The most prominent feature of Shandong Peninsula is its defense on land and sea, and its strategic location is extremely important. In the era of cold weapons, Shandong has always been a battleground for military strategists, let alone high-intensity modern warfare. No matter whether we fight from south to north or from north to south, we cannot avoid Shandong. Take the Huaihai Campaign, the largest battle in the history of our army, as an example. It started in Jinan, the land of Qilu. Going back further, Shandong was the focus of competition between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party during the strategic defense and strategic counter-offensive stages of the Liberation War, which shows the strategic importance of Shandong.
Many people cannot understand this. There are certain historical reasons behind this, which are mainly reflected in the following three aspects: First, the Shandong Peninsula and the Liaodong Peninsula have always been the unified system of northern coastal defense, forming a mutually exclusive system. potential. Although the capital of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties was Beijing, the threat from the sea was not obvious, as was the case in the early and middle Qing Dynasty . However, since China entered modern times in 1840, coastal defense has been raised to unprecedented heights. The First Opium War, The British Navy fought along the coastline to Tianjin. The Second Opium War staged a historical tragedy in which the British and French forces captured Beijing and burned the Old Summer Palace.
Before the 1980s, when my country's national defense establishment was still 11 major military regions, Shandong Province attracted much attention because of its military garrison and became an important area for military defense. Judging from the guiding ideology and defense priorities of my country's military strategy at that time, Shandong Province was at the throat of the Bohai Bay. Once a war broke out, it would be the first to bear the brunt and have the heaviest combat tasks. It was the area with the densest concentration of troops in all provinces and cities across the country. At that time, there were three field armies of the 26th Army, the 46th Army and the 67th Army. The field army had an army division under its jurisdiction; there were also military-level garrison units in the Changshan Fortress Area, Yanwei Garrison Area, and Qingdao Garrison Area. These three garrison forces The army is also under the jurisdiction of the garrison division. In addition, in addition to the Jinan Military Region, which is located in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, the North Sea Fleet, the most powerful of the three fleets of the Chinese Navy, is also stationed in Qingdao, a city under separate planning in Shandong Province. In addition, the Shandong Provincial Military Region under the jurisdiction of the Jinan Military Region, as well as the independent division and other local armies.
In June 1985, the Central Military Commission implemented the strategic decision of one million military disarmament, which was generally based on the division of seven administrative geographical divisions and adjusted the eleven military regions into seven military regions. The most obvious one is Nanjing Military Region . After the merger of Fuzhou Military Region, it is basically equivalent to East China. At the same time, Henan Province and the armed forces under the jurisdiction of the Wuhan Military Region were merged into the Jinan Military Region. In January 2016, the seven major military regions became history and were adjusted into five major theaters: east, west, south, north and central. Among them, Shandong Province is very special: it is obviously close to the eastern theater, but it is included in the northern theater.
We can look at the garrison situation of other military regions. The Shenyang Military Region mainly serves the strategic defense of the three eastern provinces including Inner Mongolia. It has the largest number of field troops stationed there. Yes, there are 16th Army, 23rd Army, 40th Army, 39th Army, 64th Army, etc., but they are allocated to three provinces: Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. Two armies in one province are not considered dense. The Nanjing Military Region later administered five provinces and one city: Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian, and then administered three armies: the 1st Army, the 12th Army, and the 31st Army. Beijing City, Tianjin City, Hebei Province, Shanxi Province, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have the 27th Army, 38th Army, 63rd Army, 65th Army, etc. Their main task is to defend the capital Beijing. Since ancient times, Shandong has been known for its important strategic position. During the Anti-Japanese War, including the later Liberation War, the focus and center of our party and army was to manage and consolidate Shandong Province. Our country’s truly domestically produced aircraft carrier is also called the Shandong ship. Shandong has many tourist attractions, specialty snacks, and civilized Shandong cuisine both at home and abroad. and authentic and simple Shandong people.
