In 1981, Deng Xiaoping personally decided on the military exercise, sending 110,000 troops at a cost of 25 million. Only afterwards did he realize the wisdom

On September 14, 1981, a shocking scene occurred on a large plain north of Zhangjiajie, Hebei Province:

The arranged artillery carriages took the lead in launching, heading towards the distant Artillery shells were fired one after another at the designated target, and then the tank troops were dispatched against the smoke filling the position.

Behind the tanks, armed helicopters took off in an orderly manner. Higher in the sky, groups of bombers and fighter jets were lined up, and they were also spraying artillery fire on the ground.

After the mechanical troops were dispatched, the infantry followed closely behind. The soldiers braved the fierce artillery fire and bravely moved forward...

This is the scale of the Central Military Commission organization since the founding of New China. The largest military exercise, in this exercise, the army invested 110,000 troops in the sea, land and air, and the total cost was as much as 25 million.

Before this exercise, some people objected on the grounds that it was too expensive, but Comrade Deng Xiaoping made the decision. The results received afterwards also proved Comrade Xiaoping's brilliance and foresight.

The "North China Exercise" was an action to demonstrate China's strength under the circumstances at that time.

Since China’s reform and opening up, its domestic political economy has been developing rapidly, but the external environment is still not optimistic.

Since the 1970s, the former Soviet Union, a superpower, has been trying to compete with the United States for world hegemony. In order to gain an advantage in the competition, they have invariably "divided territories" around the world. .

During this period, although Sino-US relations entered a rare "honeymoon period" with Nixon's visit to China, it was only superficially harmonious.

On the other hand, Sino-Soviet relations were deteriorating at this time. There were even millions of troops deployed between the two countries in the border areas. This was a considerable pressure on China.

Although China is not afraid of war, for China, which wanted to stabilize and develop its domestic economy at that time, there must be a suitable opportunity to demonstrate China's military strength and let the United States and the Soviet Union settle down.

At this time, conducting a massive military exercise is the best way to demonstrate China's military strength.

Military exercises also have an important role, which is to test the combat effectiveness of the army and see whether it can adapt to the current combat requirements.

Adapting to current operational requirements was also a problem exposed in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam in 1979.

Although the self-defense counterattack was successful, the PLA's casualties in this battle were not optimistic.

What has been exposed in actual combat is that in addition to the weak command capabilities of cadres and the weak ability of troops to coordinate operations, grassroots officers and soldiers also have obvious deficiencies in the use of advanced weapons.

The purpose of organizing this actual combat exercise is to allow officers and soldiers to be trained in the exercise by simulating actual combat.

In 1955, 1959 and 1973, the People's Liberation Army also organized large-scale actual combat exercises, but the largest one at that time only had 50,000 participants.

The actual combat exercises at that time also had different focuses. In 1981, when the internal and external environment had changed, it was also beneficial for the entire army to conduct another targeted large-scale exercise. matter.

Therefore, in the strategic issues research class held by the Central Military Commission for senior military cadres, everyone decided to organize a large-scale exercise in North China. In order to keep it confidential at that time, the Central Military Commission called this secret meeting "801 Meeting".

Before the "801" meeting, the General Staff proposed the strategic policy of "active defense" in response to the situation at that time. This policy was also recognized by the three founding marshals Nie Rongzhen, Ye Jianying and Xu Qianqian. .

On September 30, 1980, when the three generals Yang Dezhi, Yang Yong and Zhang Zhen of the General Staff reported to Comrade Deng Xiaoping, they presented this strategic policy and the opinions of the three commanders one by one to Comrade Deng Xiaoping. reported.

Comrade Deng Xiaoping not only clearly affirmed their views, but also stated on the spot that he would speak at the "801" meeting.

In the subsequent speech, Comrade Deng Xiaoping clearly agreed with the policy of "active defense" and stated that we will continue to fight. Marshal Ye Jianying also made a speech.

Ye Shuai pointed out in his speech: Under this policy, the entire army must do a good job in training, especially the combat training of the combined army.

In order to implement the spirit of the "801" meeting, the General Staff proposed that a larger-scale actual military exercise could be organized. The exercise could be divided into several different directions, each with its own specific objectives.

When the plan for the exercise was reported to the Central Military Commission, Comrade Deng Xiaoping, then chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the decision: If we want to do it, do it big!

After the "801" meeting decided to hold a real-force exercise, a plan for the exercise was immediately formulated.

The General Staff initially planned three directions for the exercise: organizing defensive combat exercises in North China, and organizing "three wars" exercises of positional defense warfare, mobile warfare and guerrilla warfare in the northwest region.

In the Bohai Bay area, defensive landing exercises can be organized according to geographical conditions.

After everyone’s repeated studies and discussions, the General Staff finally decided to conduct military exercises in North China first, with the main direction of the exercises being defensive operations.

The specific location of the exercise is set in the area north of Zhangjiakou, and it will be organized and implemented by the Beijing Military Region. Because this exercise was proposed at the "801" meeting, the exercise was codenamed "802".

After the General Staff’s decision, the Beijing Military Region quickly formulated a specific exercise plan. Qin Jiwei, commander of the Beijing Military Region, as the person in charge of the exercise, made a report at the Military Commission office meeting held at the end of February 1981.

The meeting agreed in principle to the Beijing Military Region’s plan for the exercise, but some comrades still had concerns. They were worried that such a large-scale exercise would have a negative impact on the international community.

Moreover, the exercise plan formulated by the Beijing Military Region is the largest since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Comrades of the Military Commission are also worried that this will put pressure on the finances.

Therefore, some comrades at the meeting also asked whether the scale of the exercise could be smaller.

However, Qin Jiwei implemented the spirit of the "801" meeting and reiterated the importance of large-scale exercises. The two sides did not reach an agreement at the meeting.

The final result of the meeting was to have the General Staff and the Beijing Military Region discuss it again and prepare three plans: large, medium and small, which would then be reviewed and approved by the Military Commission.

The three final plans formulated respectively positioned the scale of the exercise at the scale of the front army, the scale of the group army and the scale of the division.

Depending on the scale, the number of soldiers participating in the exercise is 100,000 and 50,000 respectively. In the end, those at the division level only conduct operations on the map.

The last two small-scale plans were drawn up by the General Staff. The first plan was drawn up by the Beijing Military Region. In addition to being large in scale and having a large number of participants, this plan also had the most comprehensive training subjects, including one* **There are four.

The four training subjects are: simulated enemy tank group attack, airborne and anti-airborne, position defense and counter-assault training.

After these three exercise plans were formulated, they were uniformly submitted to Comrade Deng Xiaoping, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, who made the final decision.

After listening to the report, Comrade Deng Xiaoping said that our army has not conducted large-scale exercises for a long time. Through exercises, we can also boost morale. If we want to build a combined army, we must have it on the ground and in the sky. If you want to do it, do it big!

Comrade Deng Xiaoping also said that large-scale exercises are beneficial to improving the actual combat level of the army, so we will conduct them according to the first plan. Since we are going to exercise, we must receive training for the army. Purpose.

Regarding things that cost too much, Deng Xiaoping waved his hand: Money still has to be spent, just save a little!

In addition to actual combat training, Comrade Deng Xiaoping proposed that military parades and parades have not been held for a long time. These are not formalities, and they are of great significance to the cultivation of the army's style.

Therefore, Comrade Deng Xiaoping specifically proposed that after the actual combat training, a military parade should be held to show the majesty of the army to everyone.

After Deng Xiaoping decided on the scale of the exercise, the troops participating in the exercise became excited. Such a large-scale exercise is unprecedented in the history of our army. Being able to participate in this work also It makes everyone very excited.

Subsequently, all the work of the exercise was carried out in an orderly manner.

With the approval of the Central Military Commission, the army established a campaign training group for senior military cadres headed by General Yang Dezhi, Chief of General Staff, and the exercise directorate was headed by Zhou Yibing, Chief of Staff of the Beijing Military Region.

On May 20, the General Staff issued a notice to the entire military, making detailed provisions on the participants, content, time and other specific arrangements for the exercise.

The exercise is conceived as a red-blue confrontation, with the blue team acting as the imaginary enemy and launching a full-scale attack in the form of a surprise attack.

The blue side’s attack method is to first use nuclear weapons and long-range aviation to attack the red side’s deep targets, and then dispatch armored vehicles and tank groups to seize the red side’s strategic locations.

The red team is the defender, representing China. After discovering the large-scale attack by the Blue Army, it quickly organized defense, covered the country's entry into the wartime mechanism, and crushed the Blue Army's attack.

After the detailed plan was formulated, each participating unit invested in the training of the military commander.

Since the exercise training was during the hottest time of summer, the officers and soldiers overcame difficulties and crawled around in the scorching weather during the day and lived in simple tents at night.

Faced with such a difficult environment, none of the officers and soldiers participating in the exercise complained about being tired. Everyone was in high spirits, just waiting for the day to "show their swords."

On September 14, 1981, the exercise officially began.

As the order sounded, the artillery fired preemptively, and the artillery shells were densely thrown at the predetermined target location like raindrops.

After the artillery bombardment, thousands of tanks and armored vehicles from the red and blue sides fought on the ground. In the air, armed helicopters and fighter jets from both sides also engaged in a fierce air battle.

Under such a powerful formation, the exercise venue was filled with smoke, flames shot into the sky, and explosions sounded from time to time.

Not to be outdone, the red infantry braved fierce artillery fire and charged forward. Watching the wonderful exercise scene, the audience in the audience applauded continuously.

During the exercise, Comrade Deng Xiaoping also came, and he watched the entire exercise process from the observation seat.

On the last day of the exercise, the red and blue sides launched a fierce air battle. Blue planes continued to hit targets, and the Red Army also responded with artillery. Seeing the critical moment, Comrade Deng Xiaoping couldn't help but stand up and applaud.

When he saw the Red Army representing China, supported by aviation and artillery, carrying out a "counterattack" against the Blue Army, Comrade Deng Xiaoping once again stood up happily, applauding and praising "We fought well." good".

On September 19, the confrontation exercise ended, and the troops participating in the exercise quickly formed their teams and conducted a military parade and line-up display.

At 9:30 a.m. that day, 53 ground formations composed of armored troops, engineering troops, etc. walked across the reviewing stand in an orderly and mighty pace.

The aviation force formed six air echelons and passed the review over the parade ground in accordance with the scheduled formation.

Afterwards, Comrade Deng Xiaoping, accompanied by Qin Jiwei, reviewed the troops. The 110,000 officers and soldiers participating in the review lined up in neat queues to be reviewed by the commander-in-chief of the entire army.

After the military parade, Comrade Deng Xiaoping delivered a concluding speech, saying that this exercise tested the results of army building. It not only reflected the characteristics of modern warfare, but also improved the overall quality and actual combat level of the army. The exercise was very important. Successful.

According to subsequent statistics, in addition to the largest number of troops dispatched since the founding of the People's Republic of China, this exercise cost 25 million yuan, which was much less than the previous budget. This is also an effective implementation of Comrade Deng Xiaoping's "should spend everything." spend, strive to save” requirements.

The North China military exercise is not only an exercise for our army, but also allows the international community to see the overall strength of our army. It has also received the influence of deterring external forces and won a peaceful and stable environment for our country's economic development. Purpose.

It is worth mentioning that just as we were preparing for the North China military exercise, the former Soviet Union also held a massive military exercise in early September 1981.

This exercise of the former Soviet Union was also conducted in the form of red and blue confrontation.

In this exercise, the Soviet Union invested mechanized troops, chemical defense troops, medium and long-range strategic missile troops, and Air Force Aviation Department troops. The number of tanks in the exercise was greater than the total number of tanks in China at that time. Want more.

The Soviet military exercises were conducted with "NATO" as the imaginary enemy, but under the complex and sensitive situation at the time, they also put considerable pressure on China.

If China had not had this North China exercise at that time, not to mention other things, its momentum would have been suppressed by the former Soviet Union, and China's situation in the international environment would have become relatively difficult.

Therefore, the "North China Military Exercise" at that time was of great significance to China, which undoubtedly reflected Comrade Deng Xiaoping's far-sighted leadership.