Lanzhou Military Region

Lanzhou Military Region

Lanzhou Military Region (highlighted)
Simplified Chinese 兰州军区
Traditional Chinese 蘭州軍區
The garrison in Linxia City, Gansu

The Lanzhou Military Region is one of seven military regions in the People's Republic of China. It directs 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.

In 2006 the International Institute for Strategic Studies attributes 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.[1] However, due to on-going reorganisation and reductions virtually all figures for numbers of Chinese military formations should be taken as indicative only.

The Region includes two Group Armies (the 21st at Baoji and the 47th at Lintong) plus two Armed Police Units (the 7th and 63rd). Known smaller formations include the 12th Armoured Division ('84701 Unit') at Jiuquan, Gansu. The region also includes 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).[2]

Officers

Source:[3]

Tentative order of battle

Headquarters, Lanzhou

Scramble.nl says the 3rd Army Aviation Brigade (Wujiaqu) is part of the 47th Group Army.[5]

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

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.

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.

Notes

  1. ↑ International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2006
  2. ↑ http://www.sinodefence.com/army/organisation/army-orbat.asp
  3. ↑ p. 25.
  4. ↑ Blasko, 2006, 80
  5. ↑ Scramble.nl

References

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