Word: combatting
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...would probably not deploy more than 200,000 men, though the PLA's available reserves in southern China are immense if the conflict should widen. China currently has about 1.6 million men along the Soviet border-a force that Peking may decide to augment if Moscow raises the combat readiness of its own 1 million troops on the frontier in response to the crisis. One tactical plus for the PLA is that many of Hanoi's forces are tied down in Cambodia or Laos and cannot be readily transferred to the war in the north...
Although the Chinese are not "blooded" by battle experience, Pentagon specialists believe that they are good fighters. The untried PLA soldier, like his commander, may be eager for combat-and a rare chance for promotion. The experience that their operations chief, General Yang Teh-chin, 68, gained in the Korean War may have served to boost the troops' confidence. Being on the attack also confers an intangible morale advantage. The PLA, however, is troubled by years of excessive involvement in China's internal politics. For a long time its most arduous duty has been curbing the excesses...
...except in very narrow corridors, and China's aged T-34 tanks are vulnerable to the extremely accurate Sagger antitank missiles supplied to the Vietnamese by the Soviet Union in the past three years. The Chinese have nothing comparable to the Sagger. "This is one of their major combat deficiencies, which they are trying to correct by buying HOT (antitank) missiles from the French," notes one U.S. expert...
...Vietnamese air force is vastly inferior to the Chinese in quantity, but the quality is vastly superior. Hanoi has 300 combat aircraft in all; about 700 Chinese planes are within striking range of Viet Nam. Most of those ready for combat, however, are outdated MiG-17s and MiG-19s, whereas the Vietnamese have not only the slightly more advanced MiG-21s but also the versatile F-5 "freedom fighters" captured from the Americans...
...Vietnamese also have an advantage in supply and transport. Because of shortages of trucks and freight cars, the Chinese are reported to have brought some supplies to the combat area by horse-drawn vehicles. While the Chinese army moves primarily on foot, the Vietnamese forces have plenty of modern transport, much of it seized from...