Battle of Tutung

Battle of Tutung
Part of the Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang
Date1934
Location
Tarim River, Xinjiang
Result

Inconclusive

  • Chinese withdrawal
Belligerents
Taiwan China Soviet Union Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Taiwan Ma Zhongying Soviet Union Gen. Volgin
Strength
2 brigades of 7,000 men with tanks, bomber planes, artillery
Casualties and losses
Heavy Heavy

The Battle of Tutong (Chinese: 頭屯河戰役) of 1934 occurred when Gen. Ma Zhongying's Chinese Muslim 36th Division was attacked by the Soviet Red Army on the banks of the frozen Tutung River. The battle took place over several days, and Soviet bombers used mustard gas.[1] At one point, the Chinese Muslim troops dressed up in sheepskins for camouflage in the snow, and stormed Soviet machine-gun posts with curved swords at a short range and defeated a Soviet pincer attack. Casualties were getting heavy on both sides before Ma Zhongying ordered a retreat.[2][3]

  1. ^ "Uses of CW since the First World War". Archived from the original on 2010-08-22. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  2. ^ Christian Tyler (2004). Wild West China: The Taming of Xinjiang. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. p. 112. ISBN 0-8135-3533-6. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  3. ^ 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. 120. ISBN 0-521-25514-7. Retrieved 2010-06-28.