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PLA 50th Army

The 50th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was adapted from the rebellion of the 60th Army of the former Kuomintang Army. The 50th Army was formerly Nationalist China's 60th Army, which had defected en masse during the civil war. It was kept intact except for being given a Communist cadre.

In the autumn of 1948, the Kuomintang army in the Northeast was divided by the People's Liberation Army into three unconnected areas of Changchun, Shenyang, and Jinzhou. The 1st Corps of the Northeast Field Army of the People's Liberation Army was instructed to take a total of about 100,000 people from the 1st Corps of the "General General" of the Northeast Changchun Army (commanding the New 7th Army, 60th Army, etc.) from May. 1. The policy of "political disintegration" was carried out for a long time. In the face of strong military pressure and political offensive, General Zeng Zesheng, the 60th Army commander of the Kuomintang Army, and after fighting for the People's Liberation Army, resolutely led the three divisions to declare the uprising on October 17, 1948. This decisive action made an important contribution to the peaceful liberation of Changchun and the victory of the Liaoshen Campaign.

After the 60th Army Uprising, it immediately went to Jiutai and its vicinity in Jilin Province to stand by. On January 2, 1949, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China granted this unit the name of the 50th Army of the People's Liberation Army and appointed its leader. Commander Zeng Zesheng, political commissar Xu Wenlie, deputy commander Ye Changgeng, chief of staff Shu Xing, and director of the political department Wang Zhenqian. Its original 182nd division was 148th division, division commander Bai Zhaoxue, political committee member Chen Yizhen; the original provisional 21st division division was 149th division, division chief Long Yao, political commissioner Li Guilin; original provisional division 52nd division was division 150th division, Division Chief Li Zuo, political commissar Li Guanyuan.

There were more than 23,000 troops in the army, which were affiliated to the Northeast Military Region. In March, following the order of the Central Military Commission, the Northeast Military Region assigned the 167th Division (adapted from the 58th Division of the Provisional KMT Northeast Security Provisional Uprising in Yingkou on February 25, 1948) into the 50th Military System, Division Chief Wang’s Zhang Zizhen, a good and political member. The army had a total of 4 infantry divisions, 1 directly under the artillery regiment.

After the establishment of the 50th Army, in accordance with the People’s Liberation Army’s army-building principles, it conducted political restructuring, established various systems, especially the political commissioner system and political work system, established and perfected Communist Party organizations at all levels, and exercised the party’s absolute leadership over the army; Establish revolutionary relations between officers and soldiers and cultivate the fine traditional style of the revolutionary army. At the same time, 466 cadres of various types and classes were successively recruited from the organs and troops of the Northeast Military Region, more than 600 young intellectuals were recruited from Liaobei University, Changchun Youth Cadre School and other units, and more than 460 cadres were transferred from the Mudanjiang teaching group.

Yunnan used the PLA officers to serve in the army; it also added more than 5,400 people from the peasants who turned over in the northeast, which greatly improved the political quality of the army. The army also transferred 2,490 personnel and officers to the Northeast Military and Political University and Mudanjiang Teaching Corps, and transferred 341 officers to the teaching team. Through restructuring, this army had been transformed from a "reborn" and quickly became a new type of people's army that firmly opposes reactionary rule, serves the people loyally, and fights for the complete victory of the Chinese revolution.

On June 14, 1949, the 50th Army was ordered to go southward at Shanhaiguan and return to the establishment of the Fourth Field Army. In September, arrived in the Dangyang area of Hubei. According to the decision of the Central Military Commission and the Fourth Field Army, the 150th Division’s troops were added to the 148th Division and the 149th Division according to the battalion and military construction system; Good and political commissar Li Guanyuan. In mid-September, the Central-Southern Military Region transferred a group of middle- and upper-level military and political cadres to work in the 50th Army, and sent more than 500 cadres to Northeast Military and Political University for study and assigned back to the army. In October, it was able to participate in the Battle of Western Hubei and captured more than 7,000 officers and soldiers under the commander of the 79th Army of the Kuomintang Army, Xiao Bingyin and deputy commander Li Weilong. In late November, the Second Field Army was ordered to march into Sichuan. In December, it participated in the Battle of Chengdu, captured more than 8,100 KMT troops, and forced a landing of more than 17,700, and seized a large number of weapons and ammunition.

In February 1950, it was ordered to be affiliated with the Fourth Field Army and returned to Shashi and Zhongxiang in Hubei to participate in agricultural production and the construction of the Han River embankment. The Central South Military Region transferred the 15th Regiment and the 15th Hospital to the 50th Military System. This advancement, together with more than 27,000 Kuomintang military officers and soldiers liberated and recruited in the Battle of Western Hubei and Chengdu, and more than 1,600 young intellectuals recruited in Sichuan, the military reached 58,000. In May, in accordance with the instructions of the Central South Military Region, more than 2,000 soldiers from the East Sichuan Chuanjin were recruited into the 148th Division, and the remnants of the three troops of the 20th Corps of the Kuomintang in the peaceful liberation of Chengdu were reduced to the 167th Division of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Infantry. Fang Xuan, political commissar Qin Zhen, returned to the 50th Military System and conducted training in the Tianmen area. In late September, the 50th Army was instructed to go from Hubei to the Northeast and return to the Northeast Military Command to gather in Xifeng, Liaoyuan, Qishi and Hailong of Jilin. During this period, it was ordered to withdraw the 167th Division and the Artillery Regiment and form three division artillery battalions.

On October 25, 1950, the 50th Army joined the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and went to North Korea to participate in the first, second, third, and fourth battles of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. In the third battle, the British Royal Heavy Tank Battalion was wiped out, liberating Seoul. In the fourth battle, on the both sides of the Han River, the tenacious resistance against the enemy for 50 days and nights hit and consumed the enemy's vital forces, ensuring the main force of the volunteers to recuperate, build up, and replenish the grain bombs, and bought time to prepare for the battle counterattack. On March 15, 1951, it returned to China for rectification. In July of the same year, it went to North Korea for the second time to take on the tasks of west coast defense and airport repair. From October to November, it was ordered to cross the sea to attack the island. With the support of the air force and artillery, it successively captured the Lime Island, Tan Island, Yamato Island, Xiaohe Island, and Ai Island of the South Korean army. In April 1955, the 50th Army withdrew from North Korea and returned home.

On April 12, 1955, the 50th Army Department was stationed on Shanshang Street in Andong City (now Dandong). The army directly under the jurisdiction and the 148th, 149th and 150th divisions. The 150th Division was changed to an independent division in the Liaoning Military Region in March 1965. On May 27, 1967, the 50th Army was ordered to transfer to Chengdu. In December 1967, the 50th Army reorganized 150th division. In 1969, the 149th Division of the 50th Army and the 52nd Division of the Tibet Military Region exchanged defense. In December, the 52nd division was renamed the 149th division. In 1976, the three divisions 148, 149, and 150 were reorganized, and the army command team was revoked. In 1979, the three divisions 148, 149, and 150 were expanded according to Class A divisions. After February 15, they went to Yunnan and Guangxi to participate in the counterattack against Vietnam. Returned to Sichuan in May. In 1981, the 148 and 150 divisions were organized as Class B divisions, and the 149 divisions were retained as Class A divisions. In October 1985, the 50th Army was withdrawn. The 148th Division was also revoked. The 149th Division was changed to the 52nd Brigade of Mountain Infantry.