Organization was flexible, the higher echelons being free to tailor forces for combat around any number of infantry divisions. ![]() Each field army division had over 12,000 personnel in three infantry regiments, one artillery regiment, one armored regiment, and one anti-aircraft artillery battalion. Under the old system, a field army consisted of three partially motorized infantry divisions and two regiments of artillery and anti-aircraft artillery. Regional forces consisted of 73 divisions of border defense and garrison troops plus 140 independent regiments. Main forces included about 35 group armies, comprising 118 infantry divisions, 13 armored divisions, and 33 artillery and antiaircraft artillery divisions, plus 71 independent regiments and 21 independent battalions of mostly support troops. It provided a good conventional defense, but in 1987 had only limited offensive potential and was poorly equipped for nuclear, biological, or chemical warfare. The PLA ground forces consist of conventionally armed main and regional units, which in 1987 made up over 70 percent of the PLA. It appears that twenty per cent or even more of the seventy new armies were disestablished up to 1953 in 1952 alone, the 3rd, 4th, 10th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Armies were disbanded. While some, such as the 1st Army, survived for over fifty years, a number were quickly amalgamated and disestablished in the early 1950s. In February 1949, the existing large number of armies and divisions were regularized into up to seventy armies of three divisions each. ![]() See also: Military history of China before 1911
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