| Mongolian People's Army | |
|---|---|
| Монголын Ардын Арми | |
 Emblem of Mongolian People's Army | |
| Founded | March 1921 |
| Disbanded | February 1992 |
| Service branches | Ground Force Air Force |
| Headquarters | Ulaanbaatar |
| Leadership | |
| Commander-in-Chief |  Damdin Sükhbaatar (1921–1923) Jambyn Batmönkh (1984–1990) |
| Minister of Defence | Damdin Sükhbaatar (1921–1923)Shagalyn Jadambaa (1990) |
| Chief of General Staff | GeneralShagalyn Jadambaa (1990) |
| Personnel | |
| Military age | 18 |
| Conscription | Yes |
| Reserve personnel | 15,000 |
| Industry | |
| Foreign suppliers |  Soviet Union Poland East Germany Vietnam Democratic People's Republic of Korea Cuba Bulgaria China |
| Related articles | |
| History | Soviet–Japanese border conflicts Post–war |
| Ranks | Military ranks of the Mongolian People's Republic |
TheMongolian People's Army (Mongolian:Монголын Ардын Арми,romanized: Mongolyn Ardyn armi,Mongolian pronunciation:[mɔŋɡ(ə)ɮɨŋɑrdɨŋarmi]), also known as theMongolian People's Revolutionary Army (Mongolian:Монгол Ардын Хувьсгалт Цэрэг) or theMongolian Red Army (Mongolian:Монгол Улаан армийн), was an institution of theMongolian People's Revolutionary Party constituting as the armed forces of theMongolian People's Republic. It was established on 18 March 1921 as a secondary army underSovietRed Army command during the 1920s and duringWorld War II. In 1992, the army's structure changed and then reorganized and renamed as theMongolian Armed Forces.
One of the first actions of the newMongolian People's Revolutionary Party authorities was the creation of a nativecommunist army in 1921 under the leadership of adept cavalry commanderDamdin Sükhbaatar in order to fight againstRussian troops from theWhite movement andChinese forces. The decision to create an army was made on 9 February 1921.[1]
On 13 March 1921, four cavalry regiments were formed from partisan detachments.[2] The MPRA was aided by theRed Army of theRussian SFSR, whichhelped to secure theMongolian People's Republic and remained in its territory until at least 1925. AMilitary Council was formed soon after among the military leadership,[3] while theGeneral Staff was led by Soviet specialists.[4]
In September 1923,[5] on the outskirts of Urga, the first cavalry school and an artillery school were opened, and a year later, the publication of the army newspaper began.[6] On October 16, 1925, Mongolia adopted a law on universal conscription, and in 1926, the creation of temporary detachments of the people's militia began.[7]
Initially during the native revolts of the early 1930s and theJapanese border probes beginning in the mid-1930s, Soviet Red Army troops in Mongolia amounted to little more than instructors for the native army and as guards for diplomatic and trading installations. Domestically, it took part in the suppression of the1932 armed uprising. It also involved in many border conflicts againstManchukuo and theKwantung Army (one of the largest parts of theImperial Japanese Army) and the ChineseNational Revolutionary Army. TheImperial Japanese Army recorded 152 minor incidents on the border of Manchuria between 1932 and 1934. The number of incidents increased to over 150 per year in 1935 and 1936, and the scale of incidents became larger.
In January 1935, the first armed battle,Halhamiao incident (哈爾哈廟事件,Haruhabyō jiken) occurred on the border betweenMongolia and Manchukuo.[8] Scores of Mongolian cavalry units engaged with aManchukuo army patrol unit near theBuddhist temple of Halhamiao. The Manchukuo Army incurred slight casualties, including a Japanesemilitary advisor.
Between December 1935 and March 1936, theOrahodoga incident (オラホドガ事件,Orahodoga jiken)(ja) and theTauran incident (タウラン事件,Tauran jiken) (ja) occurred. In these battles, both the Japanese and Mongolian Armies use a small number ofarmoured fighting vehicles andmilitary aircraft.
In the 1939Battles of Khalkhin Gol (or Nomonhan) heavily armedRed Army forces underGeorgy Zhukov assisted by Mongolian troops underKhorloogiin Choibalsan decisively defeatedImperial Japanese Army forces underMichitarō Komatsubara. During a meeting withJoseph Stalin in Moscow in early 1944, Choibalsan requested military assistance to the MPRA for border protection.[9] Units of Mongolian People's Army were also supported andallied with the Soviet Red Army on the western flank of theSoviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945. As part of theCavalry mechanized group of theTransbaikal Front under GeneralIssa Pliyev, Mongolian troops under General D. Lhagwasuren comprised the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Cavalry Divisions, the 7thMotorized Armored Brigade, the 3rd Tank Regiment, and the 3rd Artillery Regiment.[10]
During the 18 months of violence, Monks who were not executed were forcibly conscripted into the MPA.[11] At the same time, 187 persons from the military leadership were killed on the orders of Marshal Choibalsan.[12] The army stayed linked toSoviet Red Army intelligence groups and theNKVD.
During thePei-ta-shan Incident, eliteQinghai Chinese Muslim cavalry were sent by the ChineseKuomintang to destroy the Mongols and the Russians positions in 1947.[13] The military of Mongolia's purpose was national defense, protection of localcommunist establishments, and collaboration withSoviet forces in future military actions against exterior enemies, up until the1990 Democratic Revolution in Mongolia. In February 1957, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the MPRP passed a resolution on the establishment of a voluntary association to assist the People's Army.[14] In 1961, the Defense and Labor Association was established by the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Mongolia.[14] The first civil defense in the country was established in 1964 as the 122nd Civil Defense Battalion of the MPA.[15] Moreover, all Mongolian citizens were obliged to participate in civil defense training organized by the Civil Defense Office of theMinistry of Defense.[16]
In 1971–72, Mongolian forces were listed as two infantry divisions; 40 T-34 and 100 T-54/55 tanks; 10SU-100 tank destroyers, BTRs, and Air Force of 1,000 men with no combat aircraft. The Air Force has transports, trainers, and 10Mil Mi-1 andMil Mi-4 helicopters.[17][18]
The central Political Administration Unit was established in the army in 1921 to supervise the work of political commissars (Politruk) and party cells in all army units and to provide a political link with the Central Committee of theMPRP in the army. The unit served to raise morale and to prevent enemy political propaganda. Up to one third of army units were members of the party and others were in theMongolian Revolutionary Youth League.
The Red Mongol Army received sixty percent of the government budget in early years and it was expanded from 2,560 men in 1923 to 4,000 in 1924 and to 7,000 in 1927. The native armed forces stayed linked to SovietRed Army intelligence groups andNKVD, Mongoliansecret police, andBuryat MongolComintern agents acted as administrators and represented the real power in the country albeit under direct Soviet guidance.
By 1926 the government planned to train 10,000 conscripts annually and to increase the training period to six months. Chinese intelligence reports in 1927 indicated that between 40,000 and 50,000 reservists could be mustered at short notice. In 1929 a general mobilization was called to test the training and reserve system. The expected turnout was to have been 30,000 troops but only 2,000 men presented. This failure initiated serious reforms in recruiting and training systems.[citation needed]
In 1921–1927, the land forces, almost exclusivelyhorsemen, numbered about 17,000 mounted troops and boasted more than 200 heavymachine guns, 50 mountainhowitzers, 30field guns, sevenarmored cars, and a maximum of up to 20 lighttanks.
The basic unit was the 2,000-man cavalryregiment consisting of threesquadrons. Each 600-plus-man squadron was divided into five companies: a machine gun company, and anengineer unit. Cavalry regiments were organized into larger units—brigades ordivisions—which includedartillery and service support units. The chief advantage of this force was mobility over the great distances in Mongolia: small units were able to cover more than 160 km in 24 hours.
Under Soviet support campaign for mechanization, the army formed its first mechanized unit in 1922. Also it was by structure in the ground force half-mechanization cavalry in the other units distributed to light armored vehicles until 1943. It began to process to motorised since 1943.This is a list of Mongolian People's Army tanks and armour during the 1922s-World War II period.
Although little attention was paid to anti-aircraft weaponry in the Mongolian People's Army, a few dozen units of Soviet origin were known to be distributed to light armored outfits.
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The Mongolian People's Army Aviation drastically improved with Soviet training and vastly ameliorated within a time span of several years. In May 1925, aJunkers F.13 entered service as the first aircraft in Mongolian civil and military-related aviation. In March 1931, theSoviet Union donated threePolikarpov R-1s to the Mongolian People's Army, with Mongolia further purchasing three R-1s.[19] In 1932, anuprising broke out againstCollectivization, which saw bothSoviet andMongolian-operated R-1s taking part in actions against the rebellion. The aircraft carried out reconnaissance,leaflet dropping, and bombing missions.[20] Chinese intelligence reports that in 1945 the Mongolian People's Air Force had been with a three-fighter and three-bomber aviation-regiment, and one flight training school and greater airsquadrons. It was reported that headquartered in theMukden Manchukuo spy-section in October 1944 air force whole units had been 180 aircraft and 1231 airmen. The Mongolian People's Army Aviation demonstrated its full potential during theBattle of Khalkhin Gol, which was its largest engagement. Apart from intercepting intruding aircraft, People's Aviation was used heavily to repress domestic rebel movements.
TheMongolian People's Air Force has operated a variety of aircraft types.
On 28 April 1944, the Council of Ministers promoted the 11 officers to the rank of general, a rank that was never crossed before up until then. This date has been remembered as “Mongolian Generals' Day”.[21] The highest military ranks in the MPA army general, but in 2006 the Law on the Legal Status of Military Servicemen was amended to make it more developed to a Western model.[21]
Because establishment of the Armed Forces was based on a Soviet military system in the 1920s, the Mongolian People's Army used similar uniforms with theRed Army, only with Mongolian distinctions. Until 1924, People's Army personnel wore traditionaldeel, which had their respective shoulder insignias. In the mid-1930s, the army adopted SovietGymnasterka and developed its true rank and distinction system. All personnel were distinct by their sleeve and collar insignias from the general population when thegymnastyorka was rather popular. After theBattle of Khalkhin Gol, slight modifications were made. In 1944 all uniforms and insignia were significantly changed to include shoulder insignia and camouflage cloaks, similar to Soviet uniform modifications but on olive green.
From the 1960s, the equipment and uniforms of the Mongolian People's Army were modernized.[citation needed] As before, the Mongolian People's Army (aSoviet ally) was similar to theSoviet Armed Forces in appearance and structure.
