Evacuation of Manchukuo
The Evacuation of Manchukuo occurred during the Soviet Red Army's invasion of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo as part of the wider Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation of August 1945.
The Soviets recovered territory which had been captured by Japan during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, and they dismantled the Manchurian industrial infrastructure. This deprived Chiang Kai-shek's troops of a vital region of China, and gave Mao Zedong's Eighth Army the opportunity to establish bases in North East China.
Kwantung Army strength[edit]
On August 10, 1945, troops of the 17th Japanese Front (in Korea) and the Fifth Air Army were placed under the command of the Kwantung Army. At this point, the Japanese Kwantung Army numbered nearly 750,000 officers and men. It had 1,155 tanks and self-propelled guns, 1,800 warplanes, and 30 warships and gunboats. The entire Japanese force deployed in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and Korea numbered over one million officers and men.
The fate of Manchukuo[edit]
On August 9, Kwantung Army supreme commander, General Otozō Yamada, informed Puyi that the Soviet Union had violated the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact and had invaded across the Manchukuo frontier. Although assured by General Yamada that the situation was under control, the same day Xinjing was attacked by the first air raid of the war, and Puyi witnessed explosions from bombs falling near the Wei Huang Gong palace.
On August 10, General Yamada advised Puyi that although the Army was "giving heavy resistance" the capital was being temporarily evacuated to Tonghua. Puyi was reluctant to abandon Xinjing, but was warned that if he did not leave, he would be the first killed by Red Army troops. Puyi donned the uniform of Commander in Chief of the Manchukuo Imperial Army as a gesture of solidarity with his troops.
On August 11, Puyi and other members of the imperial court departed Xinjing by train. Hiro Saga witnessed the local population preparing to receive the Red Army by making hammer and sickle flags. Because of the rapid Soviet advance, the entourage was unable to reach Tonghua, and changed its route to Talitzou, arriving at night. On the way, they witnessed Japanese military convoys fleeing south, in contrast to General Yamada's assurances that "the Japanese army are gaining and destroyed many aircraft and enemy tanks". Talitzou station was a scene of panic, with civilians desperately attempting to board the overcrowded last trains "crying and bribing guards to let them enter and between guards there were fights."
At the same time, the Japanese authorities took care of the safety of the Bureau of Russian Emigrant Affairs employees. On August 13, a special train with BREM members left Harbin, but the next day the train turned around to Mukden, as the road to Korea was already closed.
At Talitzou, Puyi and his court stayed in a two-storey administrative building belonging to a mining company. Puyi talked with his Japanese advisors about his future, and plans were made to take him to Korea, which the Allies had yet to invade, and from there to Japan. Puyi was uncertain where he would like to stay, but settled upon Kyoto.
On August 15, the group met around a radio receiver, listening to Japanese emperor Hirohito announcing the unconditional surrender of Japan. Pujie translated the speech for the group. Hiro mentioned how both brothers shook hands and cried.
Two days later, on August 17, Puyi formally renounced the Manchukuo throne and proclaimed the dissolution of the Manchukuo government. In a symbolic vote, all present approved, and Puyi stamped his seal to enact the law, ending the Manchukuo government after 13 years and five months. Coincidentally, it was at Talitzou 350 years before that Puyi's ancestor Nurhaci began his campaign to defeat the Ming Dynasty.
The region was no longer safe due to Communist guerrillas, and the group divided; one part returned to Xinjing with ex-prime minister Zhang Jinghui for a last radio contact with Chiang Kai-shek, in an unsuccessful attempt to give over control of Manchukuo to the Kuomintang to prevent Soviet occupation. The women in the entourage were sent separately by train towards Korea, as it was thought that they were not in immediate danger, and were not political targets of the Soviet or Chinese forces. As the train left Hiro saw Puyi cry.
At Talitzou airport a Tachikawa Ki-54, was prepared for Puyi's escape. Puyi selected only eight people, including his brother Pujie, Yuyan, Big Li and his personal medic. The small plane took the imperial entourage to Mukden where a larger plane, one Mitsubishi Ki-57 was to take them to Korea. However, while waiting at Mukden, Soviet troops of the Transbaikal Front seized the airport, disarming the small Japanese garrison.
After Germany's capitulation, Heinrich Samoilovich Lyushkov was transferred from Tokyo on 20 July 1945 to work for the Japanese Kwantung Army's Special Intelligence authorities in Manchukuo. On 9 August 1945, the Soviet invasion of Manchuria commenced and Lyushkov vanished in the confusion of the assault, where he was reportedly last seen in a crowd at a Dalian train station. He was apparently invited to the head of the Dalian military mission, Yutaka Takeoka, who suggested that he commit suicide. Lyushkov refused and was shot by Takeoka. His body was secretly cremated (three days later, Dalian was occupied by the Soviet army).
Puyi and his companions spent the night at the airport under guard, and the next morning were taken aboard a Russian plane. Between Mukden and Khabarovsk the plane landed for refueling, where Puyi spoke to the Soviet commander, telling him that he "did not like being in the same airplane with Japanese war criminals" and the Japanese were left at the airfield while Puyi continued on. On reaching Khabarovsk, Puyi was first sent to a hotel which was transformed into a detention centre. Later, he was sent to "Detention Center N°45" in a school building in the same city.
With the fall of Manchukuo to Soviet forces during the invasion of Manchuria in 1945, the head of Manchukuo Film Industry, Masahiko Amakasu committed suicide by taking potassium cyanide. On the last day of his life, Amakasu stayed calm, paid out the wages owed to his staff who were advised to leave Xinjing at once, wrote a suicide note in his office, and swallowed a cyanide pill.