The 78th Group Army (), is a military formation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Forces (PLAGF). The 78th 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
Northern Theater Command
The Northern Theater Command (is) one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor is the Shenyang Military Region and Beijing Military Region. Its headquarters is in the Heping D ...
.
History
The origins of this army go back to
Nanchang Uprising. After People's Republic of China was established, it belonged to the 62nd Group Army for a while.
On February 19, 1949, column 1 of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region in Henan Shenqiu area became the 16th Army of the People's Liberation Army, was placed under the 5th Corps of the PLA
Second Field Army
The Second Field Army (第二野战军), initially known as the Central Plains Field Army (中原野战军) or the Liu-Deng Army, was a major military formation of the Chinese Communist Party during the last stages of the Chinese Civil War.
The ...
.
Yin Xianbing (尹先炳) was appointed army commander.
Organization
It was composed of the
69th,
46th, 48th, and 4th Armored Divisions, the 68th brigade and an artillery brigade.
In 2006 the formation consisted of the:
*Headquarters, Changchun, Jilin
*46th Motorized Infantry Division, Changchun, Jilin
*48th Motorized Infantry Brigade, Tonghua, Jilin
*4th Armored Division, Meihekou, Jilin
*Artillery Brigade, Yantian, Jilin
*AA Brigade, Changchun, Jilin
(Source Blasko 2006, 76)
In 2013, the formation consisted of the:
*Headquarters, Changchun, Jilin
*
46th Motorized Infantry Division (the ''Red Army Division''), Changchun, Jilin
*
69th Motorized Infantry Division,
Harbin, Heilongjiang
*
48th Motorized Infantry Brigade, Tonghua, Jilin
*
68th Motorized Infantry Brigade (People's Republic of China),
Qiqihar
Qiqihar () is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, while the total populat ...
, Heilongjiang
*
4th Armored Division, Meihekou, Jilin
*Artillery Brigade, Yanbian, Jilin
*AA Brigade, Changchun, Jilin
Note Blasko 2013, lists the 4th Armored Division as a division, not as a brigade.
(Source Blasko, Tradition and Transformation of the PLA, 2013, 89)
In 2017, the formation consisted of the:
*Headquarters, Harbin, Heilongjiang
*
8th Heavy Combined Arms Brigade ()
*48th Light Combined Arms Brigade ()
*68th Heavy Combined Arms Brigade ()
*
115th Medium Combined Arms Brigade ()
*202nd Heavy Combined Arms Brigade ()
*204th Heavy Combined Arms Brigade ()
*78th Special Operation Brigade () (formerly the 67th Brigade)
*78th Army Aviation Brigade ()
*78th Artillery Brigade ()
*78th Air-Defense Brigade ()
*78th Chemical Engineering Brigade ()
*78th Sustainment Brigade ()
Notable members
General
Xu Caihou
Xu Caihou (; June 1943 – March 15, 2015) was a Chinese general in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the country's top military council. As Vice-chairman of the CMC, he was one of th ...
, former vice-chairman of the
Central Military Commission (CMC) who was detained as part of a high-profile anti-corruption campaign, was a former member of the 78th Group Army.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:78th Group Army
Field armies of the People's Liberation Army
Northern Theater Command
Shenyang Military Region
Military units and formations established in 2017