In April 2017, the government made it clear that the 13 group armies were adjusted and formed on the basis of the original 18 group armies of the army, and there was no direct corresponding predecessor unit, but only inherited the military headquarters of a certain original group army.
It is a bit simplistic and crude to say that the new group army is a continuation of the original group army. For example, to say that the 82nd Group Army is the successor of the 38th Army of the original "Long Live Army" and to regard the 83rd Group Army as a continuation of the 54th Army of the original "Iron Army" are all mistakes that are taken for granted.
If you are interested in this, you can check "After the military reform, the 80th Group Army stationed in Weifang by the military department is not the historical successor of the old 26th Army" and "After the military reform, the 82nd Group Army stationed in Baoding is the successor of the 38th Army of the "Long Live Army"?
and other articles, which the author has already refuted.
Today we are going to talk about another newly formed group army under the jurisdiction of the Central Theater -- the 81st Group Army. The military headquarters of this group army is located in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, and its subordinate units are mainly stationed in the area north of Beijing, so its strategic position is very important.
In fact, Zhangjiakou is located at the confluence of the Mongolian Plateau and the North China Plain, and has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times, as well as the last line of defense northwest of Beijing.
The 81st Army and the 82nd Army in Baoding, one south and one north, together formed a strong defensive line for the garrison of Gyeonggi. Before the military reform, the military headquarters of this group army was located in Zhangjiakou, formerly known as the 65th Group Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, which was reorganized from the original 65th Army, and its history can be traced back to the troops of the Jicha Military Region during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
In February 1949, the army was officially renamed the 65th Army, under the jurisdiction of the 193rd, 194th and 195th divisions, of which the 193rd Division is the famous "Red First Division".
Since the 81st Group Army continued to use the military headquarters of the original 65th Group Army, many people regarded it as a continuation of the 65th Group Army, but in fact, judging from the reorganization of various composite brigades, the 81st Group Army still maintained the distinctive characteristics of the new military reform of "all over the world."
In order to better understand the 81st Army, we will give readers a detailed introduction based on the available public information.
The newly formed 81st Group Army is a new unit that brings together various historical traditions, has made outstanding military achievements, and is full of essence. The 7th Composite Brigade, the 70th Composite Brigade, the 162nd Composite Brigade, the 189th Composite Brigade, the 194th Composite Brigade, and the 195th Composite Brigade are under the jurisdiction of the group army.
By studying the historical evolution of these synthetic brigades, we can find that except for the first one from the old 65th Army, the rest of the troops are authentic "outsiders".
The 7th Composite Brigade was adapted from the original 27th Group Army Armored Brigade, but before that, it had been in the Beijing Military Region many times. The brigade was first established in 1968 as the 7th Tank Division and was subordinate to the Armored Corps Command of the Beijing Military Region.
Later, in 1983, it was transferred to the leadership of the 69th Army, and after the 69th Army was withdrawn, it was transferred to the 28th Army in 1985. In 1998, after the withdrawal of the 28th Group Army, the 7th Tank Division was changed to the 7th Armored Brigade and transferred to the 63rd Group Army, that is, the unit that fought the "Battle of Cheorwon" during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
In 2003, the People's Liberation Army disarmed another 200,000 troops, the 63rd Group Army was also withdrawn, and the 7th Armored Brigade was transferred to the 27th Group Army. Although the 27th Army is also an old army with a long history, because it is located near the capital and surrounded by masters, in this disarmament in 2017, the troops were first transferred from Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan, and finally even the military headquarters was abolished.
The 7th Armored Brigade went around in circles with all the group armies of the Beijing Military Region, and finally transferred to the newly formed 81 Group Army, and was reorganized from an armored brigade to a composite brigade. Looking at the history of the brigade, we can see that it has little connection with the original 65th Army.
The historical relationship between the 70th Brigade and the 65th Group Army may be relatively shallow, but the historical background of its origin from the New Fourth Army is still worthy of our attention. The 70th Brigade was incorporated into the East China Field Army during the Liberation War, and officially became the 74th Division of the 25th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1949.
However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the 25th Army was withdrawn, and the 74th Division was incorporated into the 24th Army to participate in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and after returning to China, it was transferred to the 66th Army, and returned to the 24th Army in 1969, and was renamed the 70th Division at the end of that year.
In 2003, the 24th Army was withdrawn, and the troops were reduced from the 70th Division to the 70th Brigade, which was transferred to the 65th Army. In 2017, the 70th Brigade was reorganized from an infantry brigade to a composite brigade, which was subordinate to the 81st Group Army.
For the synthetic 162 Brigade, although it has nothing to do with the 65th Group Army and the old 65th Army, it is a four-field strong brigade originating from the northeast. Friends who are familiar with military history can easily think of the famous ace army of the 54th Army when they see the number of the "16X" division.
The 162nd Division (formerly the 135th Division) is also a strong force in the four field formations of strong hands, and the division went deep alone in the Battle of Hengbao, and swept the "Steel Seventh Army" of the Gui Department with one enemy and four enemies, and the nickname of "Tiger Division" was called away.
Since the formation of the 54th Army, the division has been within the formation of the 54th Army and later the 54th Army. In the military reform in 2017, this "Tiger Division" was also split, and the 485th Regiment of it continued to use the number of the 162nd Division, expanded into a composite brigade, and transferred to the 81st Group Army.
And his two brother regiments were also expanded into brigades and transferred to other army groups.
The soldiers and horses did not move, and the military spirit went first. In this military reform, the newly formed 189th Brigade and 194th Brigade have their own characteristics. The former is formed by part of the 6th Armored Division and the 82nd Brigade, and the latter is composed of the 193rd Regiment and the 579th Armored Regiment of the 579th Division, with pure old 65th Army blood.
Although the number of the synthetic 195 brigade looks like a veteran of the 65th Army, it is actually not. Because the 65th Division of the 195th Army was transferred as early as 1960, and then reorganized in 1969.
The predecessor of the synthetic 195th Brigade was actually the 1st Armored Division, which was one of the earliest division-level tank units formed by our army. In 2011, it was split into the 1 armored brigade and the 195 mechanized infantry brigade.
Then, the 195 Brigade was reorganized into the first specialized blue army unit of our army, stationed at the Zhu Rihe training base all the year round, and was called the "wolf of Zhu Rihe", and fought the invincible opponents of the whole army in the form of "red and blue real confrontation".
However, because the story of the 195th Brigade and Man Guangzhi is too famous, I will not recount it in detail here.
The 81st Group Army did not simply inherit the name of the old 65th Group Army, and its historical inheritance did not take the form of direct copying or simple reference. Judging from the historical origins of each synthetic brigade, only the synthetic 194 brigade can be regarded as the bloodline of the 65th Army, while the 70th and 195th brigades joined halfway, and they joined after the 65th Army was reorganized into the 65th Group Army, which has a certain gap with the old 65th Group Army in terms of historical origin.
As for the 7th, 162nd, and 189th composite brigades, they have nothing to do with the 65th Army and the 65th Group Army, and their predecessors were the newly established armored division, the New Fourth Army, and the Third Field Army after the founding of the People's Republic of China, respectively, and have close ties with the entire North China Military Region.
Therefore, even if the 81st Group Army inherited the military headquarters of the original 65th Group Army and still regarded Zhangjiakou as its military headquarters, it cannot simply be regarded as a continuation of the two different group armies before and after the military reform, which is inconsistent with the facts.
From this point of view, we can also understand more deeply why the 13 group armies of the new military reform have all used new numbers. Compared with the 70 Brigade, 193 Division, and 196 Brigade under the jurisdiction of the 65 Group Army before the reform, the various brigades of the 81 st Group Army after the military reform are all subordinate units of the former Beijing Military Region Group Army, although they come from "all corners of the world."
Such a readjustment has strengthened the main forces of the original group armies, made the strength of the troops more balanced, and greatly enhanced their combat effectiveness.