Battle of Kashgar
Part of the Kumul Rebellion
Date1933[1]
Location
Kashgar, Xinjiang
Result impasse
Belligerents

Republic of China (1912–1949) Republic of China

First East Turkestan Republic First East Turkestan Republic
Commanders and leaders
Republic of China (1912–1949) Ma Zhancang
Republic of China (1912–1949) Ma Shaowu		 First East Turkestan Republic Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra
First East Turkestan Republic Abdullah Bughra
First East Turkestan Republic Osman Ali (Kirghiz)
First East Turkestan Republic Timur Beg †
First East Turkestan Republic Tawfiq Bay[2]
Strength
Several thousand Hui Chinese and Han Chinese troops Thousands of Turkic Muslim Uighur and Kirghiz fighters

In the 1933 Battle of Kashgar (Chinese: 喀什戰役), Gen. Ma Zhancang signed a secret agreement with the daotai of Kashgar, Ma Shaowu, and his Chinese Muslim troops joined the Han Chinese garrison inside the yamen in Kashgar and helped them repulse Uighur and Kirghiz attacks led by Abdullah Bughra.[3] Turkic Uighur and Kirghiz forces led by the Uighur Timur Beg had been attacking Chinese Muslim villages and pillaging them.[4][5] During the fighting Timur Beg was shot and then beheaded by Ma Zhancang's forces, his head being put on display at the Idgah mosque. When more Chinese Muslim troops arrived, they reinforced the Chinese garrison inside Kashgar.[6] Osman Ali, the Kirghiz rebel, attempted to attack the yamen, but was driven back with heavy losses. He then proceeded to loot the city.[7]

On September 26, 1933, the Syrian Arab Tawfiq Bay led a Turkic force against the Chinese Muslims in Kashgar new city. Ma Zhancang repulsed the attack after very heavy fighting, and wounded Tawfiq Bay.[2]

During the battle the Kirghiz prevented the Uighurs from looting the city, mainly because they wanted to loot it themselves. They stole the belongings of, and started murdering, the Chinese's concubines and spouses who were women of Turkic origin and Chinese people themselves.[8]

References

  1. ^ Ondřej Klimeš (8 January 2015). Struggle by the Pen: The Uyghur Discourse of Nation and National Interest, c.1900-1949. BRILL. pp. 122–. ISBN 978-90-04-28809-6.
  2. ^ a b "FIGHTING IS SEVERE Tungans and Turkis Clash in Chinese Turkestan". The Montreal Gazette. 11 October 1933. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  3. ^ Mary Patricia Joan Rouse (1992). Search for a new dominion: revolt and rebellion in Xinjiang, China during the Republican period, 1911–1949. Ithaca: Cornell University. p. 34. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  4. ^ Lee, JOY R. "THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF EASTERN TURKESTAN AND THE FORMATION OF MODERN UYGHUR IDENTITY IN XINJIANG" (PDF). KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY. p. 22. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 28, 2013. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  5. ^ Lee, JOY R. "THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF EASTERN TURKESTAN AND THE FORMATION OF MODERN UYGHUR IDENTITY IN XINJIANG" (PDF). KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY. p. 22. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  6. ^ S. Frederick Starr (2004). Xinjiang: China's Muslim borderland. M.E. Sharpe. p. 77. ISBN 0-7656-1318-2. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  7. ^ James A. Millward (2007). Eurasian crossroads: a history of Xinjiang. Columbia University Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-231-13924-3. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  8. ^ Andrew D.W. Forbes (1986). Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911–1949. Cambridge, England: CUP Archive. p. 81. ISBN 0-521-25514-7. Retrieved 2010-06-28.

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