Mengjiang
| 蒙疆 (Chinese) | |||||
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Měngjiāng (Chinese) |
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| Mengjiang | |||||
| 1939-1945 | |||||
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| Official language | Japanese , Mongolian , Chinese | ||||
| Capital | Kalgan | ||||
| Form of government | Military dictatorship (1939-40) under the Reorganized Government of the Republic of China (1940-45) | ||||
| Head of state , also head of government | Demchugdongrub | ||||
| surface | 443,000 km² | ||||
| population | about 4 million | ||||
| founding | September 1, 1939 | ||||
| resolution | August 1945 | ||||
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Mengjiang ( Chinese 蒙疆 , Pinyin Měngjiāng , W.-G. Meng-chiang - "Mongolian border region, literally: Mongolian border" or 蒙古 聯合 自治 政府 , Měnggǔ Liánhé Zìzhì Zhèngfǔ - "Mongolian United Autonomous Government ", Mongolian ᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠤ᠋ᠨ
ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ
ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ
ᠬᠣᠯᠪᠣᠭᠠᠲᠤ
ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠭ ᠤ᠋ᠨ
ᠣᠷᠳᠣᠨ/ Mongɣol un öbertegen ǰasaqu qolboɣatu ǰasaɣ un ordon ) was a Japanese puppet state in northern China. It was founded on September 1, 1939 in eastern Inner Mongolia , mainly from the provinces of Chahar and Suiyuan . The country's autonomy was purely theoretical, as the actual exercise of political power remained in the hands of the Japanese occupiers. The head of state under the grace of Japan was the Mongolian prince Demchugdongrub .
history
background
After the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931 and the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo , Japan attempted to expand its influence in Mongolia and northern China. In 1933, Japan captured the Chinese province of Deer and incorporated it into Manchukuo. As a result, Japan pursued the strategy of creating state-like buffer zones in northern China (e.g. in Hebei ) on the border with Manchukuo and supported Mongolian independence efforts under Demchugdongrub .
To counteract this, the Republic of China under Chiang Kai-shek in 1934 was forced to grant Mongolia internal autonomy in the form of a Mongolian Council for Local Self-Government (蒙古 地方自治 政務 委員會Ménggǔ dìfāng zìzhì zhèngwù ) based in Bailingmiao ( Suiyuan Province ) . However, this only existed for two years.
In 1936 Demchugdongrub joined the Manchurian-Japanese bloc and formed a Mongolian military government (蒙古 軍 政府Ménggǔ jūn zhèngfǔ ) based on the province of Chahar , which soon also included the province of Suiyuan.
On July 7, 1937, the incident at the Marco Polo Bridge broke out and the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out . In November 1937, the Mongolian military government became part of the Allied Autonomous Government (蒙古 联盟 自治 政府Ménggǔ liánméng zìzhì zhèngfǔ ). Your area included
- five frets (leagues; Chinese 盟méng , Mongolian ᠠᠶᠢᠮᠠᠭ aimag )
- two cities
The allies autonomy government with the majority of Han Chinese populated areas
- South Chahar (察南 Chanan; seat of government: 張家Zhangjiakou , Mongolian ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠯᠭᠠᠨ Kalgan) and
- North Shanxi (晋北 Jinbei; seat of government: 大同Datong )
united in a federation with a Joint Council for the Mongolian Border Region (蒙疆 联合 委员会Méngjiāng liánhé wěiyuánhuì ) in Zhangjiakou (Kalgan).
Japanese puppet
On September 1, 1939, the governments of South Chahar and North Shanxi were merged with the Allied Autonomous Government, creating the United Autonomous Government of Mengjiang (蒙疆 聯合 自治 政府Méngjiāng liánhé zìzhì zhèngfǔ ). The capital remained Kalgan (Zhangjiakou). The state received a new flag similar to that of Manchukuo with horizontal stripes in four colors, with yellow for the Han Chinese, blue for the Mongols, white for the Hui and the central red for the Japanese.
In 1940 Mengjiang was incorporated into the Nanjing government as an autonomous state. On August 4, 1941, it was officially named the Mongolian Autonomous State (蒙古 自治 邦Ménggǔ zìzhì bāng ). This comprised the five Mongolian leagues, three cities (Hohhot, Baotou, Zhangjiakou) and the two prefectures of Chanan and Jinbei (the latter as the provinces of Xuanhua and Datong from 1943 ).
In the course of the Soviet Operation August Storm just before the end of World War II , Mengjiang was occupied by the Red Army and the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army . According to the Allied War Aims ( Cairo Declaration ) of the anti-Hitler coalition , the Soviet Union returned the area to the Republic of China in 1946 . Most of the territory has belonged to the People's Republic of China since 1949 .
economy
In Mengjiang, the Japanese founded the Mengjiang Bank , which printed its own currency. The special thing about this currency was that no year numbers were given.
There were large deposits of iron in Mengjiang. For example, the Japanese commissioned the Xuanhua Longyan iron mine, with a reserve of 91,645,000 tons in 1941.
The iron ores extracted were exported directly to Japan. At the same time, the Japanese were exploring the Suiyuan (occupied by Mengjiang) coal reserves, including 417 million tons and one with a potential profit of 58,000 tons in 1940.
military
The Mengjiang Army was a special unit of the Kwantung Army under direct command and had local commanders in addition to Japanese commanders. The High Command had Li Shouxin .
The army's purpose was to support Japanese operations against the Mongolian People's Republic or the areas of northern China and to act as local security forces alongside the local police. The army also had a duty to protect Prince Demchugdongrub, the head of state, senior military officials, politicians and the local authorities.
The army was armed with rifles, pistols, light and medium machine guns, mortars, and some artillery and anti-aircraft guns. It was organized as mobile cavalry and light infantry, with little artillery support and no tanks or aircraft.
history
In 1936, the Inner Mongolian Army was armed with Mauser rifles and had 200 machine guns. The army also had 70 pieces of artillery, mostly mortars, and a few captured Chinese mountain and field cannons of various types (ammunition and spare parts became a problem). The few tanks and armored cars were Chinese vehicles that were occupied by Japanese. The 1,000 bodyguards of Demchugdongrub were equipped with submachine guns.
After the Suiyuan campaign, Mengjiang's army was rebuilt from the defeated remnants of the central Mongolian army. The new eight Mongolian cavalry divisions were 1,500 men strong. Three regiments of 500 men were placed under one division. Each regiment should have three saber companies and one machine gun company of 120 men. However, these divisions actually ranged from 1,000 to 2,000 men (8th Division).
In 1939, the ethnic Chinese troops in the Mongolian divisions were grouped together in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd divisions and used against various guerrilla groups.
In 1943, the Mongolian 4th and 5th Divisions were merged into a new 8th Division, and the old 7th and 8th Divisions formed the new 9th Divisions. The strength of the army was between 4,000 and 10,000 men, everything at that time was cavalry and had little heavy equipment.
Mengjiang also had five defense departments in 1943, consisting of local militias and other security forces, nominally three regiments. Apparently only one of these regiments was operational in each division. In 1944 the Japanese reorganized them together with the Chahar garrisons into four divisions, each with 2,000 men.
At the end of the war, a total of six divisions (two cavalry and four infantrymen), three independent Chinese brigades and a backup regiment formed the army.
See also
literature
- Uradyn E. Bulag: Collaborative Nationalism. The Politics of Friendship on China's Mongolian Frontier. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham MD et al. 2010, ISBN 978-1-4422-0431-7 .
- Florian Heydorn: The Puppet Masters - How Japan's Military Established a Vassal State in Inner Mongolia. MilitaryHistoryNow.com, March 1, 2017, ( online ).
- Sechin Jagchid: The Last Mongol Prince. The Life and Times of Demchugdongrob, 1902-1966 (= Studies on East Asia. 21). Western Washington University - Center for East Asian Studies, Bellingham WA 1999, ISBN 0-914584-21-9 .
- Phillip S. Jowett: Rays of The Rising Sun. Armed Forces of Japan's Asian Allies 1931-45. Volume 1: China and Manchukuo. Helion, Solihull 2004, ISBN 1-874622-21-3 .
- Stephen R. MacKinnon, Diana Lary, Ezra F. Vogel (Eds.): China at War. Regions of China, 1937-1945. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA 2007, ISBN 978-0-8047-5509-2 .
swell
- ↑ Gothaisches Yearbook for Diplomacy, Administration and Economy 180 (1943) p. 414
- ↑ a b c Uradyn E. Bulag: Clashes of administrative nationalisms: banners and leagues vs. counties and provinces in inner Mongolia . In: Managing frontiers in Qing China (= Brill's Inner Asian library . Volume 35 ). 2017, ISBN 978-90-04-32995-9 , pp. 367–370 ( limited preview in Google Book search).