60th Corps (People's Republic of China)

The 60th Corps was a military formation of the People's Liberation Army. During the Korean War it formed part of the CPV/PLA III Army Group.

When initially formed in February 1949, it likely consisted of the 178th Division (1st Formation)(People's Republic of China), 179th Division, and 180th Division.

In Korea the 60th Corps comprised the 179th Division, 180th, and 181st Divisions.

During what the Chinese call the 5th campaign (May, 1950), the CPV suffered its largest loss: the 180th Division was totally destroyed. Roughly 3,000 men escaped earlier (including the division commander and other high-ranking officers), but the majority of the division were killed or captured. During the final days of the 5th campaign, the main body of the 180th Division was encircled during a United States Army counterattack, and after days of hard fighting, the division fragmented, and regiments fled in all directions. Soldiers either desert or are abandoned by their officers during failed attempts to wage guerilla warfare without support from locals. Finally, out of ammunition and food, some five thousand soldiers are captured, including the Division Commissar Pei Shan. The division commander and other officers who escaped were subsequently investigated and demoted back in China.[1][2]

During its deployment in Korea from 1952 the 33rd Division was attached to 12th Corps, then the 60th Corps, taking part in the 1953 Summer Offensive.

The army left Korea in October 1953.[3]

The army was active in the Nanjing Military Region until disbanded in late 1985.

References

1. Korean War FAQ, from CenturyChina.com
2. Chinese Question Role in Korean War, from POW-MIA InterNetwork Archived 2007-10-23 at the Wayback Machine
3. Zhang, Shu Guang (1995), Mao's Military Romanticism: China and the Korean War, 1950–1953, Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, ISBN 0-7006-0723-4, p.270