Paradoxically, for China, participation in the First World War on the side of the Entente and influence on the events of the Civil War in Russia turned out to be two sides of the same coin. The Chinese "killed two birds with one stone."
Participation in the world war was expressed for China in sending troops to the border, which were supposed to suspend the advance of the Bolshevik units (it was believed that the Bolshevik government was headed by German agents, and, accordingly, Bolshevik Russia was considered a German satellite) in the area bordering China.
By February 6, 1918, 2 cavalry squadrons and 1 battalion of Mongolian infantry were moved to the border in order to stop the advance of "Bolsheviks and German prisoners of war."
When Czech troops won a victory in Irkutsk on June 18, 1918, 600 Chinese and Mongolian soldiers were sent to guard Maymachen. On July 6, 1 cavalry squadron and Mongolian troops were sent to protect the eastern and western outposts of China.
On July 20, 1918, 20 Chinese cavalrymen took 7 Austrian prisoners of war taken prisoner, delivered and interned in Verkhneudinsk. When on the same day in Maymachen the Bolsheviks arrested 10 influential Russian citizens, they were beaten off by a Chinese company, which had been brought forward to save them.
The active operations of the Chinese border units continued. So, on August 15, 1918, two cavalry squadrons and three battalions of Mongolian soldiers were sent to Kudalin to fight the Bolsheviks and Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war approaching the border. Several people were killed. On the same day, a cavalry squadron was sent to defend Verkhneudinsk against the Bolsheviks.
On September 1, 1918, 3 companies of Chinese soldiers and 300 Mongols, in cooperation with the Czechs, captured the Bolshevik leader in Troitsko-Savsk, and 2 thousand Austro-German prisoners of war were interned in a Czechoslovak camp. 40 machine guns, 6 guns, 2,000 rifles, gunpowder and horses were confiscated and handed over to Czech units.
In a battle on September 12, a Bolshevik detachment from Troitsko-Savsk was destroyed in Mongolia, and 2 companies of Chinese and 400 Mongolian soldiers pursued the Bolsheviks for over 20 km.
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And on October 13, 1918, at the request of Japan, a squadron of Chinese cavalry was put forward to search for the Bolsheviks.
In total, about 3 thousand Chinese and 1 thousand Mongolian soldiers acted in the vicinity of Kyakhta.
When the Allies decided to help the Czechoslovakians by sending troops to Vladivostok, the Chinese government also decided to take part in this. On July 23, the issue of sending troops to Vladivostok was finally resolved, and on August 25, a declaration by the Chinese government was published on the reasons that prompted it to send its troops to Vladivostok.
It noted that there was a turmoil in Russia, which took advantage of the central powers. German and Austrian prisoners of war in Siberia rebelled and prevented Czech troops from advancing to the East. The Chinese government is meeting the proposal of the American government and sending its troops for joint actions with the allies. It was declared that the Chinese troops will respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Russia and will not interfere in Russian domestic politics. After completing the tasks assigned to them, the Chinese troops will be completely withdrawn from the borders of Russia.
The schedule for the transfer of Chinese troops to Vladivostok looked like this:
18 August 1918 - 600 people of the 1st battalion of the 33rd regiment of the 9th infantry division and 20 gendarmes; 19 August 1918 - 600 people from the 2nd battalion of the 33rd regiment of the same division, about 100 people from a machine-gun company, about 150 people from a transport company; August 20, 1918 - a platoon of a transport company of the 9th division, about 150 people from a sapper company, a half-squadron of cavalry; August 21, 1918 - 2nd battery of the 1st artillery division of the 9th division (150 people), 2nd squadron of the 1st cavalry division (150 people); August 22, 1918 - 2nd convoy half-squadron of the 33rd Infantry Regiment of the 9th Division, 12 gendarmes, 200 workers [Popov-Tativ N. M. To the history of the Civil War in Russia // Military Thought and Revolution. - 1923.-- September-October. - S. 113].
The year 1918 was characterized by a continuous flow of secret loans from Japan to China under a variety of pretexts. Their total amount exceeded 240 million yen. To a large extent, these funds were used to support the operations in the Kyakhta region of 4,000 Chinese-Mongolian troops, as well as 1,500 Chinese soldiers and officers in Vladivostok.
A secret agreement was signed on the supply of weapons by Japan to China, for which a special loan of 20 million yen was signed on November 28.
As a result of the ensuing political upheaval, the situation changed. Ataman G. M. Semenov actively worked in cooperation with the Japanese in order to create Great Mongolia. Despite the negative attitude of the Mongols to the Japanese-Semenov venture, it served as a pretext for intervention from China.
On July 18, 1919, General Xu Shu-cheng was appointed commissar for the defense of the northwestern border and took measures to increase the number of Chinese troops in Urga to 4 thousand people. In October, he personally arrives in Mongolia and, through threats and bribes, achieves the fact that on November 16 of the same year the Mongols voluntarily renounce their autonomy, and by December 2, the Mongol troops were disarmed and disbanded.
In November 1919, the Chinese government canceled the Russo-Sino-Mongol agreement of May 25, 1915, and in January 1920, the Russo-Chinese agreement on the Hulunbuir District of Northern Manchuria.
The abolition of Mongolia's autonomy came as an unpleasant surprise for Japan. Soon the situation changes again. On July 28, 1920, the Border Defense Bureau is abolished, and its troops are included in the regular army of China. General Xu Shu-cheng withdraws from Mongolia.
By this time, the balance of forces within Mongolia also changed. The lack of tact on the part of the Chinese administration and its violence causes discontent on the part of the Mongols and prompts the latter to support the White Guard detachments of R. F. Ungern, who attacked Urga in October 1920, which he took on February 4, 1921. troops were destroyed.
On this, the direct or indirect participation of Chinese armed formations in the Civil War in Russia ended.
The Entente could not be satisfied with the actions of the Chinese troops, since their expected transfer to the European theater of military operations did not take place. The military actions of the Chinese against Soviet Russia could not inflict significant harm on the latter, but could not contribute to the establishment of friendly relations.
Chinese soldiers 1920
Chinese soldiers. Vladivostok. Autumn 1918
Author: Oleinikov Alexey
