The 72nd Group Army () is a Chinese

People's Liberation Army Ground Force The People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF), also referred to as the PLA Army, is the army, land-based service branch of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and also its largest and oldest branch. The PLAGF can trace its lineage from 192 ...

(PLAGF) formation subordinated to the

Eastern Theater Command The Eastern Theater Command () is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), founded 1 February 2016. It replaced the Nanjing Military Region. The command is headquartered in Nanjing. Its jurisdiction includes Jia ...

. Prior to April 2017, it was called 1st Group Army ( Unit 83011 and 73011) with its headquarters in

Huzhou Huzhou (, ; Huzhou dialect: Romanization of Wu Chinese, ''ghou² cieu¹'') is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province (Hangzhou–Jiaxing–Huzhou Plain, China). Lying south of the Lake Tai, it borders Jiaxing to the east, Hangzho ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

History

The 1st Group Army was created by 1988 when the PLA's infantry corps were reorganized into group armies. The unit(s) forming the 1st Group Army were descended from the First Field Army of the late

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 ...

. 1st Group Army was subordinated to the

Nanjing Military Region The Nanjing Military Region () was one of the former seven military command regions for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Its jurisdiction covered all military and armed police located in Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Shangh ...

, which had strong political ties to

paramount leader Paramount leader () is an informal term for the most important Supreme leader, political figure in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The paramount leader typically controls the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Liberatio ...

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...

. During the

1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre 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 ...

, the formation remained in place near

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

as a safeguard against unrest. During the force reductions of the late-1990s, the group army's 2nd Division was transferred to the

People's Armed Police ) , abbreviation = PAP ("People's Armed Police") CAPF ("Chinese Armed Police Force"), formerly abbreviated''Wujing'' ( zh , s = 武警 , p = Wǔjǐng , l = Armed Police , labels = no ), or WJ as on vehicle license plates , patch ...

as Unit 8690. From the mid-2010s, the group army transferred to the

, which replaced the military region. In April 2017, the group army was designated as the 72nd Group Army.

Organization

According to Dennis Blasko in 2006 the group army had the following subordinate units: * 1st Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Division * 3rd Motorized Infantry Brigade * Armored division * 9th Artillery Division * Air defense brigade Blasko listed an additional motorized infantry brigade in 2002. According to the

International Institute for Strategic Studies The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is an international research institute or think tank focusing on defence and security issues. Since 1997, its headquarters have been at Arundel House in London. It has offices on four co ...

in 2024, the group army had the following subordinate units: * 1 armored brigade * 2 mechanized infantry brigades * 1 infantry brigade * 2 amphibious brigades * 1 special operations brigade * 1 artillery brigade * 1 engineering brigade * 1

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

brigade * 1 support brigade * 1 helicopter brigade * 1 air defense brigade

References

Sources

* * * {{Structure of People's Liberation Army Ground Force since 2017 Field armies of the People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command Nanjing Military Region Military units and formations established in 1947 Military units and formations disestablished in 2017