40th Group Army
The 40th Group Army, headquartered in Jinzhou, is believed to be comprised of an armored brigade, two motorized infantry brigades, a AAA brigade, an artillery brigade, and an engineer regiment. There is a possible indication that there is a division assigned to the 40th Group Army, according to the 2002 Directory of PRC Military Personalities. The Directory indicates on page 219 under the 40th Group Army that Gao Chunlin is the political officer of a "UI DIV". This would seem to indicate that there is a division organic to the 40th that is not well attested.
The 40th Group Army traces its lineage to the formation of the 3rd Column of the Northeast People's Liberation Army sometime between July 1947 and March 1948. In 1949 the 3rd Column was reorganized and redesignated as the 40th Corps of the 12th Army, which was comprised of the 118th, 119th and 120th Divisions.
During the Civil War, in late September 1949 the 40th Corps along with other units pushed into Shaoyang and defeated the KMT's 7th Corps. In late 1949 the 40th Corps was involved in the liberation of Hainan Island. By November 1949 the 40th and other corps had taken part in the campaign against the Nationalist Tenth Army at Kweilin and through Liuchou.
The 40th Corps was dispatched to Korea in mid-October 1950.
