When reviewing the history of our army, there is an interesting question, in the history of our army, there are 70 army numbers, but there are only 66 first commanders, why is this?
The history of the "army".
On October 22, 1936, the Red First and Red Second Front armies met at Jiangtaibao, Xiji County, Ningxia, marking the successful end of the two-year Long March, but the Central Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi with only 6,000 people, plus the Red 25th Army and the Red Second Front Army, as well as the remaining personnel of the Red Fourth Front Army in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, the Red Army only had 30,000 left.
No one thought that the Red Army had super vitality, and after eight years of resistance against Japanese aggression, the armed forces under the leadership of our party had grown to 1.27 million.
In just three years after the War of Liberation began, the strength of our army more than doubled, and in 1948, the total strength of the whole army reached 2.8 million.
With the successive victories of our army, the war has turned into an all-out counteroffensive by our army against Chiang's army, and the troops in various districts have jumped out of the circle and begun to fight across regions.
As everyone knows, larger-scale trans-regional operations require coordination among different formed units, and the battlefield situation has undergone fundamental changes.
Under such circumstances, our army's command structure should also be changed accordingly, that is, unified command, unified coordination, and the establishment of a unified logistical support mechanism.
In order to do all this better, this requires a unified organization.
Mao Zedong, as a great military strategist and strategist, had already been aware of this.
At the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held in Xibaipo, Pingshan, Hebei Province in mid-September 1948, Chairman Mao clearly put forward the goal of building an army of 5 million, and at the same time proposed that the army should be regularized.
In accordance with the spirit of this directive, the Central Military Commission promulgated the "Regulations on the Unification of the Organization and Unit Numbers of the Whole Army" in November 1948, proposing the establishment of 70 armies and 210 divisions in our army.
What should we do if there are not enough armies and divisions? Leave it to be replenished after the expansion of the troop strength in the future.
This is the origin of the 70 military numbers in the history of the People's Liberation Army.
It should be pointed out that from now on, all the armed forces under the leadership of our party will be numbered, except for the troops directly under the central government, and from then on, the number of the column and the unit starting with the word "independence" will cease to exist and become history.
Three days before the document was officially issued, the Central Military Commission informed the East China Bureau that our army wanted to "unify its organization and number," and that Wu Huawen's unit, which had revolted in the Jinan Campaign on 19 September, and the Lu Zhongnan Column of the East China Field Army were incorporated into the 35th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, with Wu as commander.
The 35th Army was subordinate to the 7th Corps of the Third Field Army. The three divisions are the 103rd, 104th, and 105th infantry divisions of the People's Liberation Army, with a total of more than 22,000 people.
At the same time, Xinhua News Agency publicly announced this decision.
This means that the era of regularization of the PLA has arrived.
The reason why the Central Military Commission informed the East China Bureau in advance was that after Wu Huawen's uprising, what name did he give his troops, was it the First Army or the 14th Column?
It seemed inappropriate for the rebel troops to call the First Army, so Rao Shushi, Su Yu, and Tan Zhenlin, leaders of the East China Bureau, sent a telegram to the Central Committee, and the Central Military Commission sent the above telegram before the document was officially issued.
This also shows that before the official name of the PLA was used, the leaders of the field army only knew that our army would be regularized, and did not know whether the regularized PLA would use the name "column" or "army", because no decision was made on this issue at the enlarged meeting of the Politburo in mid-September.
Only 67 of the 70 army numbers were used
After the Central Military Commission document was officially issued, the PLA began to officially use the name "army".
Although the plan is to have 70 armies, first, the restructuring is underway, and second, the strength of our army has not yet reached that scale.
By February 1949, our army had only used the number of 51 armies.
A month later, 6 more corps were added, bringing the number to 57.
These 57 army numbers range from the 1st Army to the 70th Army, including the 5th Army, the 9th Army, the 19th Army, the 36th and 37th Army, the 51st, 52nd, 53rd, 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th, 59th Army and other 13 army numbers.
After that, 10 more army numbers were used, and they were:
The Fifth Army, which was formed in early January 1950, was reorganized from the Xinjiang Nationalities Army, with Lesken as commander, Don Xingyun as political commissar, and Margov Iskhakov as deputy commander and chief of staff.
The 19th Army, which was formed in May 1949, was composed of troops of the Southern Shaanxi Military Region, with Liu Jinxuan as commander and Ma Mingfang as political commissar.
The 36th and 37th Armies, formed in January 1950, were reorganized from the troops that participated in the Suiyuan Uprising; Liu Wanchun served as the commander of the 36th Army (later defected and imprisoned), Kang Jianmin served as the political commissar, Zhang Shizhen served as the commander of the 37th Army, and Shuai Rong served as the political commissar.
The 51st Army was established in August 1949 and was reorganized from the troops of the Jinkou Uprising, with Zhang Zhen as the commander and Yang Chunpu as the political commissar.
The 52nd Army and the 53rd Army were formed in November 1949 and were reorganized from the troops of the Jiang Army who participated in the Changsha Uprising; Wang Jinxiu, commander of the 52nd Army, Yang Shugen, political commissar; Peng Jieru, commander of the 53rd Army, and Wang Zhenqian, political commissar.
In October 1952, the original 44th and 45th armies of the People's Liberation Army were merged into the 54th Army, renamed the 54th Army of the Chinese People's Volunteers, and participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
In November of the same year, the 51st Corps of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was reorganized into the 55th Army of the People's Liberation Army.
At this point, the reorganization and renumbering of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was basically completed, and the 70 numbers were never used, namely the 56th, 57th, and 59th armies.
Some netizens sent a chart saying that the PLA has 70 armies, which is inaccurate.
At first glance, the PLA does have 70 armies, but in fact, the only one, the second and only three armies have existed for a very short time, and when they were established, our army had already begun to unify the numbers, and they were not the official names of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
For example, the First Independent Army of the People's Liberation Army was composed of the 2nd Regiment, the 5th Regiment and the 173rd Division of the Kuomintang Gansu Provincial Security Regiment, which was established on September 14, 1949, and was abolished in November of the same year and belonged to the 62nd Army.
The Second Independent Army of the People's Liberation Army did not exist for a long time, it was formed by the 35th Division and the 294th Division of the 81st Army of the Jiang Army in the Zhongwei area of Ningxia in mid-December 1949, with Ma Yujing, commander of the 81st Army, as the commander, Zhen Hua as the political commissar, and Yang Yuchun as the chief of staff.
The unofficial number of the 2nd Independent Army, originally intended to be awarded to the 57th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, was revoked in December 1950. After that, the number of the 57th Army was vacant.
The Second Independent Army of the People's Liberation Army existed for only half a year, established on December 9, 1949, composed of the Kuomintang uprising force 119 in the Wudu area of Gansu, and in May 1950, the number of the Third Independent Army of the Northwest was revoked.
It is not difficult to see from this that these three independent armies have one thing in common, they are all in the northwest region, and their numbers are not in the official number of the PLA, they are all transitional in nature, and they have existed for a very short time, and they are not within the 70 armies of the PLA.
Which field army was the first to propose reorganization and the first to use the army number?
Due to the strong foundation and rapid expansion of the Northeast Field Army, its leaders were the first to realize the need for reorganization.
In October 1948, Lin and Luo Ronghuan sent a report to the Military Commission, reflecting that after the recovery of Jinzhou and Shenyang, the strength of our army was greatly enhanced, and each column reached 4 infantry divisions, and the insufficient columns planned to include independent divisions.
From this point of view, they were the first to realize the need for reorganization and were the first to carry out it, but they have not yet put forward the concept of "army."
In mid-November 1948, according to the instructions of the Military Commission, the 12 columns of the Northeast Field Army were reorganized into the 38th-49th armies of the People's Liberation Army.
At the same time, Lin and Luo Ronghuan issued an order to their subordinate units to change the name of each column of the Northeast Field Army to the army, and the head of the column was renamed the army commander......
After the East Field, other field armies also began to use the name of the army.
Huaye completed this task from December 1948 to January 1949, and the 11 columns of the 1st Corps and the 2nd Corps were respectively changed to 11 armies, that is, the 60th to 70th armies of the People's Liberation Army.
Subsequently, the seven columns of the Northwest Field Army were successively changed to the first, second, third, fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth armies of the People's Liberation Army.
In February 1949, the seven columns under the jurisdiction of the Central Plains Field Army, that is, the other armed forces, were reorganized into nine armies, including the 10th to 18th armies.
At the same time, the 12 columns under the jurisdiction of the East China Field Army were successively renamed the 20th to 31st Armies.
Of the 51 armies in the first batch, 9 were in the middle field, 11 were in the North China Field Army, 7 were in the Northwest Field Army, 12 were in the Northeast Field Army, and 12 were in the East China Field Army.
The names of the various field armies were also changed to numbers, with the Northwest Field Army called the First Field Army, the Central Plains Field Army called the Second Field Army, the East China Field Army called the Third Field Army, and the Northeast Field Army called the Fourth Field Army.
So, why did the North China Military Region not independently form a field corps? This was determined by the situation at that time.
At that time, the headquarters of the Central Military Commission and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) were located in Xibaipo, Pingshan County, and they were completely capable of commanding the operations of the North China Corps in the vicinity.
If the battle order goes to the Noji first and then to the corps, it will definitely delay the military aircraft.
Therefore, from May 1948, the two corps (the latter three corps) of the North China Military Region were directly under the jurisdiction of the Central Military Commission.
Four anecdotes that happened in the use of the number
The process of using the military number is not as smooth as imagined, who is given more, who is given less, there are also disputes, and a few anecdotes occur.
Nino: For non-numbering
In mid-February 1949, Erye proposed to the Central Military Commission to add a number: Tongbai still has an armed force led by our party, and there is no number yet.
After the Central Military Commission considered it, it added a number to Erye, and the four columns in the Tongbai area should be called the 58th Army of the People's Liberation Army.
Mino: Minute
The Central Committee originally planned to merge the 12th Column of Huaye and the He Jifeng Uprising Force into one army, that is, the 34th Army, but at that time, the 12th Column had already moved south, and they already had three divisions, and after Sanye asked for instructions, the Military Commission separated the 12th Column and He Jifeng's uprising troops, and the 12th Column became an independent army and was renamed the 30th Army of the People's Liberation Army.
The He Jifeng uprising troops were combined with the two brigades of our army in the Jianghuai area to form the 34th Army.
四野:最后使用野战军番号
As mentioned earlier, the Northeast Field Army was the first to use the name of the army, but the Northeast Field Army used the number of "four fields" four months after using the number of the army, ranking last among the field armies.
This is because, in November 1948, when the Central Military Commission decided to change the column into an army, it also tacitly acquiesced in the use of place names by the field army, and it was not until January 15, 1949 that the Central Military Commission issued a decision to replace the place names with the first to fourth field armies.
At this time, the Northeast Field Army had already begun to use the number of the "army," and the other three field armies changed to the number of the army a little later; when they received the notice from the Central Military Commission, the number of the X Field Army and the army were used at the same time, and there was a difference of more than two months between the number of the army used by the Northeast Field Army and the number of the four fields.
North China Military Region: Double happiness is coming
At the same time that the North China Military Region received the number of the column to change its army, Beiping was also peacefully liberated, which can be called a double happiness.
When Yang Chengwu and Li Jingquan issued the CMC's order to change the number, they specifically pointed out that all divisions could announce this order at a meeting to celebrate the liberation of Beiping, so as to increase the atmosphere of celebration and boost morale.
67 army commanders, the first army commander was 65?
As mentioned above, the PLA has a total of 67 numbers, and the first commander should also be 67, but in fact, there are only 66 first commanders.
This is because the 70th Army was abolished not long after its establishment.
The 70th Army was established in January 1949 and was reorganized from the 14th Column of the North China Military Region, with Gan Weihan as the political commissar and Shi Zhiben as the deputy commander.
In September 1949, the Central Military Commission decided to abolish the 70th Army and reduce it to the 207th Division.
Why did the Central Military Commission cancel the 70th Army in such a short period of time, and what is the hidden reason?
In fact, the 70th Army was canceled only because of insufficient troops, the army only had two divisions, and one company was less than 100 people, with a total of 11,000 people.
Therefore, Nie Rongzhen wrote a letter to the Central Military Commission and took the initiative to request that the number of the 70th Army be revoked.
In this way, the reduced number of handymen can be added to the company and the combat effectiveness of the troops can be enhanced.
Therefore, the 70 Army came and went in a hurry.
In fact, there is another army that has existed for a shorter time, and it is the 69th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
The 69th Army was established in January 1949 and was reorganized from the 7th Column of the North China Field Army, and in May of the same year, the 70th Army was abolished.
When the army was founded, not only did it not have a commander, but it also did not have a political commissar. There is only one deputy army commander (Zhou Biao) and one deputy political commissar (Qi Yuanwu).
Because Sun Yi, the original commander of the Seventh Column, served as the commander of the North China Military Region Supplementary Training Corps in January 1949.
Therefore, it has been said that the 67 armies of the Chinese People's Liberation Army have only 65 commanders, but this statement is not entirely true, because the name of the 69th Army reappeared four years after it disappeared.
In 195312, the Central Military Commission decided to reorganize the 23rd Corps returned from the Korean battlefield into the 69th Army of the People's Liberation Army, with Dong Qiwu as its commander. (Although Dong Qiwu is a military commander, his rank is at the level of the regular corps.) ）
Therefore, the People's Liberation Army has 67 armies, and the first army commander should be 66.
At present, the PLA Army has 18 mobile combat forces, and the number of them has been reduced to 850,000, but they are all elite soldiers who have been tempered for thousands of years, and their combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated.
Moreover, our army's reserve strength is tens of millions, and it is fully capable of defending the country's sovereignty once it is needed.