home Treatment and prevention Conflict with Japan at Lake Khasan. separate aviation squadron named after

Conflict with Japan at Lake Khasan. separate aviation squadron named after

The conflict in the Lake Khasan area was caused by foreign policy factors and very difficult relations within the ruling elite of Japan. An important detail was the rivalry within the Japanese military-political machine itself, when funds were distributed to strengthen the army, and the presence of even an imaginary military threat could give the command of the Japanese Korean Army a good opportunity to remind itself, given that the priority at that time was the operations of Japanese troops in China, which never brought the desired result.

Another headache for Tokyo was the military aid flowing from the USSR to China. In this case, it was possible to exert military and political pressure by organizing a large-scale military provocation with a visible external effect. All that remained was to find a weak spot on the Soviet border, where an invasion could be successfully carried out and the combat effectiveness of the Soviet troops could be tested. And such an area was found 35 km from Vladivostok.

Badge “Participant of the Khasan Battles”. Established June 5, 1939. Awarded to private andthe command staff of the Soviet troops who took part in the battles near Lake Khasan. Source: phalera. net

And if on the Japanese side in this section a railway and several highways approached the border, then on the Soviet side there was one dirt road, communication along which was often interrupted during summer rains. It is noteworthy that until 1938, this area, where there really was no clear boundary marking, was of no interest to anyone, and suddenly in July 1938, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs actively took up this problem.

Every day the conflict grew, threatening to develop into a big war

After the refusal of the Soviet side to withdraw troops and the incident with the death of a Japanese gendarme, shot by a Soviet border guard in the disputed area, tension began to increase day by day. On July 29, 1938, the Japanese launched an attack on the Soviet border post, but were repulsed after a hot battle. On the evening of July 31, the attack was repeated, and here the Japanese troops already managed to wedge 4 kilometers deep into Soviet territory. The first attempts to drive out the Japanese with the 40th Infantry Division were unsuccessful. However, everything was not going well for the Japanese either - every day the conflict grew, threatening to escalate into a big war, for which Japan, stuck in China, was not ready.

Richard Sorge reported to Moscow: “The Japanese General Staff is interested in a war with the USSR not now, but later. Active actions on the border were taken by the Japanese to show the Soviet Union that Japan was still capable of demonstrating its power." Meanwhile, in difficult off-road conditions and poor readiness of individual units, the concentration of forces of the 39th Rifle Corps of the Red Army continued. With great difficulty, it was possible to gather 15 thousand people in the combat area, armed with 237 guns, 285 tanks (out of the corps' 32 thousand people, 609 guns and 345 tanks). 250 aircraft were sent to provide air support.

Sopka Zaozernaya. One of the key heights near Lake Khasan. Height 157 meters, steepnessslopes up to 45 degrees. Photo source: zastava-mahalina.narod.ru

If in the first days of the conflict, due to poor visibility and, apparently, the hope that the conflict could still be resolved diplomatically, Soviet aviation was not used, then starting from August 5, Japanese positions were subjected to massive air strikes. Aviation, including TB-3 heavy bombers, was brought in to destroy Japanese fortifications. Due to the lack of opposition in the air, Soviet fighters were used to carry out assault strikes on Japanese troops. Moreover, the targets of Soviet aviation were located not only on the captured hills, but also deep in Korean territory.

Japanese test of strength ended in failure

It was noted: “To defeat the Japanese infantry in the enemy’s trenches and artillery, they mainly used high-explosive bombs - 50, 82 and 100 kg, in total 3651 bombs were dropped. 6 high-explosive bombs of 1000 kg on the battlefield on 08/06/38 were used solely for the purpose of moral influence on enemy infantry, and these bombs were dropped into enemy infantry areas after these areas were thoroughly hit by groups of SB-bombs FAB-50 and 100 .

Scheme of military operations near Lake Khasan. Photo source: wikivisually.com

The enemy infantry rushed about in the defensive zone, not finding cover, since almost the entire main zone of their defense was covered with heavy fire from the explosions of bombs from our aircraft. 6 bombs of 1000 kg, dropped during this period in the area of the Zaozernaya height, shook the air with strong explosions, the roar of these bombs exploding across the valleys and mountains of Korea was heard tens of kilometers away. After the explosion of 1000 kg of bombs, the Zaozernaya height was covered with smoke and dust for several minutes. It must be assumed that in those areas where these bombs were dropped, the Japanese infantry were 100% incapacitated from shell shock and stones thrown out of the craters by the explosion of the bombs.” Having completed 1003 sorties, Soviet aviation lost two aircraft to anti-aircraft artillery fire - one SB and one I-15. Small losses in aviation were due to the weakness of Japanese air defense. The enemy had no more than 18-20 anti-aircraft guns in the conflict area and could not provide serious resistance.

Soviet flag near the top of the Zaozernaya hill, August 1938. Photo source:mayorgb.livejournal.com

And throwing your own aviation into battle meant starting a large-scale war, for which neither the command of the Korean Army nor Tokyo were ready. From this moment on, the Japanese side began to frantically search for a way out of the current situation, which required both saving face and stopping hostilities, which no longer promised anything good for the Japanese infantry. The denouement came when Soviet troops launched a new offensive on August 8, having overwhelming military-technical superiority. The attack by tanks and infantry was carried out based on military expediency and without taking into account compliance with the border. As a result, Soviet troops managed to capture Bezymyannaya and a number of other heights, and also gain a foothold near the top of Zaozernaya, where the Soviet flag was hoisted. On August 10, the chief of staff of the 19th telegraphed the chief of staff of the Korean Army: “Every day the combat effectiveness of the division is declining. The enemy suffered great damage. He is using new methods of combat and increasing artillery fire. If this continues, there is a danger that the fighting will escalate into even more fierce battles. Within one to three days it is necessary to decide on the division’s further actions... Until now, Japanese troops have already demonstrated their power to the enemy, and therefore, while it is still possible, it is necessary to take measures to resolve the conflict diplomatically.” On the same day, armistice negotiations began in Moscow and at noon on August 11, hostilities ceased.

In strategic and political terms, the Japanese test of strength, and by and large a military adventure, ended in failure. Not being prepared for a big war with the USSR, the Japanese units in the Khasan area found themselves hostage to the created situation, when further expansion of the conflict was impossible, and it was also impossible to retreat while preserving the prestige of the army. The Hassan conflict did not lead to a reduction in USSR military assistance to China. At the same time, the battles on Khasan revealed a number of weaknesses of both the troops of the Far Eastern Military District and the Red Army as a whole. The Soviet troops apparently suffered even greater losses than the enemy; at the initial stage of the fighting, the interaction between the infantry, tank units and artillery turned out to be weak. The reconnaissance was not at a high level, unable to accurately identify the enemy’s positions. The losses of the Red Army amounted to 759 people killed, 100 people. died in hospitals, 95 people. missing and 6 people who died as a result of accidents. 2752 people was injured or sick (dysentery and colds). The Japanese admitted the loss of 650 killed and 2,500 people. wounded.

The battles on Khasan in July-August 1938 were far from the first and not the last military clash between the USSR and Japan in the Far East. Less than a year later, an undeclared war began in Mongolia on Khalkhin Gol, where Soviet troops would have to face units not of the Korean, but of the Kwantung Army of Japan.

Sources:

The classification has been removed: Losses of the Armed Forces of the USSR in wars, hostilities and military conflicts. Statistical research. M., 1993.

Koshkin A. Japanese Front of Marshal Stalin. Russia and Japan: the century-long shadow of Tsushima. M., 2003.

“The clouds are gloomy at the border.” Collection for the 65th anniversary of events at Lake Khasan. M., 2005.

Lead image: iskateli64.ru

Image for the announcement of the material on the main page: waralbum.ru

The battles at Lake Khasan (July 29, 1938 – August 11, 1938) (in China and Japan known as the “Zhanggufeng Heights Incident”) arose due to mutual claims between the USSR and a dependent state of Japan Manchukuo to the same border area. The Japanese side believed that the USSR misinterpreted the conditions Beijing Treaty of 1860 between Tsarist Russia and China.

Causes of the collision

Throughout the first decades of the twentieth century, there were strong tensions between Russia (then the USSR), China and Japan over the border issue in northeastern China. Here in Manchuria took place Chinese Eastern Railway(CER), which connected China and the Russian Far East. The southern branch of the CER (sometimes called the South Manchurian Railway) became one of the reasons for Russian-Japanese war, subsequent incidents that caused Sino-Japanese War 1937-1945, as well as a series of clashes on the Soviet-Japanese border. The most notable among the latter were 1929 Sino-Soviet conflict And Mukden incident between Japan and China in 1931. Fighting on Lake Khasan broke out between two powers that had long distrusted each other.

This clash was caused by the fact that the Far Eastern Soviet troops and border units NKVD erected additional fortifications on the Manchurian border in the area of Lake Khasan. This was partly prompted by the flight of the Soviet general to the Japanese on June 13-14, 1938 Genrikh Lyushkova, who previously commanded all NKVD forces in the Soviet Far East. Lyushkov conveyed to the Japanese the most important information about the poor state of Soviet defense in this region and about the mass executions of army officers during Great Terror Stalin.

Starting a conflict

July 6, 1938 Japanese Kwantung Army intercepted and deciphered a message sent by the commander of Soviet troops in the Posyet area to his headquarters in Khabarovsk. He asked that headquarters give the soldiers orders to occupy a previously unowned hill to the west of Lake Khasan (near Vladivostok). Owning it was beneficial, since it dominated the Korean port of Rajin and the strategic railways connecting Korea and Manchuria. Over the next two weeks, small groups of Soviet border troops arrived in the area and began to fortify the mentioned heights, setting up firing points, observation trenches, barriers and communications facilities.

At first, Japanese troops in Korea paid little attention to the Soviet advance. However, the Kwantung Army, whose area of responsibility included these heights (Zhanggufeng), became concerned about Soviet plans and ordered troops in Korea to take action. Korean troops contacted Tokyo with a recommendation to send an official protest to the USSR.

On July 15, the Japanese attache in Moscow, Mamoru Shigemitsu, demanded the withdrawal of Soviet border guards from the Bezymyannaya (Shachaofeng) and Zaozernaya (Zhangufeng) hills west of Lake Khasan, insisting that these territories belonged to the neutral zone of the Soviet-Korean border. But his demands were rejected.

Progress of battles near Lake Khasan

The Japanese 19th Division, along with some Manchukuo units, prepared to attack the Soviet 39th Rifle Corps (which consisted of the 32nd, 39th, and 40th Rifle Divisions, as well as the 2nd Mechanized Brigade and two separate battalions ; commander - Grigory Stern). Colonel Kotoku Sato, commander of the Japanese 75th Infantry Regiment, received orders from Lieutenant General Suetaka Kamezo: “At the first news that the enemy moved forward at least a little, You should launch a firm and persistent counterattack.” The meaning of the order was that Sato was to expel the Soviet forces from the heights they occupied.

The Red Army soldiers go on the attack. Fighting on Lake Khasan, 1938

On July 31, 1938, Sato's regiment launched a night attack on the hills fortified by the Red Army. At Zaozernaya, 1,114 Japanese attacked a Soviet garrison of 300 soldiers, killing them and knocking out 10 tanks. Japanese losses amounted to 34 killed and 99 wounded. At the Bezymyannaya hill, 379 Japanese were taken by surprise and defeated another 300 Soviet soldiers, knocking out 7 tanks, and losing 11 people killed and 34 wounded. Several thousand more Japanese soldiers of the 19th Division arrived here. They dug in and asked for reinforcements. But the Japanese High Command rejected this request, fearing that General Suetaka would use reinforcements to attack other vulnerable Soviet positions and thereby cause an unwanted escalation of the conflict. Instead, Japanese troops were stopped in the captured area and ordered to defend it.

The Soviet command assembled 354 tanks and assault guns at Lake Khasan (257 T-26 tanks, 3 ST-26 tanks for laying bridges, 81 BT-7 light tanks, 13 SU-5-2 self-propelled guns). In 1933, the Japanese created the so-called “Special Armored Train” (Rinji Soko Ressha). It was deployed to the "2nd Railway Armored Unit" in Manchuria and served in the Sino-Japanese War and the battles of Hassan, transporting thousands of Japanese soldiers to and from the battlefield and demonstrating to the West "the ability of an Asian nation to absorb and implement Western doctrines of rapid deployment and transportation of infantry."

On July 31, People's Commissar of Defense Klim Voroshilov ordered the 1st Primorsky Army to be put on combat readiness. The Pacific Fleet was also mobilized. Commander of the Far Eastern Front created back in June, Vasily Blucher, arrived to Hassan on August 2, 1938. By his order, additional forces were transferred to the battle zone, and on August 2-9, Japanese troops on Zhanggufeng were subjected to persistent attacks. The superiority of the Soviet forces was such that one Japanese artillery officer calculated that the Russians fired more shells in one day than the Japanese did in the entire two-week battle. Despite this, the Japanese organized effective anti-tank defense. Soviet troops suffered heavy losses in their attacks. Thousands of Red Army soldiers were killed or wounded, at least 9 tanks were completely burned, and 76 were damaged to one degree or another.

But despite repelling several assaults, it was clear that the Japanese would not be able to hold Bezymyannaya and Zaozernaya without expanding the conflict. On August 10, Japanese Ambassador Mamoru Shigemitsu sued for peace. The Japanese considered that the incident had an “honorable” outcome for them, and on August 11, 1938, at 13:30 local time, they stopped fighting, yielding the heights to Soviet troops.

Losses in the battles on Khasan

For the battles on Lake Khasan, more than 6,500 Soviet soldiers and officers were awarded orders and medals. 26 of them received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and 95 received the Order of Lenin.

According to the then data, Soviet losses amounted to 792 dead and missing and 3,279 wounded. It is now believed that the number of those killed was significantly higher. The Japanese claimed to have destroyed or damaged about a hundred enemy tanks and 30 artillery pieces. It is difficult to assess how accurate these figures are, but losses of Soviet armored vehicles undoubtedly numbered in the dozens. Japanese losses, according to the General Staff, amounted to 526 killed and missing, plus 913 wounded. Soviet sources increased Japanese casualties to 2,500. In any case, the Red Army suffered noticeably more casualties. Responsibility for this was assigned to Vasily Blucher. On October 22, 1938, he was arrested by the NKVD and apparently tortured to death.

Destroyed Soviet tank. Fighting on Lake Khasan, 1938

The next year (1939) another Soviet-Japanese clash occurred on the Khalkhin Gol River. For the Japanese, it had a much more disastrous result, leading to the defeat of their 6th Army.

At the end Second World War The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (1946) indicted thirteen high-ranking Japanese officials for crimes against peace for their role in starting the fighting at Lake Khasan.

From 1936 to 1938, more than 300 incidents were noted on the Soviet-Japanese border, the most famous of which occurred at the junction of the borders of the USSR, Manchuria and Korea at Lake Khasan in July-August 1938.

At the origins of the conflict

The conflict in the Lake Khasan area was caused by a number of both foreign policy factors and very difficult relations within the ruling elite of Japan. An important detail was the rivalry within the Japanese military-political machine itself, when funds were distributed to strengthen the army, and the presence of even an imaginary military threat could give the command of the Japanese Korean Army a good opportunity to remind itself, given that the priority at that time was the operations of Japanese troops in China, which never brought the desired result.

And while on the Japanese side the border was approached by a railroad and several highways, on the Soviet side there was only one dirt road. . It is noteworthy that until 1938, this area, where there really was no clear boundary marking, was of no interest to anyone, and suddenly in July 1938, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs actively took up this problem.

On July 29, the Japanese launched an attack on the Soviet border post, but after a hot battle they were driven back. On the evening of July 31, the attack was repeated, and here the Japanese troops already managed to wedge 4 kilometers deep into Soviet territory. The first attempts to drive out the Japanese with the 40th Infantry Division were unsuccessful. However, everything was not going well for the Japanese either - every day the conflict grew, threatening to escalate into a big war, for which Japan, stuck in China, was not ready.

Meanwhile, in difficult off-road conditions and poor readiness of individual units, the concentration of forces of the 39th Rifle Corps continued. With great difficulty, they managed to gather 15 thousand people, 1014 machine guns, 237 guns, and 285 tanks in the combat area. In total, the 39th Rifle Corps consisted of up to 32 thousand people, 609 guns and 345 tanks. 250 aircraft were sent to provide air support.

Hostages of provocation

Aviation, including TB-3 heavy bombers, was brought in to destroy Japanese fortifications. The fighters carried out a series of assault strikes on Japanese troops. Moreover, the targets of Soviet aviation were located not only on the captured hills, but also deep in Korean territory.

It was later noted: “To defeat the Japanese infantry in the enemy’s trenches and artillery, high-explosive bombs were mainly used - 50, 82 and 100 kg, a total of 3,651 bombs were dropped. 6 pieces of high-explosive bombs 1000 kg on the battlefield 08/06/38. were used solely for the purpose of moral influence on the enemy infantry, and these bombs were dropped into the enemy infantry areas after these areas had been thoroughly hit by groups of SB-bombs FAB-50 and 100. The enemy infantry rushed about in the defensive zone, not finding cover, since almost the entire main line of their defense was covered with heavy fire from the explosions of bombs from our aircraft. 6 bombs of 1000 kg, dropped during this period in the area of the Zaozernaya height, shook the air with strong explosions, the roar of these bombs exploding across the valleys and mountains of Korea was heard tens of kilometers away. After the explosion of 1000 kg of bombs, the Zaozernaya height was covered with smoke and dust for several minutes. It must be assumed that in those areas where these bombs were dropped, the Japanese infantry were 100% incapacitated from shell shock and stones thrown out of the craters by the explosion of the bombs.”

Having completed 1003 sorties, Soviet aviation lost two aircraft - one SB and one I-15. The Japanese, having no more than 18-20 anti-aircraft guns in the conflict area, could not provide serious resistance. And throwing your own aviation into battle meant starting a large-scale war, for which neither the command of the Korean Army nor Tokyo were ready. From this moment on, the Japanese side began to frantically search for a way out of the current situation, which required both saving face and stopping hostilities, which no longer promised anything good for the Japanese infantry.

Denouement

The denouement came when Soviet troops launched a new offensive on August 8, having overwhelming military-technical superiority. The attack by tanks and infantry was carried out based on military expediency and without taking into account compliance with the border. As a result, Soviet troops managed to capture Bezymyannaya and a number of other heights, and also gain a foothold near the top of Zaozernaya, where the Soviet flag was hoisted.

On August 10, the chief of staff of the 19th telegraphed the chief of staff of the Korean Army: “Every day the combat effectiveness of the division is declining. The enemy suffered great damage. He is using new methods of combat and increasing artillery fire. If this continues, there is a danger that the fighting will escalate into even more fierce battles. Within one to three days it is necessary to decide on the division’s further actions... Until now, Japanese troops have already demonstrated their power to the enemy, and therefore, while it is still possible, it is necessary to take measures to resolve the conflict diplomatically.”

On the same day, armistice negotiations began in Moscow and at noon on August 11, hostilities were stopped. Strategically and politically, the Japanese test of strength, and by and large, the military adventure ended in failure. Not being prepared for a major war with the USSR, the Japanese units in the Khasan area found themselves hostage to the created situation, when further expansion of the conflict was impossible, and it was also impossible to retreat while preserving the prestige of the army.

The Hassan conflict did not lead to a reduction in USSR military assistance to China. At the same time, the battles on Khasan revealed a number of weaknesses of both the troops of both the Far Eastern Military District and the Red Army as a whole. The Soviet troops apparently suffered even greater losses than the enemy; at the initial stage of the fighting, the interaction between the infantry, tank units and artillery turned out to be weak. The reconnaissance was not at a high level, unable to reveal the enemy's positions.

The losses of the Red Army amounted to 759 people killed, 100 people died in hospitals, 95 people missing and 6 people killed in accidents. 2752 people was injured or sick (dysentery and colds). The Japanese admitted the loss to 650 killed and 2,500 wounded. At the same time, the battles on Khasan were far from the last military clash between the USSR and Japan in the Far East. Less than a year later, an undeclared war began in Mongolia on Khalkhin Gol, where, however, the forces of the Japanese Kwantung Army, rather than the Korean ones, would be involved.

On July 29, 1938, near Lake Khasan, the first clash occurred between Japanese troops and the SovietRed Army. Together with the subsequent series of clashes, these events in Russian historiography were called the battles at Lake Khasan or the Khasan battles.

Fight for land

Military conflicts on the eve of World War II can be called a test of strength for future opponents. Japan did not have the desired success during its military intervention in Siberia and the Far East in 1918-1922, but since then continued to cherish hopes of annexing vast Asian lands of the USSR. The situation especially worsened when the militaristic part of the Japanese elite gained real power in Japan (by 1930). China was also involved in these complex relationships, in which case the CER was the bone of contention. In 1931-1932, Japan, taking advantage of the weakening of the Republic of China due to the ongoing civil war, occupied Manchuria and created the puppet state of Manchukuo). Since 1936, Japanese troops have increased the frequency of provocations on the Soviet-Japanese border in search of its weak point. There were more than 300 such incidents by 1938. By the time the Khasan battles began, the USSR and Japan had long considered each other as the most likely military adversary.

He who sows a storm will reap a hurricane

In 1938, the Pravda newspaper wrote about the border incident near Lake Khasan: “He who sows a storm will reap a hurricane.” The Battles of Khasan entered the history of Russia as a decisive victory of the Red Army over the Japanese aggressors. 26 soldiers and officers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, more than 6.5 thousand were awarded orders and medals. The Military Council of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR was responsible for summing up the results of the battles at Lake Khasan on August 31, 1938. The matter ended with the decision to disband the administration of the Far Eastern Red Banner Front and remove Marshal Blucher from the post of commander of the troops of the said front. Such decisions are usually made on the basis of failure, defeat, but here there is victory... Why?

Bombing of Zaozernaya Hill

Setting by the lake

A direct role in accelerating the outbreak of the conflict between Japan and the USSR was played by Genrikh Lyushkov, an NKVD officer of the highest rank. He arrived in the Far East with special powers and ran over to the Japanese, revealing to them a number of important information about the protection of the state border, concerning the number of troops and their locations. The Japanese immediately began to accumulate troops on the Soviet-Manchurian border. The reason for the outbreak of hostilities was the accusation brought by the Japanese side to the Soviet side for the construction of an observation post on the Zaozernaya hill, which each side considered its own, since the border on the ground was not clearly marked. A commission sent by Blucher to investigate found that Soviet troops allegedly advanced three meters further on the hill than expected. Blucher's proposal to rebuild the fortifications met with an unexpected reaction: Moscow had previously ordered not to react to Japanese provocations, but now demanded that an armed response be organized. On July 29, 1938, 150 Japanese soldiers began an assault on the Bezymyannaya hill; they were opposed by 11 Soviet border guards. Help soon arrived and the Japanese retreated. Blucher gave the order to strengthen the defense of the Bezymyannaya and Zaozernaya hills. After the assault on the night of July 31, the Japanese captured these hills. Already in early September, the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, Marshal Voroshilov, would accuse Blucher of deliberately sabotaging the defense precisely for this failure. The aforementioned episode with Lyushkov contributes to the understanding of this attitude towards the honored hero of the Civil War, holder of the Order of the Red Banner for No. 1. Blucher acted hesitantly, but not treacherously, guided by the general situation in the international political arena and tactical considerations. On August 3, Grigory Stern replaced Blucher as commander of combat operations with the Japanese, on orders from Moscow. At the cost of significant losses and after the massive use of aviation, Soviet troops completed the task assigned to them to protect the state border of the USSR and defeat enemy units. On August 11, 1938, an armistice was concluded between the USSR and Japan. For all the failures and miscalculations, the blame was placed on Blucher. The shortcomings identified during the battles on Lake Khasan, which became the first major military clash for the USSR in the last ten years, were taken into account, the army was improved, and already in 1939 the USSR won a confident and unconditional victory over Japan in the battles on the Khalkhin Gol River. The Khasan battles were vividly reflected in Soviet culture: films were made, songs were written in the shortest possible time, and the name “Hasan” itself became a household name for many small and previously nameless lakes in different parts of the USSR.

Conflict on Lake Khasan

The Japanese attacked us, fulfilling allied obligations to the Germans

Khasan events were and remain an important episode of the Soviet-Japanese confrontation. However, few people think about the reasons for the Japanese attack on the Far Eastern outposts, and hardly anyone asks themselves the question: was Japan really ready to get involved in a war with a powerful state because of a couple of hills, even if they dominated the area? However, the fact remains: at the end of July 1938, Japanese troops attacked many times superior Soviet forces, after which the conflict on Lake Khasan.

Sergey Shumakov,

military historian, candidate of historical sciences,

editor-in-chief of the portal

In 1931, China, suffering from political turmoil and torn by infighting among regional military leaders, fell victim to Japanese aggression. Using as a pretext the so-called Manchurian incident, when the Japanese lieutenant Suemori Komoto, on instructions from his own command, blew up the railway track at South Manchurian Railway , the Japanese occupied all of Manchuria from September 18, 1931 to February 27, 1932, and the troops of the military governor of Liaoning Province, 30-year-old General Zhang Zulin, retreated to Zhehe Province, but in 1933 the Japanese drove them out from there.
In the occupied territories, the Japanese proclaimed the state of Manchukuo on March 9, 1932, at the head of which they installed the former Chinese emperor Aisin Gyoro Pu Yi. However, the commander of the Kwantung Army was also the Japanese ambassador to Manchukuo and had the right to veto the decisions of the emperor. Having learned about the accession of the rightful emperor, most of the military personnel of Zhang Zuolin's army defected to the Japanese and enlisted in the army of the new state formation. Even earlier, on September 23, General Xi Qia, the governor of Jilin Province, went over to the Japanese side, diligently helping the enemy in conquering his native land.
Almost immediately after the occupation of Manchuria, the Japanese tried to probe the guards of our border with a bayonet. In February 1934, five Japanese soldiers crossed the border line. in a clash with a squad of border guards, one of the violators was mauled to death by a dog, and four were taken prisoner wounded. On March 22, 1934, while trying to conduct reconnaissance at the Emelyantsev outpost site, an officer and a soldier of the Japanese army were shot. In April 1934, Japanese soldiers attempted to capture the Lysaya heights in the area of the Grodekovsky border detachment; at the same time, the Poltavka outpost was attacked, but the border guards, with the support of an artillery company, repelled the attack and drove the enemy beyond the border line.

On January 30, 1936, two Japanese-Manchurian companies crossed the border at Meshcheryakovaya Pad and entered 1.5 km into USSR territory before being pushed back by border guards. Losses amounted to 31 Manchu soldiers and Japanese officers killed and 23 wounded, as well as 4 killed and several wounded Soviet border guards. On November 24, 1936, a cavalry and foot detachment of 60 Japanese crossed the border in the Grodekovo area, but came under machine gun fire and retreated, losing 18 soldiers killed and 7 wounded, 8 corpses remained on Soviet territory.
Subsequently, border violations occurred several times a year, but they did not lead to open hostilities.

Soldiers of the Manchukuo Army

However, in 1938 the situation in Europe sharply worsened. After the successful Anschluss of Austria, the Germans turned their attention to Czechoslovakia. France and the Soviet Union declare their support for Czechoslovakia. The fact is that back on May 16, 1935, a Soviet-Czechoslovak treaty was signed, according to which we pledged to stand up for Czechoslovakia in the event of an attack on it by any European country. Then, in 1935, this country meant Poland, which laid claim to Cieszyn Silesia. However, even in 1938, the USSR was not going to renounce its obligations, as was stated. True, France soon abandoned its support - the new Prime Minister of France, Edouard Daladier, who replaced Leon Blum in this post, moved away from the policy of collective security proclaimed by his predecessor.
On the eve of the elections held on May 22, 1938, the Sudeten German party started riots in the Sudetenland. The Wehrmacht is pulling troops to the border. At the German OKW headquarters, by May 20, a draft directive “Grun” was prepared - a plan for military operations against Czechoslovakia. In response to this, Czechoslovak President Benes sends troops into the Sudetenland. There is a mobilization of two ages of reservists. The Sudetenland crisis begins.
The Germans are still afraid of everyone. They don’t yet know that the Czechs will surrender the country without firing a shot, that the British and French will not only not interfere with them, but will even help them. But most of all they are afraid that Budyonny’s cavalry, supported by large tank formations, will burst into the vastness of Europe.
The chief of staff of the ground forces, General Beck, dissuades the Fuhrer from a military invasion, but he himself receives his resignation. Halder, who replaced him, verbally agrees with the Fuhrer, but secretly prepares an assassination attempt on him. Of course, the Germans are reassured by the fact that Poland is going to declare war on the Russians if they help the Czechs, but the Germans understand that the Red Army is no longer the same as in 1920, and Poland will crumble from the very first Soviet blows. Moreover, the Germans understand that such a turn of events is very beneficial for the Russians - they will have a legitimate reason to deal with Poland and take revenge on it for the shame of 2020.
And then the Germans, through the military attaché in Berlin, Baron Hiroshi Oshima, who later became the Japanese ambassador, turned to the Japanese with a request to create tension on the Soviet-Manchurian border. This, firstly, will force the Russians to draw their best troops to the Far East, and secondly, it will show them that if they get involved in a war in Europe, they will face a war on two fronts.

Ribbentrop, Hitler and the Japanese ambassador Saburo Kurusu conspire to act together.

Using the encryption machine 九七式印字機, better known under the American name Purple, on June 17, 1938, this request is transmitted to Tokyo, and already on the 21st, on the way from home to the embassy, the USSR Charge d'Affaires in Japan Konstantin Aleksandrovich Smetanin sees all the way on their way, posters with the inscription: “Be prepared for the inevitable Japanese-Soviet war!”
The impudence of the Japanese was not backed up by serious military force - because of the war in China, Japan could allocate only 9 divisions for the war with us. We, however, did not know about this, believing that the Japanese had much greater strength, but the Japanese could not have known about our superiority. The fact is that just at this time, on June 13, 1938, the NKVD Plenipotentiary Representative for the Far East, 3rd Rank State Security Commissioner Genrikh Samuilovich Lyushkov, ran over to the Japanese. From him they learned the exact number and condition of Soviet troops in the Far East. Based on the data received from Lyushkov, the fifth department of the General Staff came to the conclusion that the Soviet Union could use up to 28 rifle divisions against Japan under normal conditions, and if necessary, concentrate from 31 to 58 divisions, and instead of a large-scale conflict, they decided to limit themselves to a major provocation .
In all likelihood, the contents of Oshima’s encrypted telegram did not remain a secret to our intelligence, and on July 1, 1938, the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army, urgently replenished with 105,800 personnel, was transformed into the Red Banner Far Eastern Front.
July 3 to height of Zaozernaya, on which there was a border detachment of two Red Army soldiers, advanced near a company of Japanese infantrymen. Following an alarm signal, a group of border guards led by Lieutenant Pyotr Tereshkin arrived from the outpost.

The Japanese turned into a chain and, with rifles at the ready, as if in an attack, moved towards the height. Not reaching 50 meters to the top of Zaozernaya, along which the border line ran, the Japanese chain, on the orders of the officers who walked with naked sabers in their hands, stopped and lay down. Having failed to draw fire from the border guards, in the evening the company retreated to the Korean village of Homoku, on the outskirts of which the Japanese began to defiantly dig trenches. On July 10, the Soviet reserve border outpost secretly advances to the Zaozernaya height, and at its top the construction of trenches and wire fences begins.
On the evening of July 15, the head of the engineering service of the Posyet border detachment, Lieutenant Vasily Vinevitin, uses a rifle shot to kill the Japanese gendarme Shakuni Matsushima, who deliberately stepped one foot beyond the state border line.
A few days later, Vinevitin will be killed by our sentry, giving the wrong password.
On July 18, a massive violation of the border section of the Posyet border detachment began. The violators were unarmed Japanese postmen, each of whom had a letter to the Soviet authorities demanding to “cleanse” Manchurian territory, and on the 20th, the Japanese ambassador in Moscow Mamoru Shigemitsu, at a reception with People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs Litvinov, on behalf of his government, presented an ultimatum territorial claims to the USSR. The object of the claims was the height Zaozernaya. On July 22, the Soviet government sent a note to the Japanese, in which these demands were rejected.
July 28 height Zaozernaya their machine guns were fired upon, and on July 29, the Japanese, with the help of a gendarmerie company, stormed the heights Nameless. The hill was defended by 11 border guards. Four of them, including the squad leader, were killed, but when a platoon from the nearby Pekshekori outpost arrived to help the defenders, the Japanese retreated.
On the evening of July 30, Japanese artillery shelled the tops of the hills Zaozernaya And Unnamed, trying to destroy the border guards' trenches and barbed wire barriers, and at about 2 a.m., under the cover of the darkness of the night, Japanese infantry with up to two regiments began an attack on these border heights.
The battle continued until the evening, and by the end of the day both hills were in the hands of the Japanese. Of the 94 border guards who defended the hills Zaozernaya And Unnamed, 13 people were killed and 70 wounded.

Political studies in the 40th Infantry Division
At the occupied heights, the Japanese began to dig trenches and install machine gun points. A hastily prepared counterattack with two battalions of the 119th Infantry Regiment was unsuccessful. We could have dealt with the presumptuous enemy much faster if we had violated the border and captured the trenches, bypassing them through Manchurian territory. But ours, following the orders of the command, acted only within their territory. Advancing uphill through open terrain without artillery support (the command was afraid that some shell would hit the adjacent territory), our troops suffered significant losses. In addition, during the battles it turned out that, unlike the well-trained border guards who were part of the NKVD system, the soldiers of the rifle units practically did not know how to shoot, and grenades RGD-33 turned out to be unused, since the fighters did not know how to handle them.
We had to bring up tanks and artillery. Aviation was also involved.
The Japanese also strengthened their positions. On August 5, defense on the hills Zaozernaya And Unnamed held, having in the immediate rear troops of the second echelon, the 19th Infantry Division, an infantry brigade, two artillery regiments and separate reinforcement units, including three machine-gun battalions, with a total number of up to 20 thousand people. I call these formations the troops of the Kwantung Army. In fact, they were not part of the Kwantung Army, but belonged to the contingent of Japanese troops in Korea.

Soviet air strike on Japanese positions

The Japanese are at the height of Zaozernaya

These days the first case of combat use occurred. At 16:00 on August 6, 180 bombers (60 and 120 SB) dropped 1,592 aerial bombs weighing a total of 122 tons on the enemy. The fighters covering the bombers fired 37,985 machine-gun rounds at Japanese positions. After an air raid on the heights and places of supposed concentration of Japanese reserves, a 45-minute artillery fire raid was carried out. At 16.55, a general attack began by the Zaozernaya and Nameless infantry, supported by the tank battalions of the 2nd mechanized brigade.

ABOUT At the same time as the start of aviation training, the 3rd tank battalion of the 2nd mechanized brigade, supporting the 95th and 96th rifle regiments, received a signal to attack. The battalion, which included 6 tanks, moved from its initial positions to the front line of the enemy’s defense BT-5 And BT-7, began quickly, in three columns, according to the number of crossings made by sappers across the stream southwest of Novoselka. However, due to the viscosity of the soil, the speed of the BTs dropped to 3 km/h, while they were subjected to heavy enemy artillery fire. The effectiveness of artillery and aviation preparations was low, and the Japanese artillery was not suppressed.

Of the 43 tanks that took part in the attack, only 10 reached the front line of the enemy’s defense. The rest were stuck at the crossings or were hit by enemy artillery fire. Having lost most of the tanks, the battalion was unable to ensure further advance of our infantry. So the attempt of the 32nd SD to master the altitude Nameless August 6 failed. With the onset of darkness, having lost 10 tanks only from artillery fire, the 3rd tank battalion of the 2nd mechanized brigade was withdrawn to the area of the northeastern slopes of the height located between height Unnamed And Lake Khasan.
On the left flank of the 39th IC, a tank company of the reconnaissance battalion of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade operated, which at 16.50 on August 6, 19 tanks BT-5 And BT-7 attacked the enemy. The company, using the high maneuverability of BT tanks, began the attack at high speed, but having reached the ravine between the heights of Machine Gun Hill and Zaozernaya, was forced to slow down the pace of the attack, and then stop altogether. Only two BT-5 managed to overcome the swampy ravine and break through to the heights Zaozernaya. The remaining tanks were simply stuck in the swamp.

At 16.55 the signal was given to the 2nd Tank Battalion of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade to attack. The battalion began its attack in three echelons. Having reached the front line of the enemy's defense, the battalion began to quickly move forward, destroying enemy infantry and anti-tank defenses. However, due to the large swampiness of the area, the pace of the attack decreased sharply. By 17.20, half of the tanks participating in the attack were stuck on the approaches to the height of Machine Gun Hill. Many of them were hit by anti-tank guns mounted on high ground. The BT tanks of the commander, commissar and chief of staff of the battalion, as well as the tanks of two company commanders, were among the first to be hit, since they had handrail antennas and stood out sharply from the total mass of tanks. The control of the battalion was disrupted, the surviving tanks stopped and began to fire from their spot along the height of Machine-Gun Hill. Battalion Commander Captain Menshov He sent some of the surviving tanks to this height with the task of destroying firing points that were hindering the advance of the 120th Infantry Regiment. 12 tanks, together with infantry of the 118th and 119th regiments, attacked the height Zaozernaya. The tanks attacking the Machine Gun Hill height were unable to overcome its steep rocky slopes. Height Attack Zaozernaya was more successful: 7 tanks reached its south-eastern slopes and by 22.00 on August 6, together with the infantry of the 118th and 119th regiments, captured the height Zaozernaya.
The Japanese not only defended themselves, but also launched fierce counterattacks. On August 7 alone, they counterattacked 13 times, and a 200-meter section of our territory in the Zaozernaya area was in Japanese hands until August 9.
Finally, the Japanese, defeated by Soviet troops, requested a truce on August 11. On the same day at 12.00 local time, hostilities ceased. Our territory has been completely cleared and the border has been restored.

On the 13th, an exchange of corpses took place. The Japanese General Staff report stated that the Japanese lost 526 killed and 913 wounded. They estimated our losses at 792 killed and 3,279 wounded. In the order of the People's Commissar of Defense Voroshilov, based on the results Khasan events the figure was given as 408 killed and 2807 wounded.
From his failure in conflict on Lake Khasan The Japanese did not learn any lessons, and the next year, with exactly the same goals - to attract more Soviet troops on the eve of the upcoming Polish campaign - and exactly under the same pretext - a minor change in the existing border - the Japanese launched a larger-scale conflict on the river.

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