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    The Chinese People’s Liberation Army since 1949: Ground Forces
    The Chinese People’s Liberation Army since 1949: Ground Forces
    The Chinese People’s Liberation Army since 1949: Ground Forces
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    The Chinese People’s Liberation Army since 1949: Ground Forces

    By Benjamin Lai and Adam Hook

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    About this ebook

    The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the largest army in the world.

    China is predicted to be on the brink of overtaking the USA as the world's largest economy, and China's military capabilities and global ambitions are the single greatest long-term pre-occupation of Western governments. The PLA has progressed steadily – if slowly – since its creation in 1949, from a mass army of unsophisticated infantry limited to 'human wave' tactics into a highly sophisticated force with wide capabilities.

    More recent reforms (1989 to the 2010s) have been made possible by massive economic liberalization, and have seen not only the modernization of all the armed forces but the beginnings of global outreach, even including Chinese participation in UN peace-keeping missions to Africa, the Middle East, and Haiti.

    Featuring rare photographs and specially commissioned color artwork, this study explores the developing structure, organization, equipment, appearance, and character of the Chinese People's Liberation Army from its creation until today.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateNov 20, 2012
    ISBN9781782003205
    The Chinese People’s Liberation Army since 1949: Ground Forces
    Author

    Benjamin Lai

    Benjamin Lai was born in Hong Kong, educated in the UK, and went on to serve as an officer in the British Territorial Army in the 1980s and 1990s. Fluent in both Chinese and English, he currently works as a development and business consultant in China.

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    • 5/5

      May 20, 2019

      Very detailed and well written by an author who has done a great deal of research on the subject. Nice job!

    Book preview

    The Chinese People’s Liberation Army since 1949 - Benjamin Lai

    THE CHINESE PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ARMY SINCE 1949

    GROUND FORCES

    INTRODUCTION

    The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (Zhōngguó Rénmín Jiěfàngjūn – hereafter, PLA) is the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It traces its origins to the Red Army of Workers and Peasants (Gōngnóng Hóngjūn) that was established by the Nánchāng Uprising of August 1, 1927 by men of the Kuomintang army’s 24th Division led by General (later Field Marshal) Zhū Dé. August 1 is still regarded as PLA Day in China, and the emblems of the PLA still bear the Chinese characters for 8 (Bā) and 1 (Yī), recalling the first day of the eighth month.

    In the mid-1920s the Chinese communists were cooperating with the then-dominant political force in the country, the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT) led by Chiang Kaishek (Jiǎng Jièshí), against various regional warlord armies.¹ A series of disputes resulted in a split between the CCP and KMT, and the first battle between them in August 1927. The Nánchāng Uprising saw the defeat of the pro-communist troops; Zhū Dé then led them in a retreat to Jǐnggāng Mountain, where they were joined by another defeated rag-tag army from the failed Autumn Harvest Uprising, led by Máo Zédōng. To crush this communist guerrilla force the KMT established a series of encirclements, but the Red Army eventually broke out, and in October 1934 embarked on their historic Long March that was to end a year later in the mountainous desert plateaux of Yánān. These soon became a CCP-controlled zone and stronghold, despite continuous pressure from the Nationalist Army.

    However, the Japanese invasion of northeast China in 1931, and the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident, prompted the creation of a temporary united front by the CCP and KMT against the Japanese (though this truce was not universally observed by either side). During this time, the CCP established the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army; instead of preying on the peasants like the armies of old, these forces drew support from the rural populations, and were able rapidly to expand their areas of control beyond Yánān. The KMT was soon faced with a two-front war – on the one hand fighting the Japanese, on the other hand having to divert resources to contain the CCP’s ever-expanding influence over large areas of rural China.

    The current PLA Ground Forces cap badge, Model 07 uniform. Note the Chinese characters for 8 above 1 on the red star. (Author’s photo)

    The PLA Ground Forces flag, with an alternative presentation of the characters 8.1. The predominance of the gold star on red indicates the Chinese Communist Party’s superiority to the army, represented by the green lower one-third of the field. (Author’s photo)

    The end of World War II in the Pacific in 1945 saw the start of the Chinese Civil War proper, and the Red Army was then renamed as the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. It was able to take advantage of large quantities of leftover Japanese weapons and ordnance, and consequently its military capability expanded considerably, to include for the first time large-caliber artillery and tanks. The PLA progressed from guerrilla tactics to set-piece battles, such as the campaigns of Liáoníng/Shěnyáng (Líaoshên Zhànyì, 1948), Huáihǎi (Huáihǎi Zhànyì, 1948), and Běijīng/Tianjin (Píngjīn Zhànyì, 1949). These campaigns, in which the PLA destroyed 173 KMT divisions and eliminated some 1.5 million Nationalist troops, essentially sealed the victory of the CCP. In September 1949, Chiang Kaishek escaped to the island of Taiwan with some two million supporters; he proclaimed Taipei as the temporary capital of the Republic of China, and continued to assert his government as the sole legitimate authority over all of China. On the mainland, the CCP, with Máo Zédōng at the helm, established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on October 1, 1949.²

    In the more than half-century since then, the PLA has expanded from an ill-equipped, ground-only army into combined armed forces that include a potent nuclear capability and steadily growing naval and air services. In the early days the PLA drew its support from the Soviet Union and developed largely along Soviet lines; however, the split between the two communist powers in the mid-1960s saw China begin to embark on a self-modernization program, eventually acquiring equipment originating in Israel, the United States, Russia, Ukraine and France. Since the opening of China in the early 1980s the country’s economic success has also given the PLA a long-awaited opportunity to modernize its bloated organization, demobilizing almost a million soldiers in 1985. By the first decade of the 21st century the PLA has been transformed from a largely conscript army modeled on Soviet lines into an increasingly professional force more comparable to Western models.

    October 1, 1949: PLA soldiers march past during the first National Day parade in Tiananmen Square, Běijīng. They wear captured Japanese steel helmets, and are armed with Czech-made ZB vz 26 light machine guns; at this date the PLA had a motley armory of Japanese weapons and those taken from the Chinese KMT, including Czech, US and even some British small arms. Note that they are marching in a conventional cadence – the Soviet-style goose-step had not yet been adopted. (China Magazine)

    1 See Osprey Men-at-Arms 463, Chinese Warlord Armies 1911–30

    2 See MAA 306, Chinese Civil War Armies 1911–49

    CHRONOLOGY & KEY EVENTS

    1949, October 1 Establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

    1949, October 25–27 PLA attempt to control Jīnmén island (a.k.a. Quemoy) is thwarted in battle of Gǔníngtóu (Gǔníngtóu Zhīyì or Jīnmén Zhīyì).

    THE 1950s:

    The Korean War, 1950–53

    In October 1950 the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army (PVA) entered the Korean War in support of North Korea, and its battle-hardened troops rapidly gained successes against the UN forces. As the war drew on, however, the lack of cold-weather protection and effective air cover, and weaknesses in firepower, caused the PVA to suffer severely. Despite material setbacks the PVA was able to hold the much superior UN forces to a stalemate, culminating in an armistice in July 1953. According to Chinese sources, China committed 1.9 million soldiers to Korea plus another half-million as combat replacements, giving a total of 2.4 million over the three years of the war. (If militias, mostly in rear areas, are included, the grand total of those serving during this period rises to 3 million).³

    Chinese casualties were reported as 115,786 combat deaths, 221,264 combat injuries, and 29,085 captured, giving a total of 366,135. Non-combat casualties to the PVA were as high as an additional 556,146; however, of the many that were hospitalized 173,405 eventually returned to active duty, reducing final non-combat losses to 382,741. Accidental deaths accounted for 10,808; 73,686 were deemed unsuitable and returned to civilian duties; 786 committed suicide, 64 were executed, 3,089 were imprisoned for criminal activities, 450 dismissed, 17,715 went AWOL, and 4,202 died of illness.

    Final clashes with the Nationalists

    For most of the 1950s the PLA was almost continuously engaged in mopping-up operations against the remnants of

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