The 1969 Sino-Soviet border conflict was a series of armed incidents between the Soviet Union and China, culminating in the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s.
Fighting over an island in the Ussuri River, Zhenbao Island and Damansky Island, located on the Sino-Soviet border, brought these two communist states to the brink of nuclear war, before an agreement on the delimitation of the border was found in 1991.
Trigger
The conflict began on the night of March 1-2, 1969 when a group of 300 Chinese soldiers armed with SKS ambushed Soviet border guards on Zhenbao Island, killing 31 Soviets and injuring 14, the Lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, who came out for a talk with the Chinese soldiers, was killed without warning. On March 14, 1969, the Soviets sent 4 T-62A tanks to counter the Chinese assault. Colonel Leonov's tank No. 545 is captured after running over a Chinese anti-tank mine. Leonov and the rest of the T-62A crew are killed when they attempt to leave the immobilized tank. That day the Soviets were vastly outnumbered by the Chinese, and after exhausting their ammunition they had to retreat to the north bank of the river. On March 15, 1969, the Red Army decided to retaliate by bombarding the People's Liberation Army troops on the Chinese bank of the Ussuri with Grad units (secret at the time) and storming the Zhenbao Island. As the Chinese base was mostly devastated by Grad artillery, on the evening of March 16, calm returned to the island. At the end of the operations, Zhenbao Island remains under Soviet control.
Rising tensions
The fighting ceased for almost 5 months, before finally resuming in August 1969, this time along the Sino-Soviet border in Xinjiang. Tensions will rise to the point of raising the prospect of nuclear war between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union.
United States strategy
During the conflict, the position of the United States will remain neutral, having no opinion on a conflict between "two communist states". However, following this conflict Beijing moved closer to Washington. According to Henry Kissinger, then President Nixon's security adviser, in January 1969, the Soviet government quietly canvassed the new president about the possibility of a Soviet preemptive strike on Chinese nuclear facilities. Nixon refused, but warned the Chinese of the Soviet request, then proposed to them, a few months later, to secretly receive Kissinger...
Conclusion
The conflict will end on September 11, 1969 with a ceasefire between the two communist giants.
During these border clashes, the USSR declared to have lost 60 members of the Red Army, while for its part China counted the loss of 100 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army. Given the absence of foreign observers, the figure of 25,000 dead for both parties was circulating among the dissident soldiers of the two countries.
In 1991, a treaty initiated by Boris Yeltsin established Chinese sovereignty over Zhenbao Island, and Russian authorities returned it to Beijing.
General information
Date March 2, 1969 - September 11, 1969
Location Xinjiang, Zhenbao Island
Issue Both sides claim victory, return to status quo ante bellum
Strengths
814,000 658,000
Losses
more than 800 killed