The Sino-Soviet Border War of 1969, Volume 1: First Clash at Damansky Island

(Paperback)

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The victory of the communists in the Chinese civil war resulted in the formation of a new socialist state in Asia - the People's Republic of China (PRC). The Soviet leadership was the first to recognise the PRC, and subsequently provided China with considerable economic, scientific, and military assistance. After Stalin's death, however, relations between Moscow and Peking began to rapidly deteriorate, the main reasons being the disagreements regarding Stalin's legacy and the principles of co-existence with capitalist states. With the beginning of the so-called 'cultural revolution' in the PRC, these disagreements intensified: the two sides in the ideological conflict accused each other of revisionism, dogmatism and nationalism. Economic failures and social chaos forced the PRC leadership (first and foremost, Mao Zedong personally) to seek a method for divesting itself of the responsibility for what had taken place. As a solution, they organised a military conflict on the border with the Soviet Union - one that was adequate enough to mobilise and rally the people around the PRC leadership, while at the same time insignificant enough in scale to prevent it from escalating into a full-fledged war. On 2 March 1969, a specially prepared Chinese army detachment made a surprise attack on the Soviet border guards who were patrolling the border sector in the area of Damansky Island on the Ussuri River. In the subsequent battle, the dead alone on both sides numbered more than 50. Two weeks later, on 15 March 1969, a much larger battle took place in this same area, in which the two 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 in them. 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 recognised the very real possibility that the border war might escalate into a full-scale war, with the potential use of nuclear weapons. The first volume of this two-part mini-series examines, among other things, the historical and political precursors of the 1969 events, the reaction to them in different countries, and the battle of 2 March 1969. The authors believe that this study is the most detailed and objective work on the theme of the 1969 Sino-Soviet border war. 65 b/w photos, 3 colour profiles, 6 colour figures, 8 b/w & 1 colour maps

Reviews

This book will appeal to those interested in modern skirmish warfare and geopolitical issues in the late twentieth century. * Wargames Illustrated 02/08/2021 *
Another very interesting read on a minor and rarely mentioned conflict. [] An excellent if thin book on a limited subject that had far-reaching consequences. Recommended for armchair historians, wargamers and model-makers. * Scale Military Modelling International Magazine 15/06/2021 *

Author Bio

Born in the USSR, Dr. of Physics and Mathematics, Associate Professor at the Crimean Federal University named after V.I. Vernadsky. He has published 5 monographs and more than 50 articles in the field of physics, teaching methods, and problems of university education in Russia. He has been studying the subject of the Sino-Soviet border war since 2000. He has published four monographs on this theme: The Myth of Damansky [ ] in 2004; Damansky Island. The Border Conflict. March 1969 [ . . 1969 ] in 2015; It Was on Damansky [ ] in 2019; and The Sino-Soviet Border Conflict of 1969 [- 1969 ] in 2020 (the original Russian-language version of the book now published by Helion), as well as more than 10 articles on this subject in scholarly journals in Russia, the US, and Japan. He is recognised in Russia as one of the most objective and informative experts in the field of the history of the 1969 Sino-Soviet border conflict. Harold Orenstein was born in the US, received his MA and PhD in Slavic Languages from The Ohio State University. Retired from US government service, during his 31-year career he was a translator-analyst for the Foreign Research Division of the Library of Congress; taught Russian at the US Army Russian Institute; worked as a translator, editor, and analyst for the Foreign Military Studies Office (formerly the Soviet Army Studies Office) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; served as a military-political analyst for Central and East European affairs at SHAPE (NATO's military branch); and served as a military analyst specialising in US joint and multinational doctrine for the Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.