A combined arms brigade of the 71st Army of the PLA has recently carried out a counter-exercise to seize and control a town. It comes against a backdrop of rising tensions across the Taiwan Strait and rising voices in China about using force to reunify Taiwan.
According to a CCTV military report on June 23, a combined arms brigade of the 71st Group Army of the Chinese army carried out a red and blue combat drill around a town at a training ground in eastern Anhui. Wearing goggles, night vision devices and endoscopes on tactical vests, officers and soldiers in full starry camouflage hid among the town houses.
In the confrontation exercise, the Red side used endoscopes, new unmanned vehicles and other new equipment to scout close and locate the blue troops inside the buildings.
Facing the defense of the blue side, the red team used multiple intrusions and combined up and down attacks to encircle the “enemy” and successfully eliminated the blue team.
It is reported that in three months, the brigade organized more than 100 waves, nearly 1,600 officers and soldiers to carry out urban offensive and defensive training, providing a foundation for accelerating the improvement of combat effectiveness.
According to public information, the 71st Army of the People’s Liberation Army was formed in April 2017 and belongs to the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Its predecessor was the 12th Group Army and is based in Xuzhou, Jiangsu. The Eastern Theater Command is regarded as the main force for the future attack on Taiwan.
