Kwantung Army. Entry into the war of the USSR

The Soviet government, true to its obligations, striving for a quick end to the war and the restoration of world peace, and also wanting to secure its Far Eastern borders, announced on August 8 that from August 9, 1945, our country would be at war with Japan.
By the beginning of hostilities, the Japanese Kwantung Army was located in Manchuria and Korea, which consisted of three fronts, which included six armies (3, 5, 30, 34, 44 and 59), the 4th separate army and numerous reinforcement units. The total number of Japanese troops reached almost a million people. By this time, Manchuria was a springboard thoroughly prepared for large-scale operations. As a result of military-strategic construction, the network railways in Manchuria in 13 years it increased from 6,500 to 13,000 km; During the same time, up to 50,000 km were built
main and local dirt roads, mainly of military significance. The Dairen-Harbin highway was being built.

The capacity of the seaports of Manchuria and Korea, through which communications with Japan went, was greatly increased.
A widely developed network of airlines approached the Soviet border at more than ten points. The natural resources of Manchuria were used exclusively for the purpose of waging war. The Japanese built aviation, automobile, weapons and gunpowder factories in Manchuria, and contributed to the development of heavy and non-ferrous metallurgy. More than 50 thousand workers worked at the Mukden Arsenal, which produced cannons, mortars, machine guns, and explosives.

The concentration of the Japanese army on the Manchurian bridgehead was covered by seventeen fortified areas, built with the participation of German consultants using the experience of the Second World War. In some areas there were eight pillboxes per 1 km of front.
It should be noted that almost the entire Japanese Kwantung Army consisted of elite units that had extensive experience of war on the fields of China. Japanese soldiers, brought up in the spirit of hatred towards people of other races, were distinguished by their fanatical tenacity in battle.

Thus, in Manchuria, the Soviet Army was confronted by a strong, stubborn and treacherous enemy, who had powerful fortifications and was well acquainted with the peculiarities of the theater of military operations. But the Soviet Army had the richest experience of the Great Patriotic War, powerful technology and high fighting spirit. It was led by talented Soviet commanders.
With powerful, deep blows in converging directions, Soviet troops were supposed to break through enemy fortifications, as a result of a rapid advance, capture the vital centers of Manchuria, cut the Japanese Kwantung Army into pieces, encircle and capture it, and, in case of refusal to capitulate, destroy it.

The masterfully planned actions of the Soviet Far Eastern troops represented a single operation aimed at the rapid and complete destruction of the Kwantung Army and the occupation of Manchuria. The defeat of the strongest Kwantung Army and the loss of such a powerful military-economic base as Manchuria put Japan in conditions under which further war was impossible.
Soviet troops in the Far East were led by the Commander-in-Chief - Marshal Soviet Union A. M. Vasilevsky.

On the morning of August 9, 1945, in accordance with the order of the Supreme High Command, the troops of the Soviet Army began fighting. On the first day of the offensive, they had to overcome the most heavily fortified border areas.
The troops of the 1st Far Eastern Front, striking from Primorye, broke through the strip of Japanese reinforced concrete fortifications at Mishani, Grodekovo and Dunnin and went deep into enemy territory up to 15 km, and the formations of the 2nd Far Eastern Front (commander - General M.A. Purkaev) forced the The Amur and Ussuri rivers captured bridgeheads on the right bank of the Amur and on the left bank of the Ussuri.
The troops of the Transbaikal Front, advancing in the Hailar and Khalun-Arshan directions, achieved even greater success. The left wing of this front stormed the Manchu-Zhalaynor fortified area, and the formations advancing in the central sector advanced significantly east of the Khalkhin Gol River.

The actions of the ground forces of the Soviet Army were supported by massive air strikes against the main centers of Japanese communications - Harbin, Changchun, Girin and the ports of Seishin and Racine, which frustrated command and control and disorganized the enemy rear.
On August 10, the government of the Mongolian People's Republic joined the Soviet government's statement of August 8 and declared war on Japan. On August 11, the Chinese People's Liberation Army also intensified military operations against the Japanese invaders.

As a result of the first powerful blow of the Soviet Army, the very next day after the outbreak of hostilities, the Japanese government announced through the Soviet ambassador in Tokyo that it was ready to accept the terms of the declaration of July 2 (3), which called for it to unconditional surrender. However, the Japanese command did not give the order to its armed forces to lay down their arms, and the Soviet troops, crushing the resisting enemy, continued to carry out their previously assigned tasks.
Despite the fierce resistance of the enemy, who took advantage of the mountainous and wooded terrain and tried with all his might to delay the advance of the Soviet armies, its pace increased more and more every day.

The troops of the 1st Far Eastern Front, advancing in the direction Pogranichnaya - Harbin, approached an important road junction - the city of Mudanjiang - by August 13. By the same time, the 2nd Far Eastern Front, in cooperation with the Amur Military Flotilla, advanced formations reached the approaches to big city Jiamusi.
But the greatest advance was made by the troops of the Transbaikal Front. In the Qiqihar direction, they blocked the Khiilar fortified area and quickly advanced along the Chinese Eastern Railway towards Qiqihar. The central group of the front, having overcome the resistance of the Japanese on the Greater Khingan, went deep into Manchuria up to 250-300 km in the direction of Changchun and captured the city of Vanemyao. The mobile group, operating on the right wing of the front, at that time crossed the desert steppes of Inner Mongolia.

Thus, already as a result of the first five days of the offensive of the Soviet Army, the Japanese fortifications in Manchuria were broken through. During this time, Soviet troops advanced 200-300 km. With powerful blows, the Soviet Army dismembered the Japanese Kwantung Army and, with rapid advances in all directions, did not give the enemy the opportunity to organize consistent resistance on the river and mountain borders.

During World War II, the most numerous and powerful military group of the Japanese Imperial Army was the Kwantung Army. This army unit was concentrated in China. It was assumed that in the event of the outbreak of hostilities with the Soviet Union, it would be the Kwantung Army that would play main role in confrontation Soviet troops. It also provided for the use of troops from Manchukuo and Mengjiang, Japan's satellite countries, as auxiliary units under the Kwantung Army. Long time it was the Kwantung Army that remained the most combat-ready unit of the Japanese armed forces and was used not only as a territorial grouping of troops, but also as training base, where they trained and “tested” privates, non-commissioned officers and officers of the imperial army. Japanese officers viewed service in the Kwantung Army as prestigious, promising a good salary and the opportunity for quick promotion.

Before moving on to the story about the Kwantung Army itself, it is necessary to briefly tell what the imperial armed forces of Japan actually were like in the first half of the twentieth century. First, it should be noted that their history in its modern form began after the Meiji Revolution, in the general context of modernization of the country's economy, culture and defense. In January 1873, the traditional samurai militias of old Japan were disbanded and universal conscription was introduced. The governing bodies of the imperial army were: the Ministry of the Army, the General Staff and the Main Inspectorate of Combat Training. They were all subordinate to the Japanese emperor and had the same status, but different responsibilities. Thus, the Minister of the Army was responsible for administrative and personnel issues ground forces . The Chief of the General Staff exercised direct command of the army and was responsible for developing military orders. The Army General Staff also had jurisdiction over the training of staff officers. Initially, the importance of the General Staff of the Army was very great, but after a separate General Staff of the Fleet was created, its importance decreased, but a new General Staff of the Armed Forces was formed, also known as the Imperial Headquarters, which included the Emperor himself, the Minister of the Army, and the Minister of the Navy , Chief of the Army General Staff, Chief of the Navy General Staff, Chief of Army Operations, Chief of Navy Operations, and Chief Inspector of Combat Training. Finally, the chief inspector of combat training was in charge of the training of personnel of the imperial army - both privates and officers, as well as transport support for the imperial army and its logistics. The Chief Inspector of Combat Training was actually the third-highest ranking officer in the Imperial Japanese Army and was part of the Imperial Headquarters. Therefore, the position of chief inspector was considered very prestigious and significant, as evidenced by the appointment of promising and honored generals to it. As we will see below, former commanders of the Kwantung Army became the chief inspectors of combat training, but there were also examples of reverse job transfers. The main unit of the imperial army was the division, which in the event of the outbreak of war was transformed into an army. However, the imperial army included two exceptional formations - the Korean and Kwantung armies, which had a very large numerical strength even by the standards of armies and were armed forces stationed in Korea and Manchuria and intended to protect Japanese interests and maintain Japanese power in Korea and pro-Japanese puppet government of Manchukuo in Manchuria. The following ranks were introduced in the Imperial Japanese Army: generalissimo (emperor), general, lieutenant general, major general, colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, captain, lieutenant, junior lieutenant, ensign, senior sergeant, sergeant, corporal, sergeant major, private of the highest class, private 1st class, private 2nd class. Naturally, the officer corps in the imperial army was staffed, first of all, by representatives of the aristocratic class. The rank and file were recruited by conscription. In addition, it should be noted that during the Second World War, numerous paramilitary forces were operationally subordinate to the Japanese military command, recruited in the Japanese-occupied countries of East, Southeast and Central Asia. Among the armed formations controlled by the Japanese, it should be noted, first of all, the Manchukuo Army and the Mengjiang National Army, as well as armed formations in Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japanese-controlled Indian units formed in Singapore, etc. In Korea, the military conscription of Koreans was in effect since 1942, when Japan's position on the fronts began to seriously deteriorate, and on top of that, the threat of a Soviet military invasion of Manchuria and Korea intensified.

Largest Japanese formation in Manchuria

The history of the Kwantung Army began in 1931, when the formation of a large military formation began on the basis of an army garrison that had been stationed since the beginning of the twentieth century. on the territory of the Kwantung Region - the southwestern part of the Liaodong Peninsula. In 1905, based on the results Russo-Japanese War, Japan, as a “bonus”, according to the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, received the right to use the Liaodong Peninsula for military purposes. In fact, the formation formed on the Liaodong Peninsula became the basis for preparing an armed attack against Japan's main opponents in the region - China, the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic. The Kwantung Army began directly participating in hostilities against China on September 18, 1931. At this time, the army was commanded by Lieutenant General Shigeru Honjo (1876-1945) - one of the prominent Japanese military leaders, a participant in the Russo-Japanese War and the intervention in Russia during the Civil War. Shigeru Honjo, a professional military man, commanded the 10th Infantry Division before being appointed commander of the Kwantung Army. After sabotage on the railway, Japanese troops invaded the territory of Manchuria and occupied Mukden on September 19. On September 22, Girin was occupied, and on November 18, Qiqihar. The League of Nations tried in vain to prevent Japan from seizing large parts of Chinese territory, but was unable to do anything. The Japanese Empire increased the size of the Kwantung Army to 50 thousand soldiers and officers in December 1931, and a little more than two weeks later - by January 1932, the personnel of the Kwantung Army was increased to 260,000 troops. During this period, the army was armed with 439 tanks, 1,193 artillery pieces and 500 aircraft. Naturally, the Chinese troops were significantly inferior to the Kwantung Army both in weapons and in the level of organization and training, although they were slightly superior in numbers. On March 1, 1932, as a result of the operation of the Kwantung Army, the creation of the independent state of Manchukuo on the territory of Manchuria was proclaimed. The last emperor of China, Pu Yi, a representative of the Manchu Qing dynasty, was proclaimed its ruler. Thus, it was the Kwantung Army that ensured the creation of the state of Manchukuo on the territory of Northwestern China, which significantly changed the political map of East and Central Asia. Lieutenant General Shigeru Honjo, after carrying out the brilliant Manchurian operation, became a national hero of Japan and was promoted. On August 8, 1932, Shigeru Honjo was recalled to Japan. He was given the rank of general, the title of baron and appointed a member of the Supreme Military Council, and then - chief aide-de-camp to the Emperor of Japan. However, subsequently the fate of the Kwantung army commander was tragic. From 1939 to 1945 he headed the Military Hospital Service, but then the empire needed the general’s military experience in a more significant capacity, and in May 1945 Honjo was appointed a member of the Privy Council. After the end of the war, he was arrested by the American military, but managed to commit suicide.

Lieutenant General Shigeru Honjo was replaced as commander of the Kwantung Army by Field Marshal Muto Nobuyoshi (1868-1933). It is interesting that at the beginning of the twentieth century. he was twice military attaché in Russian Empire, and during the Civil War in Russia he headed the Japanese military mission under Admiral Kolchak, and later commanded a Japanese division during the intervention in the Far East. Before his appointment as commander of the Kwantung Army, Muto Nobuyoshi served as the Imperial Army's chief inspector for combat training. By the way, Muto Nobuyoshi combined the position of commander of the Kwantung Army with the positions of commander of the army of the state of Manchukuo and the Japanese ambassador to Manchukuo. Thus, all armed forces in Manchuria were under the command of a Japanese field marshal. It was the commander of the Kwantung Army who exercised actual leadership of the puppet government of Manchukuo, which could not take a single step without the knowledge of the Japanese administration. Muto participated in the actual creation of the Manchu state. However, in the same 1933, he died of jaundice in a military hospital in Xinjing. The new commander of the Kwantung Army was General Hishikari Takashi, who had previously, at the beginning of 1931, already commanded the Kwantung Army. It was under Muto and Hisikari that the foundations of the Kwantung Army were laid in the form in which it met the beginning of World War II. In fact these Japanese senior officers stood at the origins of Japanese military policy on the territory of Manchuria, forming the armed forces of Manchukuo. By 1938, the strength of the Kwantung Army had been increased to 200 thousand people (although during the capture of Manchuria, due to the attached formations, it was even more). Almost all the major senior officers of the Japanese Imperial Army passed through the Kwantung Army as a personnel forge, since staying on the territory of Manchuria was considered an important step in the career of an officer of the Japanese armed forces. In 1936, General Ueda Kenkichi (1875-1962) was appointed commander of the Kwantung Army. The personality of this man also played a big role - not only in the history of the Kwantung Army as a military unit, but also in the history of Soviet-Japanese relations. The fact is that General Ueda saw the main enemy of the Japanese Empire not as the United States or Great Britain, or even China, but as the Soviet Union. The USSR, according to Ueda, posed the main threat to Japanese interests in East and Central Asia. Therefore, as soon as Ueda, who previously held the post of commander of the Korean Army, received an appointment to the Kwantung Army, he was immediately puzzled by the issue of “redirecting” the Kwantung Army towards the Soviet Union, including encouraging anti-Soviet provocations on the border with the USSR. It was General Ueda who commanded the Kwantung Army during the armed incidents at Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol.

Provocations on the border and the conflict on Lake Khasan

However, less significant incidents occurred earlier - in 1936-1937. Thus, on January 30, 1936, the forces of two Manchurian companies under the command of Japanese officers from the Kwantung Army made a breakthrough 1.5 km deep into the territory of the Soviet Union. During the clash with the Soviet border guards, 31 Japanese and Manchu soldiers died, while only 4 people died on the Soviet side. On November 24, 1936, a mixed detachment of 60 Japanese cavalry and infantrymen invaded Soviet territory, but Soviet troops managed to repulse the attack, destroying 18 enemy soldiers with machine guns. Two days later, on November 26, the Japanese again tried to penetrate Soviet territory, and three Soviet border guards were killed during a shootout. On June 5, 1937, a Japanese detachment invaded Soviet territory and occupied a hill near Lake Khanka, but the attack was repulsed by the Soviet 63rd Infantry Regiment. On June 30, 1937, Japanese troops sank a Soviet armored boat of the border troops, resulting in the death of 7 servicemen. The Japanese also fired at an armored boat and a gunboat of the Soviet Amur military flotilla. After this, the commander of the Soviet troops, V. Blucher, sent a group consisting of reconnaissance and six rifle battalions, an engineer battalion, three artillery battalions and an aviation detachment to the border. The Japanese chose to retreat beyond the border line. Only for the period from 1936 to 1938. Japanese troops committed 231 violations of the state border of the Soviet Union, in 35 cases the violations resulted in military clashes. In March 1938, the headquarters of the Kwantung Army developed the “State Defense Policy” plan, directed against the USSR and providing for the use of Japanese forces of at least 18 divisions against the Soviet Union. By the beginning of July 1938, the situation on the Soviet-Manchurian border had escalated to the limit, and the Japanese command was putting forward territorial claims to the USSR. Due to the aggravation of the situation on the border, the Far Eastern Front of the Red Army was formed. On July 9, 1938, the movement of Soviet troops to the state border began in order to quickly repel a possible attack by the Kwantung Army. On July 12, Soviet border guards occupied the Zaozernaya hill, which was claimed by Manchukuo. In response to the actions of the Soviet troops, on July 14, the government of Manchukuo sent a note of protest to the USSR, and on July 15, the Japanese Ambassador to the USSR Mamoru Shigemitsu demanded the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from the disputed territory. On July 21, the Japanese military leadership requested permission from the Emperor of Japan to use military force against Soviet troops in the area of ​​Lake Khasan. In response to Japan's actions, the Soviet leadership on July 22, 1938 rejected Tokyo's demands for the withdrawal of Soviet troops. On July 23, the Japanese command began preparing for an armed invasion, clearing border villages of local residents. Artillery units of the Kwantung Army were advanced to the border, positions for Japanese artillery were equipped at the height of Bogomolnaya and islands on the Tumen-Ula River. In total, at least 20 thousand military personnel of the Kwantung Army were trained to participate in hostilities. The 15th, 19th and 20th infantry divisions, 1 cavalry regiment, 3 machine-gun battalions, armored units, anti-aircraft batteries, three armored trains and 70 aircraft were concentrated on the border. On the Tumen-Ula River there were 1 cruiser and 14 destroyers, 15 boats. The 19th Infantry Division took part directly in the battles near Lake Khasan.

On July 24, 1938, the Military Council of the Far Eastern Front of the Red Army put several army units on high alert, including the 118th and 119th rifle and 121st cavalry regiments of the 40th rifle division. On July 29, the Soviet positions were attacked by a Japanese border gendarmerie company, armed with 4 machine guns and numbering 150 soldiers and officers. Having occupied Bezymyannaya heights, the Japanese lost 40 people, but were soon knocked out by approaching Soviet reinforcements. On July 30, Japanese army artillery began working on Soviet positions, after which infantry units of the Japanese army launched an attack on Soviet positions - but again to no avail. On July 31, the USSR Pacific Fleet and the Primorsky Army were put on combat readiness. That same day, a new attack by the Japanese army ended with the capture of the hills and the installation of 40 Japanese machine guns on them. The counterattack of the Soviet two battalions ended in failure, after which the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, Army Commissar L.Z., arrived at the scene of hostilities. Mehlis and chief of staff of the front G.M. Stern. On August 1, the front commander V. Blucher arrived there, who was harshly criticized by phone by I.V. Stalin for unsatisfactory management of the operation. On August 3, Stalin removed Blücher from command of the operation and appointed Stern in his place. On August 4, Stern ordered an attack on Japanese troops in the area between Lake Khasan and Zaozernaya Hill. On August 6, 216 Soviet aircraft bombed Japanese positions, after which the 32nd Rifle Division, the tank battalion of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade began an attack on the Bezymyannaya hill, and the 40th Rifle Division - on the Zaozernaya hill. On August 8, the Zaozernaya hill was captured by Soviet troops. On August 9, the forces of the 32nd Rifle Division of the Red Army captured Bezymyannaya Height. On August 10, the Japanese ambassador addressed the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR M.M. Litvinov with a proposal to start peace negotiations. On August 11, 1938, hostilities ceased. Thus, the first serious armed conflict between the USSR and Japan, in which the Kwantung Army took part, ended.

Defeat of the Kvantungs at Khalkhin Gol

However, the victory of Soviet troops in the conflict at Lake Khasan did not mean that the Japanese command abandoned aggressive actions - this time on the Manchurian-Mongolian border. Japan did not hide its plans for “Outer Mongolia,” as the territory of the MPR was called in the Chinese and Manchu traditions. Formally, Mongolia was considered part of the Chinese Empire, the heir of which was seen by the ruler of Manchukuo, Pu Yi. The reason for the conflict between Manchukuo and Mongolia was the demand for recognition of the Khalkhin Gol River as the border of the two states. The fact is that the Japanese sought to ensure the safety of the construction of the railway, which stretched to the border of the Soviet Union. The first clashes on the Manchurian-Mongolian border began in 1935. In 1936, the USSR and the MPR signed a “Protocol on Mutual Assistance,” according to which, from 1937, units of the 57th Special Corps of the Red Army with a total number of 5,544 military personnel, including 523 commanders, were stationed on the territory of the MPR. After the conflict on Lake Khasan, Japan shifted its attention to the Khalkhin Gol River. Expansionist sentiments grew among the Japanese senior officers, including ideas about expanding the territory of the Japanese Empire to Lake Baikal. On January 16-17, 1939, two provocations organized by Japanese troops took place on the border with the MPR. On January 17, 13 Japanese soldiers attacked three Mongolian border guards. On January 29 and 30, Japanese soldiers and the Bargut horsemen (Barguts are one of the Mongolian tribes) who acted on their side attacked the guard detachments of the Mongolian border guard. The attacks were repeated in February and March 1939, and the Japanese command continued to actively involve the Barguts in attacks.

On the night of May 8, 1939, a Japanese platoon with a machine gun tried to capture the island on Khalkhin Gol, but ran into resistance from the Mongolian border guards and was forced to retreat. On May 11, Japanese cavalry numbering about two squadrons invaded the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic and attacked the Mongolian border outpost of Nomon-Khan-Burd-Obo. Then, however, the Japanese were pushed back by approaching Mongol reinforcements. On May 14, units of the Japanese 23rd Infantry Division, with air support, attacked the Mongolian border outpost. On May 17, the command of the 57th Special Corps of the Red Army sent three motorized rifle companies, a sapper company and an artillery battery to Khalkhin Gol. On May 22, Soviet troops drove Japanese units back from Khalkhin Gol. Between 22 and 28 May, 668 Soviet and Mongolian infantry, 260 cavalry, 39 armored vehicles and 58 machine guns concentrated in the Khalkhin Gol area. Japan advanced to Khalkhin Gol a more impressive force of 1,680 infantry and 900 cavalry, 75 machine guns, 18 artillery pieces, 1 tank and 8 armored vehicles under the command of Colonel Yamagata. In the clash, Japanese troops managed to again push back the Soviet-Mongolian units to the western bank of Khalkhin Gol. However, the very next day, May 29, the Soviet-Mongolian troops were able to carry out a successful counter-offensive and push the Japanese back to their previous positions. In June, fighting between the USSR and Japan continued in the air, with Soviet pilots managed to inflict serious damage on Japanese aircraft. In July 1939, the command of the Kwantung Army decided to move to a new phase of hostilities. For this purpose, the army headquarters developed the “Second Period of the Nomonkhan Incident” plan. The Kwantung Army was tasked with breaking through the Soviet defense line and crossing the Khalkhin Gol River. The Japanese group was led by Major General Kobayashi, under whose leadership the offensive began on July 2. The Kwantung Army advanced with two infantry and two tank regiments against two Mongolian cavalry divisions and Red Army units with a total strength of about 5 thousand people.

However, the command of the Soviet troops threw the 11th tank brigade of brigade commander M.P. into battle. Yakovlev and the Mongolian armored division. Later, the 7th Motorized Armored Brigade also came to the rescue. By the night of July 3, as a result of fierce fighting, Soviet troops retreated to the Khalkhin Gol River, but Japanese troops failed to completely complete the planned offensive. On Mount Bayan-Tsagan, Japanese troops were surrounded and by the morning of July 5 they began a mass retreat. Died on the slopes of the mountain significant amount Japanese military personnel, with estimates of the number of deaths reaching up to 10 thousand people. The Japanese lost almost all their tanks and artillery pieces. After this, Japanese troops abandoned attempts to cross Khalkhin Gol. However, on July 8, the Kwantung Army resumed hostilities and concentrated large forces on the eastern bank of Khalkhin Gol, but the Japanese offensive once again failed. As a result of a counterattack by Soviet troops under the command of the commander of the 11th Tank Brigade, Brigade Commander M.P. Yakovlev, Japanese troops were thrown back to their original positions. Only on July 23, Japanese troops resumed their offensive against the positions of the Soviet-Mongolian troops, but it again ended unsuccessfully for the Kwantung Army. We should briefly touch on the balance of forces. The Soviet 1st Army Group under the command of Corps Commander Georgy Zhukov numbered 57 thousand troops and was armed with 542 artillery pieces and mortars, 498 tanks, 385 armored vehicles and 515 aircraft. Japanese troops as part of the 6th separate army of General Ryuhei Ogisu included two infantry divisions, an infantry brigade, seven artillery regiments, two tank regiments, three Bargut cavalry regiments, two engineering regiments, in total - more than 75 thousand soldiers and officers, 500 artillery weapons, 182 tanks, 700 aircraft. However, the Soviet troops ultimately managed to achieve a significant superiority in tanks - almost threefold. On August 20, 1939, Soviet troops unexpectedly launched a massive offensive. Japanese troops were only able to begin defensive battles on August 21 and 22. However, by August 26, Soviet-Mongolian troops completely surrounded the 6th separate Japanese army. Units of the 14th Infantry Brigade of the Kwantung Army were unable to break through the Mongolian border and were forced to retreat to the territory of Manchukuo, after which the command of the Kwantung Army was forced to abandon the idea of ​​liberating the units and formations of the Japanese army that were surrounded. The fighting continued until August 29 and 30, and by the morning of August 31, the territory of Mongolia was completely liberated from Japanese troops. Several Japanese attacks in early September also resulted in the Japanese being defeated and pushed back to their original positions. Only air battles continued. On September 15, a truce was signed, and on September 16, fighting on the border ended.

Between Khalkhin Gol and surrender

It was thanks to the victory in the fighting at Khalkhin Gol that the Japanese Empire abandoned plans to attack the Soviet Union and maintained this position after the start of the Great Patriotic War. Even after Germany and its European allies entered the war with the USSR, Japan chose to abstain, assessing the negative experience of Khalkhin Gol.
Indeed, the losses of Japanese troops in the battles at Khalkhin Gol were impressive - according to official data, 17 thousand people were killed, according to Soviet data - at least 60 thousand killed, according to independent sources - about 45 thousand killed. As for Soviet and Mongolian losses, there were no more than 10 thousand people killed, dead and missing. In addition, the Japanese army suffered serious damage to its weapons and equipment. In fact, the Soviet-Mongolian troops completely defeated the entire Japanese military group sent to Khalkhin Gol. General Ueda, who commanded the Kwantung Army, after the defeat at Khalkhin Gol, was recalled to Japan at the end of 1939 and dismissed from his post. The new commander of the Kwantung Army was General Umezu Yoshijiro, who had previously commanded the Japanese 1st Army in China. Umezu Yoshijiro (1882-1949) was an experienced Japanese general who received military education not only in Japan, but also in Germany and Denmark, and then rose from an infantry officer in the Imperial Japanese Army to Deputy Minister of the Army and Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Army in China . Appointed in September 1939 as commander of the Kwantung Army, he retained this post for almost five years - until July 1944. In fact, the entire time the Soviet Union was at war with Germany, and Japan was fighting bloody battles in Southeast Asia and Oceania, the general remained as commander of the Kwantung Army. During this time, the Kwantung Army was strengthened, but periodically the most combat-ready units of the formation were sent to the active front - to fight the British. American troops in the Asia-Pacific region. The size of the Kwantung Army in 1941-1943. numbered at least 700 thousand people, united in 15-16 divisions stationed in Korea and Manchuria.

It was precisely because of the threat of an attack by the Kwantung Army on the Soviet Union and Mongolia that Stalin was forced to maintain colossal troops in the Far East. So, in 1941-1943. the number of Soviet troops concentrated to possibly repel the attack of the Kwantung Army was at least 703 thousand troops, and at some time reached 1,446,012 people and included from 32 to 49 divisions. The Soviet command was afraid to weaken its military presence in the Far East due to the threat of a Japanese invasion at any moment. However, in 1944, when the turning point in the war with Germany became obvious, it was not so much the USSR that feared an invasion weakened by the war with the United States and Japan's allies, but rather that Japan saw the evidence of an attack from the Soviet Union in the foreseeable future. Therefore, the Japanese command also could not weaken the strength of the Kwantung Army by sending its fresh units to help the warring units in Southeast Asia and Oceania. As a result, by August 9, 1945, when the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, the strength of the Kwantung Army was 1 million 320 thousand soldiers, officers and generals. The Kwantung Army included the 1st Front - the 3rd and 5th Armies, the 3rd Front - the 30th and 44th Armies, the 17th Front - the 34th and 59th Armies, a separate 4th I Army, 2nd and 5th Air Armies, Sungari Military Flotilla. These formations, in turn, included 37 infantry and 7 cavalry divisions, 22 infantry, 2 tank and 2 cavalry brigades. The Kwantung Army was armed with 1,155 tanks, 6,260 artillery weapons, 1,900 aircraft and 25 warships. In addition, units of the Suiyuan Army Group, the Mengjiang National Army under the command of Prince De Wang and the Manchukuo Army were operationally subordinate to the command of the Kwantung Army.

The war ended in defeat

On July 18, 1944, General Otozo Yamada was appointed commander of the Kwantung Army. At the time of his appointment, Yamada was already a middle-aged 63-year-old man. He was born in 1881, and in November 1902 began serving in the imperial army, receiving the rank of junior lieutenant after graduating from the military academy. In 1925, he rose to the rank of colonel and was given command of a cavalry regiment of the imperial army. In August 1930, having received the shoulder straps of a major general, Yamada headed the cavalry school, and in 1937, already a lieutenant general, he received command of the 12th division stationed in Manchuria. Thus, even before his appointment to the post of commander in the Kwantung Army, Yamada had experience military service on the territory of Manchuria. He then headed the Central Expeditionary Army in China, and in 1940-1944, with the rank of army general, he served as the chief inspector of combat training of the imperial army and a member of the Supreme Military Council of the Empire of Japan. When the emperor appointed General Yamada as commander of the Kwantung Army, he was guided precisely by considerations of the general’s extensive military experience and ability to organize the defense of Manchuria and Korea. Indeed, Yamada began to strengthen the Kwantung Army, managing to recruit 8 infantry divisions and 7 infantry brigades. However, the training of recruits was extremely weak, which was explained by their lack of experience in military service. In addition, the Kwantung Army units concentrated in Manchuria were mostly armed with outdated weapons. In particular, the Kwantung Army lacked rocket artillery, anti-tank rifles and automatic weapons. Tanks and artillery pieces were much inferior to Soviet ones, as were airplanes. On top of that, just before the start of the war with the Soviet Union, the strength of the Kwantung Army was reduced to 700 thousand troops - parts of the army were redirected to defend the Japanese islands themselves.

On the morning of August 9, 1945, Soviet troops went on the offensive and invaded the territory of Manchuria. The operation was supported from the sea by the Pacific Fleet, and from the air by aviation, which carried out attacks on the positions of Japanese troops in Xinjing, Qiqihar and other cities of Manchuria. From the territory of Mongolia and Dauria, troops of the Transbaikal Front invaded Manchuria, cutting off the Kwantung Army from Japanese troops in Northern China and occupying Xinjing. Units of the 1st Far Eastern Front managed to break through the defense line of the Kwantung Army and occupied Jilin and Harbin. The 2nd Far Eastern Front, with the support of the Amur Military Flotilla, crossed the Amur and Ussuri, after which it broke into Manchuria and occupied Harbin. On August 14, the offensive began in the Mudanjiang area. On August 16, Mudanjiang was captured. On August 19, the widespread surrender of Japanese soldiers and officers began. In Mukden, Emperor Pu Yi of Manchukuo was captured by Soviet soldiers. On August 20, Soviet troops entered the Manchurian Plain, and on the same day the Kwantung Army received an order from the higher command to surrender. However, since communications in the army had already been broken, not all units of the Kwantung Army received the order to surrender - many were unaware of it and continued to resist Soviet troops until September 10. The total losses of the Kwantung Army in battles with the Soviet-Mongolian troops amounted to at least 84 thousand people. Over 600 thousand Japanese troops were captured. Among the prisoners was the last commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, General Yamada. He was taken to Khabarovsk and on December 30, 1945, the Military Tribunal of the Primorsky Military District found him guilty of preparing bacteriological warfare and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in a forced labor camp. In July 1950, Yamada was extradited to China at the request of the PRC law enforcement agencies - to involve General Yamada and a number of other senior military personnel of the Kwantung Army in the case of war crimes committed on Chinese territory. In China, Yamada was placed in a camp in the city of Fushun, and only in 1956, the 75-year-old former general imperial army was released early. He returned to Japan and died in 1965 at the age of 83.

Yamada's predecessor as commander of the Kwantung Army, General Umezu Yoshijiro, was arrested by American troops and convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Far East. In 1949, Umezu Yoshijiro, sentenced to life imprisonment, died in prison from cancer. General Ueda Kenkichi, who resigned after the defeat of the Kwantung Army at Khalkhin Gol, was not subject to criminal prosecution after the surrender of Japan and he lived safely until 1962, dying at the age of 87. General Minami Jiro, who commanded the Kwantung Army from 1934 to 1936 and became Governor General of Korea in 1936, was also sentenced to life imprisonment for unleashing an aggressive war against China and remained in prison until 1954, when he was released under health condition and died a year later. General Shigeru Honjo was arrested by the Americans, but committed suicide. Thus, almost all the commanders of the Kwantung Army who managed to survive until the day of Japan’s surrender were arrested and convicted by either the Soviet or American occupation authorities. A similar fate awaited less senior officers of the Kwantung Army who fell into enemy hands. All of them passed through prisoner of war camps; a significant part never returned to Japan. Perhaps the best fate was for the Emperor of Manchukuo, Pu Yi, and the Prince of Mengjiang, De Wang. Both of them served their sentences in China, and then were provided with work and happily lived out their lives in the PRC, no longer engaging in political activities.

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MILITARY THOUGHT No. 8/1990, pp.35-38

Pages of history

To the defeat of the Kwantung Army

(Based on archival documents)

ColonelI. N. VENKOV

The KWANTUNG army was the main striking force of Japanese IV militarism, the core of Japanese troops in Manchuria and was intended for aggression against the USSR. The timing of the attack was set by the Japanese leadership depending on changes in the situation on the Soviet-German front. “If the German-Soviet war develops in a direction favorable to the empire, it (Japan - I.V.), resorting to armed force, will solve the northern problem.” The plan of the Japanese command was to destroy Soviet air bases in the Far East with a sudden strike by the air force, seize air supremacy, deliver the main blow in the Primorye region, bypass Vladivostok and, in cooperation with the fleet, capture the naval base, and then - Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk and other cities of the Far East.

Analyzing the course of military operations on the Soviet-German front, the Japanese leadership came to the correct conclusion that the war was becoming protracted and therefore decided to temporarily abandon the “northern program”. Subsequent victories of the Soviet Army buried this plan forever. Nevertheless, Japan continued to regard the attack on the Soviet Union "as one of the main goals of its policy and did not relax either its determination or its preparation for this offensive."

DEFEAT OF THE KWANTUNG ARMY

Fulfilling allied obligations, as well as in order to ensure the security of its Far Eastern borders and eliminate the source of aggression in Asia, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945, and began military operations on the morning of August 9. Soviet troops in the Far East were to defeat the Kwantung Army and liberate Manchuria and North Korea from the Japanese occupiers. This was to have a decisive influence on the destruction of Japanese troops in Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands and ultimately speed up Japan's surrender. By June 27, 1945, the General Staff had completely completed the development of directives for the fronts. On June 28, they were approved and brought to the attention of the performers. For example, the directive to the Trans-Baikal Front stated (printed with abbreviation):

Orders:

1. In the event of an attack by the Japanese armed forces on the USSR, the troops of the Trans-Baikal Front will use reliable defense to prevent the enemy from invading the territory of the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic and cover the concentration of new forces on the front territory.

2. When organizing defense, pay special attention to ensure the uninterrupted operation of railways within the borders of the front...

3. Without waiting for the complete concentration of troops 53 A, by July 25, 1945, carry out and complete in the front forces all preparatory measures for the creation of a group of troops, their combat and logistical support and command and control of troops in order to carry out on a special order VGK rates offensive operation of the front and the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army.

4. When developing an operation, be guided by the following:

a) The purpose of the operation is to set: a rapid invasion of Central Manchuria together with the troops of the Primorsky Group and the Far Eastern Front, the defeat of the Kwantung Army and the capture of the Chifeng, Mukden, Changchun, Zhalantun regions.

b) Build the operation on the surprise of the attack and the use of mobile formations of the front, primarily the 6th Guards. TA for quick advancement.

c) Deliver the main blow with the forces of three combined arms armies (39 A, SD-9; 53 A, SD-9; 17 A, SD-3) and one TA (6 Guards TA, MK-2, TK-1) bypassing Halun-Arzhavsky UR from the south in the general direction to Changchun.

Lead the armies on a broad front, with the immediate task of defeating the opposing enemy, crossing the Greater Khingan, and by the fifteenth day of the operation the main forces would go to the Dabanshan, Lubai, and Solun fronts. One sk 39 A to advance from the area of ​​​​the city of Hemar in the direction of Hailar towards 36 A with the task, together with 36 A, of preventing the enemy from retreating to the Greater Khingan, defeating the Hailar group of Japanese troops and capturing the Hailar region.

d) 6th Guards. The TA, operating in the main attack zone in the general direction of Changchun, by the 10th day of the operation, cross the Greater Khingan, secure the passes across the ridge and prevent enemy reserves from Central and Southern Manchuria until the main infantry forces arrive.

e) In the future, keep in mind to bring the main forces of the front to the line of Chifeng, Mukden, Changchun, Zhalantun.

5. In the direction of the main attack, attract two breakthrough artillery divisions, the bulk of the RGK artillery, tanks and aviation.

6. Provide for securing the main group from enemy counterattacks from the Tanchzhur region to the south and from the Dolonnor, Chifeng region to the north.

7. Deliver auxiliary strikes...

8. All preparatory activities must be carried out in the strictest secrecy.

To allow the following to develop the plan: the commander, a member of the military council, the chief of staff of the front and the head of the operational department of the front headquarters - in full; the chiefs of the military branches and services should be allowed to develop special sections of the plan, without familiarizing themselves with the general tasks of the front.

The army commanders are assigned tasks personally, orally, without being presented with written directives from the front.

The procedure for admitting the army to the development of an operation plan is the same as for the front.

All documentation on troop action plans should be stored in the personal safes of the front commander and army commanders.

9. Correspondence and negotiations on issues related to the operation plan should be conducted only personally through the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army.

Headquarters of the Supreme High Command

I. STALIN, ANTONOV

28.6.45 No. 11114

Upon receipt of the directives, the command, headquarters and political agencies of the fronts did a lot of work to prepare for combat operations. The day before the declaration of war, the commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East and a copy of the commander of the troops of the Transbaikal, 1st and 2nd Far Eastern fronts received a directive from the Supreme High Command Headquarters with the following content (printed with abbreviation):

1. The troops of the Trans-Baikal, 1st and 2nd Far Eastern Fronts begin combat operations on August 9 to carry out the tasks set by Headquarters directives No. 11112 (for the 2nd Far Eastern Front), No. 11113 (for the 1st Far Eastern Front), No. 11114 (for the Trans-Baikal Front).

Combat operations on all fronts begin on the morning of 9.8.45, with the goal of bombing first of all Harbin and Changchun.

Ground troops to cross the border of Manchuria: Transbaikal and 1st Far Eastern Fleet - on the morning of 9.8.45, 2nd Far Eastern Fleet - on the instructions of Marshal Vasilevsky.

2. To the Pacific Fleet upon receipt of this:

a) Go to operational readiness number one.

b) Proceed with laying minefields according to the approved plan, with the exception of the mouth of the Amur River and Tadiskaya Bay.

c) Stop single navigation and send transport to concentration points...

4. Report receipt and execution.

Headquarters of the Supreme High Command

I. STALIN, ANTONOV

7.8.45. 16.30 № 11122

Surrender of the Kwantung Army. In the face of imminent total military defeat on August 14, the Japanese government was forced to make a statement of surrender. But the order was not given to the armed forces. They continued to fight as before. Therefore, to capture the most important cities and points, bases and road junctions, Soviet troops widely used mobile detachments and airborne assaults. Thus, the directive of the commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East, in particular, indicated: due to the fact that the Japanese resistance has been broken, and the condition of the roads greatly impedes the rapid advance of the main forces of our troops, in carrying out the assigned tasks it is necessary to immediately capture the cities of Changchun and Mukden , Girin and Harbin proceed to the actions of specially formed, fast-moving and well-equipped detachments. Use the same detachments or similar ones to solve subsequent tasks, without fear of their sharp separation from their main forces.

On August 17, having finally lost control of the troops and realizing the pointlessness of further resistance, the Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army, General Yamada, gave the order to begin negotiations with the Soviet High Command in the Far East. In this regard, the commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East, Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky, transmitted the following radiogram to General Yamada at 6.00 on August 17, 1945: “The headquarters of the Japanese Kwantung Army turned by radio to the headquarters of the Soviet troops in the Far East with a proposal to cease hostilities , and not a word was said about the surrender of the Japanese armed forces in Manchuria. At the same time, Japanese troops launched a counteroffensive on a number of sectors of the Soviet-Japanese front. I propose that from 12 o'clock on August 20, we cease all military operations against Soviet troops along the entire front, lay down our arms and surrender. The above period is given so that the headquarters of the Kwantung Army can convey the order to cease resistance and surrender to all its troops. As soon as the Japanese troops begin to surrender their weapons, the Soviet troops will cease hostilities."

The progress of the negotiations on surrender can be judged by the following entries in the combat log of the troops of the 1st Far Eastern Front:

At 17.00 on 17.8.45, the radio station of the intelligence department of the headquarters of the 1st Far Eastern Front received a radiogram from the Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army that he had given an order to the troops to surrender and cease hostilities. In addition, the radio stations of the Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army were recorded transmitting the following statement in clear text (key): “All fighting units of the Kwantung Army immediately cease hostilities and lay down their arms.”

At 2.00 on 18.8.45, the commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, General Yamada, sent a radiogram to the command of the Soviet troops in the Far East about sending planes with Japanese officers from 10.00 to 16.00 on 18.8.45 to the areas: Mudanjiang, Yanji, Mulin, Hailar, Ushagou, Yadu, Racine, Yuki. The purpose of the flights: to drop leaflets over the location of Japanese troops with an order for their surrender. At 3.30 he again addressed the Soviet command by radio and declared his readiness to immediately fulfill all the conditions of surrender. General Yamada pointed out that 17.8.45 d. Japanese troops did not comply with his order to surrender due to lack of communication. The sent planes returned due to unfavorable weather conditions. Leaflets with the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army on the surrender of Japanese troops will be dropped on August 18, 1945.

At 15.00 on 18.8.45, the radio station of the reconnaissance department of the headquarters of the 1st Far Eastern Fleet intercepted a radio transmission from Xinjing (dated 17.8.45) with the following content: “The commander of the Kwantung Army gave an order to the Japanese troops, which will be dropped from aircraft. Contents of the order:

1) The Kwantung Army, having fulfilled its duty to the end, is forced to capitulate....

2) All troops immediately cease hostilities and remain in the areas where they are currently located.

3) Troops in contact with Soviet troops must surrender their weapons as directed by the Soviet command.

4) I strictly prohibit any destruction.”

At 15.00 on August 19, 1945 (Khabarovsk time), the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, Lieutenant General Khata, was received by the commander-in-chief of Soviet troops in the Far East, Marshal of the Soviet Union A. M. Vasilevsky, commander of the 1st Far Eastern Front, Marshal of the Soviet Union K. A. Meretskov and a member of the front military council, Colonel General T. F. Shtykov. He was given the following ultimatum to the Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army:

The Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army, Lieutenant General Hata, who was sent by you as your delegate, received from me on August 19, 1945 the following instructions on the procedure for the surrender of the Kwantung Army and its disarmament.

1. Immediately cease hostilities of units of the Kwantung Army everywhere, and where it turns out to be impossible to quickly bring to the attention of the troops an order for an immediate cessation of hostilities, cease hostilities no later than 12.00 on August 20, 1945.

2. Immediately stop all regroupings of the Kwantung Army troops. All movements necessary to ensure compliance with the terms of surrender must be carried out each time with my permission.

3. Give the commander of the 1st Front and the commanders of the 3rd, 5th and 34th armies the following instructions:

a) Immediately contact the command of the Soviet troops on the ground through your delegates, sending them to the meeting points: YANJI, NINGUTA, MUDANJIANG;

b) The troops stationed in North Korea should concentrate on the instructions of the representative of the command of the 1st Far Eastern Front, for which the commander of the 34th Army should arrive by the morning of 8/22/45 in YANJI;

c) The commander of the 1st Front should arrive at NINGUTA by 20.00 on August 20, 1945 to receive instructions on how to fulfill the conditions of surrender.

d) Order formations and units to surrender weapons in the areas: BOLI, MUDANJIANG, NINGUTA, WAQING, DUNHUA, YANJI, KAINEI, SEISING, HARBIN, GIRIN;

e) Submit to the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Forces in the Far East by the morning of August 22, 1945:

1) a complete list of all formations and units of the Kwantung Army;

2) a list of rear units and institutions, warehouses and supplies contained in them.

(The article is not finished)

On July 2, 1941, at a meeting of senior officials in the presence of the emperor, a plan for an attack on the USSR was approved. The Japanese General Staff began preparations for a war codenamed Kantokuen (Special Maneuvers of the Kwantung Army). The dates for the most important events were set: July 5 - order A mobilization; July 20 - the beginning of the concentration of troops; August 10 - decision was made to start hostilities; August 29 - the beginning of hostilities; mid-October - completion of military operations (The Path to the Pacific War. - T. 7.-Tokyo, 1963.-P. 222; T. 5.-P. 319).

History of the war on Pacific Ocean. Translation from Japanese. - T. 3, - M., 1958. - P. 380.

The liberation mission of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Second World War. - M.: Publishing house of political literature, 1971. - P. 419.

At the Crimean Conference of the Leaders of the Three Powers (February 4-11 1945) The Soviet government, taking into account the requests of the United States and England, announced that it would enter the war against Japan 2-3 months after the surrender of Nazi Germany and the end of hostilities in Europe. This was the minimum period required to prepare the operation and transfer troops and military equipment to the Far East,

By Directive of the Supreme Command Headquarters No. 11121 dated August 2, 1945, the Primorsky Group was renamed the 1st Far Eastern Front; Far Eastern Front to the 2nd Far Eastern Front (TsAMO USSR, f. 132-A, op. 2642, d. 13, l. 161).

TsAMO, f. 132-A, op. 2642, no. 13, no. 247-250.

TsAMO, f. 132-A, he. 2642, no. 39, pp. 162-163.

TsAMO, f. 220, op 29358, no. 2, pp. 155-156.

TsAMO, f. 234, op. 3213, D, 397, l, 142.

TsAMO, f. 234, op. 3213, no. 397, pp. 143, 154.

For decades, Soviet propaganda inspired that the USSR defeated both the Third Reich and Japan: they say, for four years the Americans were messing around with the pathetic, insignificant Japanese armed forces, playing war games with them, and then the mighty Soviet Union came and in one week defeated the largest and most the best Japanese army. That, they say, is the entire contribution of the Allies to the war!

Let's look at the myths of Soviet propaganda and find out How In fact The Kwantung Army opposing the Soviet troops was defeated, and we will also briefly consider how some of the military operations in the Pacific proceeded and what consequences the landing in Japan could have had.

So, the defeat of the Kwantung Army - as it really was, and not in Soviet history textbooks.
Indeed, until 1942, the Kwantung Army was considered one of the most prestigious in the Japanese land forces. armed forces. Serving there meant the possibility of a good career. But then the Japanese command found itself forced to take away the most combat-ready units and formations from the Kwantung Army one after another and plug the gaps made by the Americans with them. Having numbered more than a million personnel at the beginning of the war, by the beginning of 1943 the Kwantung Army already had barely 600,000 people. And by the end of 1944, just over 300,000 people remained from it.

But the Japanese command selected not only people, but also equipment. Yes, the Japanese had bad tanks. However, they were quite capable of withstanding at least the outdated Soviet armored vehicles, of which there were many in the First and Second Far Eastern and Transbaikal Fronts. But by the time of the Soviet invasion, in the Kwantung Army, which once numbered 10 tank regiments, there were only such regiments left... 4 (four) - and of these four, two were formed four days before the Soviet attack.

In 1942, the Kwantung Army formed 2 tank divisions on the basis of its tank brigades. One of them was sent to the Philippines, to the island of Luzon, in July 1944. Destroyed by the Americans. By the way, it fought until the last crew—only a few of its members surrendered.

From the second, they first sent one tank regiment to Saipan (April 1944, the regiment was completely destroyed by the Americans, only a few surrendered), and in March 1945 the entire division was sent home to defend the mother country. At the same time, in March 1945, the last divisions that were part of the Kwantung Army in 1941 were withdrawn to the metropolis.

Soviet sources claim that the Kwantung Army had 1,155 tanks. Moreover, according to the same Soviet sources, a total of about 400 vehicles were destroyed in the battles and captured after the surrender. Yes, well Where everyone else? Where, where!... Well, you understand - exactly there, yeah....

And then Soviet historians took and transferred the estimates of the officers who planned the Manchurian operation into post-war literature as... the equipment that the Kwantung Army actually had.

The same Soviet method was used to describe the aviation of the Kwantung Army: 400 airfields and landing sites - this sounds cool, but... in fact, the entire roster of combat aircraft available to the Japanese at the time of the invasion was not 1800, as Soviet sources write, but less one thousand. And out of this thousand, no more than a hundred are the latest model fighters, about 40 more bombers, and half are general training aircraft (the Japanese Air Force training centers were located in Manchuria). Everything else was again withdrawn from Manchuria to plug the holes the Americans were making.

The Japanese had exactly the same situation with artillery: the best units, armed with the latest guns, were completely withdrawn from the Kwantung Army by the middle of 1944 and transferred against the Americans or home to defend the mother country.

Other equipment was also withdrawn, including transport and engineering units.

As a result, the mobility of the Kwantung Army, which met the Soviet attack in August 1945, was carried out mainly... on foot.
Well, and also along the railway network, which was most developed not near the border, but in the center of Manchuria. Two single-track branches went to the Mongolian border, and two more single-track branches went to the border with the USSR.

Ammunition, spare parts, and weapons were also exported. By the summer of 1945, less than 25% remained of what the Kwantung Army had in its warehouses in 1941.

Today it is reliably known which units were withdrawn from Manchuria, when, with what equipment, and where they ended their existence. So: of those divisions, brigades and even individual regiments that made up the payroll of the Kwantung Army in 1941, by 1945 there was not a single division, not a single brigade and almost not a single regiment in Manchuria. Of the elite and highly prestigious Kwantung Army that stood in Manchuria in 1941, approximately a quarter formed the core of the army preparing for the defense of the mother country and capitulating along with the entire country on the orders of the Emperor, and the rest was destroyed by the Americans in countless battles throughout the Pacific Ocean, from the Solomon Islands to the Philippines and Okinawa.

Naturally, left without the largest and best part of its troops, the command of the Kwantung Army tried to somehow rectify the situation. To do this, police units from southern China were transferred to the army, recruits were sent from Japan, and all conditionally fit for service from the Japanese living in Manchuria were mobilized.

As the leadership of the Kwantung Army created and trained new units, the Japanese General Staff also took them and threw them into the Pacific meat grinder. However, with the enormous efforts of the army command, by the time of the Soviet invasion, its strength was brought to over 700 thousand people (Soviet historians received more than 900 by adding Japanese units there in South Korea, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin).

They even managed to somehow arm these people: the arsenals in Manchuria were designed for massive deployment. True, there was nothing there except small arms and light (and outdated) artillery: everything else had long been taken back to the metropolis and used to plug holes throughout the Pacific theater of military operations...

As noted in the “History of the Great Patriotic War” (vol. 5, pp. 548-549):
In the units and formations of the Kwantung Army there were absolutely no machine guns, anti-tank rifles, rocket artillery, there was little RGK and large-caliber artillery (infantry divisions and brigades as part of artillery regiments and divisions in most cases had 75-mm guns).

As a result, the Soviet invasion was met by the “Kwantung Army,” in which the most experienced division was formed... in the spring of 1944. Moreover, out of the entire composition of the units of this “Kwantung Army”, until January 1945 there were exactly 6 divisions, all the rest were formed “from fragments and scraps” in the 7 months of 1945 preceding the Soviet attack.

Roughly speaking, during approximately the time that the USSR was preparing an offensive operation with already existing, proven, experienced troops, the command of the Kwantung Army... re-formed this same army. From materials available at hand. In conditions of severe shortages of everything - from weapons to ammunition to equipment to gasoline to officers at all levels.

The Japanese could only use untrained conscripts of younger ages and limitedly fit older conscripts. More than half of the personnel of the Japanese units that met the Soviet troops received orders to mobilize a month before the Soviet attack, at the beginning of July 1945. The once elite and prestigious Kwantung Army was able to barely scrape together 100 rounds of ammunition per soldier from empty warehouses.

The “quality” of the newly formed units was quite obvious to the Japanese command. A report prepared for the Japanese General Staff at the end of July 1945 on the combat readiness of army formations from more than 30 divisions and brigades included in the payroll assessed the combat readiness of one division - 80%, one - 70%, one - 65%, one - 60%, four - 35%, three - 20%, and the rest - 15%. The assessment included manpower and equipment levels and the level of combat training.

With such quantity and quality, there could be no question of resisting even that group of Soviet troops that stood on the Soviet side of the border throughout the war. And the command of the Kwantung Army was forced to reconsider the defense plan for Manchuria.

The original plan of the early 40s involved an attack on Soviet territory. By 1944, it was replaced by a defense plan in fortified areas along the border with the USSR. By May 1945, it became clear to the Japanese command that there was no one to seriously defend the border strip. And in June, the army units received a new defense plan.

According to this plan, approximately a third of all army forces remained at the border. This third was no longer tasked with stopping the Soviet offensive. It was only supposed to wear down the advancing Soviet units to the best of its ability. The command of the Kwantung Army located the remaining two-thirds of its forces, starting from approximately several tens to several hundred kilometers from the border, in echelons, to the central part of Manchuria, located more than 400 kilometers from the border, where all units were asked to retreat without taking decisive battles, but only slowing down the Soviet offensive as much as possible. There they began hastily building new fortifications, in which they hoped to give the Soviet army their last battle...

Naturally, there was no question of any coordinated defense of the border strip by forces of one third of the army’s strength, and moreover, consisting of freshly shaved yellow-faced conscripts who had practically no heavy weapons. Therefore, the plan provided for defense by individual companies and battalions, without any central control or fire support. There was nothing left to support anyway...

The regrouping of troops and the preparation of fortifications on the border and in the depths of the territory for defense according to the new plan were still underway (the regrouping was largely on foot, and the preparation of fortifications was done by the hands of the newly drafted recruits themselves, in the absence of “technical specialists” and their equipment who had long since left Manchuria ), when on the night of August 8-9, Soviet troops launched an offensive.

In the offensive zone of the Transbaikal Front, approximately three Japanese divisions defended against Soviet units numbering six hundred thousand people in three fortified areas straddling the main roads. None of these three fortified areas was completely suppressed until August 19; individual units there continued to resist until the end of August. Of the defenders of these fortified areas, no more than a quarter surrendered - and only after the Emperor gave the order to surrender .

Throughout the entire zone of the Transbaikal Front there was exactly ONE the case of the surrender of an entire Japanese formation before the Emperor's order: the commander of the tenth Manchurian military district surrendered along with approximately one thousand employees of the administration of this district.

Having bypassed the border fortified areas, the Trans-Baikal Front advanced further in marching formation, without encountering any resistance: by order of the command of the Kwantung Army, the next line of defense was located more than 400 km from the border with Mongolia. When units of the Transbaikal Front reached this line of defense by August 18, those occupying it Japanese units had already capitulated, having received an imperial order.

In the offensive zone of the First and Second Far Eastern Fronts, border fortifications were defended by scattered Japanese units, and the main Japanese forces were withdrawn from the border 70-80 km. As a result, for example, the fortified area west of Lake Hanko, which was attacked by three Soviet rifle corps - the 17th, 72nd and 65th - was defended from their attack by one Japanese infantry battalion. This balance of forces existed along the entire border. Only a few of the Japanese defending in the fortified areas surrendered.

So what really happened in Manchuria?

All the crushing hammer that Soviet command prepared for the defeat of the full-blooded “elite and prestigious” Kwantung Army, attacked... approximately 200 thousand recruits occupying the border fortified areas and the strip immediately behind them. For 9 days, these recruits tried to do exactly what they were ordered: the garrisons of the border fortifications held out, as a rule, until the last fighter, and the units standing in the second echelon fought back to the main defensive positions located even further from the border.

They carried out their orders, of course, poorly, extremely ineffectively and with huge losses - as only poorly armed, poorly trained recruits, most of whom had served in the army for less than six months at the time of the Soviet attack, could carry out. But there was no mass surrender, no disobedience to orders. It was necessary to kill almost half of them to break through the road into the interior of the country.

Almost all cases of mass surrender to Soviet troops in the period from August 9 (the beginning of the invasion) to August 16, when the order of surrender given by the Emperor was conveyed by the commander of the Kwantung Army to its formations - this is the surrender of Manchu auxiliary units in which local Chinese and Manchus served and to whom not a single responsible sector of defense was entrusted - because they were never suitable for anything other than the functions of punitive forces, and their Japanese masters did not expect anything more from them.

After August 16, when the formations received the imperial decree of surrender, duplicated by the order of the army commander, there was no longer any organized resistance.

More than half of the Kwantung Army did not participate in any battles with Soviet units at all: by the time the Soviet units reached them, who had retreated deeper into the country, they, in full accordance with the imperial order, had already laid down their arms. And the Japanese who had settled in the border fortified areas, who lost contact with the command at the start of the Soviet offensive and to whom the Emperor’s order to surrender did not reach, were picked out for another week after how the war has already ended.

During the Manchurian operation of the Soviet troops, the Kwantung Army under the command of General Otozo Yamada lost about 84 thousand soldiers and officers killed, over 15 thousand died from wounds and diseases on the territory of Manchuria, about 600 thousand people were captured.
At the same time, the irretrievable losses of the Soviet Army amounted to about 12 thousand people.

There is no doubt that the Kwantung Army would have been completely defeated, even if the Emperor had decided not to surrender and its units had fought to the end. But the example of that third of it that fought on the border shows: if not for the order of surrender, even this “ militia“most likely would have killed at least half of its personnel in senseless and useless attempts to stop the Soviet troops. And Soviet losses, while remaining very low compared to Japanese losses, would nevertheless have at least tripled. But so many people already died from 1941 to May 1945...

In discussing the topic of atomic explosions, the question has already been raised: “What Japanese resistance did the American military expect?”

It is worth considering what exactly the Americans had already encountered in the war in the Pacific Ocean and what they (like the officers of the Soviet General Staff who planned the Manchurian operation) took into account (they could not help but take into account!) when planning the landing on the Japanese islands. It is clear that a war with the mother country on the Japanese islands proper without intermediate island bases for the equipment of that time was simply impossible. Without these bases, Japan could not cover the captured resources. The fighting was brutal...
1. Battles for the island of Guadalcanal(Solomon Islands), August 1942 - February 1943.
Of the 36 thousand Japanese who participated (one of the participating divisions was from the Kwantung Army in 1941), 31 thousand were killed, about one thousand surrendered.
7 thousand dead on the American side.

2. Landing on the island of Saipan(Mariana Islands), June-July 1944.
The island was defended by 31 thousand Japanese troops; it was home to at least 25 thousand Japanese civilians. Of the island's defenders, 921 people were captured. When no more than 3 thousand people remained from the defenders, the commander of the island’s defense and his senior officers committed suicide, having previously ordered their soldiers to go at the Americans with the bayonet and end their lives in battle. Everyone who received this order carried it out to the end. Behind the soldiers marching to the American positions, all of them were wounded and able to move, hobbling around, helping each other.
3 thousand dead on the American side.
When it became clear that the island would fall, the Emperor addressed the civilian population with a decree in which he recommended committing suicide rather than surrendering to the Americans. As the personification of God on earth, the Emperor, by his decree, promised the civilian population place of honor in the afterlife next to the soldiers of the imperial army. Of at least 25 thousand civilians, about 20 thousand committed suicide!
People threw themselves off cliffs, dragging young children with them!
From those who did not take advantage of the generous guarantees of the afterlife, the names “suicide cliff” and “Banzai cliff” reached the rest of the world...

3. Landing on Leyte Island(Philippines), October-December 1944.
Of the 55 thousand defending Japanese (4 divisions, 2 of them from the Kwantung Army in 1941 and another one formed by the Kwantung Army in 1943), 49 thousand died.
3 and a half thousand dead on the American side.

4. Landing on the island of Guam(Mariana Islands), July-August 1944.
The island was defended by 22 thousand Japanese, 485 people surrendered.
1,747 dead on the American side.

5. Landing on the island of Luzon(Philippines), January-August 1945.
The Japanese garrison numbered a quarter of a million people. At least half of the divisions of this garrison in 1941 were part of the Kwantung Army. 205 thousand died, 9050 surrendered.
More than 8 thousand killed on the American side.

6. Landing on Iwo Jima, February-March 1945.
The Japanese garrison of the island amounted to 18 - 18 and a half thousand people. 216 surrendered.
Almost 7 thousand killed on the American side.

7. Landing on the island of Okinawa.
The Japanese garrison of the island is approximately 85 thousand military, with mobilized civilians - over 100 thousand. The heart of the defense consisted of two divisions transferred there from the Kwantung Army.
The garrison was deprived of air support and tanks, but otherwise organized the defense in exactly the same way as it was organized on the two main islands of the archipelago - mobilizing as many civilians as it could use in supporting roles (and continuing to mobilize as they were spent), and creating a powerful a network of fortifications dug into the ground, connected by underground tunnels. With the exception of direct hits into the embrasures, these fortifications did not even take 410-mm shells of the main caliber of American battleships. 110 thousand people died. No more than 10 thousand surrendered, almost all of them mobilized civilians. When only the command group remained of the garrison, the commander and his chief of staff committed suicide in the traditional samurai manner, and their remaining subordinates committed suicide with a bayonet attack on the American positions.
The Americans lost 12,500 killed (this is a conservative estimate, since it does not include several thousand American soldiers who died from their wounds).
The number of civilian casualties is still unknown. Various Japanese historians estimate it from 42 to 150 thousand people (the entire pre-war population of the island was 450 thousand).

Thus, the Americans, fighting against real (and not on paper, as was the case with the Kwantung Army) elite Japanese units, had a loss ratio from 1 to 5 to 1 to 20. The loss ratio in the Soviet Manchurian Strategic Operation was approximately 1 to 10, which quite consistent with the American experience.

The proportion of Kwantung Army troops who actually saw action and surrendered to Soviet troops before the Emperor's orders was only slightly higher than what was the case in the rest of the Pacific War.
All the other Japanese captured by Soviet troops surrendered, following the imperial order.
So you can imagine WHAT would have happened if the Japanese emperor had not been forced to surrender...

Each day of war in Asia claimed thousands of victims, including civilians.

Nuclear bombings are, of course, terrible. But if it weren’t for them, everything would be even worse! Alas! Not only would American, Japanese and Soviet soldiers die, but also millions of civilians, both in countries occupied by Japan and in Japan itself.

A study undertaken for US Secretary of War Henry Stimson estimated that American casualties in the conquest of Japan would range from 1.7 to 4 million, including 400,000 to 800,000 dead. Japanese losses were estimated in the range of five to ten million people.

This is a terrible paradox - the death of the inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved the rest of Japan...

For Soviet soldiers, if Emperor Hirohito had not given the order to surrender, the war with Japan would have turned out not to be an easy walk, but a bloody massacre. But millions already died during the battles with Nazi Germany...

However, the cries of Soviet patriots about the war with Japan as “ easy walk” do not seem entirely correct to me. I think that the above figures refute this. War is war. And before the Kwantung Army received the order to surrender, it managed, despite its unenviable position, to inflict losses on the advancing Soviet troops. So Soviet mythology does not at all negate the courage and heroism shown by ordinary soldiers who shed their blood in battles with the Kwantung Army. And all the previous experience of fighting in the Pacific Ocean said that desperate, bloody resistance can be expected.

Fortunately, Emperor Hirohito announced surrender on August 15th. This was probably the smartest thing he ever did in his life...

Kwantung Army

a group of Japanese troops created in 1919 on the territory of the Kwantung Region. (see Guangdong), carried out aggressive actions against China in 1931-37, the USSR and the Mongolian People's Republic in 1938-39. In 1945 (commander-in-chief General O. Yamada) it was defeated by the Soviet Armed Forces together with Mongolian troops in the Manchurian operation.

Kwantung Army

a group of Japanese troops intended for aggression against China, the USSR and the Mongolia. It was created in 1931 on the basis of troops located on the territory of the Kwantung Region (the southwestern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula to Guandong Bay), from which it received its name. September 18, 1931 K. a. treacherously attacked China and by the beginning of 1932 occupied its northeastern province - Manchuria, where the puppet state of Manchukuo was created on March 9, 1932, which actually became a colony of Japanese imperialists and a springboard for their subsequent aggression. This event marked the beginning of a series of armed conflicts with neighboring countries, provoked by the Japanese military. By expanding their aggression in China, the Japanese imperialists simultaneously sought to test the strength of the Soviet Far Eastern borders and seize advantageous springboards for a subsequent invasion of the territories of the USSR and the Mongolian People's Republic. The number of K. a. gradually increased and by 1938 reached 8 divisions (about 200 thousand people), and in 1940 - 12 divisions (about 300 thousand people). In the summer of 1938, the troops of K. a. invaded the USSR at Lake Khasan; in 1939 a larger provocation was organized against the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic on the river. Khalkhin Gol, but in both conflicts K. a. was defeated. In 1941, when the Soviet people were waging a difficult struggle against Nazi Germany, K. a. in accordance with the Japanese plan, Kantokuen deployed on the Manchurian border and in Korea to attack the USSR, waiting for an opportune moment to begin hostilities depending on the outcome of the struggle on the Soviet-German front. In 1941–43, there were 15–16 Japanese divisions (about 700 thousand people) in Manchuria and Korea.

By the beginning of the campaign of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Far East (August 9, 1945) K. a. consisted of: 1st Front (3rd and 5th Armies), 3rd Front (30th and 44th Armies), 17th Front (34th and 59th Armies), a separate (4th) army, two (2nd and 5th) air armies and the Sungari military flotilla. In addition, the army of Manchukuo, the troops of Inner Mongolia (Prince De Wang) and the Suiyuan army group were quickly subordinated to it. As part of K. a. and the troops subordinate to it numbered 37 infantry and 7 cavalry divisions, 22 infantry, 2 tank and 2 cavalry brigades (total 1 million 320 thousand people), 1155 tanks, 6260 guns, 1900 aircraft and 25 ships. K. a. also had bacteriological weapons, which were intended for use against the Soviet Armed Forces. After the defeat of K. a. In the Manchurian operation of 1945, Japan lost its real strength and capabilities to continue the war and on September 2, 1945 signed an act of unconditional surrender.