The so-called establishment is the meridian of the army, and under the requirements of different times and backgrounds, our army has also adopted different forms of formation, among which the "column" has briefly appeared for a period of time.
In fact, behind the "column", Chairman Mao's extraordinary military command ability can also be seen.
The development of the "column".
As early as 1925, when the Kuomintang was in the Eastern Expedition against Chen Jiongming, three "columns" were used, and Chiang Kai-shek's He Yingqin, Li Jishen and Cheng Qian served as the leaders of the three columns.
At that time, it was not that no one thought of forming a "column" into an army, but it was not feasible.
In the sequence of the Kuomintang, there are the Jiangxi Army, the Chaomei Army, the Henan Army, etc., the difference between the columns is very large, plus from different factions, it is impossible to unify the formation of an army, so in order to facilitate the management of the wartime, the Kuomintang simply named it directly in the way of "column".
Before 1927, both the Red Army and the Nationalist Army were making revolutions together, so the Red Army also continued the column establishment of the Nationalist Army in the initial revolutionary process.
After the Nanchang Uprising, everyone gathered in a mountain col about 20 miles west of Xinfeng City, and Comrade Zhu De personally convened a meeting of great significance, at which he announced to everyone that in the future, this contingent would be led by him and Comrade Chen Yi, and those who were willing to make a revolution would continue to go, and those who were unwilling could go home.
At the meeting, Zhu De recounted an example from not long ago: "After the defeat of the Russian Revolution in 1905, the people who remained were the backbone of the October Revolution. ”
Moreover, Zhu De also pointed out very presciently that the Chiang-Gui War would definitely break out, and that even if the Nanchang Uprising encountered setbacks, it would never be a defeat of the Chinese revolution, and the Chinese revolution would inevitably succeed.
The subsequent reorganization of Dayu became an important beginning of the transformation of the Red Army troops, and later the reorganization of Jinggangshan led by Chairman Mao was a later story, and the unit of Dayu this reorganization was the "column", and a column had about 3 infantry detachments, 1 machine gun brigade and other 800 people.
According to the formal establishment, a team of 800 people can be called a regiment.
However, in an extremely unstable state of war, the "column" is a temporary combination, and this organization is very flexible and can be combined at will, so there is no problem.
From the era of the Red Army to the end of the Liberation War, the Red Army, the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, and the People's Liberation Army all had a large number of columns, precisely because Chairman Mao considered the flexibility of such an organizational form.
Especially in the stage of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, many troops developed and grew in the struggle.
In the TV series "Bright Sword", the independent regiment led by Li Yunlong is a division subordinate troops, and he has thought of many ways to strengthen the troops, even if the troops have reached tens of thousands, he still does not think about expanding the number, and still wants to retain the number of the independent regiment.
Because during the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army not only had to fight against the Japanese, but also had to watch out for Chiang Kai-shek not far away.
Chiang Kai-shek had always kept a close eye on the situation of the ranks of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, and if he found that the strength of a regiment could be equal to that of a division, he would certainly try his best to implement the policy before the Xi'an Incident.
In 1941, after the New Fourth Army rebuilt its military headquarters in Yancheng, northern Jiangsu, it finally had the opportunity to reorganize the two important teams of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, which was of great significance to both the present and the future.
Therefore, as early as January 1940, the CCP sent Huang Kecheng to lead the 2nd Column 1 of the Eighth Route Army to develop in the direction of Central China, and the 6th Detachment of the New Fourth Army led by Peng Xuefeng was also looking for Huang Kecheng.
The Huangqiao area was filled with gunsmoke, and Han Deqin was preparing to create friction with his own troops, but it was difficult for the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army in eastern Anhui to get support; in addition, there were many troops in the Jiangsu and Anhui areas, and the command was different, and even a high-ranking general like Huang Kecheng could not figure out who to command.
If the rectification work is not strengthened, it will be difficult to play a strategic supporting role, and Liu Shaoqi also instructed the troops in the Suzhou-Anhui border region to start reorganizing under such circumstances.
Before the reorganization, there were a number of armed forces under the leadership of the Chinese communists in the Suzhou-Anhui border region, including the Sixth Detachment of the New Fourth Army, the Sulu-Henan Detachment of the Eighth Route Army, and the Longhai South Advance Detachment, as well as some guard units and local anti-Japanese armed forces from Shandong.
In the Suzhou-Anhui border region, these units retained their original command system and combat system, but in conflicts with the Japanese puppet army and diehards, their combat efficiency was often affected by problems such as poor communication, inconsistent command, and uncoordinated pace.
In order to improve combat effectiveness and straighten out the relations between the main forces and the local armies, and between the base areas and the democratic regime, in August 1940, Liu Shaoqi, Huang Kecheng, and other leaders, in accordance with the instructions of the central authorities, carried out a unified reorganization of the armed forces led by the Communist Party in the area east of the Jinpu Road and north of the Huai River.
The Fifth Column of the Eighth Route Army was formed in this reorganization, and the size of the reorganized unit was expanded to about 20,000 troops, effectively enhancing its overall combat effectiveness and organizational efficiency.
It can be seen that in such a hasty situation, the reorganization of the troops is still named after the "column," and the initial reorganization of the two armies is more reflected in the "organization" than in the "rectification," with Huang Kecheng's Eighth Route Army as the main body, and the reorganization is unified into the Fifth Column of the Eighth Route Army.
In view of the problems that may be brought about by the reorganization, the concern of Liu Shaoqi, Chen Yi, and other comrades can be said to be meticulous, and the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army is also vigorously advocating the doctrine of cracking down on the troops, taking regularization and refinement as the two major slogans, strengthening the party spirit of the cadres, and taking the iron reunification of the whole army as the fundamental goal, adopting flexible and mobile methods under the stipulated principles of army building and administrative principles, and not only absorbing the experience and lessons of the reorganization of the troops during the period of the southern Anhui military headquarters, but also drawing on the experience of the reorganization of various departments of friendly armies, and seeking truth from facts to regularize the building of the party and army.
Under the personal supervision of so many senior leaders, the reorganization work was not largely completed until June 1941.
With the completion of the reorganization, the Central China Bureau gave special praise to the newly reorganized troops in its report to the Central Committee. This unit has not only significantly increased its combat effectiveness, but has also successfully maintained its previous fine work style and system.
Under his guidance, the reorganization of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army achieved the set goals, effectively realized the situation of "brothers working together," and laid a solid foundation for the further development of the War of Resistance Against Japan.
This integration not only enhances the internal cohesion of the troops, but also enhances their combat capabilities and tactical flexibility in complex battlefield environments.
At the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the establishment of the "column" still had miraculous results
The formation of columns is diverse, some have brigades under their jurisdiction, some have detachments under their jurisdiction, and some guerrillas even have platoons below the columns.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, these "columns" were often able to bring unexpected blows to the Japanese invaders, because there were always problems with equipment and training at that time, so the War of Resistance led by the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army was mainly based on guerrilla warfare, and the flexibility of the "columns" was fully displayed, and the enemy could not figure out the number of our troops.
However, by the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Yan'an had long expected that the Kuomintang would launch a large-scale war, which also had new requirements for the troops.
What is needed at this time is mobility.
At that time, the situation of each army was different, and the establishment situation was equally complicated; although everyone had the unified banner of the "People's Liberation Army," the sequence and number of the whole army still did not come at the right time.
The size of the field column is quite vague, and in terms of strength, it is basically between a division and an army, and sometimes the strength has not yet reached the level of a division.
Maintaining a "column" can solve three major problems: first, it is difficult for the enemy to find out the true number of our "column"; Second, it can effectively solve the numbering problem; Third, as a transition to the "question of rank," everyone should first shout in the form of a column, no matter how many people there are, who should command and who should command.
However, as they fought, the size of the troops grew.
With the expansion of the number of troops, "columns" have appeared in many field armies, which means that the "columns" have begun to be regularized, and they are a very important combat unit.
Before the Armageddon in 1948, the strongest was the Northeast Field Army.
The Northeast Field Army had already built 12 field infantry columns, and the main column was basically full, with more than 40,000 troops.
During the famous Tashan Blockade Battle, the strength of the 4th Column once exceeded 40,000.
This is not because the structure of the East Field is different from that of other troops, because the East Field has been out of the customs early on, and they have more time and space to carry out larger-scale construction, and they have achieved a relatively rapid increase in troops on the basis of the existing structure.
The successful conclusion of the Liaoshen Campaign also further enriched Dongye's strength, and when entering the pass, each column basically had an extra division, and the number of people reached 50,000 or 60,000.
Unlike Lin Biao in Dongye, Su Yu in Huaye does not have so many people.
Huaye's combat tasks were very heavy, and he was engaged in exchanges with the elite of the national army almost every day, and he had very little time for training and mobilization, so the field columns never reached full strength.
In the Huaihai battlefield, which continued to expand since then, only the 9th Column had more people, and the service personnel of many organs had gone to the battlefield, which was basically not seen in Dongye.
And this situation is only compared with Dongye, it can only be said that although Huaye has not reached an ideal state, they are still much better than several other field troops.
For example, in the northwest, it is a vast and sparsely populated area, so when the field army was established, there were not many troops, and when the base was relatively small, even if it continued to develop, the total number of troops was not too much.
The situation in North China was somewhat similar, the speed of development of the field troops had not been fast, and the strength of the various field columns was not too many, so in the later Pingjin Campaign, it was the Huaye troops who had to enter the customs to help undertake the main task, because they had a large number of people and good weapons and equipment.
In the middle of the War of Liberation, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) had already achieved a tremendous advantage, and its strength had been very concentrated to meet the needs of the war, so the command of the retained columns would be very chaotic, and only in the case of war could the establishment help the troops hide their true strength, and it could only be said that there were advantages and disadvantages.
By 1949, the war was nearing its end.
The whole army of the People's Liberation Army has also undergone a major reorganization, and the column establishment previously used by the army has also been abolished and changed to the establishment of the army; Some of the units under the jurisdiction of the field army are all columns, and after the reorganization, these units are also called corps, and the units directly under the corps are the corps, and the number of personnel in the corps is about the same as that of the previous columns.
At this point, the regular troops in the mainland army no longer had the establishment of columns.
This can also be explained: many column commanders have become corps commanders, which is definitely a big improvement from the perspective of the organizational sense.
At that time, the generals who could become the commanders of the corps were all with strong military qualities, and they were all fierce generals who were tested in artillery fire, such as Song Shilun, Yang Yong, Deng Hua, and so on.
Today, after several decades of development, changes, and reforms, it is difficult to hear the term "column" in the armed forces, and this is the result of reform and development.
During the war years, whether it was the name of the army or the way it was fought, it was closely related to the battlefield and the dynamics of the enemy at that time, and every arrangement was made after careful consideration; In peacetime, the troops are more concerned with development and construction, and strive to meet the needs of future wars, so the "column" has long been unsuitable for such an environment, and has thus become a piece of history.
Resources
The reorganization of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army in northern Jiangsu began and ended with Zhang Li climbing
Liao Hansheng's proposal at the time of unifying the establishment of the whole army and the number of troops in the Communist Party of China News Network