Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Lanzhou Military Region

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Simplified Chinese
  
兰州军区

Hanyu Pinyin
  
Lánzhōu Jūnqū

Traditional Chinese
  
蘭州軍區

Lanzhou Military Region httpsd1k5w7mbrh6vq5cloudfrontnetimagescache

The Lanzhou Military Region was one of seven military regions in the People's Republic of China. It directed all military and armed police forces in Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, and Shaanxi. The Ali area of northwest Tibet also falls under this Region. It is headquartered in Lanzhou in Gansu Province. It is bordered to the south by the Chengdu Military Region, and to the north by Mongolia, the Altai Republic, which is a political subdivision of the Russian Federation, and Kazakhstan. This region is now part of the Western Theater Command due to the military reforms of 2015.

Contents

In 2006 the International Institute for Strategic Studies attributed the Region with an estimated 220,000 personnel, a single armoured division, two motorised infantry divisions, one artillery division, one armoured, two motorised infantry, one artillery, one anti-aircraft brigades plus a single anti-tank regiment.

The Region included two Group Armies (the 21st at Baoji and the 47th at Lintong) plus two Armed Police Units (the 7th and 63rd). The known smaller formations included the 12th Armoured Brigade ('84701 Unit') at Jiuquan, Gansu. The region also included the Xinjiang Military District, unusual among PRC military districts in that it contains a significant number of combat troops (the 4th Infantry Division, 6th Infantry Division, 8th Infantry Division, and, apparently, the 11th Highland Motorised Infantry Division reportedly either at Urumqi or in the Karakoram Mountains (Blasko 2000).

Officers

Source:

  • Commander: Liu Yuejun (since 2012)
  • Political Commissar: Liu Lei (since 2014)

    • Tentative order of battle

    Headquarters is located at Lanzhou

  • 21st Group Army, Baoji, Shaanxi
  • 61st Motorised Infantry Division (“Red Army Division”), Tianshui, Gansu
  • 12th Armoured Brigade, Jiuquan, Gansu
  • Artillery Brigade (Blasko 2013 now lists Yinchuan, Ningxia)
  • Air Defence Brigade (Blasko lists only Gansu; other sources say Linxia, Gansu)
  • 'Tiger' Special Operations Dadui (Blasko 2013 lists a location)
  • 47th Group Army, Lintong, Shaanxi
  • 55th Motorized Infantry Brigade, Zhangye, Gansu
  • 56th Motorized Infantry Brigade (Blasko 2006 lists no location; 2013 state Wuwei, Gansu). Between 2006 and 2013 Blasko moved his listing for this brigade from the 21st Group Army to the 47th Group Army.
  • 139th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, Weinan, Shaanxi (reduced from division status)
  • 9th Armoured Brigade, Chengcheng, Shaanxi
  • 1st Artillery Brigade, Yongdeng, Gansu
  • Anti-Aircraft Brigade
  • Communications Regiment
  • Engineer Regiment

    • Scramble.nl says the 3rd Army Aviation Brigade (Wujiaqu) is part of the 47th Group Army.

    12th Artillery Division was previously with 47th Group Army.

  • Xinjiang Military District (HQ Ürümqi)
  • 4th Motorized Infantry Division (People's Republic of China) (Kuqa)
  • 6th Motorized Infantry Division (People's Republic of China) (Kashgar)
  • 8th Motorized Infantry Division
  • 11th Motorised Infantry Division (Urumqi)
  • 2 artillery brigades (Ürümqi County?)
  • 63rd Armed Police Mobile Division (People's Republic of China) (Pingliang) (formerly 21 Army 63 Division)
  • 7th Armed Police Mobile Division (People's Republic of China) (Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture) (former Xinjiang Military District 7th Division)

    • Lanzhou Military Region Air Force

    There are apparently command posts at Xi'an and Urumqi. Main source for this listing is Scramble.nl/cn.htm, accessed May 2012.

  • 6th Fighter Division
  • 16th Air Regiment (Yinchuan) (Su-27)
  • 18th Air Regiment (Lintao) (J-7)
  • Air Regiment (Jiuquan) (J-7, JJ-7A) - the Lanzhou MR Training Base was formed from 46th Div. In April 2012 this Regiment was re-subordinated to 6th Division.
  • 36th Bomber Division
  • 107th Air Regiment (Lintong) (H-6)
  • 108th Air Regiment (Wugong) (H-6E/F, H-6M)
  • Urumqi Base
  • 111th Brigade (Korla-Xinhiang) (J-11s) - 111th Regiment, 37th Fighter Division became a brigade in 2012, according to Scramble.nl/cn.htm.
  • Brigade (Urumqi-South) (JH-7) - ex 110th Air Regiment, 37th Division.
  • Brigade (Malan/Uxxaktal) (JJ-7A) - until 1988 the Regiment operated as 16th Division based at Ertaizi, after which it was transformed into Shenyang Military Region Training Base. JJ-7A aircraft were declared operational in July 2011. April 2012 the Regiment changed into a Brigade and got subordinated to Urumqi Base and moved to Malan.
  • Brigade (Changji) (J-8F, JJ-7A) - the Regiment used J5 and later J6 until 2002 when J8Hs arrived. These were replaced by J8F in 2006. In 2008 the Regiment moved from Kuerla, north of the city. In 2012 37th Div/109th Reg turned into a Brigade.
  • 5th Flying Academy
  • 1st Regiment, 5th Flying Academy (Hami)
  • 2nd Regiment, 5th Flying Academy (Zhangye SE)
  • 3rd Regiment, 5th Flying Academy (Wuwei)
  • Independent (Aerial Survey) Regiment (Hanzhong-Chenggu) (Y-8, An-30, Y-12)

    • Globalsecurity.org indicates that the 6th Fighter Division was established in November 1950 at Anshan, Liaoning and initially comprised the 16th and 17th Regiments. China-Military.org indicates that the 6th Division gained the 139th Regiment from the deactivated 47th Division sometime in 1998. The 106th Air Regiment of the 36th Bomber Division disbanded in 2004.

    Nickname

    Organizations affiliated with the Lanzhou Military Region often use the nickname "combat" (Chinese: 战斗; pinyin: zhàndòu; literally: "battle fight"), including the Combat Performance Troupe (Chinese: 战斗文工团), but not the People's Army Newspaper (Chinese: 人民军队报), which is the sole exception among all five major military region newspapers in this regard.

    References

    Lanzhou Military Region Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA