After the war broke out, PFDJ first pointed its finger at Mauritania. And attacked Nouakchott, the capital of Mao, on June 8, 1976 and July 3, 1977, respectively. In May 1977, 1 and July 16, the Zueilat iron mine in Mao was attacked, which destroyed the railway line from the mine to the port of Nouadhibou and hit the economic lifeline of Mao. Leading to domestic inflation, foreign exchange income almost dried up, and the economy was on the verge of collapse; The voice of anti-war in Mao Zedong is getting louder and louder, and the people strongly demand to give up colonial aggression against Western Sahara. Soldiers of the Mao army are also war-weary and demoralized. Constant military failures and economic losses put Mao's dominance in jeopardy. 1978, 10 In July, a military coup took place in Mauritania and overthrew the government of Dadah, which had been in power for 18 years. In order to seek a peaceful solution to the problem, PFDJ once stopped its military operations against Mauritania. However, since Mao's new government was still undecided on the issue of Western Sahara, PFDJ resumed its attack on Mao in July 1979, forcing him to hold peace talks. In August, under the military pressure of the "Western Front" and the dilemma of domestic and foreign affairs, the Mao government finally announced that it would abandon its territorial claim to Western Sahara and withdraw from the war. Morocco quickly occupied the southern part of Western Sahara and declared it a "province" of Morocco. At this time, the war became a war between Morocco and the Frente POLISARIO.
Powerful offensive of Frente Polisario and passive defense of Morocco
After Mauritania withdrew from the war, the Frente POLISARIO went north to concentrate on fighting Morocco. Several large-scale attacks were launched in Zalan, Lebila and other places in Birn, causing heavy losses to Samoan troops. On August 1979, 1 1, PFDJ dispatched 3,000 soldiers, 500 cars and artillery to make a surprise attack on Birn Zalan, a stronghold of Mozambican army. This campaign became an important turning point in the development of PFDJ from small-scale and scattered guerrilla warfare to large-scale mobile warfare. On October 5th, 65438/kloc-0, PFDJ organized more than 5,000 troops and launched a large-scale attack on Mozambican troops in Smara, northern Western Sahara, resulting in more than 1000 deaths. 19811June 13, in a large-scale battle, PFDJ used Soviet-made main battle tanks, missiles and heavy artillery, which not only dealt a devastating blow to the enemy, but also returned three fighters of the Mozambican army. The combat capability of the PFDJ armed forces has risen to a new level.
While attacking the invading Samoan army, PFDJ often attacks military sites in Mozambique. As early as the beginning of 1979, it attacked the city of Tantan in Mozambique. Then it raided the city three times in June 12, June 27, June1August 25, 980. 1On September 4th, 980, Tata, an important desert town in Morocco, was once captured, cutting off the transportation line from Morocco to Western Sahara. Under the flexible and powerful attack of the Western Sahara armed forces, the Moroccan army was hard to defend and was passively beaten everywhere, so it began to seek new countermeasures. On the one hand, the international media strongly accused the former Soviet Union, Mauritania, Algeria and Libya of intervening in the Samoa dispute, claiming that supporting the Frente Polisario is Morocco's direct enemy; On the other hand, the United States is required to provide more military assistance and expand its troops at the same time. 1In August, 1980, the construction of defensive sand walls across the whole territory of Western Sahara was started, aiming at blocking the passage between Western Sahara and the outside world step by step and trapping the PFDJ.
Morocco's adjustment countermeasures and the reversal of the war situation in Western Sahara
In order to reverse the situation of strategic passive beating, Morocco adopted new military countermeasures. First of all, Moroccan troops stationed in scattered positions in Western Sahara were evacuated and concentrated in several strategic locations; Then, the newly organized modern mobile forces carried out repeated sweeps to ensure smooth traffic lines; Third,1In April, 987, the sixth sand wall was built in the south of Western Sahara, with a force of 20,000. This sand wall starts from the fifth sand wall built by Morocco in the southeast of Western Sahara and ends in Gangala, with a total length of 550 kilometers, which is parallel to and close to the railway from Zouerate to Nouadhibou, Mauritania. The whole line consists of sand piles, posts, barbed wire, minefields, radars and early warning devices. Completed the control of 65,000 square kilometers along the Atlantic coast from Dakhla to Nouadhibou. In this way, together with the first five sand walls built since 1880, the total length reaches 2,400 kilometers, and the "safety zone" behind the sand walls reaches more than 200,000 square kilometers. These three strategic measures of the Mozambican army have greatly restricted the mobility of PFDJ troops, making it difficult for them to destroy the enemy. The situation took a turn for the worse, and the Mozambican army began to take the initiative on the battlefield.
The "PFDJ" in Western Sahara changed its strategy and the war was deadlocked.
In the face of the new situation, PFDJ quickly adjusted its struggle policy, which used to focus on military strikes, and turned to the strategy of combining military struggle with diplomatic struggle in order to win more extensive international intervention and support, thus changing the passive situation. In military operations, PFDJ has changed from a comprehensive multi-channel attack to a moderate key attack. 1In the early morning of February 25, 987, PFDJ troops launched a fierce attack on Mozambican troops in the direction of El Farcia in the northeast of Western Sahara. After attacking the Mo Jun stronghold of the fifth sand wall with powerful artillery fire, more than a thousand troops and 1 10 armored vehicles were dispatched immediately, and under the cover of accompanying Sam 6 anti-aircraft missiles, they broke into the sand wall 1 1 km. The Mozambican army counterattacked with American F-5 and legal Mirage aircraft, supplemented by large-caliber artillery. Five hours later, PFDJ troops withdrew from the battlefield. Claim: 2 13 people were killed, 83 people were captured, and 155 howitzers, missiles and other weapons and equipment were seized. From 2 to 5 March, PFDJ troops attacked Mahbes again, announcing dozens of Mozambican troops were killed or injured, and five military vehicles and some military facilities were destroyed. The Mozambican army claimed to have killed 65,438+008 people and seized 47 military vehicles. In late August, PFDJ launched an attack on the No.6 sand wall in the Osselde area in southern Western Sahara, which opened a gap with a width of 25 kilometers and went into the depth of 12 kilometers, killing nearly 200 Mozambican troops and shooting down 1 fighter plane.
These actions were carried out on the eve of the establishment of Western Sahara, shortly after OAU Chairman and Congolese President Sassou visited Morocco to solve the problem of Western Sahara, and shortly after US Representative to the United Nations Walter Walters was about to visit Morocco. In order to ensure the expected diplomatic effect, PFDJ has made careful planning and preparation. The main battlefield was chosen in the front line of Tindouf, the rear base, and it entered the territory by stealth at night, and then quickly evacuated under the cover of Sam's anti-aircraft missiles, which caused the Mozambican army to be extremely passive in the local area and played a very good role objectively. It is mainly manifested in two aspects: first, it fully shows the strength and existence of PFDJ, which has aroused great concern of the international community on the Western Sahara issue. Second, to a certain extent, it has achieved the goal of urging Morocco to cease fire and reconsider the referendum negotiations in accordance with General Assembly and OAU resolution 104.
However, the strength of Western Sahara and Morocco is too different after all. Although it is difficult for the Mozambican army to completely destroy the PFDJ troops, the PFDJ also lacks sufficient capacity to shake Mozambique's military foundation. According to incomplete statistics, only in the first five years of the Samoan War (1September 1978 to1September 1983), Mozambican troops lost 1.8 10000, captured 1346 and lost/kloc-. On the other hand, PFDJ lost 5,500 to 6,000 soldiers and about 140 military vehicles. Both sides were exhausted, so the war entered a protracted stalemate.