The 11th Corps (later the 11th Army Corps) () was a military formation of the Chinese

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

. It was active from 1949 to 1952, with a six month break; and from 1969 to the end of 1985. It is currently inactive. In 1979 the corps took part in the

Sino-Vietnamese War The Sino-Vietnamese War (also known by other names) was a brief conflict that occurred in early 1979 between China and Vietnam. China launched an offensive ostensibly in response to Vietnam's invasion and occupation of Cambodia in 1978, whi ...

. In 1984 it again fought in Vietnam. It was stationed in the

Kunming Military Region The Kunming Military Region was a military region of the People's Liberation Army, established in December 1954 or 1955 and disestablished during the 1980s. It was incorporated within the Chengdu Military Region. In the 1954 reorganization that ...

First Formation

The 11th Corps was activated on March 1, 1949, from the 3rd Column, Zhongyuan Field Army. In March–December 1949 it was part of Ch'en Tsi-Lien's 3rd Army of the Second Field Army. The Corps was composed of the 31st Division, 32nd Division and 33rd Division.Witson, 1972, 187 During the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

its commander was Chen Jiagui, and its political commissar was Zhang Qi. In early 1950 the corps was stationed in eastern

Sichuan Province Sichuan is a Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capita ...

. During its deployment in Sichuan, the corps supported 18th Corps' invasion of Tibet. As the Civil War wound down, the corps was inactivated in July 1950. Its headquarters was transferred to the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

's control and converted at Qingdao Naval Base into what is now the

North Sea Fleet The North Sea Fleet (NSF; ), concurrently the Northern Theater Command Navy (), is one of the three fleets of China's People's Liberation Army Navy. Headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong, the fleet provides naval forces to the Northern Theater Comma ...

2nd Formation

In January 1951, the 31st Division was detached and transferred to 12th Corps control, which later moved into Korea as a part 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 ...

to support

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

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 ...

. In March, the 32nd and 33rd Divisions moved to

Langfang Langfang is a prefecture-level city of Hebei Province of China, Province, China, and was known as Tianjin Prefecture until 1973. It was renamed Langfang Prefecture after Tianjin became a Direct-controlled municipalities of China, municipality ...

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

. In July, 11th Corps was reactivated from 32nd, 33rd and 182nd Divisions. The unit was a reserve formation for the

, but it never deployed into the Korean Peninsula. In October 1952 the corps was inactivated. The corps' headquarters was transferred to the

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

's control and converted to Headquarters, 5th Air Force Corps. The 32nd Division was transferred to 16th Corps' control. The 33rd Division was deployed into Korea; after 1954 the division was attached to 26th Corps. The 182nd Division was converted into the 8th Railway Engineer Division.

3rd Formation

On November14, 1969, the 11th Army Corps () was activated in

Dali Dali or DALI may refer to: Art and popular culture * Dali, a location in ''Final Fantasy IX'' * ''Dali'' (Dalida album) (1984) * ''Dali'' (Ali Project album) (1994) * Espace Dalí, Salvador Dalí's permanent exhibition in France Religion ...

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

. The corps was composed of the 31st and 32nd Army Divisions, making it a rare example of a "Reduced Army Corps", which was composed of two, instead of three, divisions. An artillery regiment and an anti-aircraft artillery regiment were also attached. In May 1976, the Independent Tank Regiment of

, formerly the 4th Independent Tank Regiment of

Beijing Military Region The Beijing Military Region was one of seven military regions for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. From the mid-1980s to 2017, it had administration of all military affairs within Beijing city, Tianjin city, Hebei province, Shanxi province, ...

, was attached to the corps.

Sino-Vietnamese War

In 1979 the corps took part in the

. During the conflict the corps was strengthened by taking the Independent Division of Yunnan Provincial Military Region under command; in May 1979, this division was renamed 33rd Army Division. 32nd Army Division was temporarily detached from the corps to form the reserve force of

. The main force of 11th Army Corps, without its 32nd Army Division and its tank regiment, thrust into Vietnamese territory in the 55-day-long campaign. The division spent 22 days outside China and claimed to have destroyed one Vietnamese regiment and three battalions and captured Phong Thổ. The corps also claimed to have inflicted 2,899 casualties and taken 58 prisoners From April 4–29, 1984, 11th Army Corps was again in Vietnam and took part in the Battle of Zheyinshan. During its deployment, the corps claimed to have inflicted 500 casualties on the Vietnamese forces and to have captured 18 prisoners of war and 19 artillery pieces. From August 4 to December 9, 1984, 11th Army Corps took part in the

Battle of Laoshan The Battle of Laoshan (Chinese: 老山戰役), known in Vietnam as the Battle of Vị Xuyên (Vietnamese: ''Mặt trận Vị Xuyên)'' was fought in 1984 between China and Vietnam as part of Sino-Vietnamese conflicts (1979–1991). It is consi ...

. During its deployment, the corps claimed 1,698 killed and one captured.

Disbandment

In December 1985 the corps was disbanded. 31st Army Division was transferred to 14th Army's control as 31st Motorized Infantry Division, a 'southern motorized infantry division'. 32nd Army Division was converted to 2nd Garrison Division of Chengdu Military Region, which was disbanded in 1992. 33rd Army Division was disbanded and merged with 65th Artillery Division as the anti-aircraft artillery brigade attached to 14th Army. The corps' tank regiment was merged with 14th Army Corps existing tank brigade.

Components

Before its disbandment the army corps was composed of: * 31st Army Division **91st Infantry Regiment **92nd Infantry Regiment **93rd Infantry Regiment **Artillery Regiment * 32nd Army Division **94th Infantry Regiment **95th Infantry Regiment **96th Infantry Regiment **Artillery Regiment * 33rd Army Division **97th Infantry Regiment **98th Infantry Regiment **99th Infantry Regiment **Artillery Regiment *Tank Regiment *Artillery Regiment *Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment

References

*William W. Whitson, with Chen-hsia Huang. (1973) ''The Chinese high command; a history of Communist military politics, 1927-71''. Foreword by Lucian W. Pye. {{DEFAULTSORT:11th Army (People's Republic Of China) 11 Military units and formations established in 1949 Military units and formations disestablished in 1985