Inner Mongolian Army | |
---|---|
Active | 1936–1945 |
Country | Mengjiang |
Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
Type | Army |
Size | 10,000 (1936) 20,000 (1937) |
Engagements | Second Sino-Japanese War |
Commanders | |
Ceremonial chief | Prince Demchugdongrub |
Notable commanders | Li Shouxin Jodbajab Altanochir Wang Ying |
The Inner Mongolian Army, also sometimes called the Mengjiang National Army, referred to the Inner Mongolian military units in service of Imperial Japan and its puppet state of Mengjiang during the Second Sino-Japanese War, particularly those led by Prince Demchugdongrub. It was primarily a force of cavalry units, which mostly consisted of ethnic Mongols, with some Han Chinese infantry formations.
After Japanese intrigues led to the formation of the Mongol Military Government under Prince Demchugdongrub (De Wang), the Inner Mongolian Army was initially formed from the personal units of various Mongol banner chiefs. Among those was Prince De Wang's personal bodyguard force of about 900 men, armed with weapons from the armories of the "Young Marshal" Zhang Xueliang, who had given them to the Prince in an attempt to win his favor. It was not the largest Mongolian army but was the most efficient, being aided by Japanese advisers. Another source of recruits were the bandit gangs that were based in the region. Thus the original force came to include Mongolian tribesmen along with Han Chinese bandits and irregulars from the Manchukuo Imperial Army, [1] the latter of which were led by the warlord Li Shouxin. [2] He would later be appointed the commander of the army. [3]
This exotic force suffered from disunity and poor discipline during the preparations to invade the Nationalist-controlled Inner Mongolian province of Suiyuan in 1936. The majority of them were also poorly armed, with only about half of them having rifles. They were primarily armed by weapons from the stocks of the defeated Young Marshal, which fell into the hands of the nearby Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Among the preparations was the setting up of an air arm for the Inner Mongolian Army, but this air force was a purely Japanese one. It consisted of Japanese aircraft flown by Japanese pilots, who did not even bother applying any Mongol insignia to their aircraft and just flew with the original Japanese ones. In total it had 28 planes and were based at a town about 65 kilometres (40 miles) north of Kalgan, the Inner Mongolian capital. They flew several bombing missions against Nationalist targets in an attempt to soften them up for the coming operation. [2]
The invasion of Suiyuan finally began in October 1936 with Inner Mongolian units, a group of Han Chinese collaborators under Wang Ying called the Grand Han Righteous Army, and a number of Japanese "advisers" embedded among them. The whole operation was overseen by Japanese staff officers. First contact between Inner Mongolian and National Revolutionary Army troops occurred on 14 November in the town of Hongor. They launched several attacks against the Nationalist defenders over the course of the next couple of days but were repulsed each time with considerable casualties. The Mongols were not lacking in courage but were untrained for this sort of fighting. A final assault launched during a snowstorm on 16 November was likewise beaten back by Chinese machine guns. A surprise counterattack by the Nationalists on 17 November resulted in the Inner Mongolian Army and its allies being forced to retreat and regroup at their headquarters in Bailingmiao, where they received some training from the Japanese. The Nationalist General Fu Zuoyi then led an assault on the city, using three trucks to break through the city gates. The defending force reportedly consisted of the 7th Division of the Inner Mongolian Army and lost 300 killed, 600 wounded, and 300 captured. They also left behind a significant amount of equipment which was taken by the Nationalists. [2]
Although the operation was a failure, skirmishes continued over the next eight months between Japanese and Inner Mongolian troops on one side and the Nationalists on the other. When the Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937 after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, they tried to invade again. In August 1937 six or seven divisions (some sources say nine) repulsed an assault by three Chinese divisions in heavy fighting. They were assisted by Japanese aircraft and gave the Nationalists some 2,000 casualties. An attack on Bailingmiao resulted in its recapture, led by cadets from the Military Training School that had been established in 1936. Over 20,000 Mongols advanced into the remaining provinces with Japanese support, later being involved in the Battle of Taiyuan. [4]
As the Pacific War began in 1941, Japan worked to mobilize all of its puppet troops, including the Inner Mongolian Army, to fight its war. They played on Prince De Wang's desire to become the emperor of all of Mongolia by promising to eventually give him Outer Mongolia (controlled by the Soviet satellite state the Mongolian People's Republic at the time). He committed Mongolian Army and police units to assisting Japanese operations throughout northern China against guerrillas and bandits during the period from 1938 until the defeat of Japan in 1945. These operations often resulted in high civilian casualties due to the Mongol and Japanese troops attacking civilians living in the areas where the insurgents were known to be hiding. By that time, Japanese officers had total control over both the Mengjiang government and army. [5] They forced the Prince to sign a decree stating that the Mongolian government had declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States in 1941. [6]
In August 1945, after the Soviets declared war on Japan, the Red Army and its allied Mongolian People's Army invaded both Manchukuo and Mengjiang during the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation. The few Inner Mongolian cavalry units that engaged the Soviets proved to be no match for the battle-hardened Red Army and were swept aside, with the Mongolian regime falling shortly after Japan surrendered. [7] Prince De Wang led the army (which consisted of six divisions at the time, two cavalry and four infantry, and some independent brigades) in battle personally. Three divisions were destroyed by the Red Army, the rest reportedly joined the Chinese Communists. [8]
The army was divided into divisions of about 1,500, with one division being composed of three regiments of 500 men each. One regiment included four cavalry squadrons and one machine gun company, the latter having a strength of 120 men. However, the standard structure mostly existed on paper and it was unlikely that it was used in reality. A military training school was also established in 1936 with an intake of 500 cadets. However, the cadets became disillusioned and about 200 of them deserted. [4]
Their order of battle for the Suiyuan Campaign was as follows: [4]
By 1937 their forces were organized in six or nine divisions. [4] In later years the Inner Mongolian Army was organized as follows: [9]
The rank system of the Inner Mongolian Army was modeled on those of the Imperial Japanese Army; however, instead of maroon bands on the insignia, the Mongols used blue. [10] The rank of general was held by Prince De Wang as commander-in-chief and Li Shouxin as the commander of the army. [11]
The rank insignia of commissioned officers.
Rank group | General / flag officers | Senior officers | Junior officers | |||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chinese | 上将 | 中将 | 少将 | 上校 | 中校 | 少校 | 上尉 | 中尉 | 少尉 | 准尉 | ||||||||||||||
Pinyin | Shàngjiàng | Zhōngjiàng | Shàojiàng | Shàngxiào | Zhōngxiào | Shàoxiào | Shàngwèi | Zhōngwèi | Shàowèi | Zhǔnwèi | ||||||||||||||
Literal translation | Upper commander | Middle commander | Lower commander | Senior field officer | Middle field officer | Junior field officer | Upper officer | Middle officer | Lower officer | Allow officer | ||||||||||||||
Mengjiang National Army [10] |
The rank insignia of non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel.
Rank group | NCO's | Enlisted | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chinese | 上士 | 中士 | 下士 | 上等兵 | 一等兵 | 二等兵 |
Pinyin | Shàngshì | Zhōngshì | Xiàshì | Shàngděngbīng | Yīděngbīng | Èrděngbīng |
Literal translation | Upper soldier | Middle soldier | Lower soldier | Upper class soldier | First class soldier | Second class soldier |
Mengjiang National Army [10] |
A wide variety of rifles found their way into the Inner Mongolian Army arsenal, mostly bought by Prince De Wang or given by the Japanese. The first weapons that they received were 10,000 Liao Type 13 rifles from the Mukden Arsenal, given as a gift by the Young Marshal Zhang Xueliang. Other small arms included the Swiss Sig. Model 1930 sub-machine gun, utilized by bodyguards in small numbers. Machine guns in use numbered about 200 with some of them being the Czech ZB-26 light machine gun. Those also came from Zhang Xueliang's former army after it was defeated by the Japanese. The Inner Mongolians had about 70 artillery pieces, mostly mortars, but also a few field and mountain guns, from former Nationalist stores. Reportedly they did use a few armored cars and tanks, but they were most likely operated by Japanese. [4]
The early uniforms worn by Mongolian troops were their civilian clothing. Typical it consisted of a long blue padded cotton tunic that was worn which reached down to the ankles along with an orange sash around the waist. Headgear was either a lambs' wool hat or a colored turban wrapped around the head. The color of the turban varied with each Mongol banner clan having a distinctive one. In addition they wore a leather bandolier for cartridges which was slung over the left shoulder. Some soldiers were dressed in loose fitting cotton jacket and trousers along with a peak cap. In 1936 a new uniform was in use, modeled on the Nationalist Chinese uniform. It included a loose-fitting grey jacket and grey cotton trousers. A peaked grey cotton peaked cap was worn along with it (similar in appearance to those worn by the Russian Imperial Army during World War I). Other uniforms they used included the regular Japanese Army uniform but with Inner Mongolian insignia. [11]
[T]he tabs in blue color used by all branches of this army, [...] copied from the Japanese sequence.
Mengjiang, also known as Mengkiang, officially the Mengjiang United Autonomous Government, was an autonomous zone in Inner Mongolia, formed in 1939 as a puppet state of the Empire of Japan, then from 1940 being under the nominal sovereignty of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China. It consisted of the previously Chinese provinces of Chahar and Suiyuan, corresponding to the central part of modern Inner Mongolia. It has also been called Mongukuo or Mengguguo. The capital was Kalgan, from where it was under the nominal rule of Mongol nobleman Demchugdongrub. The territory returned to Chinese control after the defeat of the Japanese Empire in 1945.
Demchugdongrub, also known as Prince De, courtesy name Xixian, was a Qing dynasty Chinese Mongol prince descended from the Borjigin imperial clan who lived during the 20th century and became the leader of an independence movement in Inner Mongolia. He was most notable for being the chairman of the pro-Japanese Mongol Military Government (1938–39) and later of the puppet state of Mengjiang (1939–45), during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In the modern day, some see Demchugdongrub as a Mongol nationalist promoting Pan-Mongolism, while others view him as a traitor and a pawn of the Japanese during World War II.
Fu Zuoyi was a Chinese military leader. He began his military career in the service of Yan Xishan, and he was widely praised for his defense of Suiyuan from the Japanese. During the final stages of the Chinese Civil War, Fu surrendered the large and strategic garrison around Beiping to Communist forces. He later served in the government of the People's Republic of China as Minister of the Hydraulic Ministry.
The Mongolian People's Army, also known as the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army or the Mongolian Red Army, was an institution of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party constituting as the armed forces of the Mongolian People's Republic. It was established on 18 March 1921 as a secondary army under Soviet Red Army command during the 1920s and during World War II. In 1992, the army's structure changed and then reorganized and renamed as the Mongolian Armed Forces.
The Battle of Rehe was the second part of Operation Nekka, a campaign by which the Empire of Japan successfully captured the Inner Mongolian province of Rehe from the Chinese warlord Zhang Xueliang and annexed it to the new state of Manchukuo. The battle was fought from February 21 to March 1, 1933.
The Suiyuan campaign was an attempt by the Inner Mongolian Army and Grand Han Righteous Army, two forces founded and supported by Imperial Japan, to take control of the Suiyuan province from the Republic of China. The attempted invasion occurred in 1936, shortly before the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese government denied taking part in the operation, but the Inner Mongolians and the other collaborationist Chinese troops received air support from Japanese planes and were assisted by the Imperial Japanese Army. The entire operation was overseen by Japanese staff officers. The campaign was unsuccessful, mostly due to lack of training and low morale among the Mongolians and other collaborators. The defense of Suiyuan, one of the first major successes of China's National Revolutionary Army over Japanese-supported forces, greatly improved Chinese morale.
The Manchukuo Imperial Army was the ground force of the military of the Manchukuo, a puppet state established by Imperial Japan in Manchuria, a region of northeastern China. The force was primarily used for fighting against Communist and Nationalist guerrillas in Manchukuo but also took part in battle against the Soviet Red Army on several occasions. It initially consisted of former National Revolutionary Army troops of the "Young Marshal" Zhang Xueliang who were recruited after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria en masse, but eventually expanded to include new volunteers and conscripts. The Imperial Army increased in size from about 111,000 troops in 1933 to an estimated strength of between 170,000 and 220,000 soldiers at its peak in 1945, being composed of Han Chinese, Manchus, Mongols, Koreans, Japanese, and White Russians. Throughout its existence the majority of its troops were considered to be mostly unreliable by their Japanese officers and advisers, due to poor training and low morale.
The term Collaborationist Chinese Army refers to the military forces of the puppet governments founded by Imperial Japan in mainland China during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. They include the armies of the Provisional (1937–1940), Reformed (1938–1940) and Reorganized National Governments of the Republic of China (1940–1945), which absorbed the former two regimes.
The Pacification of Manchukuo was a Japanese counterinsurgency campaign to suppress any armed resistance to the newly established puppet state of Manchukuo from various anti-Japanese volunteer armies in occupied Manchuria and later the Communist Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. The operations were carried out by the Imperial Japanese Kwantung Army and the collaborationist forces of the Manchukuo government from March 1932 until 1942, and resulted in a Japanese victory.
The Inner Mongolian campaign in the period from 1933 to 1936 were part of the ongoing invasion of northern China by the Empire of Japan prior to the official start of hostilities in the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1931, the invasion of Manchuria secured the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo and in 1933, Operation Nekka detached the province of Jehol/Rehe from the Republic of China. Blocked from further advance south by the Tanggu Truce, the Imperial Japanese Army turned its attention west, towards the Inner Mongolian provinces of Chahar and Suiyuan, with the goal of establishing a northern China buffer state. In order to avoid overt violation of the Truce, the Japanese government used proxy armies in these campaigns while Chinese resistance was at first only provided by Anti-Japanese resistance movement forces in Chahar. The former included in the Inner Mongolian Army, the Manchukuo Imperial Army, and the Grand Han Righteous Army. Chinese government forces were overtly hostile to the anti-Japanese resistance and resisted Japanese aggression only in Suiyuan in 1936.
The Manchukuo Imperial Air Force was the air force of Manchukuo, a puppet state of Imperial Japan. The air force's predecessor was the Manchukuo Air Transport Company, a paramilitary airline formed in 1931, which undertook transport and reconnaissance missions for the Japanese military.
The order of battle Chahar People's Counter-Japanese Allied Army in the Inner Mongolia campaign of 1933.
Wang Ying was a Chinese bandit and minor Japanese puppet warlord from western Suiyuan. He was involved in the Chahar People's Anti-Japanese Army in 1933, commanding a formation called the 1st Route. Following the suppression of the Anti-Japan Allied Army, Wang Ying went over to the Japanese Kwantung Army and persuaded them to let him recruit unemployed Chinese soldiers in Chahar Province. He returned to Japanese-occupied Northern Chahar with enough men to form two Divisions that were trained by Japanese advisors. By 1936 Wang was commander of this Grand Han Righteous Army attached to the Inner Mongolian Army of Teh Wang.
Li Shouxin was a pro-Japanese commander in the Manchukuo Imperial Army and later the Mengjiang National Army.
The Grand Han Righteous Army (大漢義軍) was a collaborationist Chinese army cooperating with the Empire of Japan in campaigns in northern China and Inner Mongolia immediately prior to the official start of hostilities of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The Suiyuan campaign was a Japanese attempt to increase the size of their puppet state of Inner Mongolia in 1936.
Gada Meiren was the Mongol leader of a struggle and, eventually, an uprising against the sale of the Khorchin grasslands to Han settlers in 1929.
Jodbajab, also known under the courtesy name of Shihai was an Inner Mongolian military officer and government official during the late Qing dynasty and Mengjiang governments. He was an ethnic Mongol belonging to the Plain and Bordered White Banner of Xilin Gol League.
The North China Buffer State Strategy is the general term for a series of political manoeuvrings Japan undertook in the five provinces of northern China, Hebei, Chahar, Suiyuan, Shanxi, and Shandong. It was an operation to detach all of northern China from the power of the Nationalist Government and put it under Japanese control or influence.
The Mengjiang yuan is the monetary unit that was issued in 1937–1945 by several governments of Mengjiang (Mengkiang).