Sino-Soviet Border War of 1969: Volume 1: Asia@War #21 SC +NSI+
The Sino-Soviet Border War of 1969: Volume 1: How a Nuclear War between the USSR and China almost started in 1969: Helion Asia at War Series #21: Asia@War #21 softcover
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 recognize 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 organized a military conflict on the border with the Soviet Union - one that was adequate enough to mobilize 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 armored 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. Principal attention is focused on a detailed chronological description of the battle, 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.
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The Helion at War series, which began publishing around 2010, covers wars from around the world broken down by region: Africa@War, Asia@War, Europe@War, LatinAmerica@War, and MiddleEast@War. Some titles cover both ground and aviation aspects of the respective conflict, and some cover a subject over several volumes, broken down by time period. Each title contains extensive photographic coverage, in black & white and colour, detailed maps, as well as colour profiles and illustrations of aircraft, vehicles, and in some cases uniforms and weapons.
Published April 2021, 76 pages, 55 black & white photographs, 3 colour profiles (1 aircraft) 6 colour figures, diagrams, maps, softcover, A4 format 8 1/4" x 11 3/4" inches
+NSI+ = NON-STOCK ITEM This is a Non-Stock or special order item which means we have not ordered it in for store inventory. We would be happy to order it in for you, or confirm availability of the item. Please contact us at [email protected] or call 416-674-5959.
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