38th Group Army
Last updated: 10 January 2008
Headquartered in Baoding City, Hebei Province, the 38th (Mechanised) Group Army (GA) is one of the three group armies under the command of the Beijing Military Region. The group army is mainly responsible for protecting the capital Beijing, and can be rapidly deployed anywhere in the country with a short period of time. The 38th GA is widely viewed as one of the most, if not the most, elite group armies in the PLA, with a high level of readiness and training, and relatively modernised weapon equipments.
Currently the 38th GA is PLA’s only “all-mechanised group army”, completely consisting of heavy armoured and mechanised units. The group army is composed of the 112th Mechanised Infantry Division, 113th (Light) Mechanised Infantry Division, 6th Armoured Division, 8th Helicopter Regiment, as well as an artillery brigade, an air defence (SAM/AAA) brigade, and a special forces group. Its support elements include an engineer regiment, a chemical defence regiment, a signal regiment, and an electronic warfare regiment.
The 38th GA is stationed south and west of Beijing in peacetime, and maintains a high level of readiness. Its subordinated 112th Mechanised Infantry Division was appointed one of PLA’s rapid reaction units (RRU), ready to mobilise in 24~48 hours. In time of crisis, the whole group army can be deployed by railway or by road anywhere within China without significant train-up or reserve augmentation.
The 38th GA was formed in 1985 on the basis of the 38th Corps, with the 6th Tank Division and a number of specialised combat and logistic support units previously subordinated to the military region headquarters being reassigned to the newly-formed “combined-arms group army”.
In January 1988, the 38th GA formed PLA’s first army aviation (helicopter) group, equipped with about 40 transport and attack helicopters. This was later expanded into a helicopter regiment in 2005.
In 1991, the AAA Brigade of the 38th GA was reorganised into the Air Defence Brigade, consisting of two SAM battalions and two AAA battalions.
In 1996, the 114th Motorised Infantry Division was transferred to the People’s Armed Police (PAP) force.
In 1998, the 6th Tank Division was renamed the "Armoured Division" to reflect its more combined nature.
In the mid-1980s, the 38th GA was the first group army to have introduced an automated command system. By the late 1990s, all division and regiment headquarters had introduced the automated command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (C4ISR) system. A battalion-sized digitised armour unit was formed in the 6th Armoured Division in the late 1990s to experiment the concept of the network-centric warfare.
After 2002, the special forces group previously directly subordinated to the headquarters of the Beijing Military Region was reassigned to the 38th GA.
In 2004, the 113th Motorised Infantry Division was reorganised into a light mechanised infantry division equipped with ZSL92 series wheeled armoured fighting vehicles, making the 38th GA the first “all-mechanised” group army in the PLA.
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