In the long course of history, there have been countless meritorious troops who have dedicated their lives to the security and stability of the country. From the 70 armies in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, to the 24 armies left behind after the million-dollar disarmament in 1985, to the 18 group armies before the military reform in 2017, each unit has its own unique history and honor.
However, among these units, some of them do not have a long history, and their qualifications, achievements, and reputation are slightly inferior. However, they were not discouraged by this, but the situation of rising stars became more and more courageous, and gradually gained a firm foothold in the army.
Their success teaches us that history is not the only factor that determines everything, and that with determination and courage, we can create our own glory.
The 18 armies of the former field army are the 1st, 12th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 20th, 21st, 26th, 27th, 31st, 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st, 42nd, 47th, 54th, and 65th armies.
Among them, the 1st Group Army is the only group army left by Yiye (if you don't count the troops of the Xinjiang Military Region). The 12th, 13th, and 14th armies are the main forces of Liu Deng's army, and the 16th army, which also belongs to Erye, is the first synthetic army of our army.
The group army, which originally belonged to Sanye, was the main force developed from the old Eighth Route Army in Shandong and the New Fourth Army in Central China. The various group armies developed from Siye have left a glorious chapter in military history and have been used as strategic reserves of our army for a long time.
The 65th Group Army is the only active army-level unit of the field unit of the North China Military Region, inheriting and following the bloodline of the Red First Army and the Red First Division. In comparison, the 42nd and 54th armies, at the beginning of their establishment, were still slightly deficient compared with the above-mentioned troops.
The predecessor of the 42nd Army was the Fifth Column of the Northeast People's Liberation Army formed in February 1948, and the predecessor of the 54th Army was the Seventh Column and the Eighth Column of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army formed in August 1947.
In November 1948, according to the order of the ** Military Commission, the fifth column was renamed the 42nd Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, with Wan Yi as the commander; The seventh column was renamed the 44th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and Deng Hua was the commander; The Eighth Column was renamed the 45th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, with Huang Yongsheng as its commander.
Although there were 12 armies before Siye entered the customs, the 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st, and 43rd armies known as the "Five Tigers" were the earliest, the strongest, and the best ones.
Compared with these armies, the 42nd, 44th, and 45th armies participated in many battles in the black soil, but their achievements were not particularly outstanding in the whole army, and they were not even as famous as the 47th Army (the 10th Column of Dongye) formed in the later period.
In fact, the 42nd Army, the 44th Army, and the 45th Army are not weak, but there are too many masters in the Siye camp, which covers their light to a certain extent.
The 42nd Army was a controversial force, it was the latest to be formed, the Northeast had already passed the most difficult period when it was formed, and they had never participated in any major battles.
However, in the Liaoshen Campaign, they showed a heroic and fearless spirit, successfully blocked the superior strength of Liao Yaoxiang's corps, assisted the Sixth Column to cut off the retreat of Liao Yaoxiang's corps, and annihilated the new First Army, one of the "five main forces" of the Kuomintang, in Montenegro with brother troops, and made great contributions to ending the last battle in Northeast China.
Later, in the siege mission after entering the customs, they successfully intercepted the three breakout operations of the enemy defending Beiping. However, until the end of the Pingjin Campaign, the 42nd Army was still the only unit in the four fields that had not yet had experience in siege, and it had not been trained in big, hard, and vicious battles, which made them deeply regret.
This regret was fulfilled in April 1949 during the southward campaign. They suddenly appeared under the city of Anyang, Henan, and surrounded the city of Anyang. Although the first phase of the offensive did not go well, after three days of rest, they attacked again and successfully cleared all the defenders of the city.
On May 5, they launched a general attack, and the troops prepared a large number of explosives to carry out blasting, and ended the battle at 8 o'clock the next day, liberated Anyang, and removed the obstacles to the southward movement of the main force of Siye.
After that, they stayed in Henan to suppress bandits, and also sent two divisions into western Hubei and eastern Sichuan to fight. In February 1950, all of them went north to Heilongjiang to participate in production and construction, and were included in the collective transfer object, and the soldiers were ready to take root in the Great Northern Wilderness, and the army commander Wu Ruilin was nicknamed "the first army commander and the last army commander".
However, the outbreak of the Korean War shattered their peaceful life. ** The Military Commission relieved them of their agricultural production tasks, and they became the first batch of troops to enter the DPRK and cross the Yalu River.
Although before sending out the troops, Gao Gang said to them: "This army is not good, it has not fought any big battles!" But on the Korean battlefield, they fought a turnaround battle, and the Huangcaoling Resistance Battle impressed the three big brothers of the 38th Army, the 39th Army, and the 40th Army.
However, in the second battle, they did not complete the task of outflanking Shunchuan and Suchuan in a roundabout way, allowing the 7th Regiment of the 1st US Cavalry Division to seize the road and flee first. Despite this, they participated in the first four campaigns to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and later served as the in-depth and west coast defense tasks of the Volunteer Army, and returned to China in November 1952 and stationed in Zhanjiang, Lianjiang, and Maoming in Guangdong.
In the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, they were finally reborn and became a real elite force. Today, as the first 42nd Army to be collectively transferred, it has stood firm in every disarmament and is known as the "Lingnan Heroic Division".
The 44th Army (Dongye Seventh Column) and the 45th Army (Dongye Eighth Column), which fought with the main force in the form of an independent division and participated in the summer offensive in 1947, although the history is slightly earlier than the 42nd Group Army, but thanks to the two brave and resourceful generals Deng Hua and Huang Yongsheng, they were deeply loved and reused, and were later promoted to corps commanders.
In October 1952, the two armies were combined into the 54th Army. Although the 54th Army did not get a full opportunity to show itself at the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and lacked heavyweight opponents, its history and strength are still worthy of recognition.
The 54th Army performed valiantly in the Korean battlefield, and after the withdrawal in 1958, due to the adjustment of domestic troops, the 54th Army had no station, so it was used as a general reserve of the whole army.
In the 1962 self-defense counterattack against India, the 54th Army performed well, especially the "Great Victory in Walong", which caused the Indian army to suffer a psychological blow. Although the 54th Army was not the top unit in the whole army before the 70s, the million-dollar disarmament in 1985 turned the 54th Army upside down.
Due to the principle of cutting the new and retaining the old, the 54th Army took over the 127th Division, the main force of the original 43rd Army, which is a unit with a long history and outstanding combat achievements, and its predecessor can be traced back to the "Ye Ting Independent Regiment".
As a result, the combat effectiveness and influence of the 54 th Army have been further enhanced, and it has become the general strategic reserve and one of the three major rapid reaction forces of the Jinan Military Region, and has become the absolute main force of our army.
Although the 65th Group Army belonged to the North China Military Region during the Liberation War and had very strong combat effectiveness, it was not the strongest force in North China. At that time, the North China Military Region had three corps, the 18th, 19th, and 20th, of which the 19th Corps (Yang Luogeng's Corps) had the most outstanding combat effectiveness, and the 63rd Army and the 64th Army under it were the best among them.
However, these two main armies were eventually dismantled. However, one of the reasons why the 65th Army was retained was that the 193rd Division under it had the red gene of the Red 1st Division of the Red 1st Army.
At the military parade for the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the 15th Army of the Airborne Corps, known as the heroic model team of the Red First Division, although it ranked second in terms of combat effectiveness in the second field, their performance in the Korean War, especially in the First Battle of Shangganling, played a national and military prestige, which attracted the attention of the ** Military Commission.
In 1961, the PLA prepared to form an airborne corps to deal with various contingencies. As a result, the ** Military Commission decided to change the 15th Army into the Airborne Army, becoming the only airborne unit of our army, and since then it has jumped to the top ace army.
The young units of our army have passed the test of blood and fire and become a powerful main force, which is something that makes people full of blood and passion. Their combat journey is also a course of struggle, which shows that every contingent of our army has a strong strength, and no one dares to underestimate it.
Although it may not have been widely watched before, as long as they are given the opportunity, any unit has the potential to become the main force, or even a trump card. With so many "potential stocks", how can the PLA not win?