Even before the H-6 bombers had finished their task, another squadron of Fencers approached the base. Each carried four C-802 anti-ship missiles. Within minutes the waters in the harbour of Cam Ranh Bay were ablaze, although some missile homers were confused in the congested space and took their warheads to unexpected targets. If anything, this increased the chaos. Again, the message received from the air commander was simply `Dragon'.
800 kilometres north, the Chinese pilots found success more elusive. Thick cloud hung over the main Vietnamese airbase at Da Nang. The twelve Su-27s, twelve Fencers, and twelve PLA Navy Jang Hong 7 fighter-bombers made their approach for the attack at 0620. There had been a crucial ten-minute delay. The slower JH-7s held up the group.
The PLA Air Force had never wanted the navy along. The air force had long ago rejected the JH-7's outdated airframe, avionics, and Rolls Royce Spey engines which left it underpowered by modern standards. But the Military Commission insisted on a joint operation. Politics won over practicality and the animosity continued into the cockpits. The weather was appalling. Visibility was bad and there was risk of flying into the ground. The JH-7 group commander misread his terrain-following radar and climbed too high. The aircraft were picked up minutes before the Su-27s electronically jammed the Vietnamese radar. It was enough time for fifteen Vietnamese aircraft to become airborne.
The Vietnamese MiGs should have been no match for the faster and more versatile Su-27s, whose avionics and attack capabilities were greatly superior. But the Vietnamese pilots were more familiar with their old aircraft, and better trained in realistic combat tactics. Vietnam gave its pilots at least 16 flying hours a month. It was less than half of America's C-1 (fully combat ready) 33 hours a month, but twice the training given to the Chinese. The first Chinese casualties were two of the less manoeuvrable JH-7s, and before the sleeker Su-27s became orientated one was hit by a Vietnamese air-to-air missile. Another JH-7 was downed by an SA-6 missile fired from the ground.
Then the Vietnamese pilots turned west. Over the next thirty minutes, the scramble alarm was sounded from north to south throughout the narrow strip of country which is Vietnam. Pilots took to the skies from their bases, and flew their aircraft out of Vietnam into the two countries they had used as traditional sanctuaries from combat — Laos and Cambodia. In wars against its more powerful twentieth-century enemies, the French, the Americans and the Chinese, Vietnam concealed its combat forces and saved them to fight at a place and time of its choosing. The enemy won some of the battles: Vietnam won the wars. The Chinese pilots badly damaged Da Nang airbase, but when the military successes were recounted in the People's Daily, the number of Vietnamese aircraft destroyed was not mentioned, nor were the Chinese losses. By the time the Vietnamese pilots had touched down in Cambodia and Laos, the first news of the attack had reached the White House.
It was 0645.
From the Russian-built M-17 troop transport helicopter, Discovery Reef in the Paracel Island group looked like two large horseshoes placed end to end. In the shallow waters in the middle was Discovery 1, a 160 man oil well undergoing tests and due to begin production in April. The thirty men working there first heard the throb of the rotor blades, then watched the chopper's nose dip as it swooped down towards them. In the distance, in the medium swell of the South China Sea, six fibreglass raiding craft powered by twin 150 horsepower engines sped away from the Yukan class tank-landing ship 927. Each craft carried ten men towards the rugged terrain. The helicopter hovered menacingly. Warning shots were fired into the water. The boats slowed from 40 knots. The Chinese Marine commandos came ashore among the inhospitable rock faces and reefs and took up positions. With them was a unit from the PLA's special film unit, which had recorded Chinese military history since the Revolution. This morning China heralded its total control of the islands and rugged atolls which were an inseparable part of its sovereign rights.
The commandos were under orders to minimize bloodshed. Discovery 1 was an Anglo-Japanese joint venture involving a subsidiary of British Petroleum and Nippon Oil. Once the water-borne Marines had secured the ground, the helicopter landed on the rig's helipad with another twenty troops. A burst of small-arms fire into the air convinced the maintenance crew that spanners and wrenches were no match for automatic weapons. The communications officer had enough time to broadcast an alert before a Marine stopped him at gunpoint and changed the frequency. The chopper left. All but two of the raiding craft were returned to the supply ship. The PLA film unit covered the raising of the flag. The commandos sang the national anthem. Then both attackers and captives stayed silent as they were addressed by President Wang Feng through the PA system which the Marine signals corporal had rigged up through the radio.
`Like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and Tibet, the territory you have recovered today is an inalienable part of our motherland. In recent years there has been a situation of the islands and islets being occupied, sea areas being carved up, resources looted, and marine rights and interests being wantonly encroached upon. But we gave serious attention to the strengthening of our naval and air force construction. And today we proclaim victory. You should all be proud of what you have achieved, not only for your success today, but also for the direct bearing it will have on our country's thousand year cause, and on our descendants for all generations to come.'
That was the last action China had to take to secure the whole of the Paracel Island group and was the easiest task assigned to the Marine units. In the Spratly Island group, 800 kilometres to the south, the offensive would not go so well.
China had never carried out an air and naval operation of this magnitude before. The area to be seized and held covered 340,000 square kilometres. The targets were twenty-one islands and atolls, fifty submerged land spits, and twenty-eight reefs, most of which were underwater. These rugged and inhospitable places were of use as strategic footholds and as a source of oil and mineral wealth. Only soldiers lived there, with their national flags. Most of the camps were erected on stilts, high enough to avoid the waves which swept over the rocky landfalls and the tides which immersed the bases in water. The Spratly Islands were nightmare postings.
The northern and easternmost reefs were claimed by the Philippines. The southernmost islands were occupied by Malaysian troops. One, Terumbi Layang-layang, had an airstrip and a naval base. To the west were Vietnamese forces.
China's only outpost of any substance was Fiery Cross Shoal. It was 26 kilometres long and 7.5 kilometres wide. In 1988, Chinese engineers blasted the coral with explosives to allow warships through the reef. They built a wharf, roads, a helicopter hangar and landing pad, and a two-storey barracks covering 1,000 square metres. The upkeep had been shoddy. The sanitation and water supplies were broken down. The Marines, who had been living there cheek by jowl, cheered when they heard their orders. They wanted to be anywhere but Fiery Shoal.