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THE VIETNAMESE NAVY FOUGHT GALLANTLY AGAINST THE RED CHINESE
AGGRESSION OF THE PARACEL ARCHIPELAGO
In the evening of
January 15, 1974, a Chinese Communist fishing boat
unloaded men to plant a flag and erect tents on
Robert Island
of the Paracel Archipelago. A
Republic of Vietnam
warship used light signals to ask them to leave without effect.
In the morning of
January 16, 1974, Vietnamese naval forces operating in
the area of the Paracel Archipelago detected 2 Chinese Communist
gunboats sailing around
Drummond Island.
In the morning of
January 17, 1974, 31 armed Vietnamese sailors landed on
Robert Island
but found only one Chinese Communist flag and one wooden marker with
Chinese inscriptions. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Navy spotted 2
Chinese Communist warships anchored South of Robert Island, but
these two ships later moved to another position.
At dusk of the same day, 2 Chinese Communist warships appeared near
Duncan Island
and moved toward Robert
Island. They used light signals to ask
our ships to leave “their” waters but the Vietnamese ships remained
in the same position. The Chinese ships, then, left.
At 7:40 P.M.
on the same day, an unidentified airplane flew over the Vietnamese
ship HQ 4 and disappeared South West.
No incident occurred the next day but the Chinese Communist ships
continued their provocation.
As of January 19,
1974, Red China had 14 warships in the area of the
Paracel Archipelago including 4 missile ships of the Komar type.
Moreover, unidentified aircraft appeared at dawn and disappeared
North.
From January 18 until the morning of January 19, Chinese Communist
ships stepped up their acts of provocation by ramming into the
Vietnamese ships while our ships did their best to avoid collision.
At 8:30 A.M.
on January 19, 1974,
2 Navy Commando teams of the RVNAF including 74 men landed on
Duncan Island
and were attacked by more than a company of Red Chinese troops. The
clash resulted in 2 of our soldiers killed and others wounded. Then
the Commando teams received orders to withdraw from the island.
At 10:22 A.M.
on the same day, one Chinese Communist escort ship of the Kronstadt
type rammed into and fired at the Tran
Khanh Du destroyer while it was operating near
Duncan Island.
The Vietnamese ship returned fire and sank the Chinese escort vessel
while our ship suffered light damage.
At noon, the two
sides ceased fighting. Our ships assembled near the islands West of
the Paracels Archipelago and 30 sailors landed on Robert and
Money Islands.
Meanwhile, on Parrle
Island, there was already a Regional Force platoon
of Quang Nam
sector and 4 members of the Meterological Station who were stationed
there long ago.
During the night of the same day, the three damaged Vietnamese ships
received orders to return to the Da Nang Naval Base.
During the battle on January 19, the Vietnamese escort ship HQ 10
was hit and badly damaged by a Red Chinese Styx missile. All contact
was lost with the ship and its 82 man-crew.
At 10:20 A.M.
on January 20, 1974,
4 Red Chinese MIG 21 and 23 aircraft strafed Pattle, Robert and
Money Islands.
The strike was followed by the landing on these islands of Chinese
Communist troops who immediately attacked our units. After 20
minutes of fighting, contact was lost with the Vietnamese forces due
to destroyed communication radios. Four Vietnamese ships still
operating at sea, including one escort ship and 3 patrol boats, were
hit and damaged.
After the gallant naval battle between the
Republic of Vietnam Navy
and the Chinese Communist force, casualties on both sides were:
REPUBLIC OF
VIETNAM
WARSHIPS:
- 1 totally damaged
- 1 heavily damaged burned and sunk.
- 2 lightly damaged
- 2 others heavily damaged.
MEN:
- 19 killed, 43 wounded Unknown and 101 missing
COMMUNIST CHINA
WARSHIPS:
- 1 ship of the Kronstadt type burned and sunk.
- 1 ship heavily damaged and ran aground before exploding.
- 2 others heavily damaged.
MEN:
Unknown
At 6:30 P.M. on January 22, 1974, the Holland merchant ship
Kipionella rescued 23 crew members of the escort ship HQ 10, which
was sunk on January 19, 1974, 175 miles East of Da Nang.
The next morning the rescued men were transferred to the Vietnamese
ship HQ 6 – Among them were 2 killed (including 1 Navy Lieutenant,
Assistant Commander of the ship HQ 10) and 2 wounded.
At noon on January 29, 1974, Vietnamese fishermen rescued 15 other
Navymen including 1 officer, 2 non-commissioned officers and 12
sailors, 35 miles East of Mui Yen (Qui Nhon). All fifteen men were
part of the landing team on
Money Island.
Of the 48 Vietnamese soldiers detained by Communist China, 5 were
released, including 2 Regional Force soldiers, 1 Engineer soldier, 1
seaman and 1 civilian of the Meteorological Station. The release was
in Hong Kong on
January 31, 1974. The five released men flew back to
Saigon on a special plane where they arrived at
3:30 P.M. and received a warm welcome.
The remaining 43 men returned to Saigon
on February 17,
1974 and were warmly greeted by civic groups and people
of the Capital.
* Typed and sent by Truc Le |
