Rank Insignia and Uniforms Thread

King Helü of Wu

Banned
Communist China adopts East German Gears.

In a world where Mao was killed in 1954, China could avoid a drastic breakup with the Soviet Union, and keep the military spending (which has risen to $23.7 billion by 1970 IOTL) low, so that more resources could be used to fuel economic growth. The defense spending began to drop as soon as China got nukes in 1963 (2 years earlier without Sino-Soviet Split).

As a result, China has a much smaller army than it had IOTL: the regular units were kept below 2 million mark, with a draft instated to ensure that the military can have higher quality human resource without having to pay them too much (IOTL PLA has a draft in name, but in fact entirely voluntary).

In accordance with the smaller but better-equipped army, as soon as China ditched the soviet style uniform(like IOTL), they switched to the East German type.

The first, of course, is NVA's trademark M56 Stahlhelm, which offered better protection than any other helmet in the world prior to PASGT, thanks to its sloped, bullet deflecting design.
 

King Helü of Wu

Banned
Communist China adopts East German Gears.

The first, of course, is NVA's trademark M56 Stahlhelm, which offered better protection than any other helmet in the world prior to PASGT, thanks to its sloped, bullet deflecting design.

The Soviet, Japanese, American and M1935 German Helmets (for whatever reasons they all ended up in the chinese inventory )the army was wearing were given to militia, paramilitary, police and firefighting units.
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King Helü of Wu

Banned
Communist China adopts East German Gears.

DDR Uniform PLA (3).png

The helmet is then covered with Raindrop camouflage.

The above picture shows a PLA draftee in the late 1960s guarding the a nuclear missile base.

DDR Uniform PLA (3).png
 

King Helü of Wu

Banned
Communist China adopts East German Gears.

DDR Uniform PLA (4).jpg
A female People's National Defense Army (ITTL the name for PLA, the reason for name change was same as why Stalin changed Red Army to Soviet Army) cadet.

The since usually people with high school or university education get drafted for officer corps, the cadets are generally from the better off class in the society (small businessmen, former capitalists, urban factory workers, Christians etc.) who are usually influenced in lifestyle (and in manner & appearance) by that of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

DDR Uniform PLA (4).jpg
 

King Helü of Wu

Banned
Communist China adopts East German Gears.

DDR Uniform PLA (5).jpg
When Chinese soldiers saw their TTL new uniform in 1st Aug. 1965, they were unimpressed by their overtly foreign look. Over time, they came to appreciate the intricacy of Made In (East) German, with the mosquito net attached to helmet, the Y-belt, the simple but trustworthy bag, the light and warm overcoat etc.

The above picture features a female cadet trying out her new gear in inventory full of foreign weapons...
(Well, it's actually a...)

DDR Uniform PLA (5).jpg
 

King Helü of Wu

Banned
Communist China adopts East German Gears.

In addition to a East German combat gear, the dress uniform was also made akin to the Nationale Volksarmee. Although Chinese army began to follow Prussian traditions since the Franco-Prussian War, they were never as Germanized as now in appearance.

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The above was a People's National Defense Army Officer Candidate. The fact that he was similar to one of Chiang's son could not trouble Marshal Lin Biao, who was already beginning to re-approach with Chiang secretly.

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King Helü of Wu

Banned
Communist China adopts East German Gears.

In the end, only less than 10 percent of Chinese PNDA troops reached the level of German units in terms of combat readiness, mobilization speed and the ability to spearhead an attack.

This was because. aside from budget, the Chinese leadership (namely Marshal Lin Biao) considered the NVA not as a complete and independent army, but as a kind of rapid reaction unit of the Warsaw Pact force, which, though admirable, lacks the ability to survive a war independently, an ability the NTL Lin Biao always longed for.
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A People's National Defense Army Drill.

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King Helü of Wu

Banned
Tsao said:
Those are fantastic, King of Wu.
Click to expand...

Well, I was always obsessed with the idea of a better communist China, with more money devoted in economic development, reaching the high industrial standards of East Germany, and a thriving petite bourgeoisie like those of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, or even (in the end) a bit more liberal and democratic than OTL.

This is not impossible if small businesses stayed private and land collectivization was not carried out (butterfly away great leap forward). Better that the Party allowed private ownership and capitalistic practices in agriculture, a Bukharin doctrine. (But keep the land reform, albeit the cruelty).

Remember that lots of businesses that disintegrated in the reform era were actually per-communist businesses nationalized in early 1950s, had they stayed on private hands they would never lose competitiveness and end up sold to foreigners. (I wanted to say "if the State didn't steal the private businesses in the 1950s, they would have never ended up being betrayed to the foreigners in the 1990s", but I try not to be emotional).
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And would Soviet Union allow a semi-capitalist power to exist in the south? The answer is yes. As long as China stay close to Russia militarily. India was essentially such a state with a non-communist society but an ally with Moscow.

The above was why I want to make a Mao Assassinated scenario in 1954, the remaining communist leaders had neither the will nor the ability to carry out Mao's OTL collectivization of land and economy, and his later excesses.

The only thing is that it's hard to dissuade the communists from building their mammoth factories, which take care of their employees CRADLE TO GRAVE, but abandoned them all when they proved to be inefficient in a market economy.
 
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