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PLA 55th Army

The predecessor of the 55th Army was the 48th Army Department and the 144th Division, the 145th Division of the 49th Army, the 215th and 219th Divisions of the 21st Corps.

The predecessor of the 144th Division was an independent third division of the Jicha Reliao Military Region in October 1947. In March 1948, when the 11th Column of the Northeast People's Liberation Army was established, the independent 3rd Division was reorganized into the 33rd Division and returned to the 11th Column. The column's deputy commander Zhou Renjie also served as the division chief and Chen Wenbiao served as the political commissar. After the formation of the division, it had participated in the battles of Longhua, Pingquan, Changli, Beidaihe, Suizhong, and Jinxi. In October 1948, it participated in the operations of the East Hebei and Beining Lines. In November of the same year, it was reorganized as the 144th Division of the 48th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Zhou Renjie, the deputy commander, also served as the division commander, and Zhong Wenfa served as the political commissar.

In April 1949, it went south with the army and participated in battles such as crossing the river and pursuing Gannan, cooperating with the siblings to liberate large areas in Hubei and southwestern Jiangxi. In September, the division served as the division of Ningdu Army, Zhang Shuxiang also served as commander, and Li Tingxu and Zhong Wenfa also served as the first and second political members respectively. It served as a bandit mission in Ningdu, Yudu, Xingguo, Shicheng, Guangchang, Huichang, Xunwu, Ruijin and other places.

The predecessor of the 145th Division was after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and the Hadong Security Command was established in Acheng. He Yanchuan served as the commander and under his command 3 teams. In November 1945, after Wen Yucheng led more than 200 military and political cadres of the New Fourth Army to Hadong, the Hadong Military Division was formed based on the Hadong Security Command. Wen Yucheng served as commander and Dong Haoran served as political commissar. The three brigades were reorganized into the 1st, 2nd and 3rd regiments. Acted as a security guard in the Hadong area and as a bandit in the Songjiang area. In November 1946, in order to meet the needs of the situation, on the order of the headquarters of the Northeast Democratic Coalition, the first division of the Kazakh Army Division and the 1st, 3rd Regiment and the 4th Regiment of the North Korean Army Division were combined into the 2nd Independent Northeast Democratic Alliance. The division, with Wen Yucheng as the division chief and Zhang Chiming as the political commissar, after the division was formed, it participated in the summer, autumn and winter offensives in Jiangnan and Northeast China.

In February 1948, when the 12th Column of the Northeast People's Liberation Army was established, the independent 2nd Division was reorganized into the 34th Division and returned to the 12th Column. In October, participated in the final battle of the liberation of Northeast China. On November 28th, the 12th column was reorganized into the 49th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the 34th Division was reorganized into the 145th Division, Wen Yucheng served as the division chief, and Tan Youlin served as the political commissar. In December of the same year, participated in the Tianjin Battle. In April 1949, it went south with the army and participated in the battles of crossing the river, Hengbao, and Guangxi. In January 1950, it was also in charge of the Ping Lejun division and carried out the task of banditry.

The 215th and 219th divisions of the 21st Regiment were formerly the Kuomintang troops of the Changsha Uprising in November 1949. On November 28, one of the rebel army was reorganized into the 215th Division of the 52nd Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Zhang Jingbai was appointed as the commander, Jiang Tengjiao was the political commissar, and the other was adapted into the 219th Division of the 53rd Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and Zhou Dugong was the commander, Wang Hen was a political commissar. After the reorganization, after a year of education and training, the troops were transformed. In January 1951, it entered Guangxi to participate in the banditry operations in Shuanlin, Liuzhou and Nanning.

On March 15, 1952, the Central South Military Region was ordered by the Central Military Commission to reorganize the former 21st Corps Corps headquarters into the Jingjiang Flood Division Engineering Command of the Central South Military Region of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, and the 214th and 217th Divisions under its jurisdiction were changed to the Jingjiang Flood Division Project. force. In addition, Zou and the 144th Division of the 48th Army, the 145th Division under the jurisdiction of the 49th Army, and the 215th and 219th Divisions of the 21st Corps form a new 21st Corps. The 48th Army Headquarters was reorganized into the 21st Corps, and the 48th Army was revoked. Chen Mingren was the commander, Wang Zhenqian was the political commissar, Ou Zhifu was the first deputy commander, Zhong Wenfa was the second deputy commander, and Gao Qi was the chief of staff.

The 144th Division of the 48th Army was still the 144th Division; the 215th Division of the 21st Corps was still the 215th Division; the 145th Division of the 49th Army and the 219th Division were combined into the 219th Division. At the beginning of May, in accordance with the instructions of the Central South Military Region, cultural education was generally carried out in the whole army. The Corps and the divisions all organized specialized cultural crash schools to mobilize a large number of cadres to leave for study. At the same time, cultural tutoring schools were set up at all levels of organs to improve the cultural level of in-service cadres. The troops took battalions as units and organized several levels of teaching classes to study according to the soldiers ’educational level. After more than half a year of cultural education, In the entire Corps, illiteracy was basically eliminated, and the cultural quality of the troops was improved.

On October 8, according to the order of the Central Military Commission, the 21st Corps was reorganized into the 55th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Chen Mingren served as the commander, Wang Zhenqian served as the political commissar, Ou Zhifu and Wei Zhen served as the deputy commanders, Gao Tigan served as the chief of staff, and Zhong Wenfa Director of the Political Department, Zhang Mingfu was the Minister of Logistics. Under the jurisdiction of the 144th Division, Zhang Yongsen was the division; 215th Division, Zhang Jingbai was the division, Jiang Tengjiao was the political committee; 219th Division, Cheng Qiwen was the division and Gao Xiangui was the division.

In February 1953, the 55th Army was ordered by the Central South Military Region to move from Guilin, Guangxi, to Zhanjiang, Guangdong, to guard the Leizhou Peninsula. During the "Cultural Revolution" period, the 55th Army was stationed in Liuzhou, Baise, and Guixian in Guangxi. ) Returned to the 55th Army. After the "Cultural Revolution" and the 41st Army changed their defense and entered Guangdong, distributed in Chaoan, Puning, Huilai, Jieyang and other areas.

In February 1979, the 55th Army participated in the counterattack against Vietnam and achieved significant results. The whole army wiped out 10,309 enemies (excluding assigned units). On October 31, 1985, the 55th Army was withdrawn. The 163rd Division and 42nd Army were still stationed in Chaozhou. The 164th Division moved to Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province and returned to the 41st Army. The 165th Division separated a part of the armed police forces that entered Guangdong and withdrew. The 163rd Division later became a force stationed in Hong Kong. The 164th Division later became the Marine Brigade and belonged to the South China Sea Fleet.