List of divisions of the People's Liberation Army

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The organization of the PLA Ground Force before April 2017

The People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China has had many divisions since it was officially established in 1949. However, a growing number of land and air combat divisions have been disbanded in favour of brigades, a process largely completed by the time the 2015 PLA reforms were implemented around 2017.

Reserve divisions

Armored divisions

The IISS Military Balance 2012 listed nine armoured divisions as part of the People's Liberation Army.[27]

Artillery divisions

Reserve divisions

Aviation divisions

  • 1st Fighter Division - stationed at Anshan, Liaoning
  • 2nd Fighter Division - stationed at Suixi, Guangdong[32]
  • 3rd Fighter Division - stationed at Wuhu, Anhui[32]
  • 4th Aviation Division - division disbanded as a fighter formation in 2003, with 10th Regiment going to 30th Division as 89th Regiment. It was re-established as a transport division at Qionglai Air Base in 2004.[33]
  • 5th Aviation Division[32] Seemingly disbanded between 2014 and 2017.
  • 6th Fighter Division - stationed at Yinchuan, Ningxia[32]
  • 7th Fighter Division - established December 1950 flying fighters, at Dongfeng, Jilin.[34] - stationed at Datong, Shanxi[32]
  • 8th Aviation Division[32] - established in December 1950 flying bombers at Siping, Jilin.[35] Originally had 22nd and 24th Regiments. Scramble.nl, accessed mid 2015, indicates there are at least six regiments of H-6 bombers. All three regiments of the division fly the aircraft - the 22nd, 23rd (former 143rd Regt/48th Div), and 24th. On November 11, 1965, Li Xianbin (T:李顯斌, S:李显斌), a PLAAF Ilyushin Il-28 captain of the division flew his bomber numbered 0195 from Jianqiao (T:筧橋, S:笕桥) air base in Hangzhou to Taoyuan County, Taiwan (now Taoyuan City), and this became the first fully operational Il-28 in western hands. The radio operator / tail gunner Lian Baosheng (廉保生) was found dead at the scene and the navigator Li Caiwang (李才旺) was captured alive after a suicide attempt. Both survivors were honored and rewarded with positions in the Republic of China Air Force.
  • 9th Aviation Division - established in December 1950 as a fighter division at Jilin, Jilin.[35] Transferred to PLA Naval Aviation as 5th Naval Aviation Division in September 1955; reestablished at Ganzhou in March 1956. Stationed at Foshan, Guangdong.[32] After 2012, from the command of the Nanning Base, the division was abolished and split into the 25th and 26th Brigades.[36]
  • 10th Aviation Division - established at Nanjing, Jiangsu in January 1951 as a bomber-flying division.[35] In the Eastern Theatre Command.
  • 11th Aviation Division - established in February 1951 as a ground-attack formation in Xuzhou, Jiangsu.[35] Long part of the Shenyang Military Region. Stationed at Siping, Jilin[32]
  • 12th Fighter Division - established in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang in December 1950 as a fighter unit.[35] Stationed at Yantai, Shandong[32]
  • 13th Aviation Division - stationed at Wuhan, Hubei[32]
  • 14th Fighter Division - formed February 1951 at Beijing Nanyuan Airport[35] from elements of the disbanding 95th Division. Stationed at Nanchang, Jiangxi.[32] The division fought in Korea, as a mixed MiG-9/MiG-15 fighter unit.[32] Started its second combat tour in April 1953 and ceased combat in July 1953.[37] It appears that in September 1992 the 146th Regiment of the disbanding 49th Air Division may have become the 42nd Regiment.[citation needed]
  • 15th Fighter Division[32] Formed from HQ 71st Division (First Formation).[38] Absorbed the 41st Division in 1985.[39]
  • 16th Aviation Division[40] Originally established as 19th Inf Div. In August 1988, the division became the Shenyang Military Region Air Force Aviation Training Base, and the regiments were successively changed to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Regiments of that Base.[41]
  • 17th Aviation Division;[40] Formed April 1951 as a fighter formation. Originally with 49th and 50th Regiments and, then, 51st Regiment from 1953, equipped from the fourth batch of aircraft.[42] Transferred to Naval Aviation 1954, reestablished 1956. "On March 2, 1956, with the approval of the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defense issued an order to [reform] the 17th Air Division.[43] On April 6, 1956, the 17th Division of the Air Force was formally established at Beijing Shahe Airport, and Liu Ying, the deputy commander of the 7th Division of the Air Force, was appointed as the commander of the 17th Division of the Air Force (later the deputy commander of the Ji Air Force), and Guo Qian, director of the Security Department of the Air Force Political Department of the Beijing Military Region He is the political commissar of the 17th Air Division, and Yan Deming is the first deputy division commander and chief of staff. Under its jurisdiction are the 49th Regiment (adapted from the 21st Regiment of the 7th Air Division), the 51st Regiment (adapted from the 41st Regiment of the 14th Air Force Division) and the Shahe Station of the Air Force. Equipped with J-5 and MiG-17 aircraft. It [was assigned] to the Air Force of the Beijing Military Region. In August 1964, the 17th Air Division was ordered to be urgently transferred to the southwest border. The division led the 51st Regiment to station in Mengzi, Yunnan, and the 49th Regiment to station in Kunming, the capital of the province, to participate in the round-robin air defense mission in Yunnan." It was later reorganized into brigades, and in 1969 was sent for combat duty in Fujian. On 25 June 1984, a CAAC Airlines Hawker Siddeley Trident aircraft was hijacked by a man armed with hand grenades and demanded to be flown to Taiwan. A passenger overpowered the hijacker and the aircraft continued to Fuzhou.[44] Aircraft of the division took off to provide security amid the incident.

Saw action at a later date (?)[45] In the early 1980s it was subordinate to the Tangshan Command Post in the Beijing MR flying J-5s (MiG-17F "Fresco-Cs"?) and Shenyang J-6s.[46] On 26 October 1988 the division was reorganized into the Beijing MR Training Base.

Engineering divisions

See also

References

External links

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