 The Muslim Ma clique to the northwest was famed for its well-trained cavalry divisions.Although Japan possessed significant mobile operational capacity, it did not possess capability for maintaining a long sustained war.At the beginning of the war, the Imperial Japanese Army comprised 17 divisions, each composed of approximately 22,000 men, 5,800 horses, 9,500 rifles and submachine guns, 600 heavy machine guns of assorted types, 108 artillery pieces, and 600 plus of light armor two-men tanks.