Book Review of
The Sino-Soviet Border War of 1969, Vol. 2
Confrontation at Lake Zhalanashkol August 1969
Authors: Dmitry Ryabushkin & Harold Orestein
Helion & Co. Ltd.
Asia@War Series No. 23
ISBN: 978-1-914377-05-1
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2021
MSRP: $29.95
Asia@War Series No. 23
ISBN: 978-1-914377-05-1
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2021
MSRP: $29.95
HISTORY:
The communist victory in the Chinese Civil War resulted in the formation of a new socialist state – the People’s Republic of China. The Soviets were the first to recognize the PRC, and subsequently provided China with considerable assistance.
After Stalin’s death, however, relations rapidly deteriorated over disagreements regarding Stalin’s legacy and co-existence with capitalist states.
With the “cultural revolution” in the PRC, these disagreements intensified: the two sides accused each other of revisionism, dogmatism and nationalism. Economic failures and social chaos forced the PRC leadership to seek a method for divesting itself of responsibility for what had taken place. As a solution, they organized a military conflict on the border with the Soviet Union to rally the people around the PRC leadership, while at the same time insignificant enough in scale to prevent it from escalating into full-fledged war.
On 2 March 1969, a specially prepared Chinese army detachment made a surprise attack on the Soviet border guards patrolling the border in the area of Damansky Island on the Ussuri River. In the subsequent battle, the dead on both sides numbered more than 50. On 15 March 1969, a much larger battle took place in this same area, in which both sides used artillery and armoured vehicles; the casualties numbered in the hundreds.
There were conflicts along the entire Sino-Soviet border – from Primorye to Central Asia – in the following weeks and months. Although smaller in scale than the Damansky events, men still died. Shooting on Damansky continued practically into mid-September.
On 13 August 1969 there occurred one more large-scale military clash, in the area of Lake Zhalanashkol, after which the political leadership of the USSR and PRC recognized the very real possibility that the border war might escalate into full-scale war, with the potential use of nuclear weapons,
The second volume of this two-part mini-series examines events from 15 March 1969 until the conclusion of the conflict. Principal attention is focused on a detailed chronological description of the battles, Soviet and Chinese tactics, and the weapons used. Inasmuch as the present state policies in Russia and China are aimed not only at keeping silent about the 1969 events, but also opposing any attempts to study what happened in detail, the authors have relied on finding veterans of the battles and obtaining from them documentary evidence of those distant events. The authors believe that this study is the most detailed and objective work on the theme of the 1969 Sino-Soviet border war.
THE BOOK:
Helion & Co. Ltd. is based in the U.K.
This book is soft-cover of 73 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 34” page format.
The cover art shows a black and white photo at the top of a six-man soviet gun crew around a M-30 howitzer, in the Damansky area, March 1969. Three men are standing , three are sitting on the trails of the howitzer. One standing man is leaning on a shovel, another is examining something in his hands. All the men wear winter great-coats and fur caps with ear flaps.
Below their picture is a color side view of a Soviet BTR-60PB armoured car in overall dark-green with a white stenciled no, 07 on its sides.
The book contains 12 maps and 55 black and white wartime photos.
The photos consists of:
Five landscapes, 7 of Soviet troops, 3 of Soviet troops with armor and howitzer and machine gun, Russian civilians at a funeral, a Soviet cemetery, Soviet wounded being evacuated by helicopter, a Soviet MT-LB tractor, 3 of a Soviet “Grad” rocket launcher, 2 of a damaged Soviet T-62 tank, 23 of Chinese officers and troops, Chinese troops on horseback, a dead Chinese “Riverman”, a Chinese SPG-9 type rocket launcher team, Soviet BTR-60 PBs' after the battle at Lake Zhalanashkol on 13 August 1969, the cover art photo of the 6 Soviet gun crew and howitzer, Chinese civilians digging fox-holes in a city street.
The color profiles consists of:
A Soviet BM-21 truck-mounted rocket launcher, with 40 tubes for 122mm caliber rockets.
A Soviet T-62
A Soviet ISU-122
A Soviet soldier in a white winter uniform,
A Soviet Soldier in a summer uniform.
A Chinese female member of the Red Guards
Two Chinese soldiers, one firing a pistol and the other one seated and reading a book.
This is a nice book on this little known war, It will be of interest to modelers, but mostly to military historians.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample,. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Helion & Co. Ltd. Books and all Helion titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
The communist victory in the Chinese Civil War resulted in the formation of a new socialist state – the People’s Republic of China. The Soviets were the first to recognize the PRC, and subsequently provided China with considerable assistance.
After Stalin’s death, however, relations rapidly deteriorated over disagreements regarding Stalin’s legacy and co-existence with capitalist states.
With the “cultural revolution” in the PRC, these disagreements intensified: the two sides accused each other of revisionism, dogmatism and nationalism. Economic failures and social chaos forced the PRC leadership to seek a method for divesting itself of responsibility for what had taken place. As a solution, they organized a military conflict on the border with the Soviet Union to rally the people around the PRC leadership, while at the same time insignificant enough in scale to prevent it from escalating into full-fledged war.
On 2 March 1969, a specially prepared Chinese army detachment made a surprise attack on the Soviet border guards patrolling the border in the area of Damansky Island on the Ussuri River. In the subsequent battle, the dead on both sides numbered more than 50. On 15 March 1969, a much larger battle took place in this same area, in which both sides used artillery and armoured vehicles; the casualties numbered in the hundreds.
There were conflicts along the entire Sino-Soviet border – from Primorye to Central Asia – in the following weeks and months. Although smaller in scale than the Damansky events, men still died. Shooting on Damansky continued practically into mid-September.
On 13 August 1969 there occurred one more large-scale military clash, in the area of Lake Zhalanashkol, after which the political leadership of the USSR and PRC recognized the very real possibility that the border war might escalate into full-scale war, with the potential use of nuclear weapons,
The second volume of this two-part mini-series examines events from 15 March 1969 until the conclusion of the conflict. Principal attention is focused on a detailed chronological description of the battles, Soviet and Chinese tactics, and the weapons used. Inasmuch as the present state policies in Russia and China are aimed not only at keeping silent about the 1969 events, but also opposing any attempts to study what happened in detail, the authors have relied on finding veterans of the battles and obtaining from them documentary evidence of those distant events. The authors believe that this study is the most detailed and objective work on the theme of the 1969 Sino-Soviet border war.
THE BOOK:
Helion & Co. Ltd. is based in the U.K.
This book is soft-cover of 73 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 34” page format.
The cover art shows a black and white photo at the top of a six-man soviet gun crew around a M-30 howitzer, in the Damansky area, March 1969. Three men are standing , three are sitting on the trails of the howitzer. One standing man is leaning on a shovel, another is examining something in his hands. All the men wear winter great-coats and fur caps with ear flaps.
Below their picture is a color side view of a Soviet BTR-60PB armoured car in overall dark-green with a white stenciled no, 07 on its sides.
The book contains 12 maps and 55 black and white wartime photos.
The photos consists of:
Five landscapes, 7 of Soviet troops, 3 of Soviet troops with armor and howitzer and machine gun, Russian civilians at a funeral, a Soviet cemetery, Soviet wounded being evacuated by helicopter, a Soviet MT-LB tractor, 3 of a Soviet “Grad” rocket launcher, 2 of a damaged Soviet T-62 tank, 23 of Chinese officers and troops, Chinese troops on horseback, a dead Chinese “Riverman”, a Chinese SPG-9 type rocket launcher team, Soviet BTR-60 PBs' after the battle at Lake Zhalanashkol on 13 August 1969, the cover art photo of the 6 Soviet gun crew and howitzer, Chinese civilians digging fox-holes in a city street.
The color profiles consists of:
A Soviet BM-21 truck-mounted rocket launcher, with 40 tubes for 122mm caliber rockets.
A Soviet T-62
A Soviet ISU-122
A Soviet soldier in a white winter uniform,
A Soviet Soldier in a summer uniform.
A Chinese female member of the Red Guards
Two Chinese soldiers, one firing a pistol and the other one seated and reading a book.
This is a nice book on this little known war, It will be of interest to modelers, but mostly to military historians.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample,. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Helion & Co. Ltd. Books and all Helion titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Recommended.