The 74th Group Army (), formerly the 42nd Group Army, is a military formation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Forces (PLAGF). The 74th Group Army is one of twelve total

group armies Group armies () or army groups or combined corps, which are corps-level military formations of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force of China. Some may use or translate 'Group Army' loosely to mean the same as Army Group through various t ...

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 most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, and one of two assigned to the nation's

Southern Theater Command The Southern Theater Command () is one of the Theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor was the Guangzhou Military Region. Its jurisdicti ...

History

During the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, the Army was part of the

People's Volunteer Army The People's Volunteer Army (PVA) was the armed expeditionary forces deployed by the People's Republic of China during the Korean War. Although all units in the PVA were actually transferred from the People's Liberation Army under the order ...

(Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) or Chinese Communist Forces (CCF)) XIII Army Group. It was composed of the 124th, 125th, and 126th Divisions. During the

, the 42nd Army was commanded by Lieutenant General

Wu Ruilin Wu may refer to: States and regions on modern China's territory *Wu (state) (; och, *, italic=yes, links=no), a kingdom during the Spring and Autumn Period 771–476 BCE ** Suzhou or Wu (), its eponymous capital ** Wu County (), a former county i ...

. Major CPV forces did not enter Korea until the night of Oct. 16, 1950, when the 124th Division, of the 42nd Army of the XIIIth Army Group crossed the

Yalu River The Yalu River, known by Koreans as the Amrok River or Amnok River, is a river on the border between North Korea and China. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between ...

opposite Manp'ojin. On the 16th it started on foot from Manp'ojin, marching southeast through Kanggye and Yudam-ni to Hagaru-ri. From there its advanced elements proceeded to the point south of the Changjin Reservoir where they met the ROK 26th Regiment on 25 October. The remainder of the division moved up to the point of contact and joined in the battle near Sudong against the

U.S. 1st Marine Division The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine (military), Marine Division (military), division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the ground combat element of the I Marine E ...

troops that replaced the ROK 26th Regiment. The 42nd Army and the 38th Army were pouring through the broken South Korean lines to Eighth Army’s east and threatening to envelop the entire force. The west flank units of this army, elements of the 125th Division, overlapped into the Eighth Army zone and apparently constituted the enemy force that dispersed the ROK 7th Regiment below Ch'osan at the end of October 1950. In October 1952 the 46th Army replaced the 42nd Army and they were rotated back to China.

Organization

The 74th Group Army appears to comprise six

combined-arms Combined arms is an approach to warfare that seeks to integrate different combat arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects (for example by using infantry and armour in an urban environment in which each supports the other) ...

maneuver Maneuver (American English), manoeuvre (British English), manoeuver, manœuver (also spelled, directly from the French, as manœuvre) denotes one's tactical move, or series of moves, that improves or maintains one's strategic situation in a compet ...

brigades A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. Br ...

, one of which is heavy (

armored Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat Co ...

), one medium ( mechanized), and four light ( motorized, two are amphibious) and each of which lead four combined-arms

battalions A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

. These combined arms brigades are the PLAGF's basic operational unit, likely following the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

' and later Russia's transition from division-centric warfare to brigade-centric warfare. The 74th Group Army also commands six combat support brigades. Since 2017, the 74th Group Army commanded the following subordinate units. * 1st Amphibious Combined-Arms Brigade ( ZTD-05, ZBD-05) * 16th Heavy Combined-Arms Brigade ( ZTZ-96, ZBD-86A) * 125th Amphibious Combined-Arms Brigade ( ZTD-05, ZBD-05) * 132nd Light Combined-Arms Brigade * 154th Medium Combined-Arms Brigade ( ZTL-11,

ZSL-92 The WZ-551 is a Chinese wheeled infantry fighting vehicle family. The name WZ-551 actually covers two families of vehicles with the official designations in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of Type 90 and Type 92. Over 3,000 WZ-551s are in ser ...

) * 163rd Light Combined-Arms Brigade * 74th Special Operations Brigade * 74th Army Aviation Brigade (

Mi-17 The Mil Mi-17 (NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian service. ...

, Z-9, Z-10) * 74th Air Defense Brigade * 74th Engineers Brigade * 74th Chemical Defense Brigade * 74th Support Services Brigade

References

{{Corps and Armies of the People's Liberation Army Field armies of the People's Volunteer Army Field armies of the People's Liberation Army Military of Huizhou Guangzhou Military Region