Inner Mongolian Army Faction Attacks Chinese Garrison at Hongort

On November 14, 1936 a coalition of the Inner Mongolian Army's 7th and 8th Cavalry Divisions, Wang Ying's Grand Han Righteous Army, and Mongol mercenaries from Jehol, Chahar and other areas, supported by 30 Japanese advisors, attacked the Chinese garrison at Hongort.

After several days of fighting the attackers failed to capture the town. On November 17 a Chinese counterattack surprised the invaders and led to a disorganized retreat. Taking advantage of the Mongolian disorder General Fu Tso-yi made a flanking movement to the west of the Mongolian headquarters at Pai-ling-miao and attacked, capturing it and routing the Mongolian forces, who suffered 300 killed, 600 wounded, 300 captured. Wang and his Grand Han Righteous Army were trucked into a location near Pai-ling-miao and launched a counterattack, which failed dismally on December 19, with most of the attackers either taken prisoner or annihilated.

Small scale fighting continued in Suiyuan until the beginning of open hostilities following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident the following year.

Japan as a have-not country felt the distribution of natural resources in the world was unfair and in Manchuria and China proper saw its opportunity to right the balance. The need for a larger economic base was closely linked with Japanese conceptions of coming wars, the effect of the great depression and a rise in anti-Japanese feeling in China. Japan, while making strides in Manchuria, never met its goal of economic self-sufficiency. Tied down in China by a military quagmire it had neither the time nor the surplus resources to invest in creating the self-sufficient empire it so desired.