People's Volunteer Army: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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The nominal strength of a PLA [[division (military)|division]] was 9,500 men, with a [[regiment]] comprising 3,000 and a [[battalion]] consisting of 850. However, many divisions sent to Korea were below-strength while the divisions stationed opposite [[Taiwan]] were above-strength. There was also variation in organization and equipment as well as in the quantity and quality of the military equipment. Some of the PLA's equipment was from the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] or were captured from the Kuomintang military forces. Some [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]]-made weapons were also purchased on the open market by the PRC.

During the PVA's first offensive (the so-called First Phase Campaign)Offensive in the Korean War between October and November 1950, large quantities of captured U.S. weapons were widely used because of the availability of the required ammunition and the increasing difficulty of re-supplying across the [[Yalu River]] because of numerous UN-conducted air interdiction operations. In addition, there was also a local copy of the U.S. [[Thompson submachine gun]] being produced by the PRC, based on the type of which had already been exported to and used in China since the 1930s and by UN troops during the Korean War.

Later on, after the first year of the Korean War, the [[Soviet Union]] began to send more weapons and ammunition to the PRC, which started to produce licensed copies of some types of Soviet weapons {{citation needed|reason=[[PPSh-41#cite note-miller2001-36|Miller 2001]] states Type 50 was licensed.|date=December 2018}}, such as the [[PPSh-41]] submachine gun, which was designated as the Type 50.<ref> [https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30029313 Type 50] Imperial War Museum</ref> In addition to surplus WWII Soviet arms, the Soviet Union also provided some WWII German small arms to the Chinese like the [[Karabiner 98k]] rifle. Surplus Mauser ammunition were also supplied by the Soviet Union or were available from stocks left behind by the KMT forces who also used German ammunition.