In 1985, the 60th Army was officially discontinued. The three field divisions under the jurisdiction of this army also faced their own fates. In June of that year, the Military Commission carried out a large-scale streamlining and reorganization, which was called the "million-dollar disarmament" by historians.
In accordance with the instructions of the Central Military Commission, the Nanjing and Fuzhou Military Regions were merged into the new Nanjing Military Region, and the task of forming a composite group army was undertaken. Against this background, the number of the 60th Army was abolished, and the various parts of the army were scattered to fraternal units and reorganized into a composite group army.
Old photos of the 60th Army: Looking back on the history of the battlefield veteran Wang Xinting's military and political shoulders! The 60th Army was established in February 1949 under the jurisdiction of the division.
The army was established on the basis of the 8th Column of the Field Army of the North China Military Region, and is a heroic unit with excellent combat traditions and the spirit of arduous struggle. Although the 60th Army had a relatively short military history and shallow qualifications, at that time our army established the general principle of "cutting the new and retaining the old" and retained the heroic units with outstanding meritorious service and a long military history, so the 60th Army was able to retain and develop.
In addition, the Nanjing Military Region is also responsible for digesting the former Fuzhou Military Region's First Army, and the abolition of the 60 th Army is the embodiment of our army's fine tradition of stressing style and taking the overall situation into consideration.
Old photos of the 60th Army (2) After the 60th Army was discontinued, the three field divisions under its jurisdiction each went to a different fate. Although the 178th Division is not the original 178th Division in this context, it still has an extraordinary history.
The division was formally established in July 1967, with Zheng Keliang and Zhao Shuangxuan as military and political commanders, and had the 1st and 538th regiments under its jurisdiction. However, by October 1969, the 538th Regiment was reorganized into a divisional artillery regiment.
Finally, in September 1985, the 178th Division was forced to withdraw due to its short history and junior qualifications, and the division headquarters was reorganized into the 1st Army Artillery Brigade. Similarly, the 179th Division has undergone its own vicissitudes.
The division was established in February 1949, with Huang Dingji and Xiao Xinchun as military and political officers, and the 537th Regiment under its jurisdiction. It is worth mentioning that the 179th Division was established on the basis of the 23rd Brigade of the 8th Column of the 1st Corps of the North China Military Region, and the history of the brigade can be traced back to the 3rd Column of the Shanxi Youth Anti-Enemy Decisive Death Squad in December 1937 (later incorporated into the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army).
Although the two divisions had different ultimate fates, they were both once part of the 60th Army and an important part of the history of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Linfen Brigade, the original death squad armband to death 3 columns, after the baptism of anti-Japanese beacon fire, and then merged into other bloodlines, in December 1945, it was organized as the 23rd Brigade of Taiyue Military Region.
From 1946 to 1948, the brigade was renamed several times, and it was successively the 12th Brigade of the 4th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, the Independent Brigade of the Taihang Military Region, the 12th Brigade of the Taiyue Military Region and the 23rd Brigade of the 8th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army.
In May 1948, the 8th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army was organized into the 8th Column of the North China Military Region, and the number and structure of the Linfen Brigade were not adjusted. During the War of Liberation, the Linfen Brigade (including the predecessor troops) repeatedly stepped forward, and the Linfen Battle was particularly thrilling, and after the war, it was awarded the honorary title of "Glorious Linfen Brigade" by the ** Military Commission, becoming the only division (brigade) level formed unit to receive this honor in the War of Liberation.
The "leather brigade" battle flag witnessed the victory of the 179th Division after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, which had made great achievements in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and after returning to China with the army in 1953, it has always been the key construction object of the army and the military region, and carried out the task of welcoming foreign in 1971.
In 1985, it was transferred to the 12th Group Army and became the Northern B Division, with the first regiment and artillery regiment under its jurisdiction. The 181st Division, although not a descendant of the 60th Army, was established in February 1949, with a luxurious lineup of military and political officers, and the division commander Wang Chenghan and political commissar Zhang Chunsen were both from the old Red Army and had experienced the Long March.
The predecessor of the 181st Division was the Eighth Route Army's Western Henan Anti-Japanese Independent Detachment established in Linxian County, Henan Province in September 1944, and it is also known as the "leather brigade".
Pi Dingjun, the founder of the "Leather Brigade", has participated in many battles such as the Central Plains Breakout and the 37th Brigade of the 13th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, and has experienced the battlefields of the Central Plains, East China, North China, Northwest and Southwest, and has made outstanding achievements.
In 1951, he was transferred to the 60th Army and participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, making great achievements. In 1960, he began to carry out foreign welcome missions and contributed to the country's diplomatic cause.
In 1969, he inherited the name of the original 180th Division, and in 1970 he stopped carrying out foreign missions. In 1985, he made a comeback and was reassigned to the 1st Army, where he continued to contribute to the country.
The "Linfen Brigade" exercised three field divisions, each of which found a new home. The number of the 178th Division has disappeared, and the subsequent development is no longer in detail. In 1996, the 181st Division became independent from the 1st Group Army and was renamed the 181st Mobile Division of the Armed Police.
In 1998, 500,000 troops were disarmed, and the 179th Division became a motorized infantry brigade. In the new round of military reform in 2017, the 179th Mobu Brigade was taken over by the 71st Group Army of the Eastern Continent and became a synthetic force on the road to strengthening the army.
In 2018, the structure of the armed police force was adjusted, and the number of the 181st mobile division of the armed police was deactivated and incorporated into a detachment of the second mobile corps of the armed police.