Zhu De, Chen Yi, Su Yu took a photo with the First Corps of the East China Field Army
On November 1, 1948, the Central Military Commission pointed out in the "Regulations on Unifying the Organization and Force Number of the Whole Army": "There are 8 Corps, originally distinguished by place names, people names or numbers."
During the National Liberation War, the Corps was a combat group commanded by the Field Army or the Central Military Commission and undertakes independent combat tasks. The comprehensive civil war began, especially after the People's Liberation Army moved into a strategic offensive, the field troops began to establish corps. The Northeast Field Army established the First and Second Corps headquarters in September 1948. The North China Military Region established the First, Second and Third Corps by mid-August 1948. In order to implement the strategic task of launching a large-scale attack and fostering the Central Plains, the Shanxi Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army established the Chen (Geng) Xie (Fuzhi) Group in August 1947, and later the Central Military Commission called it the Chen Xie Corps. At the same time, the main force of the East China Field Army formed the Western Corps (also known as the Outer Corps), and the troops left in Shandong formed the Eastern Corps (also known as the Inner Corps). However, the situation of the corps established by the East China Field Army is relatively complicated. In March 1948, in order to carry out combat tasks such as crossing the river southward, the East China Field Army formed a total of four corpses, namely, the Western Corps were organized into the First and Third Corps, the main force of the Eastern Corps was organized into the Second Corps, and a column of the Eastern Corps and two columns left in central China were organized into the Fourth Corps. The First Corps is also known as Su Yu Corps, the Second Corps is also known as Shandong Corps or Shiyou Tan (Zhenlin) Corps, the Third Corps is also known as Chen (Shiju) Tang (Liang) Corps, and the Fourth Corps is also known as Subei Corps or Wei (Guoqing) Chen (Pixian) Corps, Wei (Guoqing) Ji (Luo) Corps.
From the above, we can see that by the end of October 1948, the People's Liberation Army had established 10 corpses. The eight corps identified by the Central Military Commission on November 1, 1948 are: the headquarters of the First and Second Corps of the Northeast Field Army, the First, Second and Third Corps of the North China Military Region, the Shandong Corps, the Northern Jiangsu Corps and the Chen (Geng) Xie (Fuzhi) Corps.
So, why did the Su Yu Corps and Chen Tang Corps of the East China Field Army no longer call it the corps until then? The reason is that in September 1948, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee decided that "the People's Liberation Army will still fight north of the Yangtze River and North China and Northeast China in the third year." Su Yu's Corps and Chen Tang Corps became the main force of the East China Field Army. The Central Military Commission and Mao Zedong decided to establish four corpses at that time. The main consideration was that Su Yu led the first, fourth and sixth columns of the East China Field Army to carry out the task of crossing the river southward, attracting the Kuomintang troops from the Central Plains to return to defend the south of the Yangtze River to improve the situation in the Central Plains. At the same time, the Chen Tang Corps returned to the Shanxi Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army (later Central Plains Field Army ) to command the battle in the Central Plains region. The Shandong Corps and the Northern Jiangsu Corps continued to stay in place to fight. Due to the victory of the battles in eastern Henan and other battles, it proved that the People's Liberation Army could fight a major annihilation war in the Huanghuai region. In September 1948, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee changed the original proposal to cross the river from Su Yu's Corps to advance south. Due to this change, in the view of the Central Military Commission, Su Yu's Corps and Chen Tang's Corps no longer need to call the Corps; and Su Yu is the acting commander and acting political commissar of the East China Field Army, Chen Tuju is the chief of staff, and Tang Liang is the director of the Political Department. They need to command the entire East China Field Army to carry out , Jinan Battle and other operations. This is the reason why Su Yu's Corps and Chen Tang's Corps will no longer be called the Corps at this time.
After Chen Xie Group was changed to the command of the Shanxi Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, the title of Chen Xie Corps was not found from various sequence lists. Why is it still considered a corps? The Fourth Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army (4 brigades under its jurisdiction) under the command of Chen Geng and Xie Fuzhi is quite special. Although it belongs to the system of the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan Field Army, after the start of the full-scale civil war, it has been directly commanded by the Central Military Commission and cooperated with the operations on the northwest battlefield. In the view of the Central Military Commission, it is an independent combat group. When advanced into western Henan, when advanced to in August 1947, the column commanded the 9th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army and the 38th Army of the Northwest Democratic Alliance Army, calling it the Chen Xie Group. Although after the Chen Xie group arrived in western Henan, except for the 38th Army dispersed to local work, the Fourth and Ninth Columns were replaced by the command of the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan Field Army, the Central Military Commission still regarded the Fourth Column and the Ninth Column, which often fought with it, as an operational group.Because of this, the Central Military Commission asked Chen Geng to make a comprehensive report to the Central Military Commission every two months, just like the main leaders of other corpses. Until September 1948, in the Central Military Commission's notice on the implementation of the system of reporting requests and reporting, the column was called the Chen Xie Corps. Thinking of a column as a corps is the only exception during the Liberation War.
—Excerpted from "Military History" 2008 Issue 02
