At the end of the Qing Dynasty, China's national power declined. Just like an old man carrying a huge treasure walking alone among a group of bandits, he would naturally attract aggressive covetous people and the country would continue to lose. It was against this background that Outer Mongolia had a tendency to separate.
When the Second World War was about to end in 1945, in order to allow the Soviet Union to send troops to deal with the Japanese invaders as soon as possible, the two giants, Britain and the United States, sold out many of China's rights and interests without China's permission at the Yalta Conference, including the recognition of the independence of Outer Mongolia. .
This kind of thing makes every Chinese extremely angry. Unfortunately, the Chiang Kai-shek government signed the "Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance" with the Soviet Union in August 1945, acquiescing to the independence of Outer Mongolia, and publicly recognized the matter in January 1946. In the end there was nothing we could do. However, what I didnโt expect was that in 1947, Mongolia brazenly invaded Chinaโs Beitashan area.
What is the reason behind this, and what impact has it caused?
Beita Mountain is located in the northeast of Xinjiang, China and the southwest of Mongolia. It is adjacent to the Altai Mountains to the north, the Haptik Mountains to the southeast, and the Junggar Basin to the west and south. The geographical location is very important, and it is even more significant for China. Major .
Because this is the only channel connecting northern Xinjiang to the Altai Mountains, if it is occupied by other countries, Zhenxi and Qitai will be unsafe, and the entire northeastern Xinjiang will be wide open, so this place cannot be missed!
However, China and Mongolia did not establish diplomatic relations at first, and the borders were not even clearly demarcated, which paved the way for subsequent conflicts. Since its independence, Outer Mongolia has been invading my country's Beitashan region. Because China's domestic situation was relatively complicated at that time, the Nationalist Government did not negotiate with Mongolia at the diplomatic level, which indirectly encouraged Outer Mongolia's arrogance.
Of course, Mongolia alone would not dare to provoke China. Behind it was the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union insisted on separating Outer Mongolia, it actually felt that the Nationalist Government was like a vassal of the U.S. government and was uneasy about having such a pro-American regime around it, so it wanted Outer Mongolia to act as a buffer. Therefore, in 1947 the Soviet Union did not mind provoking Mongolia to do something else.
Starting in February 1947, Mongolia dispatched more than 2,000 soldiers to the Beita Mountain area. From time to time, they would cross the border to plunder our country's livestock, and occasionally soldiers would come to our territory to provoke. In May, their malicious actions became more and more frequent. The commander of the 1st Temporary Cavalry Division of the National Army Han Youwen was wary of Dasheng and quickly increased the patrol mission to Beita Mountain.
One day, patrol officers discovered several newly built wooden houses in the hidden areas of Beita Mountain. There were large amounts of ammunition inside and slogans in Russian and Mongolian were printed on them. This means that Mongolia wants to station here for a long time and is ready to fight. Those Russian slogans indicate that the Soviets seem to be involved.
Han Youwen did not dare to neglect and immediately reported the news to Song Xilian, the Commander-in-Chief of Xinjiang Security. Song Xilian also believed that the situation was serious. While reporting to the National Government, he also asked Ma Xizhen, commander of the cavalry company of the 3rd regiment of the 1st temporary cavalry division, to lead his troops to Beita Mountain to prevent the enemy from attacking.
Ma Xizhen was a fierce general in Qinghai's "Ning Haijun" in her early years. She had superb riding skills, dared to fight hard, and was very familiar with the terrain near Beita Mountain. As soon as he arrived at Beita Mountain, he quickly built fortifications at a strategic location near the main peak, and deployed a strict firepower network to monitor Mongolia's actions at any time.
In order to combat the enemy's arrogance, Ma Xizhen ordered them to be driven back. During the process, both sides were relatively restrained and no blood was shed. However, two Mongolian soldiers were captured alive. Originally, Ma Xizhen thought that when the Mongolian army came to negotiate next time, she could use these two soldiers as an example to warn the other side not to make any more aggressive actions.
However, when two Mongolian army officers came to negotiate on June 2, directly claimed that Beita Mountain was Mongolian territory, so that the Chinese army must withdraw completely within 24 hours and release the two Mongolian soldiers, otherwise Mongolia would launch more changes. Violent military action.
After hearing this unreasonable request, Ma Xizhen refused without thinking. For the sake of safety, he reported the matter to the Xinjiang Security Command and requested reinforcements. However, before reinforcements arrived, the Mongolian attack began.
However, commander Ma Xizhen reacted quickly. He quickly gathered his troops to fight back based on the fortifications. Because we had the advantage of occupying the commanding heights, the enemy's intention to make a surprise attack was defeated.
Upon seeing this, the Mongolian army began to charge hard. When they reached the mountainside, our defenders pushed down the prepared boulders. Although this method was simple and primitive, it was very effective. Many Mongolian soldiers were killed or injured. They never reached the main peak.
After four hours of bloody battle, the Mongolian army did not take any advantage, but paid a large number of casualties. Seeing that their ammunition was almost exhausted, they ran away in despair.
Ma Xizhen was not dazzled by this temporary victory. He reported the battle and casualties that night, and emphasized that the opponent had five Soviet aircraft to assist in the battle. Song Xilian knew that the Mongolian army would definitely not give up, and there would definitely be a larger-scale attack next.
So he ordered Han Fan, commander of the second regiment of the 1st Temporary Cavalry Division, to lead the main force to Beita Mountain for support, and at the same time dispatched a car company to transport supplies. Ma Xizhen knew it would take some time for the main force to arrive, so to ensure nothing went wrong, he sent someone to ask for help from nearby herdsmen.
The herdsmen are physically strong and very familiar with the terrain. As long as they are willing to participate in the war, it will definitely be a great help. Fortunately, the herdsmen were well aware of their righteousness. When they heard that they were fighting for their country, more than a hundred people stood up to help the defenders face the enemy.
html In the early morning of June 7, the Mongolian army indeed launched another attack. Their combat method was still the same, using firepower to suppress it first, and then letting the army charge. Because the defenders had experience, their attacks had little effect. After discovering the enemy's artillery lookout post, Ma Xizhen asked the soldiers to launch a counterattack to destroy it.After a day of fighting, the Mongolian army could not get anything except some corpses.
After the war, at least more than 30 Mongolian troops died, and the Chinese army suffered more than 20 casualties. We also seized 1 small cannon, 3 light machine guns, more than 20 rifles, 2 pistols, and a radio. Importantly, a document was seized, written in Russian, which essentially confirmed that the Soviet Union was behind it.
The apparent conflict subsided, but it still had a far-reaching impact. Chiang Kai-shek used the seized Russian documents to protest against the Soviet Union and Mongolia internationally. During that time, Beita Mountain became the focus of world attention. , the Mongolian army did not dare to act rashly anymore.
In July 1947, the one-year observation period for Mongolia's application to join the United Nations came to an end. Chiang Kai-shek used the Beitashan incident as an excuse to lash out at the United Nations General Assembly. That year, the United Nations rejected Outer Mongolia's membership.
Mongolia held a grudge and later sent small groups of troops to sneak attacks on Beita Mountain. However, they were repulsed by the Chinese army each time. Finally, in the autumn of 1948, they announced their withdrawal, and peace returned to the Beita Mountain area.
The Battle of Beitashan was fought by the Communist Party of China and Mongolia more than 20 times. Although the scale was small overall, it was the only war between China and Mongolia. After that, Mongolia did not dare to covet our territory anymore, which is also significant. Profound. Those soldiers who defend their homeland are still very admirable!
