27th Group Army
Last updated: 11 January 2008
Headquartered in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, the 27th Group Army (GA) is one of the three group armies under the command of the Beijing Military Region. The group army was formed in 1985 on the basis of the PLA 27th Corps. The 27th GA is PLA’s first “All-Brigade Group Army”, consisting of only brigade-sized units. The group army is stationed in northern China in peacetime, but can be deployed to other military regions if necessary.
In October 1950, the 27th Corps was among the first PLA units to have entered North Korea to fight against the U.S.-led United Nations forces. During the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in November 1950, the 27th Corps along with other Chinese units engaged in some of the fiercest fighting of the war with the U.S. 1st Marine Division and 7th Infantry Division, forcing the U.S. forces to withdraw from North Korea via an amphibious evacuation from the port of Hungnam. This campaign, with the simultaneous victory against U.S. forces to the west, was the first time in a century a Chinese army was able to defeat a Western army in a major battle, despite the heavy losses on the Chinese side.
The 27th Corps has been stationed in the northern Hebei Province since 1969 to defend the capital Beijing against a possible invasion by the Soviet forces. The corps became a “Motorised Infantry Corps” ((truck-mobile)) in the early 1970s, and was reorganised into a “Combined-Arms Group Army” in August 1985.
The 27th GA was initially composed of three motorised infantry divisions (79th, 80th, and 81st). The 81st Division was transferred to the People’s Armed Police (PAP) in 1996. The two remaining divisions were also downsized to infantry brigades (235th and 80th) in July 1998, leaving the group army with no division-sized unit.
As a result of the PLA’s 50,000 force reduction programme, the 63rd GA in Datong, Shanxi Province was disbanded in September 2003. Its subordinated 82nd Motorised Infantry Brigade and 188th Mechanised Infantry Brigade were reassigned to the 27th GA.
Currently, the 27th GA consists of four infantry brigades: the 80th Motorised Infantry Brigade stationed in Luquan, 82nd Motorised Infantry Brigade stationed in Datong, 188th Mechanised Infantry Brigade stationed in Qizhou, the 235th Mechanised Infantry Brigade stationed in Xingtai. Other combat units include an armoured brigade stationed in Handan, an artillery brigade stationed in Datong, and an AAA brigade stationed in Shijiazhuang. It combat support elements include an engineer regiment and a signal regiment, both stationed in Shijiangzhuang.
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