The Chinese Civil War and the Birth of the PLA Tank Force
China Defense.com
Image Archive DVD
42,000+ Images
Webhosting provided by:
The Chinese Civil War and the Birth of the PLA Tank Force
by Xinhui
The honor of forming the first PLA tank formation belonged to the PLA Third Field Army in Central China. In the winter of 1946, the newly enlarged PLA East China Field Army in the Shandong area, under the command of Chen Yi, launched a preemptive attack against the weak KMT 26th Division to stop KMT's upcoming winter offensive. During the course of the battle, the reinforcing KMT 77th Division was trapped around the TaiErZhuang area. By January 18th, in addition to the KMT 26th and 77th divisions, the KMT 51st Division was also completely wiped out. The Nationalist losses during this battle exceeded 40,000 and including at least 26 tanks and 26 pieces of artillery. With those captured American made equipment, the first PLA tank formation was born in January 1948.
US made M4 Sherman tank with KMT troops.
Special thanks to Anavel Gato for the photo.
The PLA East China Field Army was reorganized into the PLA Third Field Army in 1949, and its tank formation became a fully mechanized division in September 17, 1949. This tank division together with the 2nd Artillery Division, under the command of Chen Juiting became the PLA Third Field Army's Special Column. In the PLA forces, a column was equal in strength to a traditional army group. The Special Column took part in the epic campaign of Huai-Hai in late 1948 around XuZhou. The PLA East China Field Army committed all of its 16 columns along with an additional seven columns of the PLA Central China Field Army in this epic battle, with Liu Bocheng as commander and Deng Xiaoping as their political commissioner.
Special thanks to Anavel Gato for the photo.
<< Previous Page | Next Page >>
