The Northeast Field Army was reorganized into the Fourth Field Army in November 1948, after which 12 main columns were reorganized into 12 corps. In numerical order, from the 38th Army to the 49th Army, a total of 12 corps, are the Fourth Field Army, the conventional combat units on the liberation battlefield. That is, among these 12 armies, the 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st, 42nd, and 43rd armies are known as the six main forces of The Four Fields.
Friends who may be familiar with history know that the first commanders of these six units were Li Tianyou, Liu Zhen, Han Xianchu, Wu Kehua, Wan Yi, Hong Xuezhi and other six generals who served as the commanders of the army. They were all tiger generals of the Fourth Field Army, and each of them had experienced hundreds of battles. It was under the leadership of these six tiger generals that these aces fought against the enemy on the battlefield of liberation. In the battles of northeast China, liberation of north China, south of central and southern China, and liberation of liangguang, these tiger generals have all been present, and they have left wonderful achievements in the history of the liberation war.
After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in 1950, as the main force on the battlefield of liberation, the 38th Army, the 39th Army, the 40th Army, and the 42nd Army under the Fourth Field Army, as the first batch of units to enter the War of Resistance Against US Aggression and Aid Korea, were incorporated into the Chinese Volunteer Army and participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea under the leadership of Mr. Peng.
Of course, the commander of the 38th Army at this time was Liang Xingchu, and the first commander, Li Tianyou, participated in the work of suppressing bandits in Guangxi. The commander of the 39th Army was Wu Xinquan, and the first commander, Liu Zhen, served as the commander of the Volunteer Air Force. The commander of the 40th Army was Wen Yucheng, and the first commander, Han Xianchu, served as the deputy commander of the Volunteer Army, and was one of the main commanders of the Volunteer Army on the battlefield of aiding Korea. The commander of the 42nd Army was Wu Ruilin, and the first commander at this time, Wan Yi, was the commander of the special forces of the Central and Southern Military Region and devoted himself to the cause of artillery construction.
That is to say, after the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the six main armies of the Four Fields, of which the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 42nd Armies, all participated in the War of Aid korea and all made great contributions to the end of the Campaign to Aid Korea. The 38th Army also won the title of Banzai Army on the battlefield of aiding Korea. The 39th Army, the 40th Army, and the 42nd Army all performed very well in this foreign war, and were known as one of the ten aces of the Volunteer Army.
Of the six main forces of The Four Wilds, none of which participated in the War of Aid to Korea, were the 41st Army and the 43rd Army. Then, why did these two armies not participate in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea?
After the liberation of Guangxi, the Forty-first Army was incorporated into the 15th Corps in 1950. Subsequently, when they participated in the work of suppressing bandits in Guangdong, they all knew that after the victory in the War of Liberation, there were bandits running rampant all over the country, and they colluded with the remnants of the Nationalist army to commit crimes. Therefore, the 41st Army, after the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, stayed in the central and southern regions, eliminated the bandits, and successively participated in the liberation of Nan'ao Island and Nanpeng Island. In 1951, the 41st Army was stationed in the Chaoshan area to undertake coastal defense tasks to prevent the flow of the Nationalist army. Although the 41st Army missed the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, it made great contributions to the elimination of soldiers and bandits in the central and southern regions.
The 43rd Army is not only an ace main force, but also a famous general. For example, the army's first commander, Hong Xuezhi (who participated in the War of Aid to Korea and served as deputy commander of the Volunteer Army), political commissar Lai Chuanzhu, Zhang Chiming, Yang Guofu, Li Zuopeng, Long Shujin, Yan Jiesan, and other famous generals, all came from the 43rd Army. The 127th Division under the command of the army can be traced back to the Ye Ting Independent Regiment, and the 128th Division is a famous tiger division on the northeast battlefield, which has been assigned combat tasks by Lin Zong monotonously three times, and these two divisions belong to the main division.
So, why didn't the 43rd Army participate in the War of Aid to Korea? It is because after the liberation of Hainan Island, the 128th Division served as a guard in Hainan to prevent the Nationalist army from sneaking into Hainan Island. Two other divisions of the 43rd Army, under the leadership of commander Long Shujin, participated in the work of suppressing bandits in Leizhou. It should be known that when Hainan Island was liberated, the officers and men of the Nationalist army withdrew one after another when they saw that the situation was not good, and some of the remnants of the army were defeated, and they were in the company of pirates and often invaded the fishermen. In this case, the 43rd Army remained in the southernmost part of the motherland, responsible for eliminating these pirates and protecting the border and the people.
Thus, after the victory in the War of Liberation, the six main armies of the Four Wilds, the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 42nd Armies, all participated in the War of Aid to Korea. The 41st Army and the 43rd Army remained in the southernmost part of the motherland to participate in the work of suppressing bandits. Whether it is aiding the DPRK or suppressing bandits, it is all for the sake of protecting the border and the people, and their responsibilities are very great.