Inner Mongolian Army

A unit of Prince De Wang's personal cavalry, 1935

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 rank system of the Inner Mongolian Army was modeled on that of the Manchukuo Imperial Army (which itself was based on Imperial Japanese Army ranks). Instead of maroon bands on the shoulder insignia the Mongols used blue. The rank of general was held by Prince De Wang as commander-in-chief and Li Shouxin as the commander of the army.[10]

	Rank	Epaulette
General 将官	General 上将
	Lieutenant General 中将
	Major General 少将
High officers 校官	Colonel 上校
	Lieutenant-colonel 中校
	Major 少校
Officers 尉官	Captain 上尉
	Lieutenant 中尉
	Junior Lieutenant 少尉
Lower officers 准士官	Warrant Officer 准尉
Sergeants 副士官	Staff Sergeant 上士
	Sergeant 中士
	Junior Sergeant 下士
Soldiers 兵	Lance Corporal 上等兵
	Private first class 一等兵
	Private second class 二等兵

• Jowett, Philip (2004). Rays of the Rising Sun, Volume 1: Japan's Asian Allies 1931–45, China and Manchukuo. Helion and Company Ltd. ISBN 978-1-874622-21-5.
• MacKinnon, Stephen; Lary, Diana (2007). China at War: Regions of China, 1937–45. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0804755092.