The Second Field Army was reorganized from the former Central Plains Field Army in 1949. At the beginning of its establishment, the Central Plains Field Army had seven columns under its jurisdiction, the commander of the first column was Yang Yong, the commander of the second column was Chen Zaidao, the commander of the third column was Chen Xilian, the commander of the fourth column was Chen Geng, the commander of the sixth column was Wang Jinshan, the commander of the ninth column was Qin Jiwei, and the commander of the eleventh column was Wang Bingzhang.
After 1949, the reorganized People's Army abolished the previous column establishment. For example, the Sixth Column of the Central Plains Field Army, after reorganization, the new name of the unit is the 12th Army, and the first commander is the previous column commander Wang Jinshan. After the reorganization of the third column, the new name of the unit was the 11th Army, and the commander was Zeng Shaoshan. Prior to this, Chen Xilian, who served as the commander of the Third Column, was promoted to the commander of the Third Corps.
That is to say: before 1949, a column under the jurisdiction of the major field armies was equivalent to a later army, but the name was different, and the others did not change.
As the Central Plains Field Army, which had seven columns, why did it have two more armies after it was reorganized in 1949?
Friends who know the history of the Liberation War must know that the Second Field Army led by Liu and Deng in 1949 had three corps under its jurisdiction, each of which had three armies, for a total of nine armies.
The Fourth Column led by General Chen Geng, which had four brigades (the 10th, 11th, 13th, and 22nd Brigades) in its heyday, was the strongest unit of the Central Plains Field Army. The sixth column, known as the first sharp knife under Liu Deng, only has three brigades.
It is precisely because General Chen Geng's fourth column is under the jurisdiction of four brigades. Therefore, in 1949, when the whole army was reorganized, this column was reorganized into the 13th Army and the 14th Army.
The 13th Army was reorganized from the 10th Brigade and the 13th Brigade of the Fourth Column of the Central Plains Field Army, and the commander was Zhou Xihan. Prior to this, he was the main general of the Fourth Field Army and the most important general of the column commander, General Chen Geng.
After the establishment of the 13th Army, it participated in the battle of crossing the river, pursued and annihilated in the south, liberated Yunnan, and captured Tang Yao, deputy commander-in-chief of the National Army alive in the Southern Yunnan Campaign, and made great achievements in accelerating the liberation of the southwest region.
According to statistics, the 13th Army wiped out more than 530,000 enemy troops in the strategic pursuit stage, making it the trump card army with the most tenacious fighting style on the battlefield of liberation.
The 14th Army was also formed by the merger of the 11th Brigade and the 22nd Brigade of the Fourth Column of the Central Plains Field Army, plus the local armed forces in western Henan, and the 110th Division that rebelled in the Huaihai Campaign, and the army commander was Li Chengfang.
After its establishment, the 14th Army participated in the Battle of Crossing the River, the Battle of Hunan and Jiangxi, the Battle of Guangdong, and the Battle of Guangxi.
The first column of the Central Plains Field Army, in 1949, the first brigade and the second brigade under its jurisdiction, as well as the independent brigade of the local armed forces, were merged into the 16th Army, and the commander was Yin Xianbing. Prior to that, he was the deputy commander of the 1st Column.
The 16th Army is also a powerful force in the history of revolutionary warfare, and it is also the number one main force of the Fifth Corps, which participated in the liberation war in the southwest region. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the 16th Army was the first ace army in the whole army to change Soviet armaments.
The 20th Brigade under the jurisdiction of the First Column of the Central Plains Field Army and the local armed forces of the Henan-Anhui Soviet Military Region were merged into the 18th Army, and the commander was Zhang Guohua.
The 18th Army participated in the Southwest Campaign in the strategic pursuit stage, and the biggest highlight of the army was that it led its troops into Tibet in 1950 and made indelible contributions to promoting the liberation of the entire southwest region.
When the whole army was reorganized in 1949, the reason why the Second Field Army had two more armies was because the fourth column was reorganized into two armies (the 13th Army and the 14th Army), and the first column was also reorganized into two armies (the 16th Army and the 18th Army).
In this way, the Central Plains Field Army, which originally had only seven columns, became nine armies after being reorganized into the Second Field Army.