Symon
Posts: 1928
Joined: 11/24/2012 From: De Eye-lands, Mon Status: offline
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This is very simplified, suitable for abstraction, but in no way detailed or complete. The main difference between Central and Provincial forces is that Central forces came from the nation at large: they were raised, trained (kinda), equipped (kinda) and paid (rarely) by the Central Govt, so their loyalty (such as it was) was to Chaing. Provisional forces were raised, trained (maybe), equipped (kinda) and paid (more rarely) by the Provincial Governors. PGs might have been warlords in the Nationalist period, but were nominally appointed by, and variably loyal to, the KMT regime. However, since the troops were armed paid by the PGs, their loyalty lay with whoever filled their rice-bowl: they bore watching. There were warlords (PGs) and then there were warlords (PGs). Just being a PG does not imply incompetence, per se. Venality, corruption, and efficiency were pretty evenly distributed. The main effect was in the distribution of the highly scarce support weapons and lend-lease equipment, as it became available. All that stuff went to Chiang’s supporters. But that doesn’t mean that Provincial units were always peasants with rifles: several of them got the good stuff, while Central units got bupkis. Anyway, at the beginning of 1943, there were 235 identified divisions, of which 94 were nominally Central Army forces, 134 were nominally Provincial forces, and 7 are of indeterminate or miscellaneous origin. In addition, there were 11 Reserve Divisions and 51 Provisional Divisions. All 11 ResDivs and 21 of the ProvDivs were Central Army forces, 14 were Sichuan Provincial forces, 5 were raised by the NW Army and the remaining 11 came from diverse provincial sources. They were more like specific, directed manpower reserves than front-line operational units. So, technically, there were 297 identified divisions, of which 126 were nominally Central Army forces, and 164 were nominally Provincial forces. Central Army: 1 Honor, 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 34, 36, 40, 43, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 57, 58, 60, 61, 67, 77, 78, 79, 80, 83, 84, 85, 87, 88, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 103, 109, 110, 117, 118, 121, 140, 185, 190, 191, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, N1, N3, N22, N23, N26, N28, N29, N30, N33, N34, N35 Quasi Central Army: 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 44, 47, 54, 56, 75, 76, N24, N27 NE Area: 105, 108, 111, 112, 113, 114, 116, 130 NW Area: 20, 22, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 74, 81, 100, 106, 132, 143, 168, N4, N6 Hunan Area: 15, 16, 19, 62, 63, 107, 192 Henan Area: 64, 65 Yunnan Area: 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, N10, N11, N12 Shanxi Area: 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 101, 139, 141, 142, N2, N31, N32 Shaanxi Area: 17, 42, 86, 128, 165, 166, 169, 177 Sichuan Area: 104, 119, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 133, 134, 136, 137, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 161, 162, 163, 164, 167, 178, N7, N9, N13, N14, N15, N16, N17, N18, N21, N25, N37 Guangdong Area: 59, 90, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 186, 187, 170, N19 Guangxi Area: 131, 135, 138, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 188, 189, Guizhou Area: 102, N8 Status Indeterminate: 41, 45, 46, 82, N5 Puppet Troops that Defected N20, N36 [ed] Oh, yes, N just means New Division. It's merely an identifier for historiacl clarity. It has no bearing whatsoever on the unit's TOE, training, or anything else.
< Message edited by Symon -- 4/18/2014 6:12:56 PM >
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Nous n'avons pas peur! Vive la liberté! Moi aussi je suis Charlie! Yippy Ki Yay.
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