Army History - 1921
As Bolshevik victories grew, some opposing White Guard troops retreated into Outer Mongolia, where they were supported and encouraged by Japanese forces in Manchuria and eastern Siberia. The largest White Guard band was 5,000 strong and was led by Baron Roman Nicolaus von Ungern-Sternberg. After an abortive attack on Yihe Huree in October 1920, von Ungern-Sternberg attacked again in February, drove out the Chinese troops, and declared an independent Mongolia.
In February 1921, Sukhe Bator, Choybalsan, and their followers were joined in Irkutsk by a Mongolian delegation from Moscow. In March 1921, they moved to Kyakhta, where they formed the Mongolian People's Party and a provisional national government. Sukhe Bator was named minister of war. The partisan forces, now numbering 400, were combined to form the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army, with Sukhe Bator as commander in chief and Choybalsan as commissar.
In mid-March 1921, Sukhe Bator drove the Chinese out of the trading settlement now known as Amgalanbaatar across the Mongolian-Russian border from Kyakhta, and he established a provisional capital under the new name of Altanbulag. In April 1921, the provisional Mongolian government announced the conscription of all males older than nineteen in the territory under their control. At the same time, they asked for the assistance of the Russian Red Army in opposing the White Guards.
Von Ungern-Sternberg's force struck north against the new Bolshevik-sponsored government in May. The provisional government, assisted by a division-size task force from the Fifth Red Army, resisted. The White Guard offensive began May 22, 1921, and Altanbulag was attacked June 6, 1921. The Red Army force divided to meet this two-pronged attack; there was a Mongolian contingent in each column, one under Sukhe Bator at Altanbulag, and the other under Choybalsan. The attacks were repulsed, and the combined Red Army-Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army force swept toward Yihe Huree. Yihe Huree was captured on July 6, 1921, and it was renamed Niyslel--capital--Huree. A provisional national government was proclaimed on July 11, 1912, under close Bolshevik supervision. Von Ungern-Sternberg escaped with a remnant of the White Guards. In late August 1921, Mongolians in his own forces seized him and turned him over to the Red Army for execution.
The Mongolians are extremely proud of these revolutionary feats. On every public patriotic occasion--such as the anniversary of the founding of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army on March 18, 1921, the day marking the expulsion of Chinese forces from Maimaicheng--speeches of national leaders invariably refer glowingly to the events of 1921 and to the virtues of the participants, as well as to the fraternal help of the Red Army. Sukhe Bator died suddenly, and, some thought, mysteriously, in 1923 while still a young man. The tragedy of his early death assisted in his immortalization as the great young hero of the revolution. A heroic-size equestrian statue of Suhke Bator stands in the main square of Ulaanbaatar (Red Hero).
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