The 81st Group Army (), formerly the 65th Group Army, is a military formation of the Chinese
People's Liberation Army Ground Forces (PLAGF). The 81st Group Army is one of twelve total
group armies of the PLAGF, the largest echelon of ground forces in 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 List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
, and one of three assigned to the nation's
Central Theater Command
The Central Theater Command () is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army of China, and was founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessors were the Beijing Military Region and Jinan Military Region.
The International I ...
.
History
The 65th Group Army traces its lineage to its original incarnation, the 5th Column of the North China Field Army established sometime around 1946. It was initially composed of three brigades, the 13th, 14th, and 15th. In 1949 the unit was reorganized and redesignated as the 65th Army under the command of Hsiao Ying-t'ang. In 1949 the 65th Army was composed of the
193rd,
194th and
195th Divisions.
The 65th Army was deployed to Korea in 1951. Following the
Korean War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Korean War
, partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict
, image = Korean War Montage 2.png
, image_size = 300px
, caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...
the 65th Army was redeployed to
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, and ...
in 1953.
In October 1960, the 195th Army Division, except its 575th Artillery Regiment, were transferred to the Engineer Troops and reorganized as 102nd Engineer District Command.
Formed in 1969, the
195th Division (Second Formation) was disbanded in 1985.
In May 1989, the 65th Army’s 193rd and 194th Infantry Divisions along with the 3rd Reserved Division were deployed to
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
to
enforce martial law and suppress the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...
.
[Based on Wu Renhua's study. (Chines]
Wu Renhua, "进京的戒严部队和进京路线" 《1989天安门事件二十周年祭》系列之十二
Accessed 2013-06-29
In 2002, the formation's ID number was changed from 50156 to 66455.
Organization
In 2013 Blasko listed the formations of the army as:
[Blasko, Tradition and Transformation in the PLA, 2013, Table 4.3, p.91]
*
193rd Infantry Division ('Red 1st Division'),
Xuanhua, Hebei
*
70th Motorized Infantry Brigade, Chengde, Hebei
*
1st Armored Division, northern Tianjin municipality
*Artillery Brigade
*Air Defense Brigade
It appears that the 193rd Division has now become the
193rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, and the
194th Motorized Infantry Brigade has disbanded.
See also
*
Chinese People's Volunteer Army order of battle
References
{{Corps and Armies of the People's Liberation Army
Field armies of the People's Liberation Army
Military units and formations established in 1949
Military of Zhangjiakou
Beijing Military Region