17th Corps (China)

Last updated

  • 17th Corps (1949–50)
  • 17th Army Corps (1968–73)
Active1949.3–1950.7, 1968.8–1973.2
CountryFlag of the People's Republic of China.svg  People's Republic of China
AllegianceFlag of the Chinese Communist Party.svg Communist Party of China
BranchGround Force Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  People's Liberation Army Ground Force
Part of Wuhan Military Region
Garrison/HQ Xiaochang, Hubei
Engagements Chinese Civil War

The 17th Corps (Chinese :第17军), later the 17th Army Corps, was a military formation of the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army from 1949–50 and 1968–73.

Chinese language family of languages

Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases not mutually intelligible, language varieties, forming the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the Han majority and many minority ethnic groups in China. About 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese as their first language.

Peoples Liberation Army combined military forces of the Peoples Republic of China

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the armed forces of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and its founding and ruling political party, the Communist Party of China (CPC). The PLA consists of five professional service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force, and the Strategic Support Force. Units around the country are assigned to one of five Theater commands by geographical location. The PLA is the world's largest military force and constitutes the second largest defence budget in the world. It is one of the fastest modernising military powers in the world and has been termed as a potential military superpower, with significant regional defense and rising global power projection capabilities. China is also the third largest arms exporter in the world.

Contents

1st Formation

The 17th Corps was activated in February 1949 from 11th Column, Zhongyuan Field Army. The Corps was composed of the 49th Division, 50th Division and 51st Division. It became part of Yang Yong's 5th Army of the Second Field Army.

The 49th Division(Chinese: 第49师) was created in February 1949 under the Regulation of the Redesignations of All Organizations and Units of the Army, issued by Central Military Commission on November 1, 1948, basing on the 31st Brigade, 11th Column of PLA Zhongyuan Field Army. Its history could be traced to Independent Brigade of Jiluyu Military District formed in June 1946.

The 50th Division(Chinese: 第50师) was created in February 1949 under the Regulation of the Redesignations of All Organizations and Units of the Army, issued by Central Military Commission on November 1, 1948, basing on the 32nd Brigade, 11th Column of PLA Zhongyuan Field Army. Its history could be traced to 2nd Independent Brigade of Jiluyu Military District formed in June 1947.

The 51st Division was created In February 1949 under the Regulation of the Redesignations of All Organizations and Units of the Army, issued by Central Military Commission on November 1, 1948, basing on the 1st, 3rd Independent Brigade and Independent Detachment of Jiluyu Military District.

The Corps took part in the Chinese Civil War, especially the Huaihai Campaign.

Chinese Civil War 1927–1950 civil war in China

The Chinese Civil War was a war fought between the Kuomintang (KMT)-led government of the Republic of China and the Communist Party of China (CPC). Although particular attention is paid to the four years of Chinese Communist Revolution from 1945 to 1949, the war actually started in August 1927, with the White Terror at the end of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition, and essentially ended when major hostilities between the two sides ceased in 1950. The conflict took place in two stages: the first between 1927 and 1937, and the second from 1946 to 1950, with the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937–1945 separating them. The war marked a major turning point in modern Chinese history, with the Communists gaining control of mainland China and establishing the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, forcing the Republic of China (ROC) to retreat to Taiwan. It resulted in a lasting political and military standoff between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, with the ROC in Taiwan and the PRC in mainland China both officially claiming to be the legitimate government of all China.

Huaihai Campaign military campaign

Huaihai Campaign or Battle of Hsupeng was one of the military conflicts in the late stage of the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China. The campaign started when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) launched a major offensive against the Kuomintang headquarter in Xuzhou on 6 November 1948, and ended on 10 January 1949 when the PLA reached the north of the Yangtze.

In March 1950 the corps was inactivated and converted as Guizhou Military District (later Guizhou Provincial Military District).

2nd Formation

On August 26, 1968, 17th Army Corps(Chinese :陆军第17军) was activated in Huayuanzhen, Xiaochang, Hubei province. Army corps commander: Zhang Zhiyin(Chinese :张治银), commissar - Zhang Zhaojian(Chinese :张昭剑), who was the divisional commissar of 29th Army Division during the Wuhan Incident.

Xiaochang County County in Hubei, Peoples Republic of China

Xiaochang County is a county of eastern Hubei province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Xiaogan City.

Hubei Province

Hubei is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The provincial capital is Wuhan, a major transportation thoroughfare and the political, cultural, and economic hub of Central China.

As of its activation, the army corps was composed of:

The 29th Division, now as 56th Motorized Infantry Brigade is a military formation of the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China. It is now one of four mobile brigades of PLA 47th Army. It is the unit that experienced the most times of unit transferring in PLA ground force.

Independent Division of Henan Provincial Military District(Chinese: 河南省军区独立师)(1st Formation) was formed on June 20, 1966, from eight independent battalions from military sub-districts of Henan province. The division was composed of three regiments.

Independent Division of Hubei Provincial Military District was formed in September 1966 from the Public Security Contingent of Hubei province. The division was composed of six regiments.

The formation of the army corps was a result of Wuhan Incident. After the incident, the mutinous Independent Division of Hubei Provincial Military District was quickly disarmed and taken control by 15th Airborne Corps of the PLAAF and affiliated 29th Army Division that under great influence by Lin Biao. The formation of 17th Army Corps was to "strain" the "rogue" independent divisions with "modest" 29th Army Division, and was a footstep forward by the PLAAF to further Lin's influence to the PLA ground force.

Lin Biao Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of China

Lin Biao was a Marshal of the People's Republic of China who was pivotal in the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, especially in Northeast China. Lin was the general who commanded the decisive Liaoshen and Pingjin Campaigns, in which he co-led the Manchurian Field Army to victory and led the People's Liberation Army into Beijing. He crossed the Yangtze River in 1949, decisively defeated the Kuomintang and took control of the coastal provinces in Southeast China. He ranked third among the Ten Marshals. Zhu De and Peng Dehuai were considered senior to Lin, and Lin ranked directly ahead of He Long and Liu Bocheng.

In December 1969, 29th Army Division became 49th Army Division.

After the Lin Biao incident, all of Lin's "janissaries" were quickly put under arrest or investigation, including the corps commissar Zhang Zhaojian. In March 1973 the army corps was formally disbanded.

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References

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