Ili National Army


The Ili National Army was the army of the East Turkestan Republic that originally consisted of six regiments: the Suidun Infantry Regiment, the Ghulja Regiment, the Kensai Regiment, the Ghulja Reserve Regiment, the Kazakh Cavalry Regiment, the Dungan Regiment, the Artillery Subdivision, the Sibo Subdivision, and the Mongol Subdivision. The last two subdivisions were later reformed to regiments. All regiments were armed with mostly German-made weapons, provided by the Soviet Union by order of Joseph Stalin ; its personnel was trained in the Soviet Union. Rebel aviation included 42 airplanes, captured in Ghulja Kuomintang air base and repaired by Soviet military personnel.

History

The Ili National Army was formed on 8 April 1945. Elihan Tore was the Marshal of the Ili National Army until his exile to the Soviet Union. Abdulkerim Abbas served as the INA's political director.
According to M. Kutlukov, in September 1945, the Ili National Army made decisive victories over Kuomintang troops in Jungaria, where two newly formed full-sized Kuomintang divisions of around 25,000 troops, armed with American-made weapons, were trapped and completely annihilated in battles in the highly fortified Wusu-Shihezi district. This was in part thanks to the courage of soldiers and officers of the Ili National Army, the experience of numerous Soviet military personnel and advisers who directly participated in the military operations, and the employment of heavy artillery fire and aerial bombings of Kuomintang positions in the strategic oil rich district.
On 20 December 1949, the Ili National Army joined the People's Liberation Army as the Xinjiang 5th Corps, but then was reformed; its divisions were transferred to the newly created Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps with all weapons of the divisions having been seized. Later these national divisions were disbanded, and most of its personnel were imprisoned, executed, or had fled to the Soviet Union.