Welcome to Shiyuan History Column No. 2556. In 1949, after the victory of our army in three major battles, the balance of the war was obviously tilted, and a large number of Kuomintang troops revolted, surrendered or were captured. The size of the Platon People's Liberation Army has expanded considerably, and the original model of direct command of the army-level troops by the field army has been somewhat incomplete, so our army has established a unified corps structure, and a total of 16 main corps have been established in the first half of 1949. What is more surprising is that there is a very strong corps that was abolished just 3 months after its establishment.
The PLA Corps with the shortest existence is the 14th Corps under the fourth field army formation. The predecessor of Siye was the Northeast Field Army, and originally there were already two stronger corps in the northeast, namely the First Corps and the Second Corps of Dongye, which were later restructured into the 12th and 13th Corps of the People's Liberation Army respectively. On this basis, 14th and 15th corps were added. The commander of the 14th Corps was Liu Yalou, chief of staff of the former Northeast Field Army command organ "Lin Luo Liu". He walked out of the field army headquarters in the late stages of the Liberation War and was personally responsible for commanding the large corps to fight, showing comprehensive military qualities.
The strength of this 14th Corps mentioned above is well founded. Not only is commander Liu Yalou considered to be the "strongest chief of staff" of the PLA, but his three main forces are also in the forefront of the whole army in terms of combat effectiveness. The Thirty-ninth Army was one of the strongest units in The Four Fields and also the army-level unit with the best achievements in the Liberation War; the Forty-first Army was the former Dongye Fourth Column, which together with the Three Columns insisted on engaging the Kuomintang army in Southern Manchuria, and was the main force trained under the most difficult circumstances; the remaining Forty-second Army, although it was established for a relatively short time, but its excellent record on the Korean battlefield after the founding of the People's Republic of China proved that it was also an ace army. The three main armies combined formed the 14th Corps of The Four Fields, with a strength of nearly 200,000 men. It is no exaggeration to say that this corps was one of the strongest corps in the PLA at that time. The 14th Corps was established in April and abolished in July for the following reasons.
The first is Liu Yalou, the head of the corps, who was favored by the chairman because of his excellent ability and served as the future commander of the PEOPLE's Liberation Army Air Force. To build the Air Force, Liu Yalou was indeed the most suitable candidate at that time. The key is that he studied at the Frunze Military Academy in the Soviet Union, understands both Russian and has a Soviet military background, and can play an important role in the upcoming new China, and it is more convenient to communicate and study with the Soviet Union.
Moreover, Liu Yalou was in charge of the Northeast Aviation School and had a certain foundation in the Air Force. He had more advantages than other generals, and for such a high-tech service as the Air Force, few of the PLA generals whose cultural quality was generally not very high at that time could be qualified. The chairman looked at people very accurately and selected Liu Yalou, who had excellent quality. Commander Liu naturally could not go to the post like the "light pole commander", and with the approval of the central authorities, he took away more than 2,000 backbones from the 14th Corps to form an air force team. The 14th Corps headquarters and command organs were basically used to prepare for the establishment of the Air Force, and it was difficult for the Corps to survive.
The second reason is that the late stage of the Liberation War progressed too quickly. The 14th Corps was formed in April 1949, and in that month the People's Liberation Army completed the Battle of Crossing the River, and our army made rapid progress on the southern front, and without the need for millions of PLA troops to all be dispatched, most of the Kuomintang troops flocked to surrender. Due to the difficulty of the southern operation, considering the urgent preparation and preparation time of the new Chinese Air Force, it is indeed feasible to transfer talents from the 14th Corps, so the 14th Corps became the first regular corps of our army to be disbanded, and it took only 3 months from its establishment to its abolition.
The third reason is that a corps of nearly 200,000 people, the corps was abolished, obviously there must be follow-up action. On this point, Shino and the Central Military Commission have long taken into account and are fully prepared. Of the three corps under the jurisdiction of the 14th Corps, the 39th Army was transferred to the 13th Corps, the Forty-first Army was given to the 12th Corps, and the Forty-second Army was directly subordinate to the Field Army and controlled by General Lin. In this way, there was no worries, and although the 14th Corps was abolished, the troops under its command and subsequent combat tasks were not affected in the slightest.
As the first commander of the Air Force of New China, Liu Yalou played a key role in the subsequent War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea and the rapid construction and development of the People's Air Force. From this point of view, although the 14th Corps has existed for a short time, its contribution to the army and the country is not small. In particular, the three corps under the original command of the corps, in addition to the Forty-first Army, the other two corps were soon merged into the 13th Corps of the Volunteer Army, and fought very well in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Especially in the early stage of movement warfare, it played the role of a pillar of support, and it was a well-known ace army on the Korean battlefield.
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