50th Army (People's Republic of China)

command structure
name=50th Army
date=
parent=XIII Army Group
subordinate=148th Division
149th Division
150th Division

History

The 50th Army was a military formation of the People's Volunteer Army (Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) or Chinese Communist Forces (CCF)) XIII Army Group, during the Korean War. It was composed of the 148th, 149th, and 150th Divisions. [ [http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/korea/20-2-1/sn39.htm Appleman, Roy E. "South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu", pg 768] ]

"The Chinese 50th Army had a unique history among those Chinese Communist Armies. It was the former Kuomindang (The Kuomintang of China abbreviation KMT) 60th Army uprising from Changchun City of Jilin Province on Oct. 17, 1948. It had a long history and it could dated back to nineteenth Century during Qin Dynasty. During the anti-Japanese War of the Second World War, it had several serious battles against main Japanese armies in Taierzhuang Village and Burma. On April 19, 1938, the 60th Army reached the south of Shangdong Province and attended the Xuzhou Battle against Japan."

"During Taierzhuang Village Battle, it resisted the serious attacks from main Japanese forces for 20 days and made several losses for Japanese Invading forces. Lu Han was the Army commander during the time of the World War Two. In the autumn of 1943, the 60th Army went to Indochina peninsular to attack Japanese forces and also hindered the advance of the Japanese forces. After the uprising from Changchun City of Jilin Province on Oct. 17, 1948, the 60th Army of KMT had been formed into the 50th Army of the Chinese Communist Party on Jan. 2, 1949. The 50th Army Commander was Zhen Zhesheng and the Political Commissar was Xu Wenlie.After the 50th Army formation, the whole army was completely controlled by the Communists with the several kinds of political regulations such as the System of the Political Commissars and the System of Political Works. Another more than 5400 people from countrysides joined the Army. The whole army transformed from the old type army into the new one. Its fighting abilities had been reinforced greatly."

"On June 14, 1949, the new 50th Army of CCF advanced towards the southeastern part of China and smashed several Kuomintang Army forces. During Chengdu Battle it captured 8100 soldiers of Kuomintang army and forced the surrender of 17.7 thousands armymen of KMT with a large quantity of ammunition. On Feb., 1950, it went to Sha city of Hubei Province to attend the farm production and build the dams of Han River. Another 27 thousands of KMT army forces joined the 50th army. On Oct., 25, 1950, the 50th Army of CCF went to Korea with the title of Chinese Volunteer Army. It attended the first, second and third campaign and completely annihilated the Heavy Tank Battalion of the British Royal 29th Brigade and became the first fighting force to enter Seoul City. During the Fourth Campaign of Korean War, the whole army persisted on the battlefields along the Han River near Seoul for 50 days and made a lot of losses from the armies of so-called the United Nations. The so-called United Nation army felt strange how the former old KMT army could own so strong fighting abilities and battle effectiveness. So the U.S. Air Force planes dropped a lot of propaganda leaflets for psychological battle to the 50th Army of CVA. The propaganda leaflets for psychological battle to the 50th Army of CVA still have been kept at the libraries of the United States. On March 15, 1951, the 50th Army of CCF was withdrawn from the Korean Battlefields to inland China for a rest and supplement. On July, 1951, it entered Korea again and was commanded to defend west coasts of Korea and build the airfields under the bombing of the U. S air forces. Between October and November 1951, it occupied several islands which were garrisoned by South Korean Armies. On April, 1955, the 50th Army of CCF completely withdrew from Korean to China border city Dandong."

"In 1967, the 50th Army went to Sichuan Province for garrison according to the order of Mao Zhedong and Lin Biao. At the end of 1969, 149th Division went to Tibet for garrison and exchanged the title as the 52th Division. The old 52th Division became the new 149th Division. The old 149th Division has been become the 52th Mountainous Brigade. In February 1979, the 50th Army had been divided into two parts to have the border war with Vietnam in the east frontier and the west frontier. The 148th and 150th Divisions fought In the east frontier line unsatisfactorily with a whole company annihilated by two Vietnam Divisions. The 149th Division followed the 13th Army to have battles in the west frontier excellently. In 1985 the 50th Army had been fully disbanded but the new 149th Division has joined the 13th Army. In 1985 the 50th Army had been fully disbanded."

Fact|date=August 2007

References