The largest Soviet-Chinese armed conflict: Damansky Island. Damansky Island - conflict with China: how it happened

Original taken from parker_111 in Conflict on Damansky Island. 1969

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

In addition, international treaties and agreements do not have retroactive effect. However, in the late 1950s, when the PRC, seeking to increase its international influence, entered into conflict with Taiwan (1958) and participated in the border war with India (1962), the Chinese used the new border regulations as a reason to revise the Soviet -Chinese border.

The leadership of the USSR was ready to do this; in 1964, a consultation was held on border issues, but it ended without results.

Due to ideological differences during the Cultural Revolution in China and after the Prague Spring of 1968, when the PRC authorities declared that the USSR had taken the path of “socialist imperialism,” relations became particularly strained.

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

During flood periods, the island is completely hidden under water and has no economic value.

Since the early 1960s, the situation in the island area has been heating up. According to statements from the Soviet side, groups of civilians and military personnel began to systematically violate the border regime and enter Soviet territory, from where they were expelled each time by border guards without the use of weapons.

At first, peasants entered the territory of the USSR at the direction of the Chinese authorities and demonstratively worked there. economic activity: mowing and grazing livestock, declaring that they are on Chinese territory.

The number of such provocations increased sharply: in 1960 there were 100, in 1962 - more than 5,000. Then Red Guards began to attack border patrols.

Such events numbered in the thousands, each of them involving up to several hundred people.

On January 4, 1969, a Chinese provocation was carried out on Kirkinsky Island (Qiliqindao) with the participation of 500 people.

According to the Chinese version of events, the Soviet border guards themselves staged provocations and beat up Chinese citizens engaged in economic activities where they had always done so.

During the Kirkinsky incident, they used armored personnel carriers to oust civilians and killed 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 none of these clashes, no matter 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 an action carefully planned 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 response to Soviet provocations was limited by the directives of the CPC Central Committee; only on January 25, 1969, it was allowed to plan “response military actions” near Damansky Island with the help of three companies. On February 19, the General Staff and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China agreed to this.

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

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

The second group under the command of Sergeant Vladimir Rabovich was supposed to cover Strelnikov’s group with south coast islands. Strelnikov protested the violation of the border and demanded that Chinese military personnel 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 the groups of Strelnikov and Rabovich. The moment of the start of the armed provocation was captured on film by military photojournalist Private Nikolai Petrov. Strelnikov and the border guards who followed him died immediately, and a squad of border guards under the command of Sergeant Rabovich also died in a short battle. Junior Sergeant Yuri Babansky took command of the surviving border guards.

Having received a report about the shooting on the island, the head of the neighboring 1st outpost “Kulebyakiny Sopki”, senior lieutenant Vitaly Bubenin, went to the BTR-60PB and GAZ-69 with 20 soldiers to help. In the battle, Bubenin was wounded and sent the armored personnel carrier to the rear of the Chinese, skirting the northern tip of the island along the ice, but soon the armored personnel carrier was hit and Bubenin decided to go out with his soldiers to the Soviet coast. Having reached the armored personnel carrier of the deceased Strelnikov and boarded it, Bubenin’s group moved along the Chinese positions and destroyed them command post. They began to retreat.

In the battle on March 2, 31 Soviet border guards were killed and 14 were injured. The losses of the Chinese side (according to the USSR KGB commission) 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 squads of border guards reached Damansky, and the 135th Motorized Rifle Division was deployed in the rear Soviet army with artillery and installations of the BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system. On the Chinese side, the 24th Infantry Regiment, numbering 5,000 people, was preparing for combat.

On March 3, a demonstration took place near the Soviet embassy in Beijing. On March 4, the Chinese newspapers People's Daily and Jiefangjun Bao (解放军报) published an editorial "Down with the new kings!", blaming the incident on the Soviet troops, who, according to the author of the article, "moved by a clique of renegade revisionists, brazenly invaded Zhenbaodao Island on the Wusulijiang River in Heilongjiang Province of our country, opened rifle and cannon fire on the border guards of the People's Liberation Army of China, killing and wounding many of them." On the same day, the Soviet newspaper Pravda published an article “Shame on the provocateurs!” According to the author of the article, “an armed Chinese detachment crossed the Soviet state border and headed towards Damansky Island. Fire was suddenly opened on the Soviet border guards guarding this area from the Chinese side. There are dead and wounded." On March 7, the Chinese Embassy in Moscow was picketed. Demonstrators also threw ink bottles 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 withdrawal 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, moved in battle formation towards Damansky; The Chinese retreated to their shore.

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

Between 400 and 500 Chinese soldiers took up positions near the southern part of the island and prepared to move behind Yangshin's rear. Two armored personnel carriers of his group were hit, and communication was damaged. Four T-62 tanks under the command of D.V. Leonov attacked the Chinese at the southern tip of the island, but Leonov’s tank was hit (according to various versions, by a shot from an RPG-2 grenade launcher or was blown up by an anti-tank mine), and Leonov himself was killed by a shot from a Chinese sniper when trying to leave a burning car.

What made the situation worse was 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, the Chinese were not allowed to enter the island.

Two hours later, having used up their ammunition, the Soviet border guards were nevertheless forced to withdraw from the island. It became clear that the forces brought into the battle were not enough and the Chinese significantly outnumbered the border guard detachments. At 17:00, in a critical situation, in violation of the instructions of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee not to introduce Soviet troops into the conflict, on the orders of the commander of the Far Eastern Military District, Oleg Losik, fire was opened from the then-secret Grad multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS).

The shells destroyed most of the material and technical resources of the Chinese group and 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 Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov and Lieutenant Colonel Konstantinov went on the attack in order to finally suppress the resistance of the Chinese troops. The Chinese began to retreat from their occupied positions. At about 19:00 several firing points came to life, after which three new attacks were launched, but they were repulsed.

Soviet troops again retreated to their shores, and the Chinese side no longer undertook large-scale hostile actions on this section of the state border.

In total, during the clashes, Soviet troops lost 58 people killed or died from wounds (including 4 officers), and 94 people were 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. In Baoqing County there is a memorial cemetery where the remains of 68 Chinese soldiers who died on March 2 and 15, 1969 are located. Information received from a 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 III degree, 63 - medals "For Courage", 31 - medals "For Military Merit" .

Settlement and aftermath
Soviet soldiers were unable to return the destroyed T-62 due to constant Chinese shelling. An attempt to destroy it with mortars was unsuccessful, and the tank fell through the ice. Subsequently, the Chinese were able to pull it to their shores and now it stands in the Beijing military museum.

After the ice melted, the exit of the Soviet border guards to Damansky turned out to be difficult and it was necessary to prevent Chinese attempts to capture it with sniper and machine-gun fire. On September 10, 1969, a ceasefire was ordered, apparently to create a favorable background for the negotiations that began the next day at Beijing airport.

Immediately, Damansky and Kirkinsky were occupied by 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 Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai agreed to stop hostile actions and that the troops would remain in their occupied positions. In fact, this meant the transfer of Damansky to China.

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

In March 1969, the two most powerful socialist powers at that time - the USSR and the PRC - almost started a full-scale war over a piece of land called Damansky Island.

In our photo story we tried to restore the chronology of events.

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1. The Damansky island on the Ussuri River was part of the Pozharsky district of Primorsky Krai and had an area of 0.74 km². It was located a little closer to the Chinese coast than to ours. However, the border did not run in the middle of the river, but, in accordance with the Beijing treaty of 1860, along the Chinese bank.

Damansky - view from the Chinese coast

2. The conflict in Damansky occurred 20 years after the formation of the Chinese People's Republic. Until the 1950s, China was a weak country with a poor population. With the help of the USSR, the Celestial Empire was not only able to unite, but began to develop rapidly, strengthening the army and creating the conditions necessary for modernizing the economy. However, after Stalin's death, a period of cooling began in Soviet-Chinese relations. Mao Zedong now claimed almost the role of the leading world leader of the communist movement, with which Nikita Khrushchev could not agree.

At the same time, the policy of the Cultural Revolution carried out by Zedong constantly required keeping society in suspense, creating ever new images of the enemy both within the country and outside it, and the process of “de-Stalinization” in the USSR generally threatened the cult of the “great Mao” himself, which gradually took shape in China. As a result, in 1960, the CPC officially announced the “wrong” course of the CPSU, relations between the countries deteriorated to the limit and conflicts often began to occur on the border of more than 7.5 thousand kilometers.

3. On the night of March 2, 1969, about 300 Chinese soldiers crossed to Damansky. They remained unnoticed for several hours; Soviet border guards received a signal about an armed group of up to 30 people only at 10:32 am.

4. 32 border guards under the command of the head of the Nizhne-Mikhailovskaya outpost, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, went to the scene of events. Approaching the Chinese military, Strelnikov demanded that they leave Soviet territory, but in response they opened fire from small arms. Senior Lieutenant Strelnikov and the border guards who followed him died, only one soldier managed to survive.

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

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

6. That day, 31 Soviet border guards were killed and another 14 military personnel were injured. According to the KGB commission, the losses of the Chinese side amounted to 248 people.

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

8. Weapons captured from the Chinese

9. On the morning of March 15, the Chinese again went on the offensive. They increased the size of their forces to an infantry division, reinforced by reservists. The “human wave” attacks continued for an hour. After a fierce battle, the Chinese managed to push back the Soviet soldiers.

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

11. But, as it turned out, the Chinese were prepared for such a turn of events and had a sufficient number of anti-tank weapons. Due to their heavy fire, our counterattack failed.

12. The failure of the counterattack and the loss of the newest T-62 combat vehicle with secret equipment finally convinced the Soviet command that the forces brought into the battle were not enough to defeat the Chinese side, which was very seriously prepared.

13. Then the forces of the 135th Motorized Rifle Division deployed along the river came into play, whose command ordered its artillery, including a separate BM-21 Grad division, to open fire on the Chinese positions on the island. This was the first time that Grad missile launchers were used in battle, the impact of which decided the outcome of the battle.

14. Soviet troops retreated to their shores, and the Chinese side did not take any more hostile actions.

15. In total, during the clashes, Soviet troops lost 58 soldiers and 4 officers killed or died from wounds, and 94 soldiers and 9 officers were wounded. The losses of the Chinese side are still classified information and, according to various estimates, range from 100-150 to 800 and even 3000 people.

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

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

The post used materials from Russian77.ru and Ogonyok magazine.

Damansky Island (or Zhenbao) is a Chinese islet with an area of less than 1 km₂ located on the Ussuri River. During the spring flood, Ussuri Damansky completely disappears under water for several weeks. It is difficult to imagine that two such powerful powers as the USSR and China could start a conflict over such a tiny piece of land. However, the reasons for the armed clash on Damansky Island lay much deeper than ordinary territorial claims.

Damansky Island on the map

The origins of the 1969 border conflict stemmed from the imperfections of the treaties formalized by the two powers in the mid-19th century. The Beijing Treaty of 1860 stated that the line of the Russian-Chinese border should not run along the middle of the Amur and Ussuri rivers, but along their fairways (the deepest sections suitable for navigation). Because of this, almost the entire Ussuri River, together with the islands located in it, ended up within Russia. In addition, St. Petersburg received the Amur region and vast territories adjacent to the Pacific Ocean.

In 1919, at the Paris Peace Conference, the terms of the Beijing Treaty were confirmed; the border between the USSR and China still ran along the Ussuri fairway. However, due to the peculiarities of the Ussuri current, the position of some islands changed: in one place sand deposits formed, and in another, the land, on the contrary, was washed away. This also happened with the Damansky Island formed in the area of 1915.

However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the border issue did not interfere with cooperation between the USSR and China. With the support of Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong managed to come to power and form the communist People's Republic of China. Until Nikita Khrushchev came to power, relations between the Soviet and Chinese peoples remained friendly. Mao Zedong was extremely dissatisfied with Khrushchev’s report “On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences.” This report indirectly affected the Chinese leader, who used the same political techniques in his country as Stalin. Khrushchev's speech provoked anti-Stalinist protests in Poland and Hungary, and Mao Zedong rightly feared that the unrest Khrushchev had sown in the communist camp could also affect the Chinese people.

Khrushchev more than once allowed himself to make contemptuous statements about the Chinese leadership, considering China a satellite of the USSR. According to Nikita Sergeevich, Mao Zedong was obliged to support any direction of Soviet policy. However, as the power of the Chinese grew communist party, and the Chinese economy and military industry were developing, the Great Helmsman needed less and less approval and support from the Soviet Union.

The difficult international situation was also aggravated by the Chinese cultural revolution that began in 1966, accompanied by mass executions and repressions. The events taking place in China were condemned not only by democratically minded Soviet dissidents, but also by the leadership of the CPSU.

Thus, the main reasons for the deterioration of Soviet-Chinese relations were:

The desire of the Chinese to change the border between the two countries;
The struggle for leadership in the socialist camp;
Mao Zedong's desire to strengthen his power in China through a victorious war;
Political and ideological contradictions.

The apogee of the crisis was the border conflict on Damansky Island, which almost resulted in war.

Attempts to resolve territorial issues in the 1950s-60s

Vladimir Lenin more than once called the policy of Tsarist Russia towards China predatory and aggressive. But for a long time the question of revising the Soviet-Chinese border was not raised. In 1951, representatives of the two countries signed an agreement to maintain the existing border. At the same time, the Chinese leadership agreed to the establishment of Soviet border control over the Amur and Ussuri rivers.

In 1964, Mao Zedong first announced the need to change the map of the Far East. We were talking not only about the islands in Ussuri, but also about the vast Amur territories. The Soviet leadership was ready to make some concessions, but the negotiations reached a dead end and ended in nothing.

Many believed that tensions in Soviet-Chinese relations would subside after the change of the Secretary General, but under Brezhnev the conflict escalated even more. Since the early 1960s, the Chinese side has regularly violated the border regime and tried to provoke a conflict. Articles about the Soviet occupiers appeared daily in the Chinese press. In winter, when the Ussuri was frozen, residents of nearby Chinese villages came out into the middle of the river with banners. They stood in front of the Soviet border outpost and demanded to move the border. Every day the protesters behaved more and more aggressively; they began to take sticks, knives and even guns with them. Winter 1969 local residents began to cross the Soviet-Chinese border without permission and provoke fights with Soviet border guards.

From the Amur region, Moscow regularly received reports of an impending war. However, the answers were rather laconic and monotonous. The border guards were ordered not to succumb to provocations and not resort to violence, despite the fact that two Soviet soldiers had already been killed. Serious military assistance the outpost on Ussuri also did not receive it.

Events of March 1969

2nd of March

On the night of March 1-2, 1969, about 300 Chinese troops moved to Damansky across the Ussuri ice and set up an ambush there. Artillerymen covered the landing from the Chinese shore. Since it was snowing heavily all night and there was poor visibility, the presence of strangers on the island was noticed by Soviet border guards only on the morning of March 2. According to preliminary estimates, there were about thirty violators. The situation was reported to the head of the Soviet border outpost in Nizhne-Mikhailovka, Senior Lieutenant Strelnikov. Strelnikov and 32 other border guards immediately arrived ashore and began to approach the island. Suddenly, machine gun fire was opened on the Soviet military. The border guards began to shoot back, however, the forces were clearly not equal. Most of Strelnikov's men, like the senior lieutenant himself, were killed.

The survivors gradually retreated under enemy pressure, however, a group from the Kulebyakina Sopka outpost under the leadership of Senior Lieutenant Bubenin arrived to their aid. Despite the fact that Bubenin had a small handful of men and was seriously wounded in battle, his group managed to accomplish the incredible: bypass superior enemy forces and destroy the Chinese command post. After this, the attackers were forced to retreat.

On that day, the Soviet border guards lost 31 soldiers, and the Chinese side lost about 150.

Both Soviet citizens and the Chinese public were outraged by this incident. Pickets took place near the Soviet embassy in Beijing and near the Chinese embassy in Moscow. Each side accused its neighbor of unjustified aggression and the desire to start a war.

March 15th

After the events of March 2, active military preparations were underway on the banks of the Ussuri. Both sides pulled equipment and ammunition to the coastline, and border outposts were strengthened.

On March 15, a repeated military clash occurred between the Soviet and Chinese armies. The attack was launched by the Chinese, who were covered by artillerymen from the shore. For a long time the battle went on with varying success. Moreover, the number of Chinese soldiers was approximately ten times greater than the number of Soviet ones.

In the afternoon, the Soviet soldiers were forced to retreat, and Damansky was immediately occupied by the Chinese. Attempts to dislodge the enemy from the island with artillery fire were unsuccessful. Tanks were even used, but the Chinese side had an extensive arsenal of anti-tank weapons and repelled this counterattack. One of the tanks - a damaged T-62, equipped with secret equipment (including the world's first night vision sight) - remained standing just a hundred meters from the Chinese coast. The Soviet side tried in vain to blow up the tank, and the Chinese side tried to pull the car to its shore. As a result, the ice under the tank was blown up, but the depth in this place turned out to be insufficient for the combat vehicle to completely go under water. Already in April, the Chinese managed to remove the Soviet tank. Now it is exhibited as an exhibit in one of the Chinese military museums.

After several unsuccessful counterattacks, the Soviet command decided for the first time to use a newly developed secret weapon against the enemy - the BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers. These attitudes predetermined the outcome of the conflict. In a matter of minutes, hundreds of Chinese soldiers were killed, mortar systems and reserves were destroyed. After this, Soviet motorized rifles and a tank group went into battle. They managed to push the Chinese soldiers ashore, and further attempts to occupy the island were stopped. By the evening of the same day, the parties dispersed to their respective shores.

Consequences and results

The situation on the border remained tense throughout the spring and summer of 1969. However, so many serious incidents no longer occurred: the ice on the river melted, and it became almost impossible to occupy Damansky. The Chinese made several attempts to land on the island, but each time they were met with sniper fire from the Soviet shore. Over the course of several months, Soviet border guards had to open fire on intruders about 300 times.

The situation required a speedy resolution, otherwise, by the end of the year, border clashes could lead to war, possibly even nuclear. In September, Chairman of the Council of Ministers Kosygin arrived in Beijing to hold negotiations with the Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. The result of these negotiations was a joint decision to leave troops on those lines where they are located in this moment. The day before the meeting between Kosygin and Zhou Enlai, Soviet border guards received orders not to open fire, which allowed Chinese troops to occupy the island. Therefore, in fact, this decision meant the transfer of Damansky to China.

While Mao Zedong and the Gang of Four were in power, relations between the two powers remained strained. Further attempts to resolve the border issue ended unsuccessfully. But since the early 1980s, the USSR and China began to establish trade and diplomatic ties. In the 1990s it was decided to hold new border between Russia and China. During these events, Damansky and some other territories officially became Chinese possessions.

Damansky Island today

Now Damansky Island is part of the People's Republic of China. In honor of the fallen Chinese soldiers, a memorial was erected on it, to which flowers are laid annually and schoolchildren are brought. There is also a border post here. Information about the exact losses of the Chinese army in March 1969 is classified. Official sources report 68 dead, but in foreign literature one can find data on several hundred or even several thousand killed Chinese soldiers and officers.

The conflict over Daman Island is, for some reasons, not the most popular topic in Chinese historical scholarship.

Firstly, a lifeless piece of land, of no interest to builders, geologists, or fishermen, was clearly not worth the human losses;
Secondly, the Chinese soldiers did not perform very well in this clash. They retreated, despite the fact that their numbers obviously outnumbered the enemy forces. Also, the Chinese side did not hesitate to finish off the wounded with bayonets and, in general, distinguished themselves with particular cruelty.

However, in Chinese literature there is still an opinion that the aggressors who started the conflict over Damansky Island were Soviet border guards.

Many domestic researchers believe that for the Chinese side, the conflict over Damansky Island was a kind of test of strength before a full-fledged war with the SSDF. But thanks to the fearlessness and courage of the Soviet border guards, Mao Zedong decided to abandon the idea of returning the Amur region to China.

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Historical reference

The passage of the Russian-Chinese border was established by numerous legal acts - the Nerchinsk Treaty of 1689, the Burinsky and Kyakhtinsky Treaties of 1727, the Aigun Treaty of 1858, the Beijing Treaty of 1860, the Treaty Act of 1911.

In accordance with generally accepted practice, boundaries on rivers are drawn along the main fairway. However, taking advantage of the weakness of pre-revolutionary China, the tsarist government of Russia managed to draw the border on the Ussuri River along the water's edge along the Chinese coast. Thus, the entire river and the islands on it turned out to be Russian.

This obvious injustice persisted after the October Revolution of 1917 and the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, but did not in any way affect Soviet-Chinese relations. And only at the end of the 50s, when disagreements arose between the leadership of the CPSU and the CPC, the situation on the border began to constantly escalate.

The Soviet leadership was sympathetic to the Chinese desire 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 flared up. Further deterioration of relations between the two countries ultimately led to open armed confrontation on Damansky Island.

At the end of the 60s, Damansky Island territorially belonged to the Pozharsky district of Primorsky Krai, bordering the Chinese province of Heilongjiang. The distance of the island from the Soviet coast was about 500 m, from the Chinese coast - about 300 m. From south to north, Damansky stretches 1500 - 1800 m, and its width reaches 600 -700 m.

These figures are quite approximate, since the size of the island greatly depends on the time of year. For example, in the spring and during summer floods the island is flooded with the waters of the Ussuri, and it is almost hidden from view, and in winter Damansky rises among the frozen river. Therefore, this island does not represent any economic or military-strategic value.

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

On the night of March 1-2, 1969, about 300 Chinese troops crossed to Damansky and lay down on the higher western shore of the island among bushes and trees. They didn’t tear up the trenches, they just lay down in the snow, laying down mats.

The equipment of the border violators was quite consistent weather conditions and consisted of the following: a hat with earflaps, differing from a similar Soviet earflap by the presence of two valves on the left and right - to better capture sounds; a quilted jacket and the same quilted pants; insulated lace-up boots; cotton uniform and warm underwear, thick socks; military style mittens - thumb and index finger separately, other fingers together.

The Chinese military personnel were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, as well as SKS carbines. The commanders have TT pistols. All weapons are Chinese-made, manufactured under Soviet licenses.

The perpetrators were wearing white camouflage robes, and they wrapped their weapons in the same camouflage fabric. The cleaning rod was filled with paraffin to prevent it from rattling.

There were no documents or personal items in the Chinese's pockets.

The Chinese extended telephone communications to their shore and lay in the snow until the morning.

To support the intruders, positions of recoilless rifles, heavy machine guns and mortars were equipped on the Chinese coast. Here the infantry with a total number of 200-300 people was waiting in the wings.

On the night of March 2, two border guards were constantly at the Soviet observation post, but they did not notice or hear anything - neither lights nor any sounds. The movement of the Chinese to their positions was well organized and took place completely secretly.

At about 9.00 o'clock a border patrol consisting of three people passed through the island, but the squad did not find the Chinese. The violators also did not unmask themselves.

At approximately 10.40, the Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost received a report from the observation post that a group of armed people of up to 30 people was moving from the Chinese border post of Gunsy in the direction of Damansky.

The head of the outpost, senior lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, called his subordinates to the gun, after which he called the operational duty officer of the border detachment.

The personnel loaded into three vehicles - GAZ-69 (7 people led by Strelnikov), BTR-60PB (about 13 people, senior - Sergeant V. Rabovich) and GAZ-63 (12 border guards in total, led by Junior Sergeant Yu. Babansky ).

The GAZ-63, in which Yu. Babansky advanced with his group, had a weak engine, so on the way to the island they were 15 minutes behind the main group.

Having arrived at the place, the commander's gas car and armored personnel carrier stopped at the southern tip of the island. Having dismounted, the border guards moved in the direction of the intruders in two groups: the first was led across the ice by the head of the outpost himself, and Rabovich’s group followed a parallel course directly along the island.

Together with Strelnikov there was a photographer from the political department of the border detachment, Private Nikolai Petrov, who filmed what was happening with a movie camera, as well as a Zorki-4 camera.

Approaching the provocateurs (at about 11.10), I. Strelnikov protested about the violation of the border and demanded that the Chinese military personnel leave the territory of the USSR. One of the Chinese answered something loudly, then two pistol shots were heard. The first line parted, and the second opened sudden machine-gun fire on Strelnikov’s group.

Strelnikov’s group and the head of the outpost himself died immediately. The Chinese ran up and snatched the movie camera from Petrov’s hands, but did not notice the camera: the soldier fell on top of it, covering it with a sheepskin coat.

The ambush on Damansky also opened fire - on Rabovich's group. Rabovich managed to shout “For battle,” but this did not solve anything: several border guards were killed and wounded, the survivors found themselves in the middle of a frozen lake in full view of the Chinese.

Some of the Chinese got up from their “beds” and went on an attack on a handful of Soviet border guards. They accepted an unequal battle and shot back to the last.

It was at this moment that Y. Babansky’s group arrived. Having taken a position at some distance behind their dying comrades, the border guards met the advancing Chinese with machine gun fire.

The raiders reached the positions of Rabovich’s group and here they finished off several wounded border guards with machine gun fire and cold steel (bayonets, knives).

The only one who survived, literally by miracle, was Private Gennady Serebrov. He told about the last minutes of his friends’ lives.

There were fewer and fewer fighters left in Babansky’s group, and ammunition was running out. The junior sergeant decided to retreat to the parking lot, but at that moment Chinese artillery covered both vehicles. The car drivers took refuge in an armored personnel carrier left by Strelnikov and tried to enter the island. They failed because the bank was too steep and high. After several unsuccessful attempts to overcome the rise, the armored personnel carrier retreated to shelter on the Soviet coast. At this time, the reserve of the neighboring outpost, led by Vitaly Bubenin, arrived in time.

Senior Lieutenant V. Bubenin commanded the neighboring outpost of Sopki Kulebyakina, located 17-18 km north of Damansky. Having received a telephone message on the morning of March 2 about shooting on the island, Bubenin put about twenty soldiers in an armored personnel carrier and hurried to the rescue of his neighbors.

At about 11.30 the armored personnel carrier reached Damansky and entered one of the ice-covered channels. Hearing heavy shooting, the border guards got out of the car and turned in a chain in the direction of the shots coming. Almost immediately they encountered a group of Chinese, and a battle ensued.

The violators (all the same ones, in the “beds”) noticed Bubenin and transferred the fire to his group. The senior lieutenant was wounded and shell-shocked, but did not lose control of the battle.

Leaving at the site a group of soldiers led by junior sergeant V. Kanygin, Bubenin and 4 border guards loaded into an armored personnel carrier and moved around the island, going to the rear of the Chinese ambush. Bubenin himself stood at the heavy machine gun, and his subordinates fired through the loopholes on both flanks.

Despite their multiple superiority in manpower, the Chinese found themselves in an extremely unpleasant situation: they were fired upon by groups of Babansky and Kanygin from the island, and from the rear by a maneuvering armored personnel carrier. But Bubenin’s vehicle also suffered: fire from the Chinese coast on the armored personnel carrier damaged the sight, and the hydraulic system could no longer maintain the required tire pressure. The head of the outpost himself received a new wound and concussion.

Bubenin managed to get around the island and take refuge on the river bank. Having reported the situation to the detachment by phone and then transferring to Strelnikov’s armored personnel carrier, the senior lieutenant again went out to the channel. But now he drove the car directly along the island along the Chinese ambush.

The culmination of the battle came at the moment when Bubenin destroyed the Chinese command post. After this, the violators began to leave their positions, taking with them the dead and wounded. The Chinese threw mats, telephones, stores, and several small arms at the site of the “beds.” Used individual dressing bags were also found there in large quantities (in almost half of the beds).

Having fired the ammunition, Bubenin’s armored personnel carrier retreated to the ice between the island and the Soviet coast. They stopped to take on board two wounded, but at that moment the car was hit.

Closer to 12.00, a helicopter with the command of the Iman border detachment landed near the island. The head of the detachment, Colonel D.V. Leonov remained on the shore, and the head of the political department, Lieutenant Colonel A.D. Konstantinov, organized a search for the wounded and dead directly on Damansky.

Somewhat later, reinforcements from neighboring outposts arrived at the scene. This is how the first military clash on Damansky ended on March 2, 1969.

After the events of March 2, reinforced squads (at least 10 border guards, armed with group weapons) constantly went to Damansky.

In the rear, at a distance of several kilometers from Damansky, a motorized rifle division of the Soviet Army (artillery, Grad multiple rocket launchers) was deployed.

The Chinese side was also accumulating forces for the next offensive. Near the island on Chinese territory, the 24th Infantry Regiment of the National Liberation Army of China (PLA), numbering about 5,000 (five thousand troops), was preparing for combat.

At about 15.00 hours on March 14, 1969, the Iman border detachment received an order from a higher authority: to remove Soviet border guards from the island (the logic of this order is not clear, just as the person who gave this order is unknown).

The border guards retreated from Damansky, and a revival immediately began on the Chinese side. Chinese military personnel in small groups of 10-15 people began to rush to the island, others began to take up combat positions opposite the island, on the Chinese shore of the Ussuri.

In response to these actions, Soviet border guards in 8 armored personnel carriers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel E. Yanshin deployed into battle formation and began to move towards Damansky Island. The Chinese immediately retreated from the island to their shores.

After 00.00 on March 15, a detachment of Lieutenant Colonel Yanshin, consisting of 60 border guards in 4 armored personnel carriers, entered the island.

The detachment settled down on the island in four groups, at a distance of about 100 meters from each other, and dug trenches for prone shooting. The groups were commanded by officers L. Mankovsky, N. Popov, V. Solovyov, A. Klyga. Armored personnel carriers constantly moved around the island, changing firing positions.

At about 9.00 on March 15, a loudspeaker installation started working on the Chinese side. Soviet border guards were called upon to leave “Chinese” territory, renounce “revisionism,” etc.

On the Soviet shore they also turned on a loudspeaker. The broadcast was conducted in Chinese and in rather simple words: “Remember before it’s too late, before you are the sons of those who liberated China from the Japanese invaders.”

After some time, there was silence on both sides, and closer to 10.00, Chinese artillery and mortars (from 60 to 90 barrels) began shelling the island. At the same time, 3 companies of Chinese infantry went on the attack.

A fierce battle began, which lasted about an hour. By 11.00, the defenders began to run out of ammunition, and then Yanshin delivered them from the Soviet shore in an armored personnel carrier.

Colonel Leonov reported to his superiors about the enemy's superior forces and the need to use artillery, but to no avail.

At about 12.00 the first armored personnel carrier was hit, and twenty minutes later the second. Nevertheless, Yanshin’s detachment steadfastly held its position even in the face of the threat of encirclement.

Moving back, the Chinese began to group on their shore opposite the southern tip of the island. Between 400 and 500 soldiers clearly intended to attack the rear of the Soviet border guards.

The situation was aggravated by the fact that communication between Yanshin and Leonov was lost: the antennas on the armored personnel carriers were cut off by machine-gun fire.

In order to thwart the enemy's plan, the grenade launcher crew of I. Kobets opened accurate fire from its shore. This was not enough under the current conditions, and then Colonel Leonov decided to carry out a raid on three tanks. A tank company was promised to Leonov on March 13, but 9 vehicles arrived only at the height of the battle.

Leonov took his place in the lead vehicle, and three T-62s moved towards the southern tip of Damansky.

Approximately at the place where Strelnikov died, the command tank was hit by the Chinese with a shot from an RPG. Leonov and some crew members were injured. Having left the tank, we headed to our shore. Here Colonel Leonov was hit by a bullet - right in the heart.

The border guards continued to fight in scattered groups and did not allow the Chinese to reach the western coast of the island. The situation was heating up, the island could be lost. At this time, a decision was made to use artillery and introduce motorized rifles into battle.

At 17.00 hours, a division of Grad installations launched a fire strike at places where Chinese manpower and equipment were concentrated and at their firing positions. At the same time, the cannon artillery regiment opened fire on the identified targets.

The raid turned out to be extremely accurate: the shells destroyed Chinese reserves, mortars, stacks of shells, etc.

The artillery fired for 10 minutes, and at 17.10 motorized riflemen and border guards went on the attack under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov and Lieutenant Colonel Konstantinov. The armored personnel carriers entered the channel, after which the fighters dismounted and turned towards the rampart along the western bank.

The enemy began a hasty retreat from the island. Damansky was liberated, but at about 19.00 some Chinese firing points came to life. Perhaps at this moment it was necessary to launch another artillery strike, but the command considered this inappropriate.

The Chinese tried to recapture Damansky, but three of their attempts ended in failure. After this, the Soviet soldiers retreated to their shore, and the enemy took no further hostile actions.

Epilogue ( Russian version)

On October 20, 1969, negotiations between the heads of government of the USSR and the PRC were held in Beijing. The result of these negotiations: it was possible to reach an agreement on the need to carry out demarcation measures on sections of the Soviet-Chinese border. As a result: during the demarcation of the border between the USSR and China in 1991, Damansky Island was transferred to the PRC. Now he has a different name - Zhenbao-dao.

One of the common points of view in Russia is that the point is not who Damansky ultimately went to, but what the circumstances were at a particular historical moment in time. If the island had then been given to the Chinese, this would, in turn, have created a precedent and would have encouraged the then Chinese leadership to make further territorial claims to the USSR.

According to many Russian citizens, in 1969, on the Ussuri River, for the first time since the Great Patriotic War, real aggression was repelled, with the goal of seizing foreign territories and resolving specific political issues.

Ryabushkin Dmitry Sergeevich
www.damanski-zhenbao.ru
Photo - http://lifecontrary.ru/?p=35

On the night of March 2, 1969, a Soviet-Chinese border conflict began on Damansky Island. At the cost of the lives of 58 Soviet soldiers and officers, they managed to stop a major war between the two states.

The deterioration of Soviet-Chinese relations, which began after the death of Stalin and Khrushchev’s condemnation of the cult of personality, resulted in an actual confrontation between the two world powers in Asia. Mao Zedong's claims to China's leadership in the socialist world, tough policies towards Kazakhs and Uyghurs living in China, and China's attempts to challenge the USSR for a number of border areas extremely strained relations between the powers. In the mid-60s. the Soviet command is consistently increasing troop groups in Transbaikalia and in Far East, taking all possible measures in case of a possible conflict with China. In the Trans-Baikal Military District and on the territory of Mongolia, tank and combined arms armies were additionally deployed, and fortified areas were developed along the border. Since the summer of 1968, provocations from the Chinese side have become more frequent, becoming almost constant on the Ussuri River in the area of the Damansky island (less than 1 sq. km in area). In January 1969, the General Staff of the Chinese Army developed an operation to capture the disputed territory.

2nd border outpost of the 57th Iman border detachment “Nizhne-Mikhailovka”. 1969

On the night of March 2, 1969, 300 Chinese soldiers occupied the island and set up firing positions on it. In the morning, Soviet border guards discovered the violators, apparently determining their number; approximately one platoon (30 people), in an armored personnel carrier and two cars, headed to the island to expel uninvited guests to their territory. The border guards advanced in three groups. At about 11 o'clock, the Chinese fired small arms at the first of them, consisting of two officers and 5 soldiers, while simultaneously opening fire with guns and mortars on the other two. Help was hastily called.

After a long firefight, Soviet border guards drove the enemy out of Damansky, with 32 border guards killed and another 14 wounded. A maneuver group led by the commander of the Iman border detachment, Lieutenant Colonel Democrat Leonov, hastily moved to the combat area. Its vanguard consisted of 45 border guards in 4 armored personnel carriers. As a reserve, this group was covered by about 80 soldiers from the sergeant school. By March 12, units of the 135th Pacific Red Banner Motorized Rifle Division were pulled up to Damansky: motorized rifle and artillery regiments, a separate tank battalion and a division of Grad multiple launch rocket systems. On the morning of March 15, the Chinese, supported by tanks and artillery, launched an attack on Damansky. During the counterattack by a tank platoon, the commander of the Iman detachment, Leonov, was killed. Soviet soldiers were unable to return the destroyed T-62 due to constant Chinese shelling. An attempt to destroy it with mortars was unsuccessful, and the tank fell through the ice. (subsequently, the Chinese were able to pull it to their shores and now it stands in the Beijing military museum). In this situation, the commander of the 135th division gave the order to unleash fire from howitzers, mortars and Grad launchers on Damansky and adjacent Chinese territory. After the fire raid, the island was occupied by motorized riflemen in armored personnel carriers.

The losses of Soviet troops in this attack amounted to 4 combat vehicles and 16 people killed and wounded, and a total of 58 killed and 94 wounded. Four participants in the Daman battles: the head of the Nizhne-Mikhailovka outpost, senior lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, the head of the Iman border detachment, Lieutenant Colonel Democrat Leonov, the head of the Kulebyakina Sopki border outpost, Vitaly Bubenin, and Sergeant Yuri Babansky, were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Strelnikov and Leonov – posthumously. The Chinese lost, according to various estimates, from 500 to 700 people.

But tension on the border remained for about a year. During the summer of 1969, our border guards had to open fire more than three hundred times. Damansky Island soon de facto ceded to the PRC. The de jure border line along the fairway of the Ussuri River was fixed only in 1991, and it was finally fixed in October 2004, when the President of the Russian Federation signed a decree on the transfer of part of the Greater Ussuri Island to China.

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