The Iron Wall

Prasun K. Sengupta

The order of battle (ORBAT) and the tables of equipment (ToE) of the People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces’ (PLAGF) Urumqi-headquartered Xinjiang Military Region (XMR), inclusive of the South Xinjiang Military District (SXMD) during the Cold War era was dictated by the 3,084km long border between Xinjiang and the USSR. This was further influenced by the ORBAT and ToE of the USSR’s Red Banner Central Asian Military District (with its headquarters at Almaty), which included the 32 Combined Arms Army (HQ in Semipalatinsk), the 17 Army Corps (HQ in Frunze), the 73 Air Army and the 24 Aviation Division with a total of eight combat/ combat-support Regiments. The 32 Combined Arms Army included the 69 Deep Reserve Tank Division, 71 Motor Rifle Division (MRD), 78 Tank Division, 155 MRD and the 203 MRD. The 17 Army Corps included the 8 ‘Guards’ MRD, 68 ‘Red Banner’ MRD, 134 MRD and the 68 Motor Rifle Brigade.

PCL-161 Mounted Gun System

Clearly outgunned and outnumbered both qualitatively and quantitatively, the ground formations of the XSMD had to endure another handicap vis-à-vis both the USSR and India: the sheer obsolescence of the PLA Air Force’s (PLAGF) combat aircraft assets. Added to this was Beijing’s sheer reluctance to use offensive airpower against its adversaries—be they India (in 1962) or Vietnam (in 1979)—for fear of risk escalation being initiated by the USSR from either its Central Asian Military District or from Mongolia. The PLAAF was especially worried that it would be soundly beaten by far more experienced Vietnamese and the Indian Air Force pilots, who had actual dogfighting experience. Consequently, faced with the prospect of warfighting on the ground without the PLAAF’s support, the PLAGF since the late 1970s began acquiring a wide range of wheeled and tracked armoured vehicles and tube/ rocket field artillery systems of USSR-origin from Egypt, which were subsequently cloned and re-engineered by the state-owned China Ordnance Industry Group Research Institute No. 201 in Huaishulin, Fengtai District, Beijing; and were mass-produced by the First Inner Mongolia Machinery Factory and Baotou Machine Factory (