settlement), and according to the plan of interaction with army formations, a motorized rifle and tank company, a mortar platoon of the support detachment from the 215th motorized rifle regiment (Vakhty settlement) and a battalion of 369 -th motorized rifle regiment (Art. Friendship). Border protection was carried out by observation from the towers, patrols on cars and checking the control and tracking strip. The main merit of such operational readiness of the Soviet units belonged to Lieutenant General M.K. Merkulov. He not only took measures to strengthen the Dulatinsky direction with his reserves, but also achieved the same measures from the command of the Turkestan military district.

Subsequent events developed as follows. On the morning of May 2, a border outfit noticed a flock of sheep that crossed the border. Arriving at the scene, Soviet border guards discovered a group of Chinese military personnel of about 60 people. To prevent an obvious conflict, the Soviet border detachment was reinforced by three reserve groups from nearby outposts, a company of the 369th motorized rifle regiment with a platoon of tanks and two maneuverable groups. The actions of the Soviet border guards were ready to be supported by fighter-bombers of an air regiment based in Ucharal, as well as motorized rifle and artillery regiments concentrated in the nearest areas, two jet and two mortar divisions.

To coordinate actions, a task force of the district was formed, headed by the chief of staff, Major General Kolodyazhny, who was stationed at the outpost "Dulaty". The advanced command post, headed by Major General G.N. Kutkikh.

At 16.30, the Soviet border guards began to "squeeze" the enemy, who also received significant reinforcements, from the territory of the USSR. The Chinese were forced to retreat without a fight. The situation was finally resolved diplomatically by May 18, 1969.

On June 10, in the vicinity of the Tasty river in the Semipalatinsk region, a group of Chinese troops invaded the USSR for 400 meters and opened automatic fire on Soviet border guards. Attackers returned fire, after which the Chinese returned to their territory.

On July 8 of the same year, a group of armed Chinese, having violated the border, took refuge on the Soviet part of the Goldinsky Island on the Amur River and fired from machine guns of Soviet river boatmen who arrived on the island to repair navigation signs. The attackers also used grenade launchers and hand grenades. As a result, one riverman was killed and three wounded.

Armed clashes continued in the area of \u200b\u200bDamansky Island. According to V. Bubenin, in the following summer months after the incident, Soviet border guards were forced to use weapons more than 300 times to counter Chinese provocations. So, for example, it is known that in the middle of June 1969 a “experimental” Grad multiple launch rocket system arrived in Baikonur (the military crew of military unit 44245, commander Major A. A. Shumilin) \u200b\u200bvisited the Daman area. The combat crew included, in addition to military personnel, specialists involved in the provision of space programs. Among them were: Yu.K. Razumovsky is the technical director of the lunar complex, Papazyan is the technical manager of the missile and technical complex, A. Tashu is the commander of the Vega guidance complex, L. Kuchma, future president of Ukraine, at that time was an employee of the test department, Kozlov was a telemetry specialist, I. A. Soldatova is a test engineer and others. The "experiment" was controlled by a high-ranking state commission, which included, in particular, Kamanin, the commander of the missile forces.

Perhaps the strike calculation of Major A.A. Shumilina was demonstrative in order to stimulate the Chinese side to begin peace negotiations to resolve the contradictions that arose. In any case, on September 11, 1969, during confidential negotiations between the head of the Soviet government A. Kosygin and the Prime Minister of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Zhou Enlai in Beijing, an agreement was reached on the start of official negotiations on border issues that took place on October 20, 1969.

However, a month before the meeting of representatives of the Soviet and Chinese governments, another large-scale armed provocation took place on the Soviet-Chinese border, which claimed dozens of lives.

Damansky Island, due to which a border armed conflict flared up, covers an area of \u200b\u200b0.75 square meters. km From south to north it is stretched for 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. In spring, Damansky Island is flooded with water from the Ussuri River and it is almost hidden from view, and in winter the island rises a dark mountain on the ice surface of the river.

From the Soviet coast to the island about 500 m, from the Chinese - about 300 m. In accordance with generally accepted practice, river borders are drawn along the main channel. However, taking advantage of the weakness of pre-revolutionary China, the tsarist government of Russia managed to draw a border on the Ussuri River in a completely different way - along the water edge along the Chinese coast. Thus, the entire river and the islands on it turned out to be Russian.

Controversial island

This obvious injustice persisted after the October Revolution of 1917 and the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, but for some time it did not affect Soviet-Chinese relations. And only at the end of the 50s, when ideological differences arose between the Khrushchev leadership of the CPSU and the CPC, did the situation on the border gradually worsen. Mao Zedong and other Chinese leaders have repeatedly spoken out in the spirit that the development of Sino-Soviet relations involves solving the border problem. By “decision” was meant the transfer to China of certain territories - including islands on the Ussuri River. 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 interstate conflict broke out. A further deterioration in relations between the two countries eventually led to an open armed confrontation in Damansky.

Disagreement between the USSR and China began in 1956, when Mao condemned Moscow for suppressing unrest in Poland and Hungary. Khrushchev was extremely upset. He considered China a Soviet “product” that should live and develop under the strict control of the Kremlin. The mentality of the Chinese, who historically dominated East Asia, suggested a different, more equal approach to solving international (especially Asian) problems. In 1960, the crisis intensified even more when the USSR suddenly recalled from China its specialists who helped him develop the economy and the Armed Forces. The completion of the process of breaking bilateral relations was the refusal of the Chinese Communists to participate in the XXIII Congress of the CPSU, which was announced on March 22, 1966. After the Soviet troops entered Czechoslovakia in 1968, the PRC authorities announced that the USSR had embarked on the path of "socialist revenge."

The provocative actions of the Chinese at the border intensified. From 1964 to 1968, only in the section of the Red Banner Pacific Frontier District, the Chinese organized more than 6 thousand provocations with the participation of about 26 thousand people. The basis of the foreign policy of the CCP was anti-Sovietism.

By this time, the “cultural revolution” (1966–1969) was already unfolding in China. In China, the Great Helmsman arranged for the public executions of "pests" that impeded the "great economic policy of Chairman Mao's great leap." But an external enemy was still needed, on which larger blunders could be attributed.

Khrushchev stowed away

In accordance with generally accepted practice, river borders are drawn along the main fairway (thalweg). 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 Chinese coast. Without the knowledge of the Russian authorities, the Chinese could not engage in either fishing or shipping.

After the October Revolution, the new government of Russia declared all "tsarist" treaties with China "predatory and unequal." The Bolsheviks thought more about the world revolution, which would sweep away all borders, and least of all about state benefits. Then, from the USSR, there was active assistance to China, which was waging a national liberation war with Japan, and the issue of disputed territories was not considered important. In 1951, Beijing signed an agreement with Moscow, according to which it recognized the existing border with the USSR, and also agreed to control the Soviet border guards over the Ussuri and Amur rivers.

Relations between nations, without exaggeration, were fraternal. Residents of the border strip paid visits to each other and engaged in exchange trade. Soviet and Chinese border guards celebrated the holidays of May 1 and November 7 together. And only when there were disagreements between the leadership of the CPSU and the CPC, the situation on the border began to aggravate - the question arose of revising the borders.

During the consultations in 1964, it became clear that Mao is demanding that Moscow recognize the border treaties as “unequal,” as Vladimir Lenin did. The next step should be the transfer of 1.5 million square meters to China. km of "previously captured lands". “For us, this formulation of the question was unacceptable,” writes Professor Yuri Gelenovich, who in 1964, 1969 and 1979 participated in negotiations with the Chinese. True, the head of the Chinese state, Liu Shaotsi, proposed to start negotiations without preconditions and to base the delimitation on river sections of the principle of drawing a border line along the fairway of navigable rivers. Nikita Khrushchev accepted the offer of Liu Shaotsi. But with one caveat - we can only talk about the islands adjacent to the Chinese coast.

The stumbling block, which did not allow continuing negotiations on water borders in 1964, was the Kazakevich channel near Khabarovsk. Khrushchev became stubborn, and the transfer of disputed territories, including Damansky, did not take place.

Damansky Island with an area of \u200b\u200babout 0.74 square meters. km geographically belonged to the Pozharsky district of the Primorsky Territory. From the island to Khabarovsk - 230 km. The distance of the island from the Soviet coast is about 500 m, from the Chinese - about 70-300. From south to north Damansky stretches for 1500–1800 m, its width reaches 600–700 m. It does not represent any economic or military-strategic value.

According to some reports, Damansky Island was formed on the Ussuri River only in 1915, after the river water eroded the bridge with the Chinese coast. According to Chinese historians, the island as such appeared only in the summer of 1968 as a result of a flood when a small piece of land was cut off from Chinese territory.

Fists and Butts

In winter, when the ice on Ussuri became strong, the Chinese went to the middle of the river, “armed” with portraits of Mao, Lenin and Stalin, demonstrating where, in their opinion, the border should go.

From the report to the headquarters of the Red Banner Far Eastern District: “On January 23, 1969 at 11.15 armed Chinese troops began to bypass Damansky Island. The violators began shouting at the demand to leave the territory, brandishing quotes and fists. After some time, they attacked our border guards ... "

A. Skornyak, a direct participant in the events, recalls: “Hand-to-hand combat was fierce. The Chinese launched shovels, iron rods, sticks. Our guys fought off the rifle butts. Miraculously there were no casualties. Despite the numerical superiority of the attackers, the border guards fled them. After this incident, ice clashes occurred daily. They always ended in fights. By the end of February, at the Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost there was not a single soldier “with a whole physiognomy”: “lights” under his eyes, broken noses, but his mood was fighting. Every day is such a "sight". And the commanders are ahead. The head of the outpost, senior lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov and his political officer Nikolai Buinevich, the men were healthy. Butts and fists a lot of Chinese noses and jaws dedicated. The Hongweibins were afraid of them like fire and everyone shouted: "We will be the first to kill you!"

The commander of the Iman border detachment, Colonel Democrat Leonov, constantly reported that at any moment the conflict could escalate into war. Moscow responded as in 1941: "Do not succumb to provocations, solve all issues peacefully!". And that means - with fists and butts. The border guards put on sheepskin coats and felt boots, took machine guns with one store (for the minute of the battle) and walked onto the ice. To raise morale, the Chinese were given a quote book with the sayings of the Great Helmsman and a bottle of goodies (Chinese vodka). After the adoption of the “doping”, the Chinese rushed hand to hand. Once during a fight, they managed to stun and drag two of our border guards into their territory. Then they were executed.

On February 19, the Chinese General Staff approved a plan codenamed Retribution. In it, in particular, it was said: “... if Soviet soldiers open fire from small arms on the Chinese side - respond with warning shots, and if the warning does not have the desired effect - give a“ decisive rebuff for self-defense. ”

Tension in the Damansky area gradually increased. At first, Chinese citizens simply went to the island. Then they began to go out with posters. Then came sticks, knives, carbines and assault rifles ... For the time being, communication between the Chinese and Soviet border guards was relatively peaceful, but in accordance with the inexorable logic of events, it quickly grew into verbal skirmishes and hand-to-hand brawls. The most fierce battle took place on January 22, 1969, as a result of which the Soviet border guards seized several carbines from the Chinese. When inspecting the weapon, it turned out that the cartridges were already in the chamber. Soviet commanders clearly understood how tense the situation was, and therefore all the time they urged their subordinates to be especially vigilant. Preventive measures were taken - for example, up to 50 people increased the staff of each frontier post. Nevertheless, the events of March 2 turned out to be a complete surprise for the Soviet side. On the night of March 1–2, 1969, about 300 servicemen of the People’s Liberation Army of China (PLA) crossed to Damansky and lay on the western shore of the island.

The Chinese were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, as well as SKS carbines. The commanders had TT pistols. All Chinese weapons were made according to Soviet standards. There were no documents or personal items in the pockets of the Chinese. But everyone has a quote from Mao. To support the units that landed on Daman on the Chinese coast, the positions of recoilless guns, heavy machine guns and mortars were equipped. Here, the Chinese infantry with a total number of 200-300 people was waiting in the wings. Around 9.00 in the morning, a Soviet border detachment passed along the island, but he did not find the invading Chinese. After an hour and a half at the Soviet post, observers noticed the movement of a group of armed people (up to 30 people) in the direction of Damansky and immediately reported this by telephone to the Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost, located 12 km south of the island. Head of the outpost Lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov raised his subordinates "in the gun." In three groups, on three vehicles - GAZ-69 (8 people), BTR-60PB (13 people) and GAZ-63 (12 people), Soviet border guards arrived at the scene.

Dismounting, they moved in the direction of the Chinese in two groups: the first was led along the ice by the head of the outpost, Senior Lieutenant Strelnikov, the second - by Sergeant V. Rabovich. The third group, led by Art. Sergeant Y. Babansky, moving in a GAZ-63 car, fell behind and arrived 15 minutes later. Approaching the Chinese, I. Strelnikov expressed his protest over the violation of the border and demanded that Chinese troops leave the territory of the USSR. In response, the first line of the Chinese parted, and the second opened a sudden automatic fire on Strelnikov's group. Strelnikov's group and the head of the outpost themselves died immediately. Some of the attackers got up from their “lodges” and rushed to attack a handful of Soviet soldiers from the second group, commanded by Yu. Rabovich. Those took the battle and shot back literally to the last bullet. When the attackers reached the positions of the Rabovich group, they finished off the wounded Soviet border guards with point-blank shots and knives. This shameful fact for the People's Liberation Army of China is evidenced by the documents of the Soviet medical commission. The only one who literally miraculously survived was Private G.Serebrov. Having regained consciousness in the hospital, he talked about the last minutes of the life of his friends. It was at this moment that the third group of border guards arrived under the command of Yu.Babansky.

Taking a position at some distance behind their dying comrades, the border guards met the advancing Chinese with machine gun fire. The battle was uneven, there were fewer fighters in the group, the ammunition quickly ran out. Fortunately, border guards from the neighboring outpost of Kulebyakina Sopka, located 17-18 km north of Damansky, commanded by senior lieutenant V. Bubenin, came to the aid of Babansky’s group. On the morning of March 2, Bubenin put more than twenty fighters in an APC hastened to the rescue of the neighbors. Around 11.30 the armored personnel carrier reached Damansky. The border guards got out of the car and almost immediately ran into a large group of Chinese. A battle ensued. During the battle, Senior Lieutenant Bubenin was wounded and shell-shocked, but he did not lose control of the battle. Leaving several soldiers in place, led by Junior Sergeant V. Kanygin, he and four fighters plunged into an armored personnel carrier and moved around the island, entering the rear of the Chinese. The culmination of the battle came at a time when Bubenin managed to destroy the Chinese command post. After that, border violators began to leave their positions, taking with them the dead and wounded. So ended the first battle in Damansky. In the battle on March 2, 1969, the Soviet side lost 31 people dead - this is the exact number that was cited at a press conference at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 7, 1969. As for the Chinese losses, they are not reliably known, since the PLA General Staff has not yet published this information. The Soviet border guards themselves estimated the total losses of the enemy at 100-150 soldiers and commanders.

After the battle of March 2, 1969, reinforced outfits of Soviet border guards constantly numbered at Damansky - numbering at least 10 people, with enough ammunition. The sappers conducted the mining of the island in case of an attack by the Chinese infantry. In the rear, at a distance of several kilometers from Damansky, the 135th motorized rifle division of the Far Eastern Military District was deployed - infantry, tanks, artillery, Grad multiple launch rocket launchers. The 199th Verkhne-Udinsky regiment of this division took a direct part in further events.

The Chinese also accumulated strength for another offensive: in the area of \u200b\u200bthe island, the 24th infantry regiment of the People's Liberation Army of China was preparing for battle, which included up to 5,000 soldiers and commanders! On March 15, noticing recovery on the Chinese side, a detachment of Soviet border guards consisting of 45 people on 4 armored personnel carriers came to the island. Another 80 border guards concentrated on the shore in readiness to support their comrades. Around 9:00 on March 15, a loud-speaking installation began to work on the Chinese side. The sonorous female voice in pure Russian called on the Soviet border guards to leave "Chinese territory", abandon "revisionism", etc. On the Soviet coast, a loudspeaker was also turned on.

The broadcast was conducted in Chinese and in rather simple words: think again, before it’s too late, before you are the sons of those who liberated China from the Japanese invaders. After a while, silence fell on both sides, and closer to 10.00 Chinese artillery and mortars (60 to 90 barrels) began shelling the island. At the same time, 3 companies of Chinese infantry (each with 100-150 men) went on the attack. The battle on the island was focal in nature: disparate groups of border guards continued to repel the attacks of the Chinese, which were numerically significantly superior to the defenders. According to eyewitnesses, the course of the battle resembled a pendulum: each side crowded the enemy with the approach of reserves. At the same time, however, the ratio in manpower all the time was approximately 10: 1 in favor of the Chinese. Around 15.00 an order was received to leave the island. After that, the arrived Soviet reserves tried to carry out several counterattacks to expel border violators, but they were unsuccessful: the Chinese thoroughly strengthened themselves on the island and met the attackers with dense fire.

Only at this point was it decided to use artillery, since there was a real threat of the complete capture of Damansky by the Chinese. The order of the strike on the Chinese coast gave the first deputy. FEB Commander Lieutenant General P.M. Plotnikov. At 17.00 a separate missile division of the BM-21 Grad installations under the command of M.T. Vashchenko launched a fire attack on the Chinese concentration sites and their firing positions.

So for the first time the then still top-secret 40-barrel “Grad” was used, capable of releasing all the ammunition in 20 seconds. In 10 minutes of artillery attack from the Chinese division left, nothing left. A significant part of the Chinese soldiers in Daman and adjacent territories was destroyed by a flurry of fire (according to Chinese data, more than 6 thousand). The foreign press immediately made a fuss that the Russians used an unknown secret weapon, either lasers, or flamethrowers, or the devil knows what. (And the hunt began for this, the devil knows that, which was successful in the far south of Africa after 6 years. But that's another story ...)

At the same time, the barrel artillery regiment, equipped with 122 mm howitzers, opened fire on identified targets. Artillery beat 10 minutes. The raid was extremely accurate: shells destroyed Chinese reserves, mortars, stacks of shells, etc. Radio interception data spoke of hundreds of dead PLA soldiers. At 17.10, motorized rifles (2 companies and 3 tanks) and border guards on 4 armored personnel carriers launched an attack. After a stubborn battle, the Chinese began to withdraw from the island. Then they tried again to capture Damansky, but their three attacks ended in complete failure. After that, the Soviet soldiers retreated to their shore, and the Chinese made no more attempts to take possession of the island.

The Chinese continued to harass the island for half an hour, until they finally died down. According to some estimates, they could lose at least 700 people from the strike of the Grad. The provocateurs did not dare to continue. There is also evidence that 50 Chinese soldiers and officers were shot for cowardice.

The next day, the first deputy chairman of the chairman of the KGB of the USSR, Colonel General Nikolai Zakharov, arrived at Damansky. He personally used the whole island (length 1500–1800, width 500–600 m, area 0.74 sq. Km), studied all the circumstances of an unprecedented battle. After that, Zakharov told Bubenin: “Son, I went through the Civil War, the Great Patriotic War, the struggle with the OUN members in Ukraine. I saw everything. But I haven’t seen such a thing! ”

And General Babansky said that the most remarkable episode in the hour and a half battle was related to the actions of Junior Sergeant Vasily Kanygin and the cook of an outpost of Private Nikolai Puzyrev. They managed to destroy the largest number of Chinese soldiers (later calculated - almost a platoon). Moreover, when they ran out of ammunition, Puzyrev crawled over to the killed enemies and took their ammunition (each attacker had six stores for the machine gun, while the Soviet border guards had two), which allowed this pair of heroes to continue the battle ...

The head of the outpost, Bubenin himself, at some point in a fierce firefight, got on an armored personnel carrier equipped with KPVT and PKT tower machine guns, and, according to him, laid down a whole infantry company of PLA soldiers who were moving to the island in order to reinforce the combatants who were already fighting. Of the machine guns, the senior lieutenant crushed the firing points, and crushed the Chinese with wheels. When the APC was hit, moved to another and continued to put the enemy soldiers until the armor-piercing shell hit this vehicle. As Bubenin recalled, after the first concussion at the beginning of the skirmish, "I fought the whole subsequent battle in the subconscious, while in some other world." The army officer’s short fur coat was torn apart by enemy bullets on the back.

By the way, such fully armored BTR-60PB were used in a combat clash for the first time. The lessons of the conflict were taken into account during its development. Already on March 15, PLA soldiers went into battle, armed with a significant number of hand grenade launchers. For in order to suppress a new provocation, not two armored personnel carriers were pulled up to Damansky, but 11, four of which operated directly on the island, and 7 were in reserve.

It may indeed seem incredible, “obviously exaggerated,” but the facts are that after the battle ended, 248 corpses of PLA soldiers and officers were collected (and then transferred to the Chinese side).

The generals, both Bubenin and Babansky, are still modest. In a conversation with me three years ago, none of them claimed the figure of the Chinese losses more than officially recognized, although it is clear that the Chinese managed to drag out dozens of those killed to their territory. In addition, border guards successfully suppressed enemy firing points found on the Chinese coast of Ussuri. So the losses of the attackers could well be 350-400 people.

It is significant that the Chinese themselves have not yet declassified the casualties on March 2, 1969, which look truly murderous against the backdrop of the damage of the Soviet "green caps" - 31 people. It is only known that a memorial cemetery is located in Baoqing County, where the remains of 68 Chinese soldiers who did not return from Damansky alive on March 2 and 15 are buried. Of these, five were awarded the titles of heroes of the PRC. Obviously, there are other graves.

In just two battles (the second Chinese attack took place on March 15), 52 Soviet border guards were killed, including four officers, including the head of the Imansky (now Dalnerechensky) border detachment, Colonel Democrat Leonov. He, along with Strelnikov, Bubenin and Babansky, was awarded the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumous). 94 people were injured, including 9 officers (he was shell-shocked, and then Bubenin was also wounded). In addition, seven motorized riflemen who participated in supporting the "green caps" in the second battle laid down their heads.

According to the memoirs of General Babansky, the Chinese’s regular violation of the border without the use of weapons “became our regular situation. And when the battle began, we felt that we had not enough rounds, there were no reserves, and the supply of ammunition was not provided. ” Babansky also claims that the Chinese construction of the road to the border, which they explained as the development of the area for agricultural purposes, "we took at face value." It was also perceived and noticed the movement of Chinese troops, explained by exercises. Although the observation was carried out at night, but “our observers did not see anything: we had only one night-vision device, and even that one allowed us to examine something at a distance of no more than 50–70 meters.” Further more. On March 2, army exercises of all the troops stationed in the area took place at the training grounds. A significant part of the border guards officers were also attracted to them; only one officer remained at the outposts. One gets the impression that, unlike the Soviet military, the Chinese intelligence did a good job. “Before the reinforcements reached us, it had to return to the place of permanent deployment to bring the equipment into combat readiness,” Babansky also said. - Therefore, the arrival of the reserve took more time than it was envisaged. We would have had enough estimated time, and so we lasted an hour and a half. And when the army went to their borders, deployed forces and means, almost everything was already over on the island. "

America saved China from the Soviet Union’s nuclear wrath

In the late 1960s, America saved China from the nuclear wrath of the Soviet Union: this is stated in a series of articles published in Beijing in an appendix to the CCP's official press organ, the journal Historical Reference, reports Le Figaro. The conflict, which began in March 1969 with a series of clashes on the Sino-Soviet border, led to the mobilization of troops, the newspaper writes. According to the publication, the USSR warned its allies in Eastern Europe of a planned nuclear strike. On August 20, the USSR ambassador in Washington warned Kissinger and demanded that the United States remain neutral, but the White House deliberately leaked, and on August 28 information about Soviet plans appeared in the Washington Post. Tensions reached their peak in September and October, and the Chinese people were ordered to dig shelters.

The article goes on to say that Nixon, who considered the main threat to the USSR, did not need too weak China. In addition, he feared the consequences of nuclear explosions for 250,000 American soldiers in Asia. On October 15, Kissinger warned the Soviet ambassador that the United States would not stand aside in the event of an attack and would attack 130 Soviet cities in response. Five days later, Moscow canceled all plans for a nuclear strike, and negotiations began in Beijing: the crisis is over, the newspaper writes.

According to the Chinese publication, Washington’s actions were partly “revenge” for the events five years ago when the USSR refused to join efforts to prevent China from developing nuclear weapons, saying that the Chinese nuclear program poses no threat. On October 16, 1964, Beijing successfully conducted its first nuclear tests. The magazine tells of three more cases when China was threatened with a nuclear attack, this time from the United States: during the Korean War, as well as during the conflict between mainland China and Taiwan in March 1955 and in August 1958.

“Researcher Liu Chenshan, describing the Nixon episode, does not specify on what archival sources it is based. He admits that other experts do not agree with his statements. The publication of his article in the official publication suggests that he had access to serious sources, and his article was re-read more than once, ”the newspaper writes in conclusion.

Political Conflict Resolution

On September 11, 1969, talks were held at Beijing Airport by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR A.N. Kosygin and the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai. The meeting lasted three and a half hours. The main result of the discussion was an agreement on the cessation of hostile actions on the Soviet-Chinese border and a stop of troops at the lines that they occupied at the time of the negotiations. I must say that the wording “the parties remain where they were until now” was proposed by Zhou Enlai, and Kosygin immediately agreed with her. And it was at that moment that Damansky Island became de facto Chinese. The fact is that after the end of the fighting, ice melting began, and therefore the exit of border guards to Damansky was difficult. They decided to carry out fire cover of the island. From now on, any attempt by the Chinese to land on Damansky was stopped by sniper and machine-gun fire.

On September 10, 1969, border guards received an order: cease fire. Immediately after this, the Chinese went to the island and settled there. On the same day, a similar story occurred on the island of Kirkinsky, located 3 km north of Damansky. Thus, on the day of the Beijing talks on September 11, the Chinese were already on the Damansky and Kirkinsky islands. The agreement of A.N. Kosygin with the wording “the parties remain where they were until now” meant the actual surrender of the islands to China. Apparently, the order to cease fire from September 10 was issued in order to create a favorable background for the start of negotiations. The Soviet leaders knew very well that the Chinese would land on Damansky, and consciously went for it. Obviously, the Kremlin decided that sooner or later, but they would have to draw a new border along the fairways of the Amur and Ussuri. And if so, then there is nothing to hold on to the islands, which will still depart to the Chinese. Shortly after the completion of the negotiations, A.N. Kosygin and Zhou Enlai exchanged letters. In them, they agreed to begin work on the preparation of a non-aggression pact.

While Mao Zedong was alive, negotiations on border issues yielded no results. He died in 1976. Four years later, the “gang of four”, led by the widow of the “helmsman,” was dispersed. In the 80s, relations between our countries were normalized. In 1991 and 1994, the parties managed to determine the border along its entire length except for the islands near Khabarovsk. Damansky Island was officially transferred to China in 1991. In 2004, an agreement was reached on the islands near Khabarovsk and on the Argun River. Today, the passage of the Russian-Chinese border along its entire length is established - this is about 4.3 thousand kilometers.

ETERNAL MEMORY OF THE Fallen HEROES OF THE BORDER! Glory to the veterans of 1969!

The original article is on the site InfoGlaz.rf  Link to the article with which this copy is made -

It's been 44 years since the day of the bloody battles on Damansky Island. This epoch-making event of the 20th century, which put the world on the brink of war, an inimitable standard of the highest patriotism, courage, heroism, unparalleled courage, selfless love and devotion to one’s homeland, and professional military prowess is hardly mentioned in official state media. As if he had never been. As if, while defending our homeland, on our own, I emphasize, on our territory, we were doing something shameful, which is embarrassing to mention.

Shusharin Vladimir Mikhailovich  Born on November 12, 1947 in the city of Kuibyshev, Novosibirsk Region. Russian. He was called up on July 3, 1966 by the Kuibyshev RVC of the Novosibirsk Region. Private, shooter of the 2nd border post of the 57th border detachment of the Pacific border district. He died in battle on about. Damansky March 2, 1969. He was buried on March 6, 1969, in a mass grave on the territory of the 2nd frontier post "Nizhne-Mikhailovka", Pozharsky district of Primorsky Territory. He was reburied on May 30, 1980 at the military site of the city cemetery in Dalnerechensk, Primorsky Territory, the memorial “Glory to the Fallen Heroes”. He was awarded the medal “For Courage” and the Honorary Badge of the Komsomol Central Committee “For Military Valor” (posthumously).

“... Hello mom, dad, Sasha and Seryozha! Sorry that I didn’t write for a long time, I really don’t like writing letters, and there’s nothing to write about. Alive, healthy, do not worry about me ... There is nothing new, I still go to the service, draw, wait for demobilization. The weather is warm, it is thawing during the day, spring is coming, here it starts early ... Lyudmila writes often, in general I have done well.

How are you, my “old men”! How are the bros doing! Serezha the big one, probably, has become. And you, Sasha, how are you doing in sports? Do not be offended that rarely deprive. “Do not think that I am forgetting you, if you only knew how I missed you all!”

Vladimir Shusharin wrote this letter to his parents on February 27, 1969. And on March 2, when the letter had not yet reached the addressee, a monstrous tragedy broke out on the border where Vladimir served, which every person now knows about and which causes everyone pain and indignation ...

On the night of March 2, about three hundred armed Chinese soldiers, having violated the Soviet state border, crossed the channel of the Ussuri River to the Soviet island of Damansky. Dressed in white camouflage robes, they spread out on the island in the forest and shrubs, behind the natural elevation of the area, lay in ambush. On the Chinese coast of Ussuri, military units and firearms were concentrated - mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns.

In the morning, another 30 armed Chinese intruders went from the Chinese coast through the USSR state border to Damansky Island.

The commander of the N-outpost, senior lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, along with senior lieutenant Nikolai Buinevich, took six border guards, among whom was our fellow countryman Kuibyshev Vladimir Shusharin, went to meet the violators, intending to protest to the Chinese and demand that they leave Soviet land . So border guards acted repeatedly when the Chinese offenders appeared in these places. The provocateurs approached Strelnikov’s group and suddenly fired at her point blank ...

  ... A large two-story house on the main street of the city seemed to grow dark and quiet. Near the gate there are three old women, secretly talking:

What a guy he was! He will not offend anyone, he will manage everything ...

This is about him, about Vladimir. In this house, he lived before being drafted into the army, walked along these alleys of the kindergarten, climbed these steps to the eleventh apartment, in which a large, unbearable grief settled now. A thin woman, exhausted from tears, leaned over the photographs laid out on a table. Who does not understand the mother's heart! It is not easy, oh, how difficult it is for Anastasia Zinovievna to reconcile herself with a bereavement.

Killed the eldest son. The mother is crying, but with tears in her heart, a harsh condemnation of arrogant provocateurs boils, one can hear pride in the son who heroically sacrificed his life for the inviolability of the sacred borders of our Motherland. The same sense of pride lives in the father of Vladimir - Isaia Pavlovich. I heard him say at a meeting of power engineers at the Baraba State District Power Plant:

Our son died at the hands of gangsters, protecting the borders of the Motherland. It's hard for us parents. But we know that he did not flinch in difficult times, to the end he fulfilled his soldierly duty. Vladimir grew up in a good family. They brought him up in a good way, and managed to instill in him high moral qualities. Parents, the school, the team in which he worked before leaving for the army should be given credit for the fact that a real hero grew out of a former boy naughty boy.

Vladimir Shusharin enjoyed special love among the border guards. He was considered in the unit as his artist. While still at school, Vladimir was fond of painting, engaged in a circle of fine art. After school, this hobby did not leave him. In the Palace of Culture named after V.V. Kuybyshev, a circle of drawing enthusiasts worked. Its constant participant was the mechanic of the car depot No. 8 Vladimir Shusharin. In the army, in his spare time, he usually took a pencil or a brush and, drawing up somewhere in the recreation room or on the street, near the outpost, painted. The Leninist room of the outpost is decorated and framed by his hands.

Vladimir began his military service in the most “prosaic” way. While still at home, he received the profession of a locksmith. Therefore, he was sent to a unit where people who needed equipment were needed. But after a few months, the guy asked to go to the border, and his request was granted.

That fateful morning on March 2, Vladimir Shusharin, together with his friends, was the first to meet the violators. He, like the head of the outpost I. Strelnikov, like all his comrades, did not want blood to spill on the ice of Ussuri. They asked the provocateurs to get out of foreign territory. Eight Soviet border guards stopped against thirty Chinese bandits. They were asked to change their minds, and they went on a malicious provocation, opened fire on the border guards. Vladimir Shusharin fell one of the first. Two automatic bursts pierced the soldier’s chest ...

They were many times smaller than the Chinese bandits. Taking advantage of this, the provocateurs scoffed at the wounded and killed. As if afraid that the dead would rise, they continued to barbarously crack down on the corpses. But the provocateurs paid dearly for the lives of the dead Soviet soldiers. Despite the incomparable superiority in power, they suffered heavy losses and were thrown from Soviet soil.

  ... Once upon a time in a civil war there, in the East, Vladimir's great-grandfather died from a bullet from a White Guard. After that, in the east, he guarded the borders of the Motherland, and subsequently his grandfather Zinovy \u200b\u200bNikitich Kuzmin, who now lives in our city, fought heroically in the west with the Nazis. Wounded, an elderly man, he has many government awards. Vladimir Shusharin did not shame the honor of the older generation. He courageously accepted death, defending the impregnability of the borders of his beloved Motherland.

  “Dear Anastasia Zinovievna and Isai Pavlovich! Your son, Private Shusharin Vladimir Mikhailovich, March 2, 1969, died the death of the brave while guarding and protecting the state border of the USSR. The command and the Political Directorate of the Frontier Forces of the Soviet Union express deep condolences to you. The feat of your son is a vivid example of selfless service to our great Soviet Motherland, the cause of communism. The bright memory of your son, the faithful and courageous defender of the socialist Fatherland, will forever remain in the hearts of his fighting friends, border guards and the entire Soviet people. ”

Such a letter was received by Vladimir's parents from the command and political administration of the border troops of the USSR. All Soviet people add their voice to the words of this letter. We will always be proud of the feat of our fellow countryman. There, at Strelnikov's outpost, soldiers still carry out their difficult service. And, each time, going on patrol, they come to the mass grave to take an oath of allegiance to the fallen comrades. And we know that the border is once again locked, that the business of Vladimir Shusharin and his friends is safely continued by other Soviet soldiers.

March 2, 1969. Chronicle of events

At 11:10, Gas-69 and BTR-60 arrived at the southern tip of the island.

An alarming group of the 2nd border post at about. Damansky. Shot of an unknown Chinese war photographer
  Arriving at the place of border violation, the border guards were divided into two groups. The first, of 7 people under the command of Strelnikov, went to the Chinese military, who stood on the ice of the river southwest of the island. The second group of 13 border guards, led by Sergeant Vladimir Rabovich, was supposed to cover Strelnikov's group, moving along the south coast of the island.

The military photographer was able to capture the beginning of the armed provocation by private Nikolai Petrov, who was photographing and filming events, recording the fact of violation of the border and the procedure for expelling violators. The Chinese soldiers took the movie camera with them, but did not notice the camera, which Petrov, taking the last shot, put a short fur coat in the lapel ...

In the first photo of Petrov, taken from a distance of 300-350 m - Chinese soldiers who violated the state border.

In the second picture, the Chinese chain and three border guards walking towards them are clearly visible. To the right, the shore of Damansky Island: somewhere there, among the trees and thickets of shrubs, a Chinese ambush lurks.

Approaching the Chinese, I. Strelnikov expressed his protest over the violation of the border and demanded that Chinese troops leave the territory of the USSR. One of the Chinese shouted something to his soldiers, after which the men in front parted, and the rear opened automatic fire on our border guards. The last shot was made by Petrov a few moments before the death: the nearest Chinese soldier raised his hand - most likely, this is a signal to open fire.

Strelnikov, Buinevich and the border guards accompanying them died immediately. An ambush in Damansky opened fire on a group of Rabovich. Several border guards were killed, the survivors lay down and opened fire on the Chinese who rushed to attack. They fought to the last bullet ...

The only one who miraculously survived from the group of Sergeant Rabovich was Private Gennady Serebrov. Having regained consciousness in the hospital, he spoke about the last moments of the life of his friends:

  - Our chain stretched along the coast of the island. Ahead ran Pasha Akulov, followed by Kolya Kolodkin, then the rest. Egupov ran before me, and then Shusharin. We chased after the Chinese, who went along the shaft towards the shrubbery. There was an ambush. As soon as they jumped out onto the shaft, they saw three Chinese soldiers in camouflage robes below. They lay three meters from the rampart. At this time, shots rang out at Strelnikov's group. We opened fire in response. Several Chinese ambushed were killed. Shot long bursts ...

March 2, 1969. 11-25

Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Bubenin commanded the Kulebyakiny Sopka outpost, located about a dozen kilometers north of Damansky. After receiving a telephone message about what was happening on the island, he and twenty-two border guards hurried to the BTR-60 to help neighbors ...

March 2, 1969 Damansky island. Report of the chief of the 1st frontier post, Lieutenant Bubenin, on the communication line to Major V. Bazhenov, operational duty officer of the 57th border detachment:

I am reporting on the situation: there is a battle on the island ... on the Damansky island there has been a battle for about an hour. Strelnikov? Apparently, his outpost and he died ... Yes, with my personnel of 21 people I’m fighting ... Yes, a lot ... heavy mortar, artillery fire ... machine-gun and machine-gun fire. Everything is burning, my armored personnel carrier is destroyed, there are killed and wounded ... I can’t hear you, ... I can’t hear ...

The receiver is picked up by BTR driver corporal A. Shamov.

Comrade Major, Senior Lieutenant Bubenin, is losing consciousness ... yes, he was seriously injured, covered in blood, burned ... No, it seems alive ... he regains consciousness.

Yes, I’m Bubinin, I’m listening to you ... Bring people out? No I can not. An open place, they’ll put everyone, I’ll lose everyone. My reserve came up, I’m going to battle again. No, I can’t, Major ... I can’t leave, I’m going to battle, that's all ... Goodbye ...

At this moment, help came in time - from the 1st outpost, a group of sergeant Sikushenko arrived, and Bubenin, after reseeding with seven border guards in Strelnikov’s armored personnel carrier, continued the attack ...

From the memoirs of Vitaliy Bubenin: “I fought the whole subsequent battle in the subconscious, while in some other world. Having got ashore and landing in an APC, the fighters and I went to the enemy in the rear. In front of the car, dumbfounded Chinese got out from under the snow one after another. Only then did we understand how many of them came to our hearts ... For more than two hours, we circled their positions, crushing and shooting. When, after the next round, we got to the other side, it turned out that four of the outposts remained on their feet. We sent the dead and wounded to the outpost, hugged silently, stood for a while and went back towards the island. Everyone understood that he would not return from this battle. ”

In the last attack, Bubenin managed to destroy the command post of the Chinese battalion on the island. This decided the outcome of the battle. Chinese soldiers began to withdraw to their territory, taking with them the wounded and killed ...

Vladimir Grechukhin, a photographer for the regional newspaper Border Guard in the Pacific Ocean, appeared on the island an hour and a half after the end of the battle. It smelled of gunpowder, blood, death ...

Burnt GAZ-69 of the 2nd frontier post. Damansky Island. March 2, 1969

The hole from the shell in the starboard side of the BTR-60 No. 04 of the 2nd border post

At the position of the Chinese battalion


Chinese Communist Party destroyed by tambourine group
  On March 2, 1969, up to 250 Chinese soldiers and 31 Soviet border guards were killed and 14 were injured in a battle near Damansky Island. Komsomol outpost "Nizhne-Mikhailovka" Corporal Akulov went missing ...

March 2, 1969. 12-00

From the memoirs of Lieutenant Colonel Konstantinov:

Everything was burning around: bushes, trees, two cars. We flew over our territory, watching Damansky. We saw our soldiers at a tree, landed. I began to send groups of soldiers in search of the wounded, the road was every minute. Babansky said they found Strelnikov and his group. We crawled there in a plastubansky way. They are so close and lay. First, I checked the documents. Buinevich’s place. Strelnikov’s disappeared. Private Petrov, who was sent to the outpost by the political department for film and photo documentation, disappeared from the camera. But under a short fur coat we found a camera with which he shot his last three shots, which went around the whole world.

They broke the branches, laid the bodies and, rising to their full height, went to their own. The soldiers dragged the bodies, and the officers and I fell behind a little - with machine guns and machine guns, we covered the retreat. And so it came out. The Chinese did not open fire ...

Recalls Junior Sergeant Alexander Skornyak:

  - We went out onto the ice, where the guys were killed, drove the GAZ-69 cars and started two by three, three to load the bodies. Some were still warm, you see, only recently had died from their wounds. You start to raise a guy, and his blood from his mouth beats a fountain. I still remember the smell of blood in the cold, the smell of death. The Chinese even mocked the dead - pricked with bayonets. Especially went to officers Buinevich and Strelnikov. The snow was red with blood. The Chinese carried away with the retreat of their slain. But we found one of their soldiers. He was dressed warmly, an AK-47 assault rifle was lying nearby and a field telephone ...

  - Ours were tortured by the living, and after death. They cut, broke their heads ... - said Vladimir Grechukhin. - The Chinese dragged the seriously wounded Komsomol of the Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost, Corporal Pavel Akulov. I was transferring his body to relatives - the remains of his hair are gray. The corpse of Paul was disfigured beyond recognition. And only the mother managed to identify her son by a mole on her index finger ...

Chinese soldiers killed the wounded Soviet border guards with point-blank shots and knives. This shameful fact for the People's Liberation Army of China is evidenced by the documents of the Soviet medical commission.

From the report of the head of the medical service of the 57th border detachment of the major of the medical service V. I. Kvitko: “The medical commission, which, in addition to me, included military doctors, senior lieutenants of the medical service B. Fotavenko and N. Kostyuchenko, carefully examined all the dead on the Damansky Island found that 19 wounded would survive, because during the battle they received non-fatal wounds. But then, in a fascist way, they were finished off with knives, bayonets and butts. This is incontrovertibly evidenced by cut, stabbed bayonet and gunshot wounds. They shot at point blank range from one to two meters. From such a distance Strelnikov and Buynevich were finished. ”

On March 5 and 6, border guards were buried at the outposts. In the pictures of Grechukhin there are rows of coffins. Strict faces of the dead. Many have their heads hidden under white gauze bandages ...

The funeral of the dead at the outpost "Nizhne-Mikhailovka." March 6, 1969
  Says Junior Sergeant Alexander Skornyak:

Our guys were buried on the third day. Generals arrived from the district. The parents of the dead arrived. The political department had campaigned for everyone to be buried in Nizhne-Mikhailovka, at the border post. Immediately posthumously awarded all the fallen: officers were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, sergeants and soldiers were awarded orders. But close to this did not become easier. And no one could have imagined that soon the dead border guards and soldiers would be put nearby again ...

Background to the conflict

After the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, a provision appeared that borders between states should, as a rule, (but not necessarily) extend in the middle of the main channel of the river. But it also provided for exceptions, such as drawing a border along one of the coasts, when such a border formed historically - under a treaty or if one side colonized the second coast before the other began to colonize it. In addition, international treaties and agreements are not retroactive.

Despite the fact that according to previously concluded agreements, the entire Ussuri River and the islands located on it turned out to be Russian, this did not have any effect on Sino-Soviet relations. Only in the late 1950s, when the PRC, seeking to increase its international influence, came into conflict with Taiwan (1958) and participated in the border war with India (1962), did the Chinese use the new border provisions as an excuse for revising the Soviet-Chinese borders.

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 interstate conflict broke out. A further deterioration in relations between the two countries led, in the end, to an open armed confrontation on Damansky Island.

The events of March 2 and 15, 1969 on Damansky Island, starting in 1965, were preceded by numerous provocations by the Chinese to arbitrarily seize the Soviet islands on the Ussuri River. At the same time, the Soviet border guards always strictly adhered to the established line of behavior: provocateurs were expelled from Soviet territory, weapons were not used by the border guards.

Historical reference.
Damansky Island in the late 60s territorially belonged to the Pozharsky district of the Primorsky Territory, bordering 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 the south to the north, Damansky stretches for 1500-1800 m, and its width reaches 600-700 m. The actual size of the island depends heavily on the time of year and the level of flood waters . It has no economic or military strategic value.

• Art. Lieutenant Nikolay Mikhailovich Buinevich, operative officer of the special department of the 57th border detachment.

• Sergeant Ermolyuk Viktor Mikhailovich
• Corporal Korzhukov Viktor Kharitonovich
• Private Vetrich Ivan Romanovich
• Private Gavrilov Victor Illarionovich
• Private Zmeev Alexey Petrovich
• Private Izotov Vladimir Alekseevich
• Private Ionin Alexander Filimonovich
• Private Syrtsev Alexey Nikolaevich
• Private Nasretdinov Islamgali Sultangaleevich

• Senior Lieutenant Strelnikov Ivan Ivanovich
• Sergeant Dergach Nikolay Timofeevich
• Sergeant Rabovich Vladimir Nikitich
• Junior Sergeant Kolodkin Nikolai Ivanovich
• Junior Sergeant Loboda Mikhail Andreevich
• Corporal Akulov Pavel Andreevich (died captive from wounds)
• Corporal Davydenko Gennady Mikhailovich
• Corporal Mikhailov Evgeny Konstantinovich
• Private Danilin Vladimir Nikolaevich
• Private Denisenko Anatoly Grigorievich
• Private Egupov Victor Ivanovich
• Private Zolotarev Valentin Grigorievich
• Private Isakov Vyacheslav Petrovich
• Private Kamenchuk Grigory Alexandrovich
• Private Kiselev Gavriil Georgievich
• Private Kuznetsov Alexey Nifantievich
• Private Nechay Sergey Alekseevich
• Private Ovchinnikov Gennady Sergeevich
• Private Pasyuta Alexander Ivanovich
• Private Petrov Nikolay Nikolaevich
• Private Shestakov Alexander Fedorovich
• Private Shusharin Vladimir Mikhailovich

TASS message

At 4 hours 10 minutes Moscow time, another 30 armed intruders went to the Damansky Island from the Chinese coast through the USSR state border. A group of Soviet border guards led by the head of the outpost Strelnikov came to the place of border violation on Ussuri ice.
  As before, border guards had the intention of protesting the Chinese over border violations and expelling them from the territory of the Soviet Union. Fire was fired at the Soviet border guards, and they were literally shot at point blank range. Artillery and mortar fire was opened on another group of border guards from the Chinese coast.

Together with reinforcements arrived from a neighboring outpost, Soviet border guards expelled the offenders.
TASS, March 9, 1969

In March-April 1969, protest rallies against the Chinese provocation on the Soviet border and meetings with border guards participating in battles near Damansky Island took place in the city and the district.

From the newspaper "Labor Life". Kuibyshev NSO

Feat on Damansky Island

1
  We are on a high, snowy bank of the Ussuri River, at the border outpost Nizhne-Mikhailovka.

Ussuri is a dazzlingly white, tightly curved horseshoe, covered in ice and snow. On our side, hills in unopened oaks roll, wave after wave, to a distant cape. And on the other side there is a lowland, red grass, bushes ... There is China! Dry crowns of trees, fanza under red tiles, smoke are visible from the border tower into the eyepieces of the rangefinder pipe ... Between these shores lies Soviet land - Damansky Island, that small island two kilometers long, where the snow is now spread by mines, strewn with spent cartridges, watered with blood .

Ten days ago, on March 2, as it was already reported in the press, here on Damansky Island, a small detachment of Soviet border guards accepted an unequal oh with the Chinese battalion specially prepared for sabotage, meanly, violating the Soviet border under cover of night. A gang of violators was supported from the Chinese coast by an anti-tank battery, heavy mortars, grenade launchers ...

Maoist bandits were defeated and expelled from Soviet soil. But 29 Soviet soldiers and 2 officers died the death of the brave in the battle for their homeland.

2
  A border guard officer leads us to a pile of equipment thrown by the Chinese. Here are the tin jars with the remains of a hypocrite - they drank it all night before the provocation. Here are the shabby mats - the Chinese lay on them after at night, thieves made their way to the island and hid. Here is a telephone cable, telephones in red plastic cases, on which a command was sent from the island to the firing positions of guns and mortars to open fire at Soviet border guards. And from all this - a stupefying, sickening smell of spilled goodies.

We were shown the helmets of our fallen fighters, the new green helmets, shot through, with petals of torn metal. The straps baked blood. It can be seen that the bullet went from top to bottom: they shot at the wounded, lying on the snow border guards from the closest distance.

Major of the medical service Vyacheslav Ivanovich Vitko made the following statement to us:

  - A special medical examination found that 19 of our border guards, who first received non-fatal injuries in the leg, arm, shoulder, were then brutally, meanly finished off. This is incontrovertibly evidenced by cut, bayonet and gunshot wounds. They shot from a distance of one or two meters. So the Maoist bandits finished off with a shot at point blank range the wounded senior lieutenant Strelnikov. Military doctors - medical service lieutenants B.Potavenko, N.Kostyuchenko and I drew up an act about these atrocities. 19 wounded Soviet border guards would be alive if the killers had not finished off with knives, bayonets, bullets.

3
Helicopters descended one by one at the hills. From them, from the vehicles approaching, the mothers and fathers of the fallen soldiers came out and fled along the snowy slope, flooded with a dazzlingly bright sun, to where one could hear the fading sounds of the funeral march ...

Tightly stretched tent. Honor guard with machine guns. It beats red in the eyes: coffins upholstered by kumach stand in a row. And in them are frozen, beautiful, in spite of terrible wounds, faces of our soldiers.

Mother run in. Fall to one, to another. Not that, not that ... There he is! And he falls dead on the filial body, kisses his wounds, grabs his hands, sobs inconsolably. And next - another, third ... We stand right there and, unable to hold back tears, listen, record everything, as it was said here, how it broke out of the mother’s heart.

  - My son, my hope ... What the hell did they do to you ... Yes, they excised you, pricked you ... You wrote to me that your forehead was growing, and they broke your whole head ...

  ... The young widow grabbed the stake of the tent: looks, looks at the one in the coffin, bandaged ...

  ... The gray-haired father is crying, the soldiers standing in the guard of honor are wiping their tears. A reporter writes something in a notebook, sobbing ...

They carried them on their shoulders and set them carefully under the sun. Scarlet Kumach and the green line of the border caps. They lay young, surrounded by a dense crowd. The sky above them is high, and spring clouds are floating in it. And in these white flying clouds, there seemed to be still the echo of a recent victorious battle. And there, on the island, their blood burns ...

Fallen soldiers lie, and workers from Iman, peasants from neighboring villages, friends, border service comrades, officers, generals say goodbye to them, smoke from the fireworks flowed over the river. A wide mass grave, native land takes them. The first handfuls hit the coffin lids. And Ussuri, white, bright, spread the wings of her sleeves over this sacred grave.

4
Military hospital. Here are the wounded heroes of Damansky Island. Twenty-year-old guys, but already scorched by the fire of their first fierce battle. Here, along with them, is their combat commander, senior lieutenant Vitaly Dmitrievich Bubenin. He is thirty years old. He was born in Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, in the family of a party worker. After graduating from a technical school, he worked as a mechanic. Then - the army, the border school and, finally, the outpost. He served as the political outpost of Nizhne-Mikhailovka, with senior lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Strelnikov. Peers, young officers, they became friends. Then Bubenin was appointed chief of a neighboring outpost. Tambourine in battle fought heroically, captivating all the fighters.

He talks about what remains in the memory and in the heart for life.

Senior Lieutenant Vitaliy Bubenin:

  - Exactly at eleven o'clock on the second of March the duty officer from the outpost of my friend, senior lieutenant Strelnikov, called us. In Daman, the battle was already in full swing. On alarm we went there. They jumped to the island, and here we were met from three sides by Chinese guns, mortars, and grenade launchers. Density of fire was high. It hurt me. For a minute I lost consciousness ... When the Chinese knocked out an armored personnel carrier - we switched to another car. And again - bypassing the island ... And I tell you in honor, the guys fought for their native Soviet land, like lions. Every single one, not sparing life. As a commander, I can only be proud of them.

Private Mikhail Putilov:

  - During the battle, we see - two of our wounded are crawling in the snow. We are immediately to them. They began to pick them up, and in our armor the conveyor, the Chinese hit from guns. They struck the “poop” - it hurt us. And the commander too. But we gave them as well ... I lie by the tree, wounded, and I see the Chinese taking the dead and wounded from the island, fleeing to their side ...

Private Gennady Serebrov:

  - My right arm and leg were interrupted by bullets. I lay and saw how they were brutalizing over my wounded comrades - Shusharin and Yegupov. Finished them bastards ...

We also spoke with Colonel D.V. Leonov, the military commander of the border guards.

- Young guys are coming to serve us. A young man puts on a soldier’s overcoat, and you think: will he turn out to be a real warrior, a combat protector of the Motherland? In the battle on Damansky Island, ours were true heroes. And there is nothing surprising in this. After all, the guy was raised by his father and mother, school, Komsomol, Soviet power, our party. A wonderful Russian woman - Agniya Andreevna Strelnikova raised ten children. The oldest lieutenant Strelnikov was a talented commander. On May 9, on Victory Day, he would have turned thirty years old ... Strelnikov was going to the island with fighters to enlighten border violators, to demand that our Soviet land be cleared, as has happened more than once before. And they?! .. They shot Strelnikov point blank.

Strelnikov's friend, Senior Lieutenant Bubenin, who is now in the hospital, was especially distinguished in battle. I drove up to the scene of the battle and I see - our friends, the local fishermen of the Avdeevs, carry the wounded Tambourine in their arms. His face is covered in blood. We put the senior lieutenant under the tree. I order the doctor to evacuate him immediately.

  “I won’t go, Comrade Colonel,” objected Bubenin. “There, on fire, are my soldiers, and I should be with them to the end.”

He stood up and did not hold his legs: apparently, he lost a lot of blood ... Together with the doctor, we nevertheless put him in a car and sent him to the hospital. What else can I say? .. On the island of Damansky, real heroes fought, faithful soldiers of our socialist Fatherland!

5
  When the March clear day faded away, the relatives and friends of the fallen comrades gathered for a feast. The father of senior lieutenant Strelnikov, Ivan Matveevich, stands up. In the Patriotic War he was a soldier, received 12 wounds.

  “Only now we have buried our children,” he said. “I have more sons, and each of them would do the same as Ivan.” I can’t say anything else.

The father of the border guard Nikitin rose:
  - All of us, fathers, went through the Patriotic War ... Today we have lost sons, but the people will not forget them. I curse Mao and his accomplices, this is their dirty work.

Says the father of sergeant Nikolai Dergach - Timothy Nikitich.

“I'm fifty years old tomorrow.” That's how it turned out ... Mao killed my only son ... Kolya was only twenty years old, he was just starting to live ... Now, in peacetime, I am a state farm worker. And in the Patriotic War I was an artilleryman. And, by the way, in the forty-fifth year he came to China with his regiment to drive the Japanese out of Chinese land. What is this getting? We defeated the Kwantung army of the Japanese imperialists to help the Chinese people. After 1949, factories, factories helped China build. But Mao will execute real communists at home and will creep into our Soviet land ... Evidently, his deeds are bad, the Chinese people do not believe him, and therefore he seeks salvation in black robbery.

* * *
  ... We left the border in the evening. The sun was ending its way, having beaten up the purplish forests, the white hills, the quiet Ussuri and our Damansky Island, which fell to her bosom.

The first stars are about to flash in the sky. They will shine over the mass grave. A little time will pass - the obelisk will rise here. And he, as an eternal sentinel, will guard the dream of the heroes of Daman.

Private Vladimir Shusharin

Memorial “Glory to the Fallen Heroes”

Across the border

  “On March 2, 1969, a group of Soviet border troops of 70 people with two armored personnel carriers, one truck and one passenger car invaded our island Zhengbaodao, Hulin County, Heilongjiang Province, destroyed our patrol and then destroyed many of our border guards with fire. This forced our soldiers to take self-defense measures.

On March 15, the Soviet Union, not paying attention to the numerous warnings of the Chinese government, launched an offensive against us with 20 tanks, 30 armored personnel carriers and 200 infantry, supported by air from its aircraft.

For 9 hours, courageously defending the island, fighters and people's militias withstood three enemy attacks. On March 17, the enemy tried to pull out a tank that had been previously hit by our forces using several tanks, tractors and infantry. "Hurricane retaliatory artillery fire of our artillery destroyed part of the enemy’s forces, the survivors retreated."

A memorable bas-relief depicting the feat of soldiers of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) in March 1969

The book "Myths of Daman"

The book uses extensive documentary and literary material, eyewitness accounts. The text is accompanied by illustrations, documentary and reference applications.

Designed for a wide range of readers interested in military history. Published in 2004 with a circulation of only 3,000 copies.

Have you read the article to the end? Please take part in the discussion, express your point of view, or simply rate the article.

In March 1969, the two most powerful socialist powers at that time — the USSR and the PRC — nearly 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.

Post sponsor: http://www.klimatproff.ru/installation-conditioners.html: Installation, installation of air conditioners from 7000 rubles.

1. Damansky island on the Ussuri River was part of the Pozharsky district of Primorsky Krai and had an area of \u200b\u200b0.74 km². It was located a little closer to the Chinese coast than to ours. However, the border did not extend along the middle of the river, but, in accordance with the Beijing Treaty of 1860, along the Chinese coast.

Damansky - view from the Chinese coast

2. The conflict in 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 not only was able to unite, but began to develop rapidly, strengthening the army and creating the conditions necessary for the modernization of the economy. However, after Stalin's death, a period of cooling began in Sino-Soviet relations. Mao Zedong now claimed almost the role of the leading world leader of the communist movement, which Nikita Khrushchev could not agree with.

At the same time, the policy of the Cultural Revolution pursued by Zedong constantly demanded to keep society in suspense, to create more and more new images of the enemy both inside and outside the country, and the process of “de-Stalinization” in the USSR generally threatened the cult of the “great Mao” himself, who gradually evolved in China. As a result, in 1960, the CCP officially announced the “wrong” course of the CPSU, relations between countries escalated to the limit, and conflicts often began to occur on borders 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 went unnoticed, the Soviet border guards received a signal about an armed group of people up to 30 people only at 10:32 in the morning.

4. 32 border guards under the command of the chief of the Nizhne-Mikhailovskaya outpost, senior lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, arrived at the scene. Approaching the Chinese military, Strelnikov demanded that they leave Soviet territory, but in response fire from small arms was opened. Senior lieutenant Strelnikov and the border guards following him died, only one soldier managed to survive.

Thus began the famous Daman conflict, which had not been written about for a long time, but which everyone knew about.

5. The shooting was heard at the neighboring outpost "Kulebyakiny hills." Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Bubenin went to the rescue with 20 border guards and one armored personnel carrier. The Chinese attacked aggressively, but retreated a few hours later. Residents of the neighboring village of Nizhnemikhailovka came to the aid of the wounded.

6. That day, 31 Soviet border guards died, another 14 servicemen were injured. According to the KGB commission, the Chinese side’s losses amounted to 248 people.

7. On March 3, a demonstration near the Soviet embassy took place in Beijing; on March 7, the Chinese embassy in Moscow was picketed.

8. Weapons seized from the Chinese

9. On the morning of March 15, the Chinese again went on the offensive. They brought the strength of their forces to an infantry division, reinforced by reservists. Attacks using the "human wave" method lasted for an hour. After a fierce battle, the Chinese managed to oust the Soviet soldiers.

10. Then, to support the defenders, a tank platoon headed by the head of the Iman border detachment, which included the outposts Nizhne-Mikhailovskaya and Kulebyakiny Sopki, Colonel Leonov, moved into a counterattack.

11. But, as it turned out, the Chinese were prepared for this turn of events and had enough anti-tank weapons. Because of their dense 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 entered into the 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, whose command gave the order of their artillery, including the separate BM-21 Grad division, to open fire on the positions of the Chinese on the island. This was the first time Grad missile launchers were used in battle, the strike of which decided the outcome of the battle.

14. The Soviet troops retreated 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, 94 soldiers and 9 officers, wounded and died from wounds. The losses of the Chinese side are still classified information and, according to various estimates, range from 100-150 to 800 and even 3000 people.

16. For the heroism shown, four servicemen received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union: Colonel D. Leonov and Senior Lieutenant I. Strelnikov (posthumous), Senior Lieutenant V. Bubenin and Junior Sergeant Y. Babansky.

In the foreground photo: Colonel D. Leonov, lieutenants V. Bubenin, I. Strelnikov, V. Shorokhov; background: personnel of the first frontier post. 1968

The post used materials from Russian77.ru and the magazine "Spark".

After the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, a provision appeared that borders between states should, as a rule (but not necessarily), pass in the middle of the main channel of the river. But it also provided for exceptions, such as drawing a border along one of the coasts, when such a border formed historically - under a treaty or if one side colonized the second coast before the other began to colonize it.

  In addition, international treaties and agreements are not retroactive. Nevertheless, in the late 1950s, when the PRC, seeking to increase its international influence, came into conflict with Taiwan (1958) and participated in the border war with India (1962), the Chinese used the new border provisions as an excuse for revising the Soviet Union. -China border.

  The leadership of the USSR was ready to do this, in 1964 a consultation was held on border issues, but ended to no avail.

In connection with ideological disagreements during the Cultural Revolution in China and after the Prague spring of 1968, when the PRC authorities declared that the USSR had embarked on the path of “socialist imperialism,” relations escalated.

Damansky Island, which was part of the Pozharsky district of Primorsky Krai, is located on the Chinese side of the main channel of Ussuri. Its dimensions are 1500-1800 m from north to south and 600-700 m from west to east (an area of \u200b\u200babout 0.74 km²).

  During floods, the island is completely hidden under water and is of no economic value.

Since the beginning of the 1960s, the situation in the region of the island was heating up. According to the statements of the Soviet side, groups of civilians and military personnel began to systematically violate the border regime and enter Soviet territory, from where they were always expelled by border guards without the use of weapons.

  Initially, peasants entered the territory of the USSR on the instructions of the Chinese authorities and defiantly engaged in economic activities there: mowing and grazing, stating that they were in Chinese territory.

The number of such provocations increased sharply: in 1960 there were 100 of them, in 1962 - more than 5,000. Then, attacks began on the Hungweibins on border patrols.

  Thousands of events went through such events; up to several hundred people were involved in each of them.

On January 4, 1969, a Chinese provocation was held on the island of Kirkinsky (Tsilitsindao) with the participation of 500 people.

According to the Chinese version of the events, the Soviet border guards themselves organized provocations and beat Chinese citizens who were engaged in economic activities where they always did.

  During the Kirkin incident, they used armored personnel carriers to oust civilians and crushed 4 of them, and on February 7, 1969 they fired several single machine-gun shots in the direction of the Chinese border detachment.

However, it was repeatedly noted that not one of these clashes, through whose fault they occurred, could result in a serious armed conflict without the approval of the authorities. The assertion that the events around Damansky Island on March 2 and 15 were the result of a carefully planned action by the Chinese side is now the most widespread; including directly or indirectly recognized by many Chinese historians.

For example, Li Danhui writes that in 1968-1969, the directives of the CPC Central Committee limited the response to Soviet provocations, only on January 25, 1969, it was allowed to plan “retaliatory military actions” on Damansky Island using three companies. On February 19, the General Staff and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC agreed to this.

Events March 1-2 and the following week
  On the night of March 1–2, 1969, about 300 Chinese soldiers in winter camouflage, armed with AK assault rifles and SKS carbines, crossed to Damansky and lay on the higher west coast of the island.

The group went unnoticed until 10:40, when a report was received from the observation post at the 2nd Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost of the 57th Iman border detachment that a group of armed men of up to 30 people was moving in the direction of Damansky. 32 Soviet border guards traveled to the scene, including the chief of the outpost, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, in GAZ-69 and GAZ-63 cars and one BTR-60PB. At 11:10 they arrived at the southern tip of the island. Border guards under the command of Strelnikov were divided into two groups. The first group, under the command of Strelnikov, headed for a group of Chinese troops standing on ice southwest of the island.

The second group, under the command of Sergeant Vladimir Rabovich, was supposed to cover Strelnikov's group from the south coast of the island. Strelnikov expressed his protest over the violation of the border and demanded that Chinese troops leave the territory of the USSR. One of the Chinese servicemen raised his hand up, which served as a signal for the Chinese side to open fire on Strelnikov and Rabovich groups. The moment of the beginning of the armed provocation was able to fix ordinary photographer Nikolai Petrov on the film. Strelnikov and the border guards who followed him died immediately, and in a fleeting battle, the border guards detachment under the command of Sergeant Rabovich died. Junior sergeant Yuri Babansky took command over the surviving border guards.

Having received a report on the shooting on the island, the chief of the neighboring 1st Kulebyakiny Sopa outpost, Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Bubenin, drove out to the BTR-60PB and GAZ-69 with 20 soldiers to help. In the battle, Bubenin was wounded and sent an APC to the rear of the Chinese, skirting the northern tip of the island on ice, but soon an APC was hit and Bubenin decided to go with his soldiers to the Soviet coast. Having reached the armored personnel carrier of the deceased Strelnikov and reseeding him, the Bubenin group moved along the positions of the Chinese and destroyed their command post. Those began a retreat.

In the battle on March 2, 31 Soviet border guards died, 14 were injured. The losses of the Chinese side (according to the assessment of the KGB of the USSR) amounted to 247 people killed

Around 12:00 a helicopter arrived at Damansky with the command of the Iman border detachment and its chief Colonel D.V. Leonov and reinforcements from neighboring outposts. Reinforced guards of the border guards came to Damansky, and the 135th motorized rifle division of the Soviet Army was deployed in the rear with artillery and BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket launchers. On the Chinese side, the 24th infantry regiment of 5,000 people was preparing for battle.

On March 3, a demonstration took place in Beijing near the Soviet embassy. On March 4, the Chinese newspapers Renmin Ribao and Jefangjun Bao (解放军报) featured the editorial “Down with the New Kings!” Blaming the incident on Soviet troops, who, according to the author of the article, “driven by a clique of renegade revisionists, are brazenly "invaded Zhengbaodao island on the Usulijiang river in the Heilongjiang province of our country, opened gun and cannon fire at the border guards of the People's Liberation Army of China, killing and injuring many of them." On the same day, the Soviet newspaper Pravda published an article entitled “Shame on provocateurs!” According to the author of the article, “an armed Chinese detachment crossed the Soviet state border and headed towards Damansky Island. On the Soviet border guards guarding this area, fire was suddenly opened from the Chinese side. There are dead and wounded. ”On March 7, the Chinese Embassy in Moscow was picketed. Demonstrators also threw ink bubbles at the building.

Events March 14-15
On March 14 at 15:00 an order was received to remove border guard units from the island. Immediately after the departure of the Soviet border guards, Chinese soldiers began to occupy the island. In response to this, 8 armored personnel carriers under the command of the head of the motorized maneuver group of the 57th border detachment, Lieutenant Colonel E.I. Yanshin, in combat order moved towards Damansky; the Chinese retreated to their shore.



At 20:00 on March 14, border guards received an order to occupy the island. That same night, a group of Yanshin dug in there, consisting of 60 people in 4 armored personnel carriers. On the morning of March 15, after broadcasting from both sides through loudspeakers, at 10:00 from 30 to 60 barrels of Chinese artillery and mortars began firing at Soviet positions, and 3 companies of Chinese infantry went on the offensive. A battle ensued.

From 400 to 500 Chinese soldiers took up positions near the southern part of the island and prepared to go behind Yanshin. Two armored personnel carriers of his group were hit, the connection is broken. Four T-62 tanks under the command of D.V. Leonov attacked the Chinese at the southern tip of the island, however, Leonov’s tank was shot down (according to various versions, shot from an RPG-2 grenade launcher or detonated on an anti-tank mine), and Leonov himself was killed by a Chinese sniper when trying to leave a burning car.

The situation was aggravated by the fact that Leonov did not know the island and, as a result, Soviet tanks came too close to the Chinese positions. However, at the cost of losses they did not allow the Chinese to enter the island.

Two hours later, having spent ammunition, the Soviet border guards still had to withdraw from the island. It became clear that the forces introduced into the battle were not enough and the Chinese significantly outnumbered the border guards. At 5:00 p.m. in a critical situation, in violation of the instructions of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU not to bring the Soviet troops into conflict, by order of the commander of the troops of the Far Eastern Military District Oleg Losik, fire was opened from the Grad secret multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) at that time.

  The shells destroyed most of the material and technical resources of the Chinese group and the military, including reinforcements, mortars, and stacks of shells. At 17:10, motorized riflemen of the 2nd motorized rifle battalion of the 199th motorized rifle regiment and border guards under the command of Lt. Col. Smirnov and Lt. Col. Konstantinov went on the attack in order to completely crush the resistance of the Chinese troops. The Chinese began to withdraw from their positions. Around 19:00 several firing points “came to life”, after which three new attacks were made, but they were also repelled.

The Soviet troops again went ashore, and the Chinese side no longer took large-scale hostile actions on this section of the state border.

In total, during the clashes, Soviet troops lost 58 people (including 4 officers) killed and died from wounds, 94 people wounded (including 9 officers).

  The irretrievable losses of the Chinese side are still classified information and, according to various estimates, range from 100-150 to 800 and even 3000 people. A memorial cemetery is located in Baoqing County, where the remains of 68 Chinese soldiers who died on March 2 and 15, 1969, are located. The information received from the Chinese defector suggests that other burials exist.

For their heroism, five servicemen received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union: Colonel D. Leonov (posthumously), Senior Lieutenant I. Strelnikov (posthumously), Junior Sergeant V. Orekhov (posthumously), Senior Lieutenant V. Bubenin, Junior Sergeant Yu. Babansky.

Many border guards and military personnel of the Soviet Army were awarded state awards: 3 - Orders of Lenin, 10 - Orders of the Red Banner, 31 - Orders of the Red Star, 10 - Orders of Glory of the III degree, 63 - medals "For Courage", 31 - medals "For Military Merit" .

Settlement and Consequences
The knocked-out T-62 to Soviet soldiers could not be returned due to the constant Chinese shelling. An attempt to destroy it from mortars was unsuccessful, and the tank fell through the ice. Subsequently, the Chinese were able to pull him to their shore and now he stands in the Beijing Military Museum.

After the ice melted, the entry of the Soviet border guards to Damansky was difficult and sniper and machine-gun fire had to impede the Chinese attempts to capture it. September 10, 1969 was ordered to cease fire, apparently, to create a favorable background for the negotiations that began the next day at the Beijing airport.

Immediately Damansky and Kirkinsky occupied the Chinese armed forces.

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 Prime Minister of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai agreed to stop hostile actions and that the troops remain in their occupied positions. In fact, this meant the transfer of Daman to China.

On October 20, 1969, new negotiations between the heads of government of the USSR and the PRC took place, and an agreement was reached on the need to revise the Soviet-Chinese border. Then a number of negotiations were held in Beijing and Moscow, and in 1991 Damansky Island finally ceded to China.