The 40th Group Army (GA), headquartered in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, is one of the three group armies subordinated to the Shenyang Military Regions (MR). It is an “All-Brigade Group Army”, consisting of only brigade-sized units. It also has a relatively low level of readiness and training, resulted by PRC’s changing security environment.
The 40th GA was formed in 1985 on the basis of the PLA 40th Corps, originally consisting three infantry divisions. In 1996, the 120th Infantry Division of the group army was transferred to the People’s Armed Police (PAP). The two remaining infantry divisions (118th and 119th) and a tank division (5th) were all downsized to brigades in the late 1990s.
In 2003, the 191st Motorised Infantry Brigade previously organic to the Liaoning Military District was reassigned to the 40th GA.
