The Northeast Field Army and the Fourth Field Army, which continued to develop from it, were the largest of the major field armies, and it is often said that dongye (shino) had a million troops. In fact, Dongye (Shino) is not only the first in the total strength of the major field armies, the number of corps and the number of military units are the largest, it also has three other data, which is also the first among the major field armies.
First, the number of independent divisions is the largest
During the Liberation War, our army had some relatively unique units in each strategic area, that is, they were not subordinate to the main column, nor were they garrison units and local armed forces, but they played a very important role between the two, and they had a certain mobile combat capability, which can be regarded as a "semi-main force" unit.
Such "semi-main force" units are generally under the direct command of the field army headquarters or military regions. For this type of unit, there are 1st and 2nd cavalry divisions in the northwest, special forces columns in east China, independent brigades in the central plains, and independent divisions in north China. But Higashino's independent division is the largest, largest, and most famous.
The main groups of Dongye's independent divisions were formed in two periods, the first period was from the end of 1946 to the first half of 1947, the 359th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, the Wen Yucheng "Shelf Regiment" in central China, the Guard Regiment of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army, and a number of other units were successively unified and reorganized into 10 independent divisions, including 7 in the Northern Manchuria region and 3 in the Southern Manchuria region.
In the summer offensive and autumn offensive of 1947, Dongye used these mobile and flexible independent divisions to fight for the main force, becoming the earliest modular combat force of our army. During this period, some elite divisions comparable to the main force also emerged, such as the 2nd Independent Division of Northern Manchuria, where Wen Yucheng was the commander of the division. At the same time, Higashino formed a number of independent divisions from the local armed forces and second-line corps.
In the expansion of the northeast army, these independent divisions were successively upgraded to the main force, and the fifth column, the tenth column, the eleventh column, and the twelfth column established between July 1947 and January 1948 were formed from the integration of these independent divisions, and a total of 12 independent divisions were upgraded to the main force.
At the beginning of 1948, higashino was the second period of large-scale establishment of independent divisions, at which time a total of 11 independent divisions were established. The Jireliao Military Region, which is under the jurisdiction of the Northeast Military Region, has also formed 5 independent divisions. Since then, some of the Kuomintang rebel units have also formed independent divisions. Before entering Higashino, there were a total of 18 independent divisions.
In November 1948, the Central Military Commission issued the "Regulations on Unifying the Organization of the Whole Army and the Number of Troops", and 12 independent divisions in Dongye were incorporated into the newly established army, 4 were under the management of the Northeast Military Region, 1 was changed into a railway column, and 1 was dismantled to strengthen the new troops.
At its peak, there were 18 independent divisions in Dongye, and according to the calculation of 8,000 people per independent division, there were nearly 145,000 troops. The total strength of these 18 independent divisions alone is almost on par with the Northwest Field Army.
Second, there were many military-level Kuomintang insurrectionary units retained as an establishment
All the major field armies had some Kuomintang insurrectionary units, some of which were dismantled and formed new combat units with other units of our army, such as the Wuhua Cultural Department of the Kuomintang 96th Army, which was revolted during the Battle of Jinan, and merged with the Huaye Lu Zhongnan Column to form the 35th Army of the People's Liberation Army.
Some of the Kuomintang rebel units remained in formation, such as Fu Zuoyi's unit, which was granted a total of 25 independent division titles (most of which were subsequently abolished, dismantled and supplemented by the PLA units); Dong Qiwu's army of the Suiyuan Uprising was reorganized into the 23rd Corps, which had jurisdiction over the 36th Army, the 37th Army, and the Cavalry Division, a total of 40,000 people, under the North China Military Region; the Tao Zhiyue Department of the Xinjiang Uprising, reorganized into the 22nd Corps, under the jurisdiction of the 9th Army and 2 cavalry divisions, a total of 60,000 people, under the First Field Army.
Dongye (Siye) fought from the White Mountains and Black Water to the end of the world, swept all the way through half of China, from the northeast battlefield to the central and southern regions, the largest number of Kuomintang troops who accepted the uprising, surrendered, and reorganized, and the largest number of formations remained, with 4 armies composed of the former Kuomintang rebel troops.
Zeng Zesheng and the former Kuomintang 60th Army, which was revolted in Changchun, were reorganized into the 50th Army of the People's Liberation Army, which is also the most famous unit among the Kuomintang uprising troops today, and the 50th Army has since participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea and the Self-Defense Counterattack Against Vietnam.
Zhang Yi, commander of the Kuomintang 19th Corps, led the uprising, and his troops were reorganized into the 51st Army of the People's Liberation Army.
Chen Mingren, commander of the Kuomintang 1st Corps, led his troops to revolt in Changsha, and his troops were reorganized into the 52nd Army and 53rd Army of the People's Liberation Army, with wang Jinxiu as the commander of the 52nd Army and Peng Jieru as the commander of the 53rd Army.
In addition to Siye, Ichino also had four armies from the Kuomintang rebel forces, namely the 9th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (formerly the 42nd Division of the Kuomintang Reorganized Army), the Independent 1st Army (formerly the First And 173rd Division of the Kuomintang Garrison in Gansu), the Independent 2nd Army (the former Kuomintang 81st Army), and the Independent 3rd Army (formerly the Kuomintang 119th Army).
However, in addition to the strength of the reorganized 42nd Division, the rest of the troops were all miscellaneous cards, the combat effectiveness was very low, and the influence of the troops was far inferior to that of the Kuomintang rebel forces under The Four Wilds.
The 50th Army, originally part of Siye, was not abolished until the time of the great disarmament in 1985, and was the latest to be withdrawn from the Kuomintang insurrectionary forces, but a bloodline of the 50th Army still remains in the sequence of the Tibet Military Region.
Third, the military sub-districts under its jurisdiction are the largest
Our army has long practiced the leadership system of the main force and the local armed shuanggui, and the first, second, third, and fourth field armies are concurrently with the northwest, central plains (southwest), east China, northeast (central and southern) military regions, respectively.
Parallel to the main forces of the field army, there are second-level military regions, third-level military regions, and military sub-districts subordinate to the military regions. Generally equivalent to the corps level is a second-level military region, equivalent to a military level is a third-level military region, equivalent to a division level is a military sub-district.
Main leaders of Dongye and The Northeast Military Region: Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, Liu Yalou, and Gao Gang
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Northwest Military Region has a total of 3 second-level military regions, 7 third-level military regions and 31 military sub-districts.
The Southwest Military Region has 4 second-level military regions, 3 third-level military regions, and 29 military sub-districts.
The East China Military Region has 3 second-level military regions, 7 third-level military regions, and 43 military divisions.
The North China Military Region has 3 second-level military regions, 3 third-level military regions, and 32 military sub-districts.
The Central and Southern Military Region, which developed from Shino, has 6 second-level military regions, 2 third-level military regions, and 56 military sub-districts.
The Northeast Military Region, which has been stripped of its affiliation with Shino, has 6 third-level military regions and 1 military sub-district.
The jurisdiction of the Siye and Central And Southern Military Regions extends from Henan to Hainan Island, with a vast geographical area and a large population, so the number of military sub-districts that exist as grass-roots "cells" of the military region is also the largest, accounting for one-third of the 192 military sub-districts in the country at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
From Higashino to Shino, from the 100,000 people who "broke into the Kwantung" to the millions of troops after entering the Pass, this unit has continued to grow and become a prestigious and meritorious unit of our army.
We'll talk about other topics about Higashino and Shino later.
bibliography:
Military Science Press: Military History of the people's liberation army in Chinese (volume IV)
Jiangsu People's Publishing House: A Brief History of the people's liberation army in Chinese (Part 2)