Battle of Kashgar (1934)

The Battle of Kashgar (Chinese: 喀什戰役) was a military confrontation that took place in 1934 during the Kumul Rebellion. Turkic Muslim Uyghur and Kirghiz fighters under Emir Abdullah Bughra and other Turkic separatists began four separate attacks over a six-day period on Hui and Han Chinese soldiers led by Gen. Ma Zhancang, trapping them inside Kashgar. Khoja Niyas Hajji joined the attack with his own Kumul Uyghur fighters after a 300-mile trek from Aksu – from which he was driven out by a force of Chinese Muslims — appearing at the walls of Kashgar on 13 January. The Chinese Muslim and Chinese forces repulsed the Turkic fighters, inflicting severe casualties upon them.^[6]

Battle of Kashgar
Part of the Kumul Rebellion
Date 7–13 of January – February 1934 Location Kashgar, Xinjiang Result New 36th Division victory
Belligerents
Republic of China New 36th Division	First East Turkestan Republic	Chinese Xinjiang Provincial Government
Commanders and leaders
Ma Zhongying Ma Zhancang Ma Fuyuan Ma Hushan[1]	Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra Abdullah Bughra	Khoja Niyas Hajji
Strength
Several hundred Hui troops and Han Chinese	Thousands of Turkic Muslim Uyghur and Kyrgyz fighters	Thousands of Turkic Uyghur fighters
Casualties and losses
Light	2,000[2]	Heavy
1,700 to 7,000[3] Uyghurs were killed in revenge for the Kizil massacre[4][5]

Gen. Ma Fuyuan of the New 36th Division then stormed Kashgar and attacked the Uyghur and Kirghiz rebels of the First East Turkestan Republic. He freed Ma Zhancang and the trapped Chinese troops. Ma Zhancang and Ma Fuyuan then defeated and drove out the remaining Turkic fighters. Estimates are that 1,700^[7]-7,000^[8] (or lower) Uighur civilians were killed in revenge for the Kizil massacre.^[7] In April 1934, Gen. Ma Zhongying personally gave a speech at Idgah mosque, telling the Uyghurs to be loyal to the Republic of China government at Nanjing.^[9][10] Several British citizens at the British consulate were murdered by troops of the New 36th Division in two separate incidents in March 1934.^{[11][12][5][13][14][15][16][17][18]} The Chinese Muslims were referred to as "Tungan tribesmen"; Initial reports were that 2,000 Uighurs and several members of the British consulate were killed. Some other sources say that between 1,700 and 2,000 Uighurs and British were killed in just two days.^[19] The Uyghurs were reinforced by troops from Yarkand and Hotan and by Kyrgyz tribesmen.^[20]