Actions in Inner Mongolia (1933–36)

Inner Mongolia (1933-36)
Part of Second Sino-Japanese War
Date April 1933–December 1936 Location Chahar and Suiyuan provinces Result 1933 Japanese victory 1936 Chinese victory
Belligerents
Empire of Japan  Manchukuo Chinese collaborators Mongol Military Government (1936)	Republic of China
Commanders and leaders
Liu Guitang (1933) De Wang (1936) Wang Ying (1936)	Feng Yuxiang (1933) Fang Zhenwu (1933) Shang Zhen (1933) Liu Guitang (1933) Fu Zuoyi (1936)
Units involved
Japanese and collaborator armies Kwantung Army 4th Cavalry Brigade Military advisers Manchukuo Imperial Army Detachment of the Taoliao Army Cui Xingwu Detachment Liu Guitang Detachment Collaborationist Chinese Army Grand Han Righteous Army Inner Mongolian Army Prince De Wang's bodyguards Li Shouxin Detachment Pao Yueh-ching Detachment	Chinese army and guerrilla units National Revolutionary Army Chahar People's Anti-Japanese Army 1st Rout Army 2nd Route Army 3rd Route Army Cavalry Army Reserve Army Northeastern Loyal and Brave Army Jehol Anti-Japanese Militia Chahar Self-Defense Army
Strength
1933 2,000 Japanese and 6,000 collaborators 1936 10,000 Inner Mongolians 6,000 Chinese 30 Japanese advisers	1933: ~100,000 troops 1936: ~45,000
Casualties and losses
?	?

1933
2,000 Japanese and 6,000 collaborators

1933:
~100,000 troops

The campaigns in Inner Mongolia 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 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.

In February 1933, following the successful Japanese invasion of Jehol, the Kwantung Army left a small Japanese detachment and the much larger Manchukuo Imperial Army to watch the eastern Jehol border, while the balance of the Japanese forces moved south to engage the Chinese on the Great Wall. In April 1933, collaborationist General Liu Guitang, under Japanese orders, crossed into southeastern Chahar province in the Dolonor region, as a diversionary feint to draw off Chinese reinforcements to the Great Wall. Finding little resistance, Liu then led his 3,000 troops further east toward Changpei. Although reported at the time as a Japanese operation, Liu's further advance may have been carried out without Japan's explicit approval.