The 116th Division was a military formation of the
People's Volunteer Army
The People's Volunteer Army (PVA), officially the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV), was the armed expeditionary forces China in the Korean War, deployed by the History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976), People's Republic of Chi ...
(Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) during the
Korean War
The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
with a standard strength of approximately 10,000 men.
History
The 116th Division was part of the
39th Army, consisting of the
346th,
347th, and
348th Regiments.
Korean War
The 116th Division was one of the first Chinese divisions to attack the
UN forces at the
Unsan where it inflicted heavy casualties on the
8th Cavalry Regiment
The 8th Cavalry Regiment is a regiment of the United States Army formed in 1866 during the American Indian Wars. The 8th Cavalry continued to serve under a number of designations, fighting in every other major U.S. conflict since, except Wor ...
. Stephen Gammons from the United States Army Center of Military History said this: ''The enemy
hineseforce that brought tragedy to the 8th Cavalry at Unsan was the CCF’s 116th Division. Elements of the 116th’s
347th Regiment were responsible for the roadblock south of Unsan. Also engaged in the Unsan action was the
115th Division.''
Current
The formation appears to still be active with the
39th Group Army in the
Northern Theater Command
The Northern Theater Command () is one of the five Theater command (China), theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor is the Shenyang Military Region, Jinan Military Region and Beijing Militar ...
, as the 116th Mechanised Infantry Division.
The division was involved with the rest of the 39th Army in the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...
. On the evening of 3 June, Xu Feng, the division commander, switched to plain clothes and carried out his own reconnaissance of the city.
When he returned, he told subordinates "not to look for him" and went into the division's communications vehicle.
Thereafter, the division maintained radio silence and did not advance on Beijing, except for the 347th Regiment under
Ai Husheng, which complied with orders and went to Tiananmen Square on 4 June.
On 5 June, the rest of the division was escorted by other units to the square.
Xu Feng was later disciplined for passive resistance.
[(Chinese]
Fang Bing, "参与六四镇压军官公开事件真相" Voice of America
2002-05-30
See also
*
People's Liberation Army at Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
During the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in Beijing, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) played a decisive role in enforcing martial law, using force to suppress the demonstrations in the city. The killings of protestors in Beijing ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Infdiv0116china
Infantry divisions of the People's Volunteer Army
116
Red Army Divisions of the People's Liberation Army
Military units and formations established in 1948