This article is missing information about post-reform restructuring. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.(October 2022)
In 2016, as part of General Secretary Xi Jinping's dissolution of the nation's military regions and establishment of theater commands, in which the 12th Group Army was assigned to the Eastern Theater Command.[1] On 18 April 2017, Xi announced the reorganization and redesignation of military units, including changing the 12th Group Army to its present day designation, 71st Group Army.[1]
Organization
The 71st Group Army was first commanded by Major General Wang Yinfang from March 2017 to January 2018 until he was succeeded by Major General Li Zhonglin in January 2018.[12][13][14] The group army's political commissar was Major General Xu Deqing from March 2017 to May 2018 when Yin Hongxing succeeded him.[15][16] As of 2022, Xu serves as the Central Theater Command's political commissar.[17][18]
The 71st Group Army appears to comprise six combined-armsmaneuverbrigades, four of which are heavy (armored), one medium (mechanized), and one light (motorized) and each of which lead four combined-arms battalions. These combined arms brigades are the PLAGF's basic operational unit, likely following the United States' and later Russia's transition from division-centric warfare to brigade-centric warfare. The 71st Group Army also commands six combat support brigades.[19]
Since 2017, the 71st Group Army commands the following subordinate units.[20]
^In accordance with the Regulation of the Redesignations of All Organizations and Units of the Army, issued by Central Military Commission on 1 November 1948.
^Sohu (2 November 2005). 军旅采风. laobing.com (in Chinese). laobing.com, Yingpu. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
^Huairang, Yue; Jun, Wang (20 June 2018). "序列第一的集团军迎来新军长:李中林履新第71集团军军长" [The first group army ushered in a new commander: Li Zhonglin as the new commander of the 71st group army]. The Paper (in Chinese).
^Jun, Wang (10 August 2017). "原第39集团军副军长李志忠少将已担任第71集团军副军长" [Major General Li Zhizhong, former deputy commander of the 39th Army, has served as deputy commander of the 71st Army]. The Paper (in Chinese).
^Li, Xiaohang (19 May 2017). "原第47集团军政委徐德清任驻江苏徐州某集团军首长" [Xu Deqing, the former political commissar of the 47th Group Army, served as the head of a group army stationed in Xuzhou, Jiangsu]. The Paper (in Chinese).
^Ziwen, Jiang (14 August 2018). "尹红星少将新职务明确:接棒徐德清,任第71集团军政委" [Major General Yin Hongxing's new position is clear: take over from Xu Deqing and serve as political commissar of the 71st Group Army]. The Paper (in Chinese).
Chae, Han Kook; Chung, Suk Kyun; Yang, Yong Cho (2001), Yang, Hee Wan; Lim, Won Hyok; Sims, Thomas Lee; Sims, Laura Marie; Kim, Chong Gu; Millett, Allan R. (eds.), The Korean War, vol. III, Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, ISBN978-0-8032-7796-0
Zhang, Song Shan (张嵩山) (2010), Decipher Shangganling (解密上甘岭) (in Chinese), Beijing: Beijing Publishing House, ISBN978-7-200-08113-8