Combining the characteristics of geographical location, human geography and natural geography, China is divided into four geographical regions, namely, northern region, southern region, northwest region and Qinghai-Tibet region.
Among them, the geographical and climatic dividing line between north and south is Qinling and Huaihe River. The protagonist of this paper, Hubei Province, is located in the south of Huaihe River in Qinling Mountains. According to strict geographical division, it belongs to a veritable southern province.
Map of southern provinces in China
As we all know, our army has five major war zones. According to normal people's thinking, Hubei should be included in the southern war zone. After all, Hubei really belongs to the southern province. However, Hubei was placed in the central war zone. Why is this? What's the point?
The author tells you that military geography is different from the geography we understand in our daily life and involves all aspects. In view of this, the author draws an outline of Hubei that you don't know based on the military history, and deeply understands why Hubei is classified as the central war zone.
Topographic map of Hubei province
First of all, the author takes you to understand the subordinate evolution of Hubei in the military region era. On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Hubei belonged to the Fourth Field Army and the Central China Military Region. 1June, 950, the Fourth Field Army and the Central China Military Region were renamed as the Fourth Field Army and the Central South Military Region in Hankou.
1In July, 952, the organs of the Central South Military Region moved from Hankou to Guangzhou. Subsequently, the Hubei Military Region, which belongs to the Central South Military Region, was changed from the second-level military region (corps level) to the third-level military region (corps level). 1955 In May, the Wuhan Military Region and the Hubei Military Region were established to govern Hubei and Henan provinces and their armed forces.
Photo of the former site of Wuhan Military Region
In July, the State Council and the Central Military Commission defined the three-level military region system, namely, the major military region, the provincial military region and the military sub-region. Later, Wuhan Military Region and Hubei B Military Region were renamed Wuhan Military Region and Hubei Military Region. 1In July, 956, Hubei Military Region was changed to Wuhan Military Region Public Security Command.
1957 In May, the public security headquarters of Wuhan Military Region was dissolved and Hubei Military Region was transferred to Wuhan Military Region. Until1June, 1985, when the Wuhan Military Region was abolished, there was no change in the subordinate relationship of the Hubei Military Region. After the dissolution of Wuhan Military Region, Hubei and its armed forces were placed under Guangzhou Military Region.
The armband of the former Guangzhou Military Region
On February 20 16, the Guangzhou Military Region was dissolved, and Hubei was not classified as a southern theater like a brother province, but as a central theater. In my opinion, there are three main reasons:
First, Hubei has long been responsible for the strategic reserve team;
Throughout the era of the Great Military Region, Hubei's long-term responsibility for the strategic reserve team can often play an important role in deepening the campaign and enhancing the independent combat capability of this strategic region. This is the case from Wuhan Military Region to Guangzhou Military Region.
In the era of war zones, Hubei's geographical position became more prominent. The Central Theater, like Wuhan Military Region and jinan military area command, is also a strategic reserve, which determines that this theater must have special location advantages and broad strategic depth.
Schematic diagram of five major war zones
You can understand it by looking at the map. After Hubei was incorporated into the central war zone, the hinterland of the war zone reached Jianghan area in the south and the Great Wall in the north. The distance between north and south is roughly estimated to be more than 2000 kilometers. In this way, everyone will understand the strategic value of Hubei.
The headquarters of the Joint Logistics Support Force is located in Wuhan, also considering the long-term responsibility of Hubei as a strategic reserve team. Looking back, after the dissolution of the Wuhan Military Region, the Central Military Commission established the base headquarters of the General Logistics Department in Wuhan, which can also explain from the side that Hubei shoulders the heavy responsibility of the strategic reserve team.
Second, Hubei has a superior geographical position and extremely convenient transportation;
Although Hubei is a southern province, it is in a relatively central position in the country. According to the seven geographical divisions of China, Hubei is located in the middle of China. In view of this, Hubei has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times, especially Wuhan, which is known as the thoroughfare of nine provinces.
Schematic diagram of "thoroughfare of nine provinces"
As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Yong, a famous minister, spoke highly of the superiority of Wuhan's geographical location:
There are three states in the south, Kyoto in the north, Ban Long in the top and Jianghu in the bottom.
On this basis, Cai Yong further concluded that Wuhan is an ideal place for "guiding money and transporting goods, and shifting trade as needed". Feudal dynasties attached great importance to the governance of Hubei, so I won't list them one by one. In modern times, Hubei's traffic advantages were further highlighted, as evidenced by the Beijing-Han Railway.
After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), Hubei's railways have developed by leaps and bounds, including Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, Beijing-Kowloon Railway and Shanghai Railway. The developed railway traffic has benefited Hubei a lot. Wuhan has become the leading city in six central provinces and the only sub-provincial city.
Wuhan has convenient transportation.
In addition to the traditional railway advantages, Hubei's water transport advantages are also outstanding. Water transportation is particularly prominent in long-distance transportation, with the characteristics of low cost, large transportation capacity and little pollution. On the other hand, there are two major water transport systems in Hubei, namely, the Yangtze River and the Han River, which have become a link between east and west and north and south.
The author noticed that there is a statistic on the Internet. If you start from Wuhan and want to reach any province in China, you only need to pass through two provinces at most, which also shows the convenience of transportation in Hubei. As far as military geography is concerned, this is an unparalleled "geographical advantage."
Third, Hubei is rich in resources;
Up to now, as many as 13 1 species of minerals have been discovered in Hubei, which has the characteristics of wide distribution, neat categories, many minerals and large reserves. Among them, the reserves of phosphorus, ruby, wollastonite, garnet and marl rank first. Iron, steel, gypsum, graphite, gold, mercury, manganese, vanadium, nickel and other mineral resources, reserves are also considerable.
Distribution map of mineral resources in Hubei Province
However, the resource-rich provinces basically have a profound heritage of heavy industry, and Hubei is no exception. Hubei enjoys a high reputation in the history of modern industry in China, and is known as "Hubei is one of the birthplaces of modern industry in China", among which Hanyang Iron Works is an outstanding representative.
After the founding of New China, Hubei became a national key manufacturing base, and later became a rare industrial province with a complete range of 465,438+0 industries, which means that Hubei's military industry is very developed. As for the extent of development, the author will not elaborate here.
A Brilliant Moment in Hubei's Military Industry History —— Made in Hanyang
I can tell you the highlight moment in the history of Hubei military industry: Hanyang Arsenal. "Made in Hanyang" designed by Hanyang Arsenal has been active from the late Qing Dynasty to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, which witnessed the rise and fall of the Chinese nation and became a legendary myth in the history of China War.
Generally speaking, although Hubei is a province in the south, it can be classified as the central war zone and has its special mission. Hubei is not an isolated case. Shaanxi, Shandong, Yunnan and other provinces are more or less similar to it. As the old saying goes, military geography is different from geography in our common sense system.
Training of a certain unit in the central theater
A little more, the western war zone occupies almost half of China's territory, but this design is also reasonable. People with insight must know that the Western Theater has jurisdiction over the Tibet Military Region and the Xinjiang Military Region, both of which are provincial military regions at the deputy ministerial level as defined by the Central Military Commission. Of course, this is beside the point. ...
References:
[1] "Why are Wuhan and Hubei under the jurisdiction of the Central Theater?" (Xu Ping China Military Network);
[2] Enter Hubei Geology (Hubei Geological Bureau);
[3] History of Hubei Industry (Xu Penghang Hubei People's Publishing House).