195th Division, later 52nd Engineer Construction Division and 41st Engineer Brigade is a construction formation of the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. During the 1960s to 1970s, it took part in two major top-secret construction projects of underground command complex for the Central Military Commission of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

195th Infantry Division

The 195th Division () was created in February 1949 under ''the Regulation of the Redesignations of All Organizations and Units of the Army'', issued by Central Military Commission on November 1, 1948, basing on the 24th Brigade, 8th Column, 2nd Army Group of Huabei Military Region. Its history could be traced to 2nd Independent Brigade, 2nd Army Group of Huabei Military Region formed in September 1948. The division was composed of 583rd, 584th and 585th Infantry Regiments. As a part of 65th Corps the division took part in major battles during the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, including the Pingjin Campaign, Taiyuan Campaign, Lanzhou Campaign and Ningxia Campaign. In December 1950, Artillery Regiment, 195th Division was activated. Since 1952 the regiment was renamed as 575th Artillery Regiment. In 1952 the division was renamed as 195th Infantry Division (). In February 1951 the division entered Korea as a part of People's Volunteer Army. During its deployment in Korea the division took part in the Fifth Phase Offensive and several battles. In October 1953 the division pulled out from Korea. By then the division was composed of: *583rd Infantry Regiment; *584th Infantry Regiment; *585th Infantry Regiment; *575th Artillery Regiment. In April 1960 the division was renamed as 195th Army Division ().

52nd Construction Engineer Division

In October 1960, 195th Army Division, except its 575th Artillery Regiment, were transferred to Engineer Troops and reorganized as 102nd Engineer District Command(). All three regiments remained their designation. In March 1961 the district command moved to

Huailai Huailai () is a county in northwestern Hebei province, People's Republic of China, under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhangjiakou. Huailai County is a center for grape wine production, with the China Great Wall Wine Company ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

. From 1961 to early 1970's the division was in charge of the construction of ''National Defense Project 102'', a top-secret underground command complex near

Guanting Reservoir Guanting Reservoir (), also known as Guanting Shuiku, is the first large-scale reservoir after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Guanting Reservoir is located at the junction of Beijing and Hebei Province, mostly in Huailai Coun ...

. In June 1961 the district command was reorganized as 52nd Engineer Construction Division(). All its three regiments were renamed as follow: *108th Engineer Regiment (former 583rd); *110th Engineer Regiment (former 584th); *118th Engineer Regiment (former 585th). In 1970 the division moved to

Fang County Fang County or Fangxian () is a county of northwestern Hubei province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Shiyan City. The county spans an area of , and has a population of 390,991 as of 2010. History During the Sprin ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

for the construction of ''Project 123 Kuang'', another top-secret underground command complex near

Shennongjia Shennongjia Forestry District () is a county-level administrative unit (a "forestry district") in northwestern Hubei province, People's Republic of China, directly subordinated to the provincial government. It occupies in western Hubei, and, as of ...

area. After the completion of the program, the division garrisoned in

Xiangfan Xiangyang is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei province, China and the second largest city in Hubei by population. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city no ...

. In 1982, after the disbandment of 51st Engineer Division, 104th and 115th Engineer Regiments were attached to 52nd Engineer Division.

41st Engineer Brigade

In 1985 the division was reduced and reorganized as 41st Engineer Brigade(). The brigade is composed of 4 construction battalions and 1 engineer battalion. The brigade is now stationing in Nankou area, Changping,

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

References

{{People's Liberation Army Divisions Engineer divisions of the People's Liberation Army Military units and formations established in 1949 1949 establishments in China