The Sino-Soviet Border War of 1969. Volume 1: How a Nuclear War between the USSR and China almost started in 1969

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 – soon recognised and assisted by the Soviet Union. After Stalin’s death, however, relations between Moscow and Beijing began to rapidly deteriorate. With the beginning of the so-called ‘cultural revolution’ in the PRC, the disagreements intensified. Economic failures and social chaos forced the PRC’s leadership to seek to divest itself of the responsibility for what had taken place and organised a military conflict on the border with the Soviet Union to mobilise and rally the Chinese people around them.

On 2 March 1969, a Chinese army detachment made a surprise attack on the Soviet border guards in the area of Damansky Island on the Ussuri River, resulting in more than 50 deaths amongst the belligerents. Further clashes along the entire Sino-Soviet border – from Primorye to Central Asia – occurred in the following weeks and months. Although smaller in scale than the Damansky events, men still died in them and shooting on Damansky Island continued practically into mid-September.

The first volume of this two-part mini-series examines the historical and political precursors of the 1969 events and the battle of 2 March 1969. Principal attention is focused on a detailed chronological description of the first battle battle, Soviet and Chinese tactics, the weapons used and the fate of the men involved. Due to a wider lack of willingness to discuss events on the part of the governments of Russia and the PRC, 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 1969 Sino-Soviet border war to date.