PLA Ground Forces news, pics and videos
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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Why would the PLA use heavy combined-arms brigade in a positional defense role? Combined-arms brigades are designed for maneuvering warfare.
If you'd look at the diagram, you'd see that there is a counterattacking element in the Deep Defense Zone. Positional defense merely means that a unit seeks to prevent some position from being taken. It does not preclude counterattacking.
PAP is kinda like China's national guard. Their role is to support PLA as light infantry during wartime.
I expect in any kind of full scale war with the US, China's current ground force of 950k is simply not enough. This war has the potential to become pacific war 2.0 with island hopping, amphibious invasions and so forth. So, China will need a massive ground force.
PAP can augment the PLAGF in the initial stage while they train the conscripts that will be inevitably required.
The diagram is depicting entrench positions and the entire brigade is in a fix position mode. Why would PLA put a heavy combined-arms brigade in this situation in the first place? Motorize brigade would make more sense. The whole heavy combined-arms brigade should be in the rear ready for counterattack.
We recently had a discussion here that PLA doesn't have motorized brigades anymore. Its all mobility focused brigades now, either heavy, medium or light brigades with mengshi. So, they kinda have to use highly mobile brigades for fixed defense if they are put into a defensive stance at any point.
It's more like gendarmiere because the PAP specializes in counter insurgency meaning in war they can garrison the rear while PLAGF handles the front. The lesson that China learned from the GWOT is that you don't use the regular army in Counter insurgency setting because they unsuited for ot hence why the US drastically expended SOF.