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Soviet–Japanese War

The Soviet–Japanese War,[11] known in Mongolia as the Liberation War of 1945,[12] was a campaign of the Second World War that began with the Soviet invasion of Japanese-occupied territory following the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on 7 August 1945. The Soviet Union and Mongolian People's Republic toppled the Japanese puppet states of Manchukuo in Manchuria and Mengjiang in Inner Mongolia, as well as northern Korea, Karafuto on the island of Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. The defeat of Japan's Kwantung Army helped bring about the Japanese surrender and the end of World War II.[13][14] The Soviet entry into the war was a significant factor in the Japanese government's decision to surrender unconditionally, as it was made apparent that the Soviet Union was not willing to act as a third party in negotiating an end to hostilities on conditional terms.[5][15][16][17][18][19]

For the border wars in the 1930s, see Soviet–Japanese border conflicts. For the 1904–1905 war between the Russian Empire and Japan, see Russo-Japanese War.

(9 August 1945 – 2 September 1945)

Khingan–Mukden Offensive Operation

Harbin–Kirin Offensive Operation

Battle of Mutanchiang

(9 August 1945 – 2 September 1945)

Sungari Offensive Operation

At the Tehran Conference in November 1943, Joseph Stalin agreed that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan once Germany was defeated.


An Anglo-American delegation visited Moscow in October 1944 to discuss the Soviet Union joining the war against Japan. The meeting with Stalin on 15 October discussed the Soviet Union's participation, and Stalin said that the Soviet offensive could need American material assistance because of the limited freight capacity of the Trans-Siberian Railway; see Pacific Route. British participants included Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, and General Hastings Ismay. The American representative was W. Averell Harriman.


At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Stalin agreed to Allied pleas to enter World War II in the Pacific Theater within three months of the end of the war in Europe.


On 26 July, the US, the UK, and China made the Potsdam Declaration, an ultimatum calling for the Japanese surrender that if ignored would lead to their "prompt and utter destruction".


The commencement of the invasion fell between the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima on 6 August and Nagasaki on 9 August. Although Stalin had been told virtually nothing of the US and UK's atomic bomb program by Allied governments, the date of the invasion was foreshadowed by the Yalta agreement, the date of the German surrender (on 9 May 1945, implying a deadline for Stalin to enter the war against Japan by August 9 1945), and the fact that, on 3 August, Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky reported to Stalin that, if necessary, he could attack on the morning of 5 August. The timing was well-planned and enabled the Soviet Union to enter the Pacific Theater on the side of the Allies, as previously agreed, before the war's end.[20] The proposed Soviet invasion of Hokkaido was originally planned to be part of the territory taken, and finally on 7 August, the Soviets declared war on Japan.[21]


At 11 pm Trans-Baikal time on 8 August 1945, Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov informed Japanese ambassador Naotake Satō that the Soviet Union had declared war on Japan, and that from 9 August the Soviet Government would consider itself to be at war with Japan.[22] At one minute past midnight Trans-Baikal time on 9 August 1945, the Soviets commenced their invasion simultaneously on three fronts to the east, west and north of Manchuria. The operation was subdivided into smaller operational and tactical parts:


and subsequently


Though the battle extended beyond the traditional lands of the Manchu people, the coordinated and integrated invasions of Japan's northern territories has also been called the Battle of Manchuria.[23] Since 1983, the operation has sometimes been called Operation August Storm, after American Army historian Lieutenant-colonel David Glantz used this title for a paper on the subject.[5] It has also been referred to by its Soviet name, the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation, but this name refers more to the Soviet invasion of Manchuria than to the whole war.


This offensive should not be confused with the Soviet–Japanese border conflicts (particularly the Battle of Khalkhin Gol of May–September 1939), that ended in Japan's defeat in 1939, and led to the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact.[24]

They wrongly assumed that any attack coming from the west would follow either the old rail line to or head into Solun from the eastern tip of Mongolia. The Soviets attacked along those routes, but their main attack from the west went through the supposedly-impassable Greater Khingan range south of Solun and into the center of Manchuria.

Hailar

Japanese military intelligence failed to determine the nature, location, and scale of the Soviet buildup in the Far East. Based on initial underestimates of Soviet strength and the monitoring of Soviet traffic on the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Japanese believed that the Soviets would not have sufficient forces in place before the end of August and that an attack was most likely in the autumn of 1945 or the spring of 1946.

Battles of Khalkhin Gol

Battle of Mutanchiang

Battle of Shumshu

Military history of Japan

Military history of the Soviet Union

Kuril Islands dispute

Project Hula

Soviet–Japanese border conflicts

Despres, J, Dzirkals, L, et al. (1976). Timely Lessons of History : The Manchurian Model for Soviet Strategy. Santa Monica, RAND: 103. ()

available on-line

Duara, P. (2006). The New Imperialism and the Post-Colonial Developmental State: Manchukuo in comparative perspective. Japan Focus.

Garthoff, R L. (1966). Soviet Military Policy : A Historical Analysis. London, Faber and Faber.

Garthoff, R L. (1969). The Soviet Manchurian Campaign, August 1945. Military Affairs XXXIII(Oct 1969): 312–336.

(1983a). August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, Leavenworth Paper No.7, Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, February 1983.

Glantz, David M.

Glantz, David M. (1983b). , Leavenworth Paper No.8, Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, June 1983.

August Storm: Soviet Tactical and Operational Combat in Manchuria, 1945

Glantz, David M. (1995) The Soviet Invasion of Japan. Quarterly Journal of Military History, vol. 7, no. 3, Spring 1995.

Glantz, David M. (2003). The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945 (Cass Series on Soviet (Russian) Military Experience, 7). Routledge.  0-7146-5279-2.

ISBN

Gordin, Michael D. (2005). Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War. ()

Extracts on-line

Hallman, A L. (1995). Battlefield Operational Functions and the Soviet Campaign against Japan in 1945. Quantico, Virginia, United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College.

Hasegawa, T. (Ed.) (2007). The End of the Pacific War. ()

Extracts on-line

Ishiwatari, H, Mizumachi, K, et al. (1946) No.77 – Japanese Preparations for Operations in Manchuria (prior to 1943). Tokyo, Military History Section, Headquarters, Army Forces Far East, US Army.

Jowett, Phillip (2005). Rays of the Rising Sun: Japan's Asian Allies 1931–45 Volume 1: China and Manchukuo. Helion and Company Ltd.  1-874622-21-3.

ISBN

Phillips, S. (2004). The Sino-Japanese War, 1937–1945 : The Military Struggle – Research Guide and Bibliography. Towson University.

available on-line

USMCU CSC (1986). The Soviet Army Offensive : Manchuria, 1945. (US Marine Corps University, Command and Staff College)

Walg, A. J. (March–April 1997). "Wings over the Steppe: Aerial Warfare in Mongolia 1930–1945, Part Three". . No. 68. pp. 70–73. ISSN 0143-5450.

Air Enthusiast

August 1945.

Japanese Air Order of Battle and Operations Against 'August Storm'

WW2DB: Operation August Storm

Aerial actions over Kuriles

Comment over Soviet Pacific Fleet during Russian-German Conflict and Japanese forces actions in this period

Soviet viewpoint map of the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation

The Notes of Japanese soldier in USSR

http://ww2db.com/photo.php?source=all&color=all&list=search&foreigntype=B&foreigntype_id=167

Japanese in Manchuria and Korea following the war