In the history of the people's army, automobile equipment is a long historical legend. What was once a distant dream ended up being a great reality with its feet on the ground.
During the agrarian revolution, the Red Army's automobile armament was almost nil; During the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army were equipped with very few cars; During the War of Liberation, the People's Liberation Army really had its own cars, and it also set up its own car regiment; After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) relied on a large number of foreign and imported automobiles to form dozens of large-scale automobile regiments; Today, the people's army has set up a large number of mechanized troops, and all kinds of special-purpose vehicles have been equipped to the troops, from field vehicles for squad use to super trucks carrying "Dongfeng Express" missiles.
Looking back, during the Agrarian Revolution and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the people's army had very, very few cars, not to mention the formation of large-scale equipment troops, and even if there were a small number of them, they were used in the liberated areas. It was not until the Liberation War that the People's Liberation Army gradually equipped itself by seizing the cars of the Kuomintang army, and the People's Army officially had its own automobile troops. In 1946, on the basis of a large number of captured and repaired Kuomintang American cars, the Northeast Field Army (then called the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army) Automobile First Regiment (later incorporated into the 37th Regiment of the People's Liberation Army Automobile Serial Number) was established.
By the way, most of the cars of the Automobile Regiment of the Northeast Field Army are American-made, a small number are Japanese-style, and there are also Soviet troops left. There were two upsurges in the entry of American-made automobiles into China that year, one was from Burma to Yunnan via the Stilwell Highway during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the other was when the United States "assisted" the Kuomintang in fighting the civil war in the early days of the Liberation War. The vast majority of cars entering China are four field models: Dodge trucks, Jimsi trucks, medium jeeps and small jeeps.
American-style Avenue Odd Truck
American Jimsi Truck
American-style medium jeep
American-style little jeep
Whether it was during the Anti-Japanese War or the Kuomintang-Communist Civil War, after the Kuomintang army was completely wiped out, all of them became trophies of the People's Liberation Army and became the basic force for the establishment of the People's Army Automobile Regiment. In a Liaoshen campaign, the Fourth Field Army captured thousands of vehicles of various Kuomintang troops; In a partial encirclement and annihilation of the 35th Army of the Kuomintang army in the Battle of Pingjin, more than 400 automobiles were captured, almost all of which were American-made Daqi trucks. It is said that Lao Chiang is the "captain of the transport brigade" of the People's Liberation Army, and this is not true at all.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) began to reorganize, and the five field armies were uniformly deployed and arranged for their vehicles, and dozens of automobile regiments were set up one after another. During the period of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, the volunteers seized some American cars, and the Soviet Union also equipped a large number of gas trucks to the volunteers. After the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the People's Liberation Army's automobiles changed from a single American-style car to an American-style car and a Soviet-style car. The main brands of trucks are the American Style Dadao Qi and Jimsi, and the Soviet Style GAS 51 and GAS 63. For quite a long time, the automobile regiments of the Chinese army drove all foreign cars, isn't it interesting.
Soviet-made gas trucks
In 1956, after China's Changchun No. 1 Automobile Factory produced China's first truck, the Jiefang brand, the People's Liberation Army's automobiles began to change dynasties. After 1958, a large number of Jiefang brand cars entered the automobile regiments of the army, and American-made and Soviet-style cars were gradually replaced by domestically produced cars. By the end of the 70s of the last century, all the "American" and "Soviet-made" cars in the army were eliminated and replaced with all domestically produced cars. Some American-style Dadaoqi cars still appeared on the streets until the eighties of the last century, and some local units are still in use (Dadaoqi modified buses). The cars of the forties are still driving in the eighties and seem to be a legend as well.
Domestic Jiefang brand transport truck
Domestically produced Jiefang brand tractor truck