11th Corps (People's Republic of China)

11th Corps (1949-52)
11th Army Corps (1969-85)
Active 1949.3-1950.7, 1951.1-1952.10, 1969.11-1985.12
Country China
Part of Kunming Military Region
Garrison/HQ Dali, Yunnan
Engagements Chinese Civil War, Sino-Vietnamese War

The 11th Corps(Chinese: 第11军) was a military formation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army from the 1940s, and during the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979. It was stationed in the Kunming Military Region.

First Formation

The 11th Corps was activated on March 1, 1949 from 3rd Column, Zhongyuan Field Army. In March–December 1949 it was part of Ch'en Tsi-Lien's 3rd Army of the Second Field Army.[1] The Corps was composed of the 31st Division, 32nd Division and 33rd Division.[2] During the war its commander was Chen Jiagui, and Political Commissar-Zhang Qi.

In early 1950 the corps was stationed in eastern Sichuan Province. During its deployment in Sichuan the corps supported 18th Corps' invasion of Tibet.

In July 1950 the corps was inactivated. Headquarters, 11th Corps was transferred to the Navy's control and converted as Qingdao Naval Base (now North Sea Fleet).

2nd Formation

In January 1951, 31st Division was detached and transferred to 12th Corps control, which later moved into Korea as a part of People's Volunteer Army.

In March, 32nd and 33rd Division moved to Langfang, Hebei. In July, 11th Corps (2nd Formation) was activate from 32nd, 33rd and 182nd Divisions.

The unit is a reserve formation for the People's Volunteer Army, but it never deployed into Korean Peninsula. In October 1952 the corps was inactivated.

  • Headquarters, 11th Corps was transferred to Air Force's control and converted as Headquarters, 5th Air Force Corps.
  • 32nd Division was transferred to 16th Corps' control.
  • 33rd was deployed into Korea. After 1954 the division was attached to 26th Corps.
  • 182nd Division was converted as 8th Railway Engineer Division.

3rd Formation

On November 14, 1969, 11th Army Corps(Chinese: 陆军第11军) was activated in Dali, Yunnan. The army corps was composed of 31st and 32nd Army Divisions, making it a rare practice of "Reduce Army Corps" (which composed of 2 instead of 3 divisions). Artillery Regiment and Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment, 11th Army Corps were then activated.

In May 1976, Tank Regiment, 11th Army Corps was activated from Independent Tank Regiment of Kunming Military Region (former 4th Independent Tank Regiment of Beijing Military Region).

Sino-Vietnamese War

In 1979 the corps took part in the Sino-Vietnamese War. During the conflict the army corps was strengthened with Independent Division of Yunnan Provincial Military Region, and the later, In May 1979, was renamed as 33rd Army Division. 32nd Army Division was temporarily detached from the army corps as the reserve force of Kunming Military Region.

The main force of 11th Army Corps, without its 32nd Army Division and Tank Regiment, thrust 34 km into Vietnam territory in the 55-day-long campaign (with 22 days outside the Chinese border), basically destroyed 1 PAVN regiment and 3 battalions and seized Phong Thổ. During the campaign the army corps inflicted 2899 casualties on confronting PAVN forces and captured 58 captives.

From April 4 to 29, 1984, 11th Army Corps took part in the Battle of Zheyinshan. During its deployment the army corps inflicted 500 casualties on confronting PAVN forces, captured 18 POWs and 19 artillery pieces.

From August 4 to December 9, 1984, 11th Army Corps took part in the Battle of Laoshan. During its deployment the army corps inflicted 1698 casualties on confronting PAVN forces, captured 1 POW.

Disbandment

In December 1985 the army corps was disbanded:

  • 31st Army Division was transferred to 14th Army's control as 31st Motorized Infantry Division, a southern motorized infantry division.
  • 32nd Army Division was converted as 2nd Garrison Division of Chengdu Military Region, which was disbanded in 1992.
  • 33rd Army Division was disbanded and merged with 65th Artillery Division as Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade, 14th Army.
  • Tank Regiment, 11th Army Corps merged with Tank Regiment, 14th Army Corps and became Tank Brigade, 14th Army.

Before its disbandment the army corps was composed of:

  • 31st Army Division
    • 91st Infantry Regiment
    • 92nd Infantry Regiment
    • 93rd Infantry Regiment
    • Artillery Regiment
  • 32nd Army Division
    • 94th Infantry Regiment
    • 95th Infantry Regiment
    • 96th Infantry Regiment
    • Artillery Regiment
  • 33rd Army Division
    • 97th Infantry Regiment
    • 98th Infantry Regiment
    • 99th Infantry Regiment
    • Artillery Regiment
  • Tank Regiment
  • Artillery Regiment
  • Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment

References

  1. ↑ Witson, 1972, 187.
  2. ↑ Witson, 1972, 187
  • William W. Whitson, with Chen-hsia Huang. (1973) The Chinese high command; a history of Communist military politics, 1927-71. Foreword by Lucian W. Pye.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.