The 74th Group Army (),

Unit Unit may refer to: General measurement * Unit of measurement, a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law **International System of Units (SI), modern form of the metric system **English units, histo ...

31661, formerly the 42nd Group Army, is a military formation of the 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). The 74th Group Army is one of thirteen total

group armies Group armies () or army groups or combined corps, are corps-level military formations of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force of China. Despite what the name suggests, current Group Armies are not army-level formations, but corps-sized f ...

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. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and one of two assigned to the nation's

Southern Theater Command The Southern Theater Command () is one of the Theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor was the Guangzhou Military Region. Its jurisdicti ...

History

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 ...

, the Army was 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 ...

(Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) or Chinese Communist Forces (CCF)) XIII Army Group. It was composed of the 124th, 125th, and 126th Divisions. During the

, the 42nd Army was commanded by Lieutenant General

Wu Ruilin Wu may refer to: Places * Wu (region) (), a region roughly corresponding to the territory of Wuyue ** Wu Chinese (), a subgroup of Chinese languages now spoken in the Wu region ** Wuyue culture (), a regional Chinese culture in the Wu region *Wu ...

. Major CPV forces did not enter Korea until the night of Oct. 16, 1950, when the 124th Division, of the 42nd Army of the XIIIth Army Group crossed the

Yalu River The Yalu River () or Amnok River () is a river on the border between China and North Korea. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between China and North Korea. Its valle ...

opposite Manp'ojin. On the 16th it started on foot from Manp'ojin, marching southeast through Kanggye and Yudam-ni to Hagaru-ri. From there its advanced elements proceeded to the point south of the Changjin Reservoir where they met the ROK 26th Regiment on 25 October. The remainder of the division moved up to the point of contact and joined in the battle near Sudong against the U.S. 1st Marine Division troops that replaced the ROK 26th Regiment. The 42nd Army and the 38th Army were pouring through the broken South Korean lines to Eighth Army’s east and threatening to envelop the entire force. The west flank units of this army, elements of the 125th Division, overlapped into the Eighth Army zone and apparently constituted th
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enemy force that dispersed the ROK 7th Regiment below Ch'osan at the end of October 1950. In October 1952 the

46th Army The 46th Army was a Soviet Red Army field army during World War II. The army was formed in August 1941 and guarded the Turkish border. During the summer of 1942, it fought in the Battle of the Caucasus. During the spring of 1943, the army helped c ...

replaced the 42nd Army and they were rotated back to China.

Organization

The 74th Group Army appears to comprise six

combined-arms Combined arms is an approach to warfare that seeks to integrate different combat arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects—for example, using infantry and armour in an urban environment in which each supports the other. ...

maneuver

brigades A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

, which includes one heavy ( armored), one medium ( mechanized), two amphibious and two light ( motorized) brigades, each brigade leads four combined-arms

battalions A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

. These combined arms brigades are the PLAGF's basic operational unit, likely following the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

' and later Russia's transition from division-centric warfare to brigade-centric warfare. The 74th Group Army also commands six combat support brigades. Since 2017, the 74th Group Army commanded the following subordinate units. * 1st Amphibious Combined-Arms Brigade ( ZTD-05,

ZBD-05 The Type 05 amphibious armored vehicle ( zh, 05式两栖装甲车) is a family of amphibious tracked armored fighting vehicles developed by Norinco for the People's Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps, consisting of two main combat variants — th ...

) * ( ZTZ-96, ZBD-86A) * ( ZTD-05,

) * * ( ZTL-11,

ZBL-08 The Type 08 ( zh, c=08式轮式装甲车族 , p=Líng bā Shì lúnshì zhuāngjiǎchē zú, l=Type 08 wheeled armored vehicle family) is a People's Republic of China, Chinese family of modern eight-wheel drive, eight-wheeled, amphibious vehicle, ...

) * * 74th Special Operations Brigade * 74th Army Aviation Brigade (

Mi-17 The Mil Mi-17 (NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories in Russia, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russia ...

, Z-9,

Z-10 The Changhe Z-10 ( zh, s=直-10, p=Zhí-Shí, l=helicopter-10) is a Chinese medium-weight, twin-turboshaft attack helicopter built by the Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation for the People's Liberation Army Ground Force Aviation. Designed ...

) * 74th Air Defense Brigade * * 74th Engineering and Chemical Defense Brigade * 74th Service Support Brigade

References

{{Corps and Armies of the People's Liberation Army Field armies of the People's Volunteer Army Field armies of the People's Liberation Army Military of Huizhou Guangzhou Military Region