The 55th Army, which was a late bloomer, was the first in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, but it was dissolved in disarmament.

The 55th Army is a very complicated army in our army. It is composed of the four fields troops and the Kuomintang uprising troops, but it is such an army that has performed extremely well on the battlefield, with excellent records and extremely hard work style.

1985 million during the disarmament period, the 55 th Army was unfortunately abolished for an "unreasonable" reason.

If we want to talk about the 55th Army, we can't help mentioning General Chen Mingren. Yes, it was in Siping City that the "Chen Mingren Defense Line" was set up to prevent Chen Mingren from being besieged by Dongye Army. After the war, the Northeast Field Army regarded Chen Mingren as an enemy, and even Chairman Mao had to admire the subtlety of Chen Mingren's protection.

Unexpectedly, after becoming famous, Chen Mingren got himself into trouble. Chen Mingren was accused of guarding the city and robbing grain, was dismissed for investigation, and had to go to Nanjing as a sinecure. Later, Chen Mingren successively served as deputy commander-in-chief of Central China's "suppression general", commander of Wuhan police, chairman of Hunan Province, and commander-in-chief of Hunan's "appeasement".

1In August, 949, Chen Mingren electrified the Hunan Uprising and reorganized it into the 2 1 Corps of the China People's Liberation Army, with 52 armies (2 14 Division, 2 15 Division) and 53 armies (2 17 Division, 2/7 Division).

2 1 After the establishment of the Corps, it immediately entered Guangxi to fight bandits. After more than a year's education and rectification, great changes have taken place in the army at this time, and the military and political quality has been greatly improved.

195 1 in September, 52nd Army and 53rd Army Headquarters were abolished, and 2 14 Division, 2 15 Division, 2 17 Division and 2 19 Division were directly under the corps.

2 1 Corps did not exist in the PLA for a long time. March 15, 1952, 2 1 Corps headquarters was reorganized into Jingjiang flood diversion water conservancy unit, and 2 14 division and 2 17 division were also reorganized into Jingjiang flood diversion engineering unit.

During the same period, due to the improvement of national defense situation and the need of economic development and construction in new China, the PLA achieved a certain scale of disarmament, and some troops were successively revoked their titles, or turned into public security forces and local forces. The 48th Army and the 49th Army, which belonged to the 4th Field Army sequence with 2 1 Corps, were also cancelled at this time.

According to the order of the Central Military Commission, the new 2 1 Corps headquarters was established by the 48th Army Command, and the new 2 1 Corps was established by the 48th Army144th Division, the 49th Army145th Division, the 2nd15th Division and the 2nd/KLOC-0 Division.

1952, 10 year 10 on October 8, the Central Military Commission ordered 2 1 Corps to be reorganized into 55th Army. 144 division and 2 15 division remain unchanged, 145 division and 2 19 division are co-edited.

In this way, a new corps-level unit in the PLA organizational system-the 55 th Army was officially born.

As can be seen from the composition sources of the 55th Army and its three subordinate divisions, the composition of each army is relatively new. Among its three divisions, two divisions are descended from the 48 th and 49 th armies.

There are also profiles of the 48 th Army and the 49 th Army. Although these two armies also belong to the powerful Fourth Field Army, they belong to the youngest two brothers in front of other main forces of the Fourth Army, and they were established late. The predecessors of the two armies were the 11th and 12th columns of the Northeast Field Army, which were established in March 1948 respectively. In terms of combat effectiveness, it can't be compared with the old main column.

144 division was formerly known as the independent 3rd division of Ji-Cha-Re-Liao Military Region. This division has an old Red Army unit, namely the 430th Regiment, which was transferred from 142 Division. The original serial number was 424 regiment, which was changed to 430 regiment after transfer, and changed to 487 regiment after 1969.

145 division was formerly known as the Independent 2nd Division of Northeast Democratic Allied Forces. Although the 145 division is not well-known, there is a famous figure in the history of the division, that is, Wen Yucheng, who served as the commander of the 40th Army of the "Cyclone Force" during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.

The main force of the 2 15 Division is the first corps of the Kuomintang Army of Changsha Uprising, and the main force of the 2 19 Division is the Kuomintang Security Force of Changsha Uprising.

After the merger of 145 Division and 2 19 Division, the main composition of the 55th Army has changed from the uprising troops to the former Northeast Field Army troops, and even some old Red Army troops, which is very valuable for a young army.

At the end of 1969, the whole army rearranged its designation. According to the "three-thirds system" order and naming principle, the divisions of the 55th Army were renamed as 144, 2 15 and 2 19 respectively.

After the founding of the army, the 55 th Army was stationed in Guangdong and Guangxi for a long time, first in Guilin, Guangxi, then in Zhanjiang, western Guangdong, and finally in Huilai and Jieyang, eastern Guangdong.

1955, Chen Mingren was awarded the rank of general, but regardless of his position, he gave up the high position of deputy in the military region and took the initiative to apply to the Military Commission to continue to lead troops in the first-line troops. Like General Dong of the 69th Army, Chen Mingren held the rank of "high rank and low rank" for a long time, and served as a military officer for a long time.

As a first-year student in Huangpu, Chen Mingren not only has a solid military theoretical foundation, but also has extremely rich experience in actual combat and leading troops. Under its polishing, the 55 th Army achieved a thoroughly remoulded transformation.

Actual combat is the most effective way to test the combat effectiveness of troops, and it is also a whetstone for forging excellent troops. 1In February, 979, the 55th Army participated in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam on the Eastern Front, with remarkable results. The whole army wiped out 10309 people, which laid the foundation for Vietnam's throat, won the greatest victory in the east and west battlefields, and set a record for all divisions, regiments, battalions and companies to wipe out the enemy. After the war, it was awarded the honorary title by the Central Military Commission.

For a new army established after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the 55th Army has such excellent performance that it is a typical example of coming from behind.

In particular, the 163 division became the infantry division with the largest number of body count. Only one division has four units and seven individuals awarded honorary titles by the Central Military Commission. Thus, 163 division became one of the best British model troops in our army. The 487th Regiment wiped out the enemy 1932 people, which was the regiment that wiped out the enemy the most and was worthy of the title of "Red Regiment".

It is particularly worth mentioning that the 3rd Battalion of the 488th Regiment of 163 Division first held its ground for two days and nights, repelling the enemy 13 times, and successfully completed the task of cutting off the enemy's retreat and blocking reinforcements. Later, in the battle to attack the enemy's depth, we made great efforts to seize the bridge and control the main points of the bridge. Then the whole battalion guarded the bridge for three days and nights, and repelled the enemy's attacks six times. The whole battalion wiped out more than 1,000 enemy troops and was awarded the title of "Can attack and defend the hero camp" by the Central Military Commission.

Leading the 55th Army to achieve such excellent results was the then commander Zhu Yuehua, who came from the 38th Army and served as the head of the 338th Regiment of the 38th Army 1 13 Division during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. The 338th Regiment showed great bravery in the second campaign to resist US aggression and aid Korea. Zhu Yuehua was highly valued and was promoted to the position of chief of staff, division commander and deputy division commander. Before the 55th Army became the commander, Zhu Yuehua had been the commander of the 38th Army of "Long Live the Army" for six years. Both combat experience and combat readiness training experience are very rich.

With such commander training, can the record of the 55 th Army not shine?

It stands to reason that such a heroic army should be retained in the subsequent millions of disarmament, and the 55 th Army should also be retained in the preliminary proposal of the Military Commission for advice. However, the Guangzhou Military Region later proposed to retain the 42 nd Army and merge the 55 th Army.

At that time, Guangzhou Military Region had jurisdiction over 4 1 Army, 42 Army and 55 Army. 4 1 Army is a "Hero of Tashan" army stationed in Liuzhou, Guangxi. The 42 nd Army is deployed in Huizhou, Guangdong, and the 55 th Army is deployed in eastern Guangdong. The reason why the Guangzhou Military Region proposed to cancel the 55th Army was that the station was remote.

The Guangzhou Military Region believes that the 42 nd Army is in a good position, which is convenient for radiating the whole province and consolidating coastal defense. If 55 troops are retained and 42 troops are abolished, it will be a big move and the cost will increase a lot.

In the end, the CMC adopted the suggestion of Guangzhou Military Region and decided to keep the 42nd Army, cancel the designation of the 55th Army, and merge some troops of the 55th Army into the 42nd Army to form the 42nd Army.

Looking at it now, the reason at that time was not very valid, because the adjustment and transfer of troops was very common, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, many arms and services of our army carried out large-scale cross-military region transfers, from northeast to east China (such as the 46th Army), from north China to northwest China (such as 2 1 Army) and from southwest to central China (such as the 54th Army). It's really not a big battle to change posts within this military region.

In fact, a hard principle that invisibly determines whether the 55 th Army will stay or not is to "cut the new and keep the old."

Apart from some plans to avoid large-scale guard changing and save military expenses, the abolition of the 55 th Army is also an important reason for its relatively junior qualifications, especially the backbone troops and British model troops developed with the old Red Army and the old Eighth Route Army as the main body are relatively few.

Although after more than 30 years of development after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the 55th Army is a people's army with no difference from other brothers in all aspects, but in many people's minds, the 55th Army has been deeply left with the traces of "uprising troops" and is a "miscellaneous brand" in the PLA. Many people even think that the fundamental reason why the 55 th Army was laid off is that their roots are not red.

The 55th Army had to compete with the 42nd Army for a reserved position, although the 42nd Army was established later (it was established at the same time as the 48th Army and the 49th Army, which was the latest of the three armies established in the four fields outside the Commissioner's Office). Historically, these two armies are almost as bad. However, the 42nd Army participated in the first four battles to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, while the 55th Army made a blockbuster in the counterattack against Vietnam in self-defense, overshadowing other troops. However, due to the relatively unfavorable factors such as stationing troops, it was only a pity to bid farewell to the historical stage.

Although the 55th Army was dissolved, its main division 163 was retained and transferred to the 42nd Army. Their highlight appeared in 1993. The "Red Team" participated in the formation of the first batch of infantry brigades stationed in Hong Kong and witnessed Hong Kong's return to the motherland four years later. 164 Division was transferred to the South China Sea Fleet of the Navy and reorganized into the Marine Corps 164 Brigade, which can be regarded as saving some blood for this "late bloomer" unit!

Today, the 487th Regiment of 163 Division has been reorganized into a synthetic brigade and transferred to the 74th Army. The Marine Corps was expanded into the Army, and the164th Brigade was also given a new designation. In today's PLA sequence, there are still artillery fire from the troops belonging to the original 55 th Army.