My friends, before presenting you with a selection of photographs, I would like to introduce you to a wonderful publication that reveals little known facts about that war and the main reasons for the surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945.
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Alexey Polubota
Unconditional samurai surrender
Japan was forced to surrender its weapons not by American nuclear strikes, but by Soviet troops
September 2 is the day of the end of World War II. It was on this day in 1945 that Japan, Germany's last ally, was forced to sign unconditional surrender. In Russia this date for a long time remained as if in the shadow of the Great Patriotic War. Only in 2010, September 2 was declared the Day of Military Glory of Russia. Meanwhile, the defeat by Soviet troops of more than a million Kwantung Army in Manchuria is one of the brilliant successes of Russian weapons. As a result of the operation, the main part of which lasted only 10 days - from August 9 to 19, 1945, 84 thousand Japanese soldiers and officers were killed. Almost 600 thousand were taken prisoner. The losses of the Soviet Army amounted to 12 thousand people. Quite a convincing statistic for those who like to repeat that Soviet marshals and the generals won only because they overwhelmed their enemies with corpses.
Today there is a very common version that the Japanese were forced to lay down their arms by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that thanks to this the lives of hundreds of thousands were saved American soldiers. However, a number of historians believe that it was the lightning defeat of the Kwantung Army that showed the Japanese emperor the futility of further resistance. Back in 1965 historian Gar Alperovitz stated that the atomic strikes on Japan had little military significance. English explorer Ward Wilson in the recently published book Five Myths About nuclear weapons” also concludes that it was not American bombs that influenced the Japanese resolve to fight.
It was the entry of the USSR into the war with Japan and the rapid defeat of the Kwantung Army by Soviet troops that served as the main factors in the accelerated end of the war and the unconditional surrender of Japan, agrees Head of the Center for Japanese Studies at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valery Kistanov.- The fact is that the Japanese were not going to give up quickly. They were preparing for a fierce struggle with the United States for their main islands. This is evidenced by the fierce fighting in Okinawa, where American troops landed. These battles showed the US leadership that bloody battles were ahead, which, according to military experts, could last until 1946.
Recently published interesting fact: in the mountains near Kyoto, the Americans discovered a special device designed to launch live projectiles that would be controlled by suicide bombers. A kind of projectile aircraft. The Japanese simply did not have time to use them. That is, in addition to the kamikaze pilots, there were other soldiers who were ready to become suicide bombers.
The total strength of the Kwantung Army in China and Korea with allied units was more than a million people. The Japanese had a layered defense and all the necessary resources to wage a protracted, fierce war. Their soldiers were determined to fight to the end. But by that time the Soviet Army had enormous experience in warfare. The troops that survived fire and water very quickly defeated the Kwantung Army. In my opinion, this is what finally broke the will of the Japanese command to fight.
“SP”: - Why is it still believed that it was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that forced Japan to quickly capitulate?
To belittle the role of the USSR in World War II, emphasizing the importance of the United States is a general tendency. Look what's happening in Europe. The propaganda there is so successful that if you ask ordinary people, many will answer that the greatest contribution to the victory over the Hitler coalition was made by the United States and its Western allies.
Americans tend to exaggerate their own merits. Moreover, by claiming that it was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that persuaded Japan to surrender, they seem to justify this barbaric act. Like, we saved the lives of American soldiers.
Meanwhile, the use of atomic bombs did not really frighten the Japanese. They didn't even fully understand what it was. Yes, it became clear what was applied powerful weapon. But no one knew about radiation then. In addition, the Americans dropped bombs not on armed forces, but to peaceful cities. Military factories and naval bases were damaged, but mostly civilians died, and the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army was not greatly affected.
“SP”: - Japan has been considered an ally of the United States for several decades. Does the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki leave an imprint on the attitude of the Japanese towards the United States, or is this a long-turned page of history for them?
Such things, of course, are not forgotten. The attitude of many ordinary Japanese towards the United States is by no means the most welcoming. There is no justification for that barbaric bombing. I was in Nagasaki and Hiroshima and saw museums dedicated to this tragedy. Terrible experience. In Hiroshima, near the memorial, there is a special storage facility where plaques with the names of the victims of this bombing are placed. So, this list continues to grow to this day - people are dying from the effects of radiation.
The paradox of history is that yesterday's worst enemies today - allies. This affects how Japanese officials and official media cover those events. It is very rare to find a mention in Japanese press publications of who dropped the atomic bombs. People usually talk about this in a very abstract way. So, they say, a tragedy happened, bombs fell. Not a word about the USA. You might think that atomic bombs fell from the moon. Moreover, I admit that as a result of such silence, some young Japanese are sure that this was done by the USSR, in relation to which the media broadcast a lot of negativity.
But, I repeat, for the most part, ordinary Japanese have not forgotten or forgiven that bombing. Particularly negative sentiments towards Americans are widespread in Okinawa, which until 1972 remained under direct US occupation. This small island still houses 75% of American military bases in Japan. These bases cause a lot of trouble for the local population, from the noise of airplanes to the antics of some American soldiers. From time to time, excesses occur. The Japanese are still reeling from the rape of a Japanese schoolgirl by several Marines 18 years ago.
All this leads to regular protests demanding the withdrawal of the main American base. The latest protests by Okinawa residents were associated with the transfer of new American aircraft to the island.
The Korean Peninsula and China were a very important logistical and resource base for Japan, says Konstantin Asmolov, orientalist, candidate of historical sciences, employee of the Center for Korean Studies at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. - There was even a plan to evacuate the Japanese imperial court to Korea in case fierce fighting broke out on the islands themselves in Japan. By the time of use nuclear strike, many Japanese cities were destroyed by conventional bombing. For example, when American aircraft burned Tokyo, about 100 thousand people died. From the way the Japanese initially reacted to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was clear that they were not very scared. For them, in general, there was no big difference- the city was destroyed by one bomb or a thousand. The defeat of the Kwantung Army by Soviet troops and the loss of the most important strategic platform on the mainland became a much more serious blow for them. That is why we can say that the USSR, at the cost of 12 thousand dead soldiers, significantly accelerated the end of World War II.
The role of the USSR in the defeat of Japan can be judged by this fact, says Andrei Fursov, historian, director of the Center for Russian Studies at the Institute of Fundamental and Applied Research at Moscow University for the Humanities. - At the very end of the war, Churchill gave the order to develop Operation Unthinkable, which involved a strike by American and British troops with the participation of German divisions controlled by the Western allies on July 1, 1945. Anglo-American military experts put forward two counterarguments against this operation. First - the Soviet Army is too strong. Secondly, the USSR is very necessary in order to defeat Japan. Despite the fact that already in 1943 a turning point occurred in the war in the Pacific Ocean, and the Americans successfully pushed back the enemy, they understood perfectly well that without Soviet Union It will be very difficult to put pressure on Japan. The Kwantung Army held vast territories in China and Korea. And the Americans had no experience of a serious land war. Therefore, it was decided not to carry out Operation Unthinkable.
If the USSR had not defeated the Kwantung Army the way it did - quickly and effectively, then American losses in World War II (about 400 thousand people) would have been an order of magnitude higher. Not to mention the huge financial costs.
The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not play a military role. On the one hand, it was an unjustifiably cruel revenge from Japan for Pearl Harbor, and on the other hand, it was an act of intimidation of the USSR, which needed to show the full power of the United States.
Today, the USA and Great Britain really want to present everything in such a way that the role of the USSR in the victory over Japan was minimal. It must be admitted that they achieved great success in their propaganda. Young people in these countries know little about Russia's involvement in World War II. Some are even sure that the USSR fought on the side of Nazi Germany. Everything is being done to push Russia out of the ranks of winners.
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Victory over Japan. Photo album.
1. The movement of Soviet infantry across the steppes of Manchuria. Transbaikal front. 1945
48. An American B-29 bomber took off from the island of Tinian in the early morning of August 6 with "Baby" on board. At 8:15 the bomb was dropped from an altitude of 9400 meters, and after 45 seconds of falling it exploded at an altitude of 600 m above the city center. In the photo: a column of smoke and dust over Hiroshima reached a height of 7000 meters. The size of the dust cloud on the ground reached 3 km.
50. Atomic bomb"Fat Man" was dropped from a B-29 aircraft and exploded at 11:02 at an altitude of 500 m above Nagasaki. The power of the explosion was about 21 kilotons.
54. Battleship The US Navy's Pacific Fleet battleship Missouri, on which the Instrument of Surrender of Japan was signed. Tokyo Bay. 1945
56. Participants in the signing of the act of surrender of Japan: Hsu Yun-chan (China), B. Fraser (Great Britain), K.N. Derevianko (USSR), T. Blamey (Australia), L.M. Cosgrave (Canada), F .Leclerc (France). 02 September 1945
61. The moment of signing the act of surrender of Japan by General Y. Umezu. Tokyo Bay. 02 September 1945
67. The moment of signing the act of surrender of Japan on board the American battleship Missouri. From the USSR, the act is signed by Lieutenant General K.N. Derevianko. MacArthur is at the microphone. 02 September 1945
69. The act of surrender of Japan.Signatories to the act: Japan, USSR, USA, China, Great Britain, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands.
70. Exhibition of Japanese captured military equipment. Park of Culture and Leisure named after. M. Gorky. Moscow. 1946
Photo by: Temin V.A. GARF, F.10140. Op.2. D. 125. L.2
All photos are clickable
The issue of the USSR entering the war with Japan was decided at a conference in Yalta on February 11, 1945 by special agreement. It provided that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan on the side of the Allied powers 2-3 months after the surrender of Germany and the end of the war in Europe. Japan rejected the July 26, 1945 demand from the United States, Great Britain, and China to lay down their arms and unconditionally surrender.
By order of the Supreme High Command, back in August 1945, preparations began for a military operation to land an amphibious assault force in the port of Dalian (Dalny) and liberate Lushun (Port Arthur) together with units of the 6th Guards Tank Army from the Japanese occupiers on the Liaodong Peninsula of Northern China. The 117th Air Regiment of the Pacific Fleet Air Force, which was training in Sukhodol Bay near Vladivostok, was preparing for the operation.
Marshal of the Soviet Union O.M. was appointed commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops for the invasion of Manchuria. Vasilevsky. A group consisting of 3 fronts was involved (commanders R.Ya. Malinovsky, K.P. Meretskov and M.O. Purkaev), with a total number of 1.5 million people.
They were opposed by the Kwantung Army under the command of General Yamada Otozo.
On August 9, troops of the Transbaikal, 1st and 2nd Far Eastern Fronts, in cooperation with the Pacific Navy and the Amur River Flotilla, began military operations against Japanese troops on a front of more than 4 thousand kilometers.
Despite the efforts of the Japanese to concentrate as many troops as possible on the islands of the empire itself, as well as in China to the south of Manchuria, the Japanese command also paid great attention to the Manchurian direction. That is why, in addition to the nine infantry divisions that remained in Manchuria at the end of 1944, the Japanese deployed an additional 24 divisions and 10 brigades until August 1945.
True, to organize new divisions and brigades, the Japanese were able to use only untrained young conscripts, who made up more than half of the personnel of the Kwantung Army. Also, in the newly created Japanese divisions and brigades in Manchuria, in addition to the small number of combat personnel, there was often no artillery.
The most significant forces of the Kwantung Army - up to ten divisions - were stationed in the east of Manchuria, which bordered on Soviet Primorye, where the First Far Eastern Front was stationed, consisting of 31 infantry divisions, a cavalry division, a mechanized corps and 11 tank brigades.
In the north of Manchuria, the Japanese concentrated one infantry division and two brigades - while they were opposed by the 2nd Far Eastern Front consisting of 11 infantry divisions, 4 infantry and 9 tank brigades.
In western Manchuria, the Japanese deployed 6 infantry divisions and one brigade - against 33 Soviet divisions, including two tank, two mechanized corps, a tank corps and six tank brigades.
In central and southern Manchuria, the Japanese had several more divisions and brigades, as well as two tank brigades and all combat aircraft.
Taking into account the experience of the war with the Germans, Soviet troops bypassed the fortified areas of the Japanese with mobile units and blocked them with infantry.
The 6th Guards Tank Army of General Kravchenko was advancing from Mongolia to the center of Manchuria. On August 11, army equipment stopped due to lack of fuel, but the experience of German tank units was used - delivering fuel to tanks by transport aircraft. As a result, by August 17, the 6th Guards Tank Army had advanced several hundred kilometers - and about one hundred and fifty kilometers remained to the capital of Manchuria, the city of Changchun.
The First Far Eastern Front at this time broke the Japanese defenses in eastern Manchuria, occupying The largest city in this region - Mudanjian.
In a number of areas, Soviet troops had to overcome stubborn enemy resistance. In the zone of the 5th Army, the Japanese defense in the Mudanjiang area was held with particular ferocity. There were cases of stubborn resistance by Japanese troops in the lines of the Transbaikal and 2nd Far Eastern fronts. The Japanese army also launched numerous counterattacks.
On August 14, the Japanese command requested an armistice. But hostilities on the Japanese side did not stop. Only three days later, the Kwantung Army received an order from the command to surrender, which came into effect on August 20.
On August 17, 1945, in Mukden, Soviet troops captured the Emperor of Manchukuo, the last emperor of China, Pu Yi.
On August 18, a landing was launched on the northernmost of the Kuril Islands. On the same day, the commander-in-chief of Soviet troops in the Far East gave the order to occupy the Japanese island of Hokkaido with the forces of two infantry divisions. However, this landing was not carried out due to a delay in progress Soviet troops on Southern Sakhalin, and then postponed until the orders of Headquarters.
Soviet troops occupied the southern part of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Manchuria and part of Korea, capturing Seoul. The main fighting on the continent continued for another 12 days, until August 20. But individual battles continued until September 10, which became the day of the complete surrender of the Kwantung Army. The fighting on the islands completely ended on September 1.
The Japanese surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 on board the American battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. From the Soviet Union, the act was signed by Lieutenant General K.M. Derevianko.
Participants in the signing of the act of surrender of Japan: Hsu Yun-chan (China), B. Fraser (Great Britain), K.N. Derevianko (USSR), T. Blamey (Australia), L.M. Cosgrave (Canada), J. Leclerc (France).
As a result of the war, the territories of Southern Sakhalin, temporarily Kwantung with the cities of Port Arthur and Dalian, as well as the Kuril Islands, were transferred to the USSR.
In February 1945, a conference was held in Yalta, at which representatives of the countries that were part of Great Britain and the United States were present and managed to obtain consent from the Soviet Union to take direct part in the war with Japan. In exchange for this, they promised him to return the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin, lost during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905.
Termination of the peace treaty
At the time the decision was made in Yalta, the so-called Neutrality Pact was in force between Japan and the Soviet Union, which was concluded back in 1941 and was supposed to be valid for 5 years. But already in April 1945, the USSR announced that it was terminating the agreement unilaterally. Russo-Japanese War (1945), the reasons for which were that the Land of the Rising Sun in last years acted on the side of Germany, and also fought against the allies of the USSR, became almost inevitable.
Such a sudden statement literally plunged the Japanese leadership into complete confusion. And this is understandable, because its position was very critical - the Allied forces inflicted significant damage on it in the Pacific Ocean, and industrial centers and cities were subjected to almost continuous bombing. The government of this country understood perfectly well that it was almost impossible to achieve victory in such conditions. But still, it still hoped that it would be able to somehow wear down and achieve more favorable conditions for the surrender of its troops.
The United States, in turn, did not expect victory to be easy. An example of this is the battles that took place over the island of Okinawa. About 77 thousand people fought here from Japan, and about 470 thousand soldiers from the United States. In the end, the island was taken by the Americans, but their losses were simply astounding - almost 50 thousand killed. According to him, if the Russo-Japanese War of 1945 had not begun, which will be briefly discussed in this article, the losses would have been much more serious and could have amounted to 1 million soldiers killed and wounded.
Announcement of the start of hostilities
On August 8, in Moscow, the Japanese Ambassador to the USSR was presented with a document at exactly 5 p.m. It said that the Russian-Japanese War (1945) was actually starting the very next day. But since there is a significant time difference between the Far East and Moscow, it turned out that there was only 1 hour left before the start of the Soviet Army’s offensive.
The USSR developed a plan consisting of three military operations: Kuril, Manchurian and South Sakhalin. They were all very important. But still, the Manchurian operation was the most large-scale and significant.
Strengths of the parties
On the territory of Manchuria, the Kwantung Army, commanded by General Otozo Yamada, was opposed. It consisted of approximately 1 million people, more than 1 thousand tanks, about 6 thousand guns and 1.6 thousand aircraft.
At the time when the Russo-Japanese War of 1945 began, the forces of the USSR had a significant numerical superiority in manpower: only there were one and a half times more soldiers. As for equipment, the number of mortars and artillery exceeded similar enemy forces by 10 times. Our army had 5 and 3 times more tanks and aircraft, respectively, than the Japanese had the corresponding weapons. It should be noted that the superiority of the USSR over Japan in military equipment was not only in its numbers. The equipment at Russia's disposal was modern and more powerful than that of its enemy.
Enemy fortified areas
All participants in the Russo-Japanese War of 1945 understood perfectly well that sooner or later, it had to begin. That is why the Japanese created in advance significant amount well fortified areas. For example, you can take at least the Hailar region, where the left flank of the Transbaikal Front of the Soviet Army was located. Barrier structures in this area were built over more than 10 years. By the time the Russo-Japanese War began (August 1945), there were already 116 pillboxes here, which were connected to each other by underground passages made of concrete, a well-developed trench system and a significant number of This area was covered Japanese soldiers, the number of which exceeded the divisional number.
In order to suppress the resistance of the Hailar fortified area, the Soviet Army had to spend several days. In war conditions this is a short period of time, but during the same time the rest of the Transbaikal Front advanced forward by about 150 km. Considering the scale of the Russo-Japanese War (1945), the obstacle in the form of this fortified area turned out to be quite serious. Even when his garrison surrendered, Japanese warriors continued to fight with fanatical courage.
In reports Soviet military leaders very often you can see references to soldiers of the Kwantung Army. The documents said that the Japanese military specifically chained themselves to machine gun frames so as not to have the slightest opportunity to retreat.
Workaround maneuver
The Russo-Japanese War of 1945 and the actions of the Soviet Army were very successful from the very beginning. I would like to note one outstanding operation, which consisted of a 350-kilometer throw of the 6th Tank Army through the Khingan Range and the Gobi Desert. If you look at the mountains, they seem to be an insurmountable obstacle to the passage of technology. Passes we had to go through Soviet tanks, were located at an altitude of approximately 2 thousand m above sea level, and the slopes sometimes reached a steepness of 50⁰. That is why cars often had to drive in a zigzag.
In addition, the advancement of technology was further complicated by frequent heavy rains, accompanied by river floods and impassable mud. But, despite this, the tanks still moved forward, and already on August 11 they overcame the mountains and reached the Central Manchurian Plain, to the rear of the Kwantung Army. After such a large-scale transition, Soviet troops began to experience an acute shortage of fuel, so it was necessary to arrange additional delivery by air. With the help of transport aviation, it was possible to transport about 900 tons of tank fuel. As a result of this operation, more than 200 thousand Japanese soldiers were captured, as well as a huge amount of equipment, weapons and ammunition.
Defenders of the Acute Heights
The Japanese War of 1945 continued. In the sector of the 1st Far Eastern Front, Soviet troops encountered unprecedentedly fierce enemy resistance. The Japanese were well entrenched on the heights of Camel and Ostraya, which were among the fortifications of the Khotou fortified area. It must be said that the approaches to these heights were cut by many small rivers and were very swampy. In addition, there were wire fences and excavated scarps on their slopes. The Japanese soldiers had cut out the firing points in advance right into the granite rock, and the concrete caps protecting the bunkers reached a thickness of one and a half meters.
During the fighting, the Soviet command invited the defenders of Ostroy to surrender. A man from among the local residents was sent to the Japanese as an envoy, but he was treated extremely cruelly - the commander of the fortified area himself cut off his head. However, there was nothing surprising in this action. From the moment the Russo-Japanese War began (1945), the enemy, in principle, did not enter into any negotiations. When Soviet troops finally entered the fortification, they found only dead soldiers. It is worth noting that the defenders of the height were not only men, but also women who were armed with daggers and grenades.
Features of military operations
The Russo-Japanese War of 1945 had its own specific features. For example, in the battles for the city of Mudanjiang, the enemy used kamikaze saboteurs against units of the Soviet Army. These suicide bombers tied grenades around themselves and threw themselves under tanks or at soldiers. There was also a case when, on one section of the front, about two hundred “live mines” lay on the ground next to each other. But such suicidal actions did not last long. Soon soviet soldiers They became more vigilant and managed to destroy the saboteur in advance before he got close and exploded next to equipment or people.
Surrender
The Russo-Japanese War of 1945 ended on August 15, when the country's Emperor Hirohito addressed his people by radio. He stated that the country had decided to accept the terms of the Potsdam Conference and capitulate. At the same time, the emperor called on his nation to remain patient and unite all forces to build a new future for the country.
3 days after Hirohito’s address, a call from the command of the Kwantung Army to its soldiers was heard on the radio. It said that further resistance was pointless and there was already a decision to surrender. Since many Japanese units did not have contact with the main headquarters, their notification continued for several more days. But there were also cases when fanatical military personnel did not want to obey the order and lay down their arms. Therefore, their war continued until they died.
Consequences
It must be said that the Russo-Japanese War of 1945 was of truly enormous not only military but also political significance. managed to completely defeat the strongest Kwantung Army and complete the Second world war. By the way, its official end is considered to be September 2, when the act of surrender of Japan was finally signed in Tokyo Bay right on board the US battleship Missouri.
As a result, the Soviet Union regained territories that had been lost back in 1905 - a group of islands and part of the South Kuril Islands. Also, according to the peace treaty signed in San Francisco, Japan renounced any claims to Sakhalin.
The article describes the causes of the Soviet-Japanese armed conflict, the preparation of the parties for war, and the course of hostilities. Characteristics given international relations before the start of World War II in the east.
Introduction
Active hostilities in the Far East and in the Pacific Ocean were a consequence of the contradictions that arose in the pre-war years between the USSR, Great Britain, the USA and China, on the one hand, and Japan, on the other. The Japanese government sought to seize new territories, rich natural resources, and the establishment of political hegemony in the Far East.
Since still with late XIX centuries, Japan fought many wars, as a result of which it acquired new colonies. It included the Kuril Islands, southern Sakhalin, Korea, and Manchuria. In 1927, General Giichi Tanaka became the country's prime minister, whose government continued its aggressive policy. In the early 1930s, Japan increased the size of its army and created a powerful navy that was one of the strongest in the world.
In 1940, Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe developed a new foreign policy doctrine. The Japanese government planned to create a colossal empire stretching from Transbaikalia to Australia. Western countries pursued a dual policy towards Japan: on the one hand, they sought to limit the ambitions of the Japanese government, but on the other hand, they did not in any way interfere with the intervention of northern China. To implement its plans, the Japanese government entered into an alliance with Germany and Italy.
Relations between Japan and the Soviet Union in the pre-war period deteriorated noticeably. In 1935, the Kwantung Army entered the border areas of Mongolia. Mongolia hastily concluded an agreement with the USSR, and Red Army units were introduced into its territory. In 1938, Japanese troops crossed the state border of the USSR in the area of Lake Khasan, but the invasion attempt was successfully repulsed by Soviet troops. Japanese sabotage groups were also repeatedly dropped into Soviet territory. The confrontation escalated further in 1939, when Japan started a war against Mongolia. The USSR, observing the agreement with the Mongolian Republic, intervened in the conflict.
After these events, Japan's policy towards the USSR changed: the Japanese government was afraid of a clash with a strong western neighbor and decided to temporarily abandon the seizure of territories in the north. Nevertheless, for Japan, the USSR was actually the main enemy in the Far East.
Non-Aggression Treaty with Japan
In the spring of 1941, the USSR concluded a non-aggression pact with Japan. In the event of an armed conflict between one of the states and any third countries, the second power undertakes to maintain neutrality. But the Japanese Foreign Minister made it clear to the German ambassador in Moscow that the concluded neutrality pact would not prevent Japan from fulfilling the terms of the Tripartite Pact during the war with the USSR.
Before the outbreak of World War II in the east, Japan negotiated with American leaders, seeking recognition of the annexation of Chinese territories and the conclusion of new trade agreements. The ruling elite of Japan could not decide against whom to strike in a future war. Some politicians considered it necessary to support Germany, while others called for an attack on the Pacific colonies of Great Britain and the USA.
Already in 1941, it became obvious that Japan's actions would depend on the situation on the Soviet-German front. The Japanese government planned to attack the USSR from the east if Germany and Italy were successful, after the capture of Moscow by German troops. Also great importance had the fact that the country needed raw materials for its industry. The Japanese were interested in capturing areas rich in oil, tin, zinc, nickel and rubber. Therefore, on July 2, 1941, at the imperial conference, a decision was made to start a war against the USA and Great Britain. But The Japanese government did not completely abandon plans to attack the USSR until Battle of Kursk when it became obvious that Germany would not win the Second World War. Along with this factor, the active military operations of the Allies in the Pacific Ocean forced Japan to repeatedly postpone and then completely abandon its aggressive intentions towards the USSR.
The situation in the Far East during the Second World War
Despite the fact that hostilities in the Far East never began, the USSR was forced to maintain a large military group in this region throughout the war, the size of which varied in different periods. Until 1945, the Kwantung Army was located on the border, which included up to 1 million military personnel. The local population also prepared for defense: men were mobilized into the army, women and teenagers studied air defense methods. Fortifications were built around strategically important objects.
The Japanese leadership believed that the Germans would be able to capture Moscow before the end of 1941. In this regard, it was planned to launch an attack on the Soviet Union in the winter. On December 3, the Japanese command gave the order to the troops located in China to prepare for transfer to the northern direction. The Japanese were planning to invade the USSR in the Ussuri region and then launch an offensive in the north. To implement the approved plan, it was necessary to strengthen the Kwantung Army. Troops freed after fighting in the Pacific Ocean were sent to the Northern Front.
However, the Japanese government's hopes for a quick German victory were not realized. The failure of the blitzkrieg tactics and the defeat of the Wehrmacht armies near Moscow indicated that the Soviet Union was a fairly strong adversary whose power should not be underestimated.
The threat of a Japanese invasion intensified in the fall of 1942. Nazi German troops were advancing into the Caucasus and Volga. The Soviet command hastily transferred 14 rifle divisions and more than 1.5 thousand guns from the Far East to the front. Just at this time, Japan was not actively fighting in the Pacific. However, the Commander-in-Chief's Headquarters foresaw the possibility of a Japanese attack. The Far Eastern troops were replenished from local reserves. This fact became known to Japanese intelligence. The Japanese government again delayed entry into the war.
The Japanese attacked merchant ships in international waters, preventing the delivery of goods to the Far Eastern ports, and repeatedly violated state borders, committed sabotage on Soviet territory, and sent propaganda literature across the border. Japanese intelligence collected information about the movements of Soviet troops and transmitted them to Wehrmacht headquarters. Among the reasons for the USSR's entry into Japanese war in 1945 there were not only obligations to the allies, but also concern for the security of their borders.
Already in the second half of 1943, when the turning point in the Second World War ended, it became clear that after Italy, which had already emerged from the war, Germany and Japan would also be defeated. The Soviet command, foreseeing a future war in the Far East, from that time on almost never used Far Eastern troops on the Western Front. Gradually, these units of the Red Army were replenished with military equipment and manpower. In August 1943, the Primorsky Group of Forces was created as part of the Far Eastern Front, which indicated preparations for a future war.
At the Yalta Conference, held in February 1945, the Soviet Union confirmed that the agreement between Moscow and the allies on participation in the war with Japan remained in force. The Red Army was supposed to begin military operations against Japan no later than 3 months after the end of the war in Europe. In return, J.V. Stalin demanded territorial concessions for the USSR: the transfer to Russia of the Kuril Islands and part of the island of Sakhalin assigned to Japan as a result of the 1905 war, the lease of the Chinese port of Port Arthur (on modern maps - Lushun) for the Soviet naval base ). The Dalniy commercial port was supposed to become an open port with the interests of the USSR primarily respected.
By this time, the Armed Forces of the United States and Great Britain had inflicted a number of defeats on Japan. However, her resistance was not broken. The demand of the United States, China and Great Britain for unconditional surrender, presented on July 26, was rejected by Japan. This decision was not unreasonable. The USA and Great Britain did not have sufficient forces to conduct an amphibious operation in the Far East. According to the plans of American and British leaders, the final defeat of Japan was envisaged no earlier than 1946. The Soviet Union, by entering the war with Japan, significantly brought the end of World War II closer.
Strengths and plans of the parties
Soviet-Japanese War or the Manchurian operation began on August 9, 1945. The Red Army was faced with the task of defeating Japanese troops in China and North Korea.
Back in May 1945, the USSR began transferring troops to the Far East. 3 fronts were formed: 1st and 2nd Far Eastern and Transbaikal. The Soviet Union used border troops, the Amur military flotilla and ships of the Pacific Fleet in the offensive.
The Kwantung Army included 11 infantry and 2 tank brigades, more than 30 infantry divisions, cavalry and mechanized units, a suicide brigade, and the Sungari River Flotilla. The most significant forces were stationed in the eastern regions of Manchuria, bordering the Soviet Primorye. In the western regions, the Japanese stationed 6 infantry divisions and 1 brigade. The number of enemy soldiers exceeded 1 million, but more than half of the fighters were conscripts younger ages and of limited use. Many Japanese units were understaffed. Also, the newly created units lacked weapons, ammunition, artillery, etc. military equipment. Japanese units and formations used outdated tanks and aircraft.
The troops of Manchukuo, the army of Inner Mongolia and the Suiyuan Army Group fought on the side of Japan. In the border areas, the enemy built 17 fortified areas. The command of the Kwantung Army was carried out by General Otsuzo Yamada.
The plan of the Soviet command provided for the delivery of two main strikes by the forces of the 1st Far Eastern and Transbaikal Fronts, as a result of which the main enemy forces in the center of Manchuria would be captured in a pincer movement, divided into parts and destroyed. The troops of the 2nd Far Eastern Front, consisting of 11 rifle divisions, 4 rifle and 9 tank brigades, in cooperation with the Amur Military Flotilla, were supposed to strike in the direction of Harbin. Then the Red Army was supposed to occupy large populated areas - Shenyang, Harbin, Changchun. Fighting took place on a section with a length of more than 2.5 thousand km. according to the area map.
Start of hostilities
Simultaneously with the beginning of the offensive of the Soviet troops, aviation bombed areas of large troop concentrations, strategically significant objects and communications centers. Pacific Fleet ships attacked Japanese naval bases in North Korea. The offensive was led by the commander-in-chief of Soviet troops in the Far East, A. M. Vasilevsky.
As a result of the military operations of the troops of the Trans-Baikal Front, which, having crossed the Gobi Desert and the Khingan Mountains on the first day of the offensive, advanced 50 km, significant groups of enemy troops were defeated. The offensive became difficult natural conditions terrain. There was not enough fuel for the tanks, but the Red Army units used the experience of the Germans - the supply of fuel by transport aircraft was organized. On August 17, the 6th Guards Tank Army reached the approaches to the capital of Manchuria. Soviet troops isolated the Kwantung Army from Japanese units in Northern China and occupied important administrative centers.
The Soviet group of troops, advancing from Primorye, broke through the strip of border fortifications. In the Mudanjiang area, the Japanese launched a series of counterattacks, which were repulsed. Soviet units occupied Girin and Harbin, and, with the assistance of the Pacific Fleet, liberated the coast, capturing strategically significant ports.
Then the Red Army liberated North Korea, and from mid-August the fighting took place on Chinese territory. On August 14, the Japanese command initiated negotiations on surrender. On August 19, enemy troops began to surrender en masse. However, hostilities during World War II continued until early September.
Simultaneously with the defeat of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria, Soviet troops carried out the Yuzhno-Sakhalin offensive operation and landed troops on the Kuril Islands. During the operation in the Kuril Islands on August 18-23, Soviet troops, with the support of ships of the Peter and Paul Naval Base, captured the island of Samusyu and occupied all the islands of the Kuril ridge by September 1.
Results
Due to the defeat of the Kwantung Army on the continent, Japan could no longer continue the war. The enemy lost important economic regions in Manchuria and Korea. The Americans carried out atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and captured the island of Okinawa. On September 2, the act of surrender was signed.
The USSR included territories lost Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century: South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. In 1956, the USSR restored relations with Japan and agreed to the transfer of Habomai Islands and Shikotan Islands to Japan, subject to the conclusion of a Peace Treaty between the countries. But Japan has not come to terms with its territorial losses and negotiations on the ownership of the disputed regions are still ongoing.
For military merits, more than 200 units received the titles of “Amur”, “Ussuri”, “Khingan”, “Harbin”, etc. 92 military personnel became Heroes of the Soviet Union.
As a result of the operation, the losses of the warring countries were:
- from the USSR - about 36.5 thousand military personnel,
- on the Japanese side - more than 1 million soldiers and officers.
Also, during the battles, all the ships of the Sungari flotilla were sunk - more than 50 ships.
Medal "For Victory over Japan"
Ilya Kramnik, military observer for RIA Novosti.
The war between the USSR and Japan in 1945, which became the last major campaign of the Second World War, lasted less than a month - from August 9 to September 2, 1945, but this month became key in the history of the Far East and the entire Asia-Pacific region, ending and, conversely, initiating many historical processes lasting for decades.
Background
The preconditions for the Soviet-Japanese War arose exactly on the day when the Russian-Japanese War ended - on the day the Portsmouth Peace was signed on September 5, 1905. Russia's territorial losses were insignificant - the Liaodong Peninsula leased from China and the southern part of Sakhalin Island. Much more significant was the loss of influence in the world as a whole and in the Far East, in particular caused by the unsuccessful war on land and the death of most of the fleet at sea. The feeling of national humiliation was also very strong.
Japan became the dominant Far Eastern power; it exploited marine resources almost uncontrollably, including in Russian territorial waters, where they carried out predatory fishing for fish, crabs, sea animals, etc.
This situation intensified during the revolution of 1917 and the subsequent Civil War, when Japan actually occupied the Russian Far East for several years, and left the region with great reluctance under pressure from the United States and Great Britain, who feared the excessive strengthening of yesterday’s ally in the First World War.
At the same time, there was a process of strengthening Japan’s position in China, which was also weakened and fragmented. The reverse process that began in the 1920s - the strengthening of the USSR, which was recovering from military and revolutionary upheavals - quite quickly led to the development of relations between Tokyo and Moscow that could easily be described as a “Cold War”. The Far East has long become an arena of military confrontation and local conflicts. By the end of the 1930s, tensions reached a peak, and this period was marked by the two largest clashes of this period between the USSR and Japan - the conflict on Lake Khasan in 1938 and on the Khalkhin Gol River in 1939.
Fragile neutrality
Having suffered quite serious losses and being convinced of the power of the Red Army, Japan chose on April 13, 1941 to conclude a neutrality pact with the USSR and give itself a free hand for the war on Pacific Ocean.
The Soviet Union also needed this pact. At that time, it became obvious that the “naval lobby,” which was pushing the southern direction of the war, was playing an increasingly important role in Japanese policy. The army's position, on the other hand, was weakened by disappointing defeats. The likelihood of war with Japan was not assessed very highly, while the conflict with Germany was getting closer every day.
For Germany itself, Japan’s partner in the Anti-Comintern Pact, which saw Japan as its main ally and future partner in the New World Order, the agreement between Moscow and Tokyo was a serious slap in the face, and caused complications in relations between Berlin and Tokyo. Tokyo, however, pointed out to the Germans that there was a similar neutrality pact between Moscow and Berlin.
The two main aggressors of World War II could not agree, and each led his own main war- Germany against the USSR in Europe, Japan - against the USA and Great Britain in the Pacific Ocean. At the same time, Germany declared war on the United States on the day of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, but Japan did not declare war on the USSR, as the Germans hoped for.
However, relations between the USSR and Japan could hardly be called good - Japan constantly violated the signed pact, detaining Soviet ships at sea, periodically allowing attacks on Soviet military and civilian ships, violating the border on land, etc.
It was obvious that for neither side the signed document was valuable for any long period of time, and war was only a matter of time. However, since 1942, the situation gradually began to change: the turning point in the war forced Japan to abandon long-term plans for a war against the USSR, and at the same time, the Soviet Union began to more and more carefully consider plans for the return of those lost during Russo-Japanese War territories.
By 1945, when the situation became critical, Japan tried to start negotiations with the Western allies, using the USSR as a mediator, but this did not bring success.
During the Yalta Conference, the USSR announced a commitment to start a war against Japan within 2-3 months after the end of the war against Germany. The intervention of the USSR was seen by the allies as necessary: the defeat of Japan required the defeat of its ground forces, which for the most part had not yet been affected by the war, and the allies feared that a landing on the Japanese islands would cost them great casualties.
Japan, with the neutrality of the USSR, could count on the continuation of the war and the reinforcement of the forces of the metropolis at the expense of resources and troops stationed in Manchuria and Korea, communications with which continued, despite all attempts to interrupt it.
The declaration of war by the Soviet Union finally destroyed these hopes. On August 9, 1945, speaking at an emergency meeting of the Supreme Council for War Direction, Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki stated:
“The entry of the Soviet Union into the war this morning puts us completely in a hopeless situation and makes it impossible to continue the war further.”
It should be noted that nuclear bombing in this case became only an additional reason for a speedy exit from the war, but not main reason. Suffice it to say that the massive bombing of Tokyo in the spring of 1945, which resulted in approximately the same number of casualties as Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, did not lead Japan to thoughts of surrender. And only the entry of the USSR into the war against the backdrop of nuclear bombings forced the leadership of the Empire to admit the pointlessness of continuing the war.
"August Storm"
The war itself, which in the West was nicknamed the “August Storm,” was swift. Having extensive experience in combat against the Germans, Soviet troops broke through the Japanese defenses with a series of quick and decisive strikes and began an offensive deep into Manchuria. Tank units successfully advanced in seemingly unsuitable conditions - through the sands of the Gobi and the Khingan ridges, but fine-tuned over four years of war with the most formidable enemy war machine There were practically no glitches.
As a result, by August 17, the 6th Guards Tank Army had advanced several hundred kilometers - and about one hundred and fifty kilometers remained to the capital of Manchuria, the city of Xinjing. By this time, the First Far Eastern Front had broken the Japanese resistance in the east of Manchuria, occupying the largest city in that region - Mudanjiang. In a number of areas deep in the defense, Soviet troops had to overcome fierce enemy resistance. In the zone of the 5th Army, it was exerted with particular force in the Mudanjiang region. There were cases of stubborn enemy resistance in the zones of the Transbaikal and 2nd Far Eastern fronts. The Japanese army also launched repeated counterattacks. On August 17, 1945, in Mukden, Soviet troops captured the Emperor of Manchukuo Pu Yi (formerly the last Emperor China).
On August 14, the Japanese command made a proposal to conclude a truce. But virtually military operations on the Japanese side did not stop. Only three days later the Kwantung Army received an order from its command to surrender, which began on August 20. But it did not reach everyone right away, and in some places the Japanese acted contrary to orders.
On August 18, the Kurilskaya landing operation, during which Soviet troops occupied the Kuril Islands. On the same day, August 18, the commander-in-chief of Soviet troops in the Far East, Marshal Vasilevsky, gave the order to occupy the Japanese island of Hokkaido with the forces of two rifle divisions. This landing was not carried out due to the delay in the advance of Soviet troops in South Sakhalin, and was then postponed until instructions from Headquarters.
Soviet troops occupied the southern part of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Manchuria and part of Korea. The main fighting on the continent lasted 12 days, until August 20. However, individual battles continued until September 10, which became the day the complete surrender and capture of the Kwantung Army ended. The fighting on the islands completely ended on September 5.
The Japanese surrender was signed on September 2, 1945, aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
As a result, the million-strong Kwantung Army was completely destroyed. According to Soviet data, its losses in killed amounted to 84 thousand people, about 600 thousand were captured. The irretrievable losses of the Red Army amounted to 12 thousand people.
As a result of the war, the USSR actually returned to its territory the territories lost by Russia earlier (southern Sakhalin and, temporarily, Kwantung with Port Arthur and Dalny, later transferred to China), as well as the Kuril Islands, the ownership of the southern part of which is still disputed by Japan.
According to the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan renounced any claims to Sakhalin (Karafuto) and the Kuril Islands (Chishima Retto). But the agreement did not determine the ownership of the islands and the USSR did not sign it.
Negotiations on the southern part of the Kuril Islands are still ongoing, and there are no prospects for a quick resolution of the issue.