The 83rd Group Army (), formerly the 54th Group Army, is a military formation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Forces (PLAGF). The 83rd 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 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

130th Division took part with the army in 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 ...

. In 1959, it participated in Tibet insurgency operations. It participated in the Sino-Indian War of 1962. In 1979, it participated in the

Sino-Vietnamese War The Sino-Vietnamese War (also known by other names) was a border war fought between China and Vietnam in early 1979. China launched an offensive in response to Vietnam's actions against the Khmer Rouge in 1978, which ended the rule of the C ...

along the Western battle line. At that time the 127th division commander was Zhang Wannian, later the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. The 127th division captured the town of Lang Son, defeating the Vietnamese army main force. In 1985, the 54th Army reorganized into one of the People's Liberation Army's three rapid response (strategic reserve) armies (the other two being the 38th Army and the 39th Army), which belongs to the forces. Troops from the army were deployed into Beijing in June 1989 and participated in the anti-protester clearance operations. In February 2016, the seven military regions were reorganised into five theater commands, as part of the

2015 People's Republic of China military reform The People's Republic of China military reform of 2015 was a major restructuring of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), which flattened the command structure and allowed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to have more control over the military, ...

, 54th Army belongs to

. In 2017, in an adjustment and establishment of military units, the 83rd Army was reorganized based on the 54th Army.

Organization

In 1985, the 127th Division transferred into the army. The 161st Division was reorganised as an artillery brigade. After 1998, the 127th Infantry Division was converted to a light mechanized infantry division, and the 160th infantry division reorganised as a motorized brigade. In 2009, the 162nd Infantry Division converted to a mechanized wheeled infantry division, using 8x8 wheeled vehicles. The army comprises: *127th Light Mechanized Infantry Division *Light Mechanized Infantry Division *160th Mechanized Infantry Brigade (99G main battle tank, 04A type infantry fighting vehicle) * 11th Armored Brigade *Artillery brigade (PHL03 300 mm long-range rockets, HJ9 self-anti-tank missiles) *Air defense brigade Today it includes the 162nd Motorized Infantry Division, the 127th Lt Mech Infantry Division, the 11th Armored Division (Xinyang, Henan), an artillery brigade, the 1st Air Defense Brigade, and the 1st Army Aviation Regiment.Blasko 2013, 95. The former 160th Infantry Brigade appears to have been deactivated in 2003.

Commanders

* Ding Sheng (1952.10-1955.12) * Ouyang Jiaxiang (1955.12-1957.09) *Ding Sheng (1957.09-1964.09) * Wei Tongtai (1964.09-1969.06) * Han Huaizhi (1969.06-1980.05) * Li Jiulong (1980.05-1985.06) * Zhu Chao (1985.08-1990.06) *

Liang Guanglie Liang Guanglie (, also spelled as Liang Kuang-lieh; born December 1940 in Santai, Mianyang, Sichuan) is a retired general and former Minister for National Defense in the People's Republic of China. Life and career Liang joined the army in ...

(1990.06-1993.12) * Zhang Xianglin (1993.12-1998.12) * Huang Hanbiao (1998.12-2006.08) *

Song Puxuan A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

(2006.08-2009.02) * Rong Guiqing (2009.02-2014.12) * Shi Zhenglu (2014.12-2017.04) * Xie Zenggang

References

{{Corps and Armies of the People's Liberation Army Field armies of the People's Liberation Army Jinan Military Region Xinxiang