In 2003, the Central Military Commission decided to start a new round of streamlining and reorganization. According to the unified arrangement of the ** Military Commission, the 23rd Group Army of the former Shenyang Military Region and the 24th and 63rd Group Armies of the Beijing Military Region were suspended. At this time, the 24th Anti-Tank Regiment of the 403rd Army was also withdrawn.
Although the suspension of the number of the 403rd Anti-Tank Regiment is only the withdrawal of a regimental combat unit of nearly 1,000 people, behind this military historical event, it is not just the suspension of the number. In that case, why was the 403rd anti-tank regiment withdrawn? What new changes do we reflect behind the withdrawal?
Old photo of the 24th Anti-Tank Regiment of the 403rd Group Army of the Beijing Military Region.
In December 1992, the 3rd Anti-Tank Brigade of the Beijing Military Region was reduced to the 403rd Anti-Tank Regiment. The 403rd Anti-Tank Brigade was established in December 1985, and its old foundation is the 403rd Artillery Regiment (that is, the 403rd Independent Artillery Regiment of the former Beijing Military Region) and the 409th Regiment. However, when the 3rd Anti-Tank Brigade was downsized into a regiment, the number "3" was not used, but the number "403".
The reason why the number "403" is used is mainly because it is a number with a glorious history, and the history of the predecessor army can be traced back to the period of the Anti-Japanese War. During the War of Liberation and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the predecessor units of the 403rd Anti-Tank Regiment performed well. From this point of view, "403" is more representative of the history of the 3rd anti-tank brigade.
An old photo of a unit of the 24th Group Army of the former Beijing Military Region.
After the completion of the downsizing, the 403rd Anti-Tank Regiment was officially reassigned to the 24th Army. For many years after that, the 403rd Anti-Tank Regiment specialized in the main battalion to seek to win the war, and practiced hard to kill the enemy, until it withdrew from the stage of history in 2003. In the author's opinion, the reason why the 403rd Anti-Tank Regiment was withdrawn should be due to the following two reasons:
1. The R&D and manufacturing technology of our army's anti-tank industry has made great progress;
In September 1916, in the Battle of the Somme, the British army was the first to use tanks, and with heavy armor and continuous firepower, they formed a crushing advantage over the German army, making it able to parry but unable to fight back. As a result, the "King of Land Warfare" stepped onto the stage of history and marked the arrival of the era of mechanization. The advent of the tank naturally gave birth to anti-tank **. As a result, the world's major military powers all attach importance to the research and manufacture of anti-tank **, and China is no exception.
Taking the anti-tank missiles equipped with the 403rd Anti-Tank Regiment as an example, the Red Arrow 73 anti-tank missiles were installed at the beginning of its establishment, and the maximum effective range of this type of missile was 3,000 meters. On the eve of the withdrawal, the 403rd anti-tank regiment had been equipped with more advanced Red Arrow 8 anti-tank missiles. The Red Arrow 8 anti-tank missile has a range of up to 4,000 meters, is equipped with an advanced infrared guidance system, adapts to various complex environments, and has a high hit rate.
In addition to the leapfrog development of anti-tank missiles, the ground aviation strength of our army has also been qualitatively improved. At the military parade marking the 50 th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Z-9 took part in the military parade for the first time, demonstrating to the world the rapid development of China's army aviation forces. The Z-9 can be equipped with anti-tank missiles, which can compete for ultra-low-altitude air supremacy "as high as a tree" and cause damage to enemy tanks. The birth of the Z-9 has given our army a more handy vehicle for anti-tank warfare on the battlefield in the future.
Second, the large-strength anti-tank units can no longer adapt to the direction of our army's development;
The background of the establishment of the system in 2003 does not need to be elaborated by the author. Everyone only needs to understand that the outbreak of the Iraq War in early 2003 and the dazzling information war have allowed the world to see a completely new strategic and tactical model. How can we adapt to new changes in the military field? The only way to do this is to carry out a new round of structural readjustment and take this as an opportunity to enhance our military's ability to carry out information-based warfare.
Iraq War.
To a certain extent, the dismantling of anti-tank units is also aimed at clarifying the relationship between the establishment of the system. It is difficult for formed anti-tank units to form effective coordination with infantry with large anti-tank needs, and sinking anti-tank equipment to the company level may ensure that infantry can receive anti-tank fire support at any time.
Moreover, at the beginning of the new century, our army no longer has a field unit composed of a single branch of the armed forces. For example, the few remaining infantry divisions were not simply infantry divisions, but combat units composed of infantry, artillery, armored troops, and other arms. In short, our army attached great importance to coordinated operations of multiple arms at that time, and on this basis, it took the path of mechanization and information-based development.
As an aside, our army's infantry squads are now generally issued with anti-tank rocket launchers (commonly known as 'big cylinders'), which are designed to enable infantry to respond effectively to enemy tanks in the first time and improve the survival rate on the battlefield. From small to large, after the new round of military reform of our army in 2017, some fighters that originally belonged to the naval aviation were transferred to the air force.
An anti-tank rocket launcher equipped with a certain unit of our army.
This adjustment is similar in essence to the withdrawal of the 403rd anti-tank regiment:It is necessary to clarify the relationship between the establishment of the system, promote the modernization, informationization, and mechanization of our army, and comprehensively enhance its combat effectiveness。Therefore, whether or not the system is scientific is an important factor affecting combat effectiveness. As in "Soldier Assault", the division commander said to Commander Wang:
From motorization to semi-mechanization, from semi-mechanization to mechanization, and now from mechanization to information ......Emotionally speaking, we are indeed reluctant to let them go, but from the needs of the future development of the troops and from a macro point of view, it is necessary to do so......To sum up, the withdrawal of the 403rd Anti-Tank Regiment reflects the improvement of the level of our army's equipment, which is a microcosm of our army's institutional adjustment in 2003. The decommissioning of the 403rd anti-tank regiment is, in a sense, a milestone in the development of our army's anti-tank tactical thinking. In particular, the large-scale use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will make the ways in which our army can strike at ground armored forces more diversified, and the corresponding construction of our army's ground armored forces will be more solid, realizing the harmonious development of both spears and shields.
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