In March 1979, a shocking drama unfolded on the battlefield in Vietnam. In an encounter with the Vietnamese army, a company of the 448th Regiment of the Chinese People's Liberation Army surrendered en masse to the enemy. Feng Zengmin, as the company commander, personally ordered: "The whole company surrenders!" An incredible order, a heart-wrenching decision.
In the face of a difficult environment, momentary weakness may make people make irrational choices. However, for them as soldiers, surrendering means a complete betrayal of their duties and oaths, and abandoning the hopes placed on their country and people.
A company of 218 soldiers was then captured alive by the Vietnamese army, leaving a huge stain on the PLA in this war. This not only made the veterans who participated in the war heartbroken, but also made countless people haunted by Feng Zengmin's approach, and they couldn't understand the sentence "the whole company surrendered". What kind of psychological state did Feng Zengmin make such a decision? What is the truth of the matter? Let's explore this shocking secret that has been buried for many years.
In the spring of 1979, the 448th Regiment of the 150th Division of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, dressed in brand-new uniforms, marched to the battlefield in Vietnam with high morale to carry out the task of clearing out the remnants of the enemy. In the following days of fighting, they achieved their objectives brilliantly and should have returned triumphantly. But no one expected that things would suddenly turn around at this time.
At noon on March 11, the 448th Regiment encountered a surprise attack by the Vietnamese army in the Cao Bang area of Vietnam. In order to preserve strength, the regimental headquarters was forced to disperse the operations. Some of the men attacked from the forest path, while the other retreated from the main road, covering each other.
At first, it was only a reinforced battalion of Vietnamese troops, and if the opportunity was made to break through forcefully, the 448th Regiment was fully capable of getting rid of the enemy. However, the enemy's situation was unknown, so they chose to defend in place and wait for reinforcements. A precious time was delayed like this. Unexpectedly, in this short period of time, the Vietnamese army has quietly increased its strength to the size of a regiment and quickly surrounded the retreat of the PLA.
In the evening, seeing that the sky was getting dark and there was no hope of reinforcements, the 448th Regiment could only break through on its own. The 2nd Battalion crashed headlong into the ambush circle of the Vietnamese army and encountered a fierce confrontation with the enemy. In the early morning of the next day, the 2nd Battalion fell into a narrow valley and came under heavy fire from the Vietnamese army, suffering heavy casualties. At this time, the 448th Regiment sent reinforcements from the 1st and 8th companies.
1 Company died heroically, and only two people survived with serious injuries. Wang Lixin, deputy commander of the 8th Company, personally led the team with a submachine gun and was eventually killed. And Feng Zengmin, the company commander of the 8th Company, made a shocking decision when he was trapped in the cave with the soldiers - "The whole company surrenders!"
Faced with the situation of running out of ammunition and being in an embarrassing situation, Feng Zengmin lost his way for a while. With the lives of 218 young soldiers hanging in the balance, he made up his mind to surrender rather than sacrifice these recruits in vain. So, in the opposition of the platoon commander, he forcibly ordered the whole company to surrender and was captured by the Vietnamese army.
Despite all the helplessness, Feng Zengmin's decision was undoubtedly out of the sacred duty of a soldier and brought shame on himself and the troops. During their captivity, they were subjected to all kinds of inhumane torture and humiliation. It was not until May of the following year that they were exchanged for repatriation with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
After returning to China, Feng Zengmin and the 218 soldiers of the whole company who surrendered were strictly investigated. Under the prolonged interrogation of the military court, Feng Zengmin finally confessed the whole process of making the decision to surrender at that time.
It turned out that in the desperate situation of being surrounded by heavy bombs and running out of food, Feng Zengmin's heart once emerged with all kinds of ties to his family and country. At that moment, in his eyes, there were not 218 heroic soldiers in front of him, but 218 complete and happy families, and 218 mothers looking forward to the return of their children. An unprecedented childlike affection completely drowned out his responsibility and courage as a soldier.
"I am determined to live and bring my brothers home to see my fathers and fellow villagers, and I do not want to sacrifice my young and promising lives in vain." These were Feng Zengmin's original words during interrogation. In the midst of the interrogators' reprimands, he wept bitterly and repeatedly repented of his cringe and hesitation.
Despite this, the military court eventually sentenced Feng Zengmin to life in prison and was permanently expelled from the military. Twenty-one of the 218 fighters was dismissed from their posts and sentenced to prison terms, the most serious of which was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. For soldiers, surrender is the greatest betrayal of the motherland and the people, and it is an unforgivable felony.
However, this staggering tragedy does not end completely. It is worth mentioning that in the more than a year after being captured, what Feng Zengmin and the soldiers experienced was simply more tragic and inhumane than surrendering.
It was revealed that the Vietnamese army had detained them in a 6-square-meter hut in extremely poor living conditions. Every day, there is only a small half bowl of unsalted pickles and a few pieces of rotten cassava. During the captivity, many died as a result of prolonged starvation and disease. What's more, in order to extract confessions, the Vietnamese army even resorted to continuous torture, electric shocks and other torture methods.
"The days of that year were like life worse than death, and it was even more painful than being killed on the battlefield." Feng Zengmin choked up during the trial, "If you fought tenaciously and died at that time, it would be better than this kind of torture to death." "
What is touching is that despite such inhumane treatment, during the period of captivity, Feng Zengmin and the soldiers still insisted on their ulterior courage and responsibility. They refused to provide any clues against the interests of the motherland and vowed not to disclose the confidential information of the Chinese army to the Vietnamese army.
This painful lesson is poignant and thought-provoking. Although Feng Zengmin's mistake has brought deep and indelible wounds to the country and the army, surrender is only a manifestation of blind evasion, and there may be hidden reasons behind it that we do not understand.
The surrender of the Vietnam War in 1979 shocked the whole country and made countless people sigh. In any case, this is a painful lesson that should not be repeated, and it is also a valuable experience that military personnel who are important weapons of the country should keep in mind but have not faced up to it.
Although the wounds caused by war will never heal, we should reflect on and learn the lesson of blood from this tragic historical lesson. It is the duty of a soldier to adhere to his beliefs, and he should not flinch even if he is in a desperate situation; At the same time, it is also necessary to treat the prisoners humanely, and not to repeat the barbaric behavior of the Vietnamese army. Only in this way can we avoid a recurrence of the tragedy and let this unbearable history be remembered forever.
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