| Unit Name: | 74th Group Army |
| Native Name: | 第七十四集团军 |
| Dates: | 1949-present |
| Allegiance: | [1] |
| Type: | Group army |
| Command Structure: | Southern Theater Command Ground Force |
| Garrison: | Huizhou, Guangdong |
| Battles: | World War II Chinese Civil War Korean War Vietnam War Sino-Vietnamese War |
| Commander1: | Major General Huang Xucong |
| Commander2: | Major General Liu Hongjun |
| Commander2 Label: | Political commissar |
| Notable Commanders: | Wu Kehua Li Zuocheng |
| Identification Symbol Label: | NATO Map Symbol |
The 74th Group Army, Unit 31661, formerly the 42nd Group Army, is a military formation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Forces (PLAGF). The 74th Group Army is one of thirteen total group armies of the PLAGF, the largest echelon of ground forces in the People's Republic of China, and one of two assigned to the nation's Southern Theater Command.[2]
During the Korean War, the Army was part of the People's Volunteer Army (Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) or Chinese Communist Forces (CCF)) XIII Army Group. It was composed of the 124th, 125th, and 126th Divisions.[3]
During the Korean War, the 42nd Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Wu Ruilin.[4]
Major CPV forces did not enter Korea until the night of Oct. 16, 1950, when the 124th Division, of the 42nd Army of the XIIIth Army Group crossed the Yalu River opposite Manp'ojin.[5] On the 16th it started on foot from Manp'ojin, marching southeast through Kanggye and Yudam-ni to Hagaru-ri. From there its advanced elements proceeded to the point south of the Changjin Reservoir where they met the ROK 26th Regiment on 25 October. The remainder of the division moved up to the point of contact and joined in the battle near Sudong against the U.S. 1st Marine Division troops that replaced the ROK 26th Regiment.[6]
The 42nd Army and the 38th Army were pouring through the broken South Korean lines to Eighth Army’s east and threatening to envelop the entire force.[7]
The west flank units of this army, elements of the 125th Division, overlapped into the Eighth Army zone and apparently constituted the enemy force that dispersed the ROK 7th Regiment below Ch'osan at the end of October 1950.[8]
In October 1952 the 46th Army replaced the 42nd Army and they were rotated back to China.
The 74th Group Army appears to comprise six combined-arms maneuver brigades, which includes one heavy (armored), one medium (mechanized), two amphibious and two light (motorized) brigades, each brigade leads four combined-arms battalions. These combined arms brigades are the PLAGF's basic operational unit, likely following the United States' and later Russia's transition from division-centric warfare to brigade-centric warfare. The 74th Group Army also commands six combat support brigades.[9]
Since 2017, the 74th Group Army commanded the following subordinate units.[10]