When Brothers Fight

In 2021, Helion & Company, a specialist military publishing house based in the UK, published two books by Harold Orenstein and Dmitry Ryabushkin: The Sino-Soviet Border War of 1969 Volume 1: How a Nuclear War between the USSR and China almost started in 1969 and The Sino-Soviet Border War of 1969 Volume 2: Confrontation at Lake Zhalanashkol August 1969. For the first time, the Sino-Soviet war is being examined in such detail in the English language. However good as it may be, Harold Orenstein and Dmitry Ryabushkin’s books are written without solid facts from China and can only give partial interpretation to this brief war. We must have facts and information from both sides to understand the battle and circumstances. This book, WHEN BROTHERS FIGHT Chinese Eyewitness Accounts of the Sino-Soviet Border Battles,1969 by Benjamin Lai and Zhang Yiming, aims to fill the gap with actual accounts from Chinese veterans who took part in these border wars. To give the reader a taste of what happened, the authors select two of the best-known incidents of the period, the battle of Zhenbao Island (March-May 1969) and the Tielieketi Incident (Lake Zhalanashkol, 13 August 1969), as the focus for this book.

This is an important episode of the Cold War that deserves greater exposure. This brief war marks a turning point between the two Communist giants and in one way or another, lays the foundation for international politics for the next fifty years. In 1972, China moved to the US/Western Camp by signing the Three Joint Communiqués, normalising relations between the US and China and establishing a full diplomatic relationship in 1979 – the rest is history. This all started with a shooting match in 1969.

This book does not attempt to write history or point fingers at who is right and wrong. It merely attempts to allow the voices of the Chinese veterans to be heard; doing so will enable us to see with a 20/20 vision of what happened back in 1969.