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In my country's modern military history, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army was a local army with a strong presence, and its organizational strength numbers were also very interesting.

For example, in the TV series "Drawing Sword", we can see the 358th Regiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army with a total strength of 5,000 people. Many netizens also learned about the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army through this film and television drama.

However, the Jinsui Army in real history was exactly the opposite of what is shown in the drama, because it did not lack organization, but rather was short of soldiers.

Therefore, the strength of 5,000 people in the middle and late stages of the War of Resistance was actually the size of a reinforced division of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army.

Of course, the strange organization of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army in the middle and late stages of the War of Resistance does not mean that its previous organization was not strange.

For example, as mentioned in the title of this article, there are 5 infantry armies but only 8 infantry divisions under their jurisdiction. This situation is extremely abnormal.

After all, according to the principle of the "three-three system", an infantry army should normally have three infantry divisions under its command, or at least two infantry divisions.

There are only 8 divisions under the 5 armies, and on average each army has less than two divisions. Some armies only have one infantry division. What's the point?

But this was the real situation at the time. Let’s analyze why this situation occurred.

First of all, we know that the predecessor of the Jinsui Army was the Jin Army founded by Yan Xishan in the 1910s. By the 1920s, its sphere of influence expanded to Sui, hence the name Jinsui Army.

At its peak, its influence had expanded to the Pingjinji area, and its troops had grown to 10 armies, 30 infantry divisions, 4 security columns, 4 cavalry divisions, and 7 cavalry brigades, with a total strength of 200,000 to 300,000 people.

During the Central Plains War in 1930, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army also competed for a time.

But after the failure of the Central Plains War, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army had to be reorganized, and its numbers were issued by Nanjing, which only gave numbers to 4 armies and 8 divisions.

They are:

The 66th and 67th Divisions under the 32nd Army; the 68th and 69th Divisions under the 33rd Army; the 70th and 71st Divisions under the 34th Army; and the 72nd and 73rd Divisions under the 35th Army.

There were not many numbers to begin with, and as a result, the commander of the 32nd Army, Shang Zhen, led his troops to leave, taking away the numbers of the 32nd Army and the two brigades under the 67th Division. As a result, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army was left with only three armies and seven divisions.

Although the infantry divisions of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army at that time were composed of 2 brigades and 6 regiments, the decline in size from more than 10 armies to this level must have made Yan Xishan unhappy.

Under such circumstances, Chiang Kai-shek approved the new number of the 19th Army for the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, but this made Yan Xishan even more furious.

The establishment has increased, so why is Commander Yan still angry?

Because in 1934, Li Shengda, the commander of the 72nd Division of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, was ordered to lead four brigades southward; during this period, in order to win over Li Shengda, Chiang Kai-shek promoted Li to the commander of the 19th Army.

Of course, the level has been raised, but the troops under his command remain the same.

However, this personnel appointment was not approved by Yan Xishan, who was extremely dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek's interference in the internal affairs of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. Despite the multiple 19th Army numbers, Yan Xishan did not regard Li Shengda as an army commander. When Li's troops were transferred back later, Yan specifically made Li Sun Chu's deputy, while Sun was only a division commander at the time.

Due to the intensification of conflicts, Li Shengda died soon after. Yan Xishan appointed Wang Jingguo as the commander of the 19th Army and finally got the number back.

In this way, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army had 4 armies and 7 divisions.

When the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army was reorganized, there was also a Zhengtai Railway Protection Army. This unit was later awarded the number of the 101st Division, and the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army then had a total of 8 division numbers.

In this way, theoretically, the standard status of 4 armies and 8 divisions, with each army having 2 divisions, can be restored.

However, in order to control the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, Yan Xishan completely disrupted the organization of the army, division, brigade, and regiment, making the subordinate status of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army very chaotic.

For example, Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army did not actually have the number of a division, but it had two infantry brigades under its jurisdiction; taking away one level of organization in the middle interrupted the promotion hierarchy of Fu's officers.

As for other armies, Yan Xishan could transfer them at will according to which army commander he wanted. The army commander actually had no real power and commanded whoever he was assigned to.

After the victory of the Suiyuan Anti-Japanese War in 1936, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army added the 61st Army, but in fact the troops remained the same, with only multiple army-level headquarters to provide subordinates with multiple promotion channels.

Given the state of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, it is understandable that its command and affiliation system was quite distinctive when the full-scale war of resistance broke out in 1937.