The rebels were 1,500 Uighur Muslims commanded by Kichik Akhund, who was tacitly aided by the New 36th Division, against the pro-Soviet provincial forces of the puppet Sheng Shicai.

[1][2] Sheng Shicai had moved against Divisional General Mahmut Muhiti, the commander-in-chief of the 6th Uyghur Division and the deputy chief of the Kashgar Military Region.

Muhiti fled Kashgar on April 2, 1937, with a small number of his subordinates and some amount of gold to British India via Yengi Hissar and Yarkand.

Around Kashgar, the Soviets sent AA guns, fighter planes, and soldiers of Russian and Kyrgyz origin in great numbers.

The rebellion is also viewed by some historians as a plot by Mahmut Muhiti and Ma Hu-shan to convert Xinjiang into a base for fighting against Stalinists.

[8] The anti-Soviet uprising by Ma was reported by United Press International (UPI) and read by Ahmad Kamal on 3 June 1937.

[9] Meanwhile, Ma Hushan and his Chinese Muslim troops of the New 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) were watching the situation with interest since they were eager to seize more territory.

His chief of staff, Pai Tzu-li, as well as Ma Ju-lung, the 1st Brigade commander at Karghalik, persuaded him to strike against Kashgar.

Ma Hu-shan strengthened his position in southern Xinjiang and avoided engaging in battle, which let the Turkic Muslim rebels do the fighting as a diversion for Sheng's provincial army.

He and his officers repeatedly had vowed to attack the Soviets in conversations with Peter Fleming and sought to procure gas masks and airplanes to help them fight.

[3] Before the war, Ma Hushan had exchanged messages with the Nanjing government and expected it to send aid, as he said in conversations with Peter Fleming.

Sheng Shicai set up a memorial to the Soviets killed in combat by Ma Hushan that included Russian Orthodox crosses.