Many believe that the participation of the USSR in the war of 1941-1945 ended in May 1945. But this is not so, because after the defeat of Nazi Germany, the entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan in August 1945 and the victorious campaign in the Far East were of the most important military and political significance.
The USSR was returned to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands; in a short time, the millionth Kwantung Army was defeated, which hastened the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II.
In August 1945, the Japanese armed forces numbered about 7 million people. and 10 thousand aircraft, while the United States and its allies in the Asia-Pacific zone had about 1.8 million people. and 5 thousand aircraft. If the USSR had not entered the war, the main forces of the Kwantung Army could have been concentrated against the Americans, and then the fighting would have continued for another two years and, accordingly, losses would have increased, especially since the Japanese command intended to fight to the end (and was already preparing to use bacteriological weapons). War Minister Tojo declared: “If the white devils dare to land on our islands, then the Japanese spirit will go to the great citadel - Manchuria. In Manchuria, the valiant Kwantung Army is untouched, an indestructible military foothold. In Manchuria we will resist for at least a hundred years.” In early August 1945, the United States even went so far as to use atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But despite this, Japan was still not going to capitulate. It was clear that without the entry of the USSR, the war would drag on.
The Allies recognized the decisive importance of the USSR's entry into the war against Japan. They claimed that only the Red Army was capable of defeating Japan's ground forces. But in order to enter the war with Japan, the USSR also had its own vital interests. Japan has been hatching plans for the capture of the Soviet Far East for many years. They almost constantly staged military provocations on our borders. On their strategic bridgeheads in Manchuria, they kept large military forces ready to attack the Land of the Soviets. 
The situation became especially aggravated when fascist Germany unleashed a war against our Motherland. In 1941, after the start of World War II, the Kwantung Army (about 40 divisions, which is significantly more than in the entire Pacific zone), in accordance with the Kantokuen plan approved by the Japanese command, deployed on the Manchurian border and in Korea, waiting for the right moment to start combat operations against the USSR, depending on the situation on the Soviet-German front. On April 5, 1945, the USSR denounced the neutrality pact between the USSR and Japan. July 26, 1945 at the Potsdam Conference, the United States formally formulates the terms of Japan's surrender. Japan refuses to accept them. On August 8, the USSR announced to the Japanese ambassador that it had joined the Potsdam Declaration and declared war on Japan. 
By the beginning of the Manchurian operation, a large strategic grouping of Japanese, Manchurian and Mengjiang troops was concentrated on the territory of Manchukuo and North Korea. Its basis was the Kwantung Army (General Yamada), which doubled its strength during the summer of 1945. The Japanese command kept in Manchuria and Korea two-thirds of its tanks, half of its artillery, and selected imperial divisions; it also had bacteriological weapons prepared for use against Soviet troops. In total, the enemy troops numbered over 1 million 300 thousand people, 6260 guns and mortars, 1155 tanks, 1900 aircraft, 25 ships. 
The USSR began military operations against Japan exactly 3 months after the surrender of Germany. But between the defeat of Germany and the beginning of hostilities against Japan, the gap in time was only for non-military people. All these three months, a lot of work has been going on in planning the operation, regrouping troops and preparing them for combat operations. 400 thousand people, 7 thousand guns and mortars, 2 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts, 1100 aircraft were transferred to the Far East. In the order of operational camouflage, first of all, those divisions were transferred, which in 1941-1942. were removed from the Far East. The preparation of the strategic operation was carried out in advance. 
August 3, 1945 Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky, appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Forces in the Far East, and Chief of the General Staff, General of the Army A.I. Antonov reported to Stalin the final plan of the Manchurian strategic operation. Vasilevsky proposed to launch an offensive only with the forces of the Trans-Baikal Front, and in the zones of the 1st and 2nd Far Eastern Fronts, only reconnaissance in force should be carried out so that the main forces of these fronts would go on the offensive in 5-7 days. Stalin did not agree with such a proposal and ordered to launch an offensive simultaneously on all fronts. As subsequent events showed, such a decision by the Stavka was more expedient, since the transition of the fronts to the offensive at different times deprived the Far Eastern Fronts of surprise actions and allowed the command of the Kwantung Army to maneuver forces and means for successive strikes in the Mongolian and coastal directions. 
On the night of August 9, advanced battalions and reconnaissance detachments of three fronts, in extremely unfavorable weather conditions - the summer monsoon, which brings frequent and heavy rains - moved into enemy territory. The forward battalions, accompanied by border guards, silently crossed the border without opening fire and in a number of places captured the enemy's long-term defensive structures even before the Japanese crews had time to occupy them and open fire. At dawn, the main forces of the Trans-Baikal and 1st Far Eastern Fronts went on the offensive and crossed the state border. 
This created the conditions for the rapid advance of the main forces of the first-echelon divisions into the depths of the enemy's defenses. In some places, for example, in the Grodekovo region, where the Japanese managed to timely detect the advance of our forward battalions and take up defenses, the fighting dragged on. But such knots of resistance were skillfully handled by our troops.
From some pillboxes, the Japanese continued to fire for 7-8 days.
On August 10, the Mongolian People's Republic entered the war. The joint offensive with the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army developed successfully from the very first hours. The suddenness and strength of the initial strikes allowed the Soviet troops to immediately seize the initiative. In the government of Japan, the beginning of military operations by the Soviet Union caused a panic. “The entry into the war of the Soviet Union this morning,” Prime Minister Suzuki declared on August 9, “puts us in a final stalemate and makes it impossible to continue the war.” 
Such a high rate of offensive by Soviet troops operating in separate, disparate operational axes became possible only thanks to a carefully thought-out grouping of troops, knowledge of the natural features of the terrain and the nature of the enemy’s defense system in each operational axe, the wide and bold use of tank, mechanized and cavalry formations, surprise attacks, high offensive impulse, resolute to the point of insolence and exceptionally skillful actions, courage and mass heroism of the soldiers of the Red Army and sailors.
In the face of imminent military defeat, on August 14, the Japanese government decided to capitulate. The next day, Prime Minister Suzuki's cabinet fell. However, the troops of the Kwantung Army continued to stubbornly resist. In this regard, on August 16, an explanation of the General Staff of the Red Army was published in the Soviet press, which stated:
"I. The Japanese Emperor's announcement of the surrender of Japan on August 14 is only a general declaration of unconditional surrender.
The order to the armed forces to cease hostilities has not yet been issued, and the Japanese armed forces are still continuing to resist.
Consequently, there is no real surrender of the Japanese armed forces yet.
2. The surrender of the armed forces of Japan can be considered only from the moment when the Japanese emperor gives an order to his armed forces to stop hostilities and lay down their arms, and when this order is practically carried out.
3. In view of the foregoing, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union in the Far East will continue their offensive operations against Japan.
In the following days, the Soviet troops, developing the offensive, rapidly increased its pace. Military operations for the liberation of Korea, which were part of the campaign of Soviet troops in the Far East, were successfully developing.
On August 17, having finally lost control of scattered troops and realizing the futility of further resistance, the commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, General Otozo Yamada, gave the order to begin negotiations with the Soviet High Command in the Far East. 
At 5 p.m. on August 17, a radiogram was received from the Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army stating that he had ordered the Japanese troops to immediately cease hostilities and hand over their weapons to the Soviet troops, and at 7 p.m. two pennants were dropped from a Japanese aircraft into the location of the troops of the 1st Far Eastern Front with the appeal of the headquarters of the 1st Front of the Kwantung Army on the cessation of hostilities. However, in most sectors, the Japanese troops not only continued to resist, but in places went over to counterattacks.
To speed up the disarmament of the surrendered Japanese troops and the liberation of the territories they had captured, on August 18, Marshal Vasilevsky gave the following order to the troops of the Trans-Baikal, 1st and 2nd Far Eastern Fronts:
“Due to the fact that the resistance of the Japanese is broken, and the difficult condition of the roads greatly hinders 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, Mukden, Jilin and Harbin to go over to the actions of specially formed, fast-moving and well-equipped detachments . The same detachments or similar ones should also be used to solve subsequent tasks, without fear of a sharp separation from their main forces. 
On August 19, Japanese troops almost everywhere began to capitulate. 148 Japanese generals, 594 thousand officers and soldiers were captured. By the end of August, the disarmament of the Kwantung Army and other enemy forces stationed in Manchuria and North Korea was completely completed. Operations to liberate South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were successfully completed. 
During the operation, many difficult military-political moments arose not only for the high command, but also for the commanders, headquarters and political agencies of formations and units due to the constantly emerging confrontational situations and clashes between the People's Liberation Army of China and the Kuomintang troops, various political groups in Korea , between the Chinese, Korean and Japanese populations. It required constant, hard work at all levels in order to resolve all these issues in a timely manner. 
On the whole, careful and comprehensive preparation, precise and skillful command and control of troops during the offensive ensured the successful conduct of this major strategic operation. As a result, the millionth Kwantung Army was completely defeated. Its losses in killed amounted to 84 thousand people, more than 15 thousand died from wounds and diseases on the territory of Manchuria, about 600 thousand were taken prisoner. The irretrievable losses of our troops amounted to 12 thousand people. 
The enemy strike forces were utterly defeated. The Japanese militarists lost their springboards for aggression and their main bases for supplying raw materials and weapons in China, Korea and South Sakhalin. The collapse of the Kwantung Army hastened the surrender of Japan as a whole. The end of the war in the Far East prevented further extermination and plunder by the Japanese invaders of the peoples of East and Southeast Asia, accelerated the surrender of Japan and led to the complete end of World War II. 
"The Diplomat, Japan
From May to September 1939, the USSR and Japan waged an undeclared war against each other, in which more than 100,000 military personnel took part. Perhaps it was she who changed the course of world history.
In September 1939, Soviet and Japanese armies clashed on the Manchu-Mongolian border in a little-known but far-reaching conflict. It was not just a border conflict - the undeclared war lasted from May to September 1939, and more than 100,000 soldiers took part in it, as well as 1,000 tanks and aircraft. Between 30,000 and 50,000 people were killed or injured. In the decisive battle, which took place on August 20-31, 1939, the Japanese were defeated.
These events coincided with the conclusion of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact (August 23, 1939), which gave the green light to Hitler's aggression against Poland, undertaken a week later and served as the start of World War II. These events are related to each other. The border conflict also influenced the key decisions taken in Tokyo and Moscow that determined the course of the war and ultimately its outcome.
The conflict itself (the Japanese call it the Nomongan Incident, and the Russians the Battle of Halkin Gol) was provoked by the notorious Japanese officer Tsuji Masanobu, head of the group in the Japanese Kwantung Army that occupied Manchuria. On the opposite side, the Soviet troops were commanded by Georgy Zhukov, who would later lead the Red Army to victory over Nazi Germany. In the first major battle in May 1939, the Japanese punitive operation failed, and the Soviet-Mongolian forces pushed back the Japanese detachment, which consisted of 200 people. The frustrated Kwantung Army intensified military operations in June-July and began to deliver forced bombing strikes deep into Mongolian territory. The Japanese also carried out operations along the entire border with the participation of entire divisions. Successive Japanese attacks were repelled by the Red Army, but the Japanese kept up the stakes in this game, hoping that they could force Moscow to retreat. However, Stalin tactically outplayed the Japanese and, unexpectedly for them, launched a military and diplomatic counteroffensive at the same time.
In August, when Stalin was secretly seeking an alliance with Hitler, Zhukov formed a powerful group near the front line. At the moment when German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop flew to Moscow to sign the Nazi-Soviet pact, Stalin threw Zhukov into battle. The future marshal demonstrated the tactics that he would later use with such a stunning result near Stalingrad, in the Battle of Kursk, and also in other places: a combined arms offensive, during which infantry units, with the active support of artillery, tied up enemy forces in the central sector of the front, in while powerful armored formations attacked the flanks, surrounded and eventually defeated the enemy in a battle of annihilation. Over 75% of the Japanese ground forces on this front died in action. At the same time, Stalin made a pact with Hitler, a nominal ally of Tokyo, and thus left Japan diplomatically isolated and militarily humiliated.
The coincidence in time of the Nomongan Incident and the signing of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact was by no means accidental. While Stalin was openly negotiating with Britain and France for an anti-fascist alliance and secretly trying to negotiate with Hitler for a possible alliance, he was attacked by Japan, Germany's ally and partner in the Anti-Comintern Pact. By the summer of 1939, it became clear that Hitler intended to move east against Poland. Stalin's nightmare, which should have been prevented at all costs, was a war on two fronts against Germany and Japan. His ideal outcome would be one in which the fascist-militarist capitalists (Germany, Italy, and Japan) would go to war with the bourgeois-democratic capitalists (Britain, France, and possibly the United States). In this scenario, the Soviet Union would have remained on the sidelines and would have become the arbiter of the fate of Europe, after the capitalists had exhausted their forces. The Nazi-Soviet pact was Stalin's attempt to achieve the optimum result. This treaty not only pitted Germany against Britain and France, but also left the Soviet Union out of the fray. He gave Stalin the opportunity to decisively deal with isolated Japan, which was done in the Nomongan area. And this is not just a hypothesis. The connection between the Nomongan Incident and the Nazi-Soviet Pact is even reflected in German diplomatic documents published in Washington and London in 1948. Recently released Soviet-era documents contain supporting details.
Zhukov rose to prominence at Nomongan/Khalkin Gol, thus earning the trust of Stalin, who in late 1941 placed him in command of the troops, just at the right time to avert catastrophe. Zhukov managed to stop the German offensive and turn the tide on the outskirts of Moscow in early December 1941 (probably the most important week of World War II). This was partly facilitated by the transfer of troops from the Far East. Many of these soldiers already had combat experience - it was they who defeated the Japanese in the Nomongan area. The Soviet Far Eastern Reserve - 15 infantry divisions, 3 cavalry divisions, 1,700 tanks and 1,500 aircraft were redeployed to the west in the autumn of 1941, when Moscow learned that Japan would not attack the Soviet Far East, since it had made the final decision regarding expansion in the southern direction, which eventually led her to war with the United States.
The story regarding Japan's route to Pearl Harbor is well known. But some of these events are not so well covered, and Japan's decision to go to war with the United States is connected with the Japanese memories of the defeat at the village of Nomongan. And the same Tsuji who played a central role in the Nomongan Incident became a powerful proponent of southern expansion and war with the United States.
In June 1941, Germany attacked Russia and inflicted crushing defeats on the Red Army in the first months of the war. Many at that moment believed that the Soviet Union was on the verge of defeat. Germany demanded that Japan invade the Soviet Far East, avenge the defeat at the village of Nomongan, and seize as much Soviet territory as it could swallow. However, in July 1941, the United States and Britain imposed an oil embargo on Japan that threatened to leave the Japanese war machine on a starvation diet. In order to avoid such a situation, the Japanese Imperial Navy intended to seize the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. Holland itself had been occupied a year earlier. Britain also struggled to survive. Only the American Pacific Fleet blocked the way for the Japanese. However, many in the Japanese army wanted to attack the USSR, as Germany demanded. They expected to avenge Nomongan at the moment when the Red Army suffered heavy losses as a result of the German blitzkrieg. The leaders of the Japanese army and naval forces discussed this issue during a series of military conferences with the participation of the emperor.
In the summer of 1941, Colonel Tsuji was the senior officer of the headquarters for planning operations at the Imperial Headquarters. Tsuji was a charismatic man as well as a flamboyant speaker, and he was one of the army officers who supported the navy's position, which eventually led to Pearl Harbor. In 1941, Tanaka Ryukichi, head of the military service bureau of the army ministry, reported after the war that "Tsuji Masanobu was the most determined supporter of the war with the United States." Tsuji later wrote that what he saw of Soviet firepower at Nomongan made him give up attacking the Russians in 1941.
But what would have happened if there had been no Nomongan Incident? And what would have happened if it had ended differently, for example, if it hadn't revealed a winner or if it had ended with Japan's victory? In this case, Tokyo's decision to push south might look very different. Less impressed by the military capabilities of the Soviet armed forces and forced to choose between fighting against the Anglo-American forces and participating with Germany in the defeat of the USSR, the Japanese might have considered the northern direction the best choice.
If Japan had decided to move north in 1941, the course of the war and history itself might have been different. Many believe that the Soviet Union would not have survived a two-front war in 1941-1942. The victory in the battle near Moscow and a year later - near Stalingrad - were won with exceptionally great difficulty. A determined enemy in the east in the form of Japan at that moment could tip the scales in favor of Hitler. Moreover, if Japan had moved its troops against the Soviet Union, it would not have been able to attack the United States in the same year. The United States would have entered the war a year later, and would have done so under much less favorable circumstances than the grim reality of the winter of 1941. And how, then, could the domination of the Nazis in Europe be ended?
The shadow from Nomongan was very long.
Stuart Goldman is a Russia Specialist and Fellow at the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. This article is based on his book Nomonhan, 1939. The Red Army's Victory That Shaped World War II.
The more a person is able to respond to the historical and universal, the wider his nature, the richer his life and the more capable such a person is of progress and development.
F. M. Dostoevsky
The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, which we will briefly discuss today, is one of the most important pages in the history of the Russian Empire. In the war, Russia was defeated, demonstrating a military lag behind the leading world countries. Another important event of the war - following its results, the Entente was finally formed, and the world began to slowly, but steadily, roll towards the First World War.
Background of the war
In 1894-1895, Japan defeated China, as a result of which Japan had to cross the Liaodong (Kwantung) Peninsula along with Port Arthur and Farmosa Island (the current name is Taiwan). Germany, France and Russia intervened in the course of the negotiations, insisting that the Liaodong Peninsula remain in the use of China.
In 1896, the government of Nicholas II signed a treaty of friendship with China. As a result, China allows Russia to build a railroad to Vladivostok through Northern Manchuria (China Eastern Railway).
In 1898, Russia, within the framework of a friendship agreement with China, leases the Liaodong Peninsula from the latter for 25 years. This move drew sharp criticism from Japan, which also laid claim to these lands. But this did not lead to serious consequences at that time. In 1902, the tsarist army enters Manchuria. Formally, Japan was ready to recognize this territory for Russia if the latter recognized Japan's dominance in Korea. But the Russian government made a mistake. They did not take Japan seriously, and did not even think of entering into negotiations with it.
Causes and nature of the war
The reasons for the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 are as follows:
- Lease of the Liaodong Peninsula and Port Arthur by Russia.
- Economic expansion of Russia in Manchuria.
- Distribution of spheres of influence in China and Korea.
The nature of hostilities can be defined as follows
- Russia planned to conduct defense and pull up reserves. The transfer of troops was planned to be completed in August 1904, after which it was planned to go on the offensive, up to the landing in Japan.
- Japan planned to wage an offensive war. The first strike was planned at sea with the destruction of the Russian fleet, so that nothing would interfere with the transfer of the landing force. The plans included the capture of Manchuria, the Ussuri and Primorsky Territories.
The balance of power at the beginning of the war
Japan in the war could put up about 175 thousand people (another 100 thousand in reserve) and 1140 field guns. The Russian army consisted of 1 million people and 3.5 million in reserve (reserve). But in the Far East, Russia had 100,000 men and 148 field guns. Also at the disposal of the Russian army were the border guards, who were 24 thousand people with 26 guns. The problem was that these forces, inferior in number to the Japanese, were widely scattered geographically: from Chita to Vladivostok and from Blagoveshchensk to Port Arthur. During 1904-1905, Russia carried out 9 mobilizations, calling for military service about 1 million people.
The Russian fleet consisted of 69 warships. 55 of these ships were in Port Arthur, which was very poorly fortified. To demonstrate that Port Arthur was not completed and ready for war, it is enough to cite the following figures. The fortress was supposed to have 542 guns, but in fact there were only 375, but even of these only 108 guns were usable. That is, the gun supply of Port Arthur at the time of the outbreak of the war was 20%!
It is obvious that the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 began with a clear superiority of Japan on land and at sea.
The course of hostilities
Map of military operations
rice. 1 - Map of the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905
Events of 1904
In January 1904, Japan breaks off diplomatic relations with Russia and on January 27, 1904 attacks warships near Port Arthur. This was the beginning of the war.
Russia began to transfer the army to the Far East, but this happened very slowly. The distance of 8 thousand kilometers and the unfinished section of the Siberian railway - all this prevented the transfer of the army. The capacity of the road was 3 echelons per day, which is extremely small.
On January 27, 1904, Japan attacked Russian ships in Port Arthur. At the same time, in the Korean port of Chemulpo, an attack was made on the Varyag cruiser and the Korean escort boat. After an unequal battle, the "Korean" was blown up, and the "Varyag" was flooded by the Russian sailors themselves, so that the enemy would not get it. After that, the strategic initiative at sea passed to Japan. The situation at sea worsened after the battleship Petropavlovsk was blown up on a Japanese mine on March 31, on board of which was the commander of the fleet, S. Makarov. In addition to the commander, his entire staff, 29 officers and 652 sailors perished.
In February 1904, Japan landed an army of 60,000 in Korea, which moved towards the Yalu River (the river separated Korea and Manchuria). There were no significant battles at that time, and in mid-April the Japanese army crossed the border of Manchuria.
Fall of Port Arthur
In May, the second Japanese army (50 thousand people) landed on the Liaodong Peninsula and headed for Port Arthur, creating a bridgehead for the offensive. By this time, the Russian army had partially managed to complete the transfer of troops and its strength was 160 thousand people. One of the most important events of the war was the Battle of Liaoyang in August 1904. This battle still raises many questions among historians. The fact is that in this battle (and it was practically a general one), the Japanese army was defeated. And so much so that the command of the Japanese army declared the impossibility of continuing the conduct of hostilities. The Russo-Japanese War could have ended there if the Russian army went on the offensive. But the commander, Koropatkin, gives an absolutely absurd order - to retreat. In the course of further events of the war in the Russian army there will be several opportunities to inflict a decisive defeat on the enemy, but each time Kuropatkin either gave absurd orders or hesitated to act, giving the enemy the right time.
After the battle at Liaoyang, the Russian army retreated to the Shahe River, where a new battle took place in September, which did not reveal a winner. After that, there was a lull, and the war moved into a positional phase. In December, General R.I. Kondratenko, who commanded the land defense of the Port Arthur fortress. The new commander of the troops A.M. Stessel, despite the categorical refusal of the soldiers and sailors, decided to surrender the fortress. On December 20, 1904, Stessel surrendered Port Arthur to the Japanese. On this, the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 passed into a passive phase, continuing active operations already in 1905.
Later, under public pressure, General Stessel was put on trial and sentenced to death. The sentence was not carried out. Nicholas 2 pardoned the general.
Historical reference
Defense map of Port Arthur
rice. 2- Defense map of Port Arthur
Events of 1905
The Russian command demanded active actions from Kuropatkin. It was decided to start the offensive in February. But the Japanese preempted him by going on the offensive on Mukden (Shenyang) on February 5, 1905. From February 6 to 25, the largest battle of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 continued. From the Russian side, 280 thousand people took part in it, from the Japanese side - 270 thousand people. There are many interpretations of the Mukden battle in terms of who won the victory in it. In fact, it was a draw. The Russian army lost 90 thousand soldiers, the Japanese - 70 thousand. Smaller losses on the part of Japan are a frequent argument in favor of her victory, but this battle did not give the Japanese army any advantage or gain. Moreover, the losses were so severe that Japan made no further attempts to organize major land battles until the end of the war.
Much more important is the fact that the population of Japan is much smaller than the population of Russia, and after Mukden, the island country has exhausted its human resources. Russia could and should have gone on the offensive in order to win, but 2 factors played against this:
- Kuropatkin factor
- Factor in the Revolution of 1905
On May 14-15, 1905, the Tsushima naval battle took place, in which the Russian squadrons were defeated. The losses of the Russian army amounted to 19 ships and 10 thousand killed and captured.
Kuropatkin factor
Kuropatkin, commanding the ground forces, during the entire Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905 did not use a single chance for a favorable offensive in order to inflict great damage on the enemy. There were several such chances, and we talked about them above. Why did the Russian general and commander refuse active actions and did not seek to end the war? After all, if he gave the order to attack after Liaoyang, and with a high degree of probability the Japanese army would cease to exist.
Of course, it is impossible to answer this question directly, but a number of historians put forward the following opinion (I cite it for the reason that it is well-reasoned and extremely similar to the truth). Kuropatkin was closely associated with Witte, who, let me remind you, by the time of the war was removed from the post of prime minister by Nicholas II. Kuropatkin's plan was to create conditions under which the tsar would return Witte. The latter was considered an excellent negotiator, so it was necessary to reduce the war with Japan to a stage where the parties would sit down at the negotiating table. For this, the war could not be ended with the help of the army (the defeat of Japan is a direct surrender without any negotiations). Therefore, the commander did everything to bring the war to a draw. He successfully coped with this task, and indeed Nicholas 2 called on Witte by the end of the war.
Revolution Factor
There are many sources pointing to Japanese financing of the 1905 Revolution. The real facts of the transfer of money, of course. No. But there are 2 facts that I find extremely curious:
- The peak of the revolution and movement fell on the Battle of Tsushima. Nicholas 2 needed an army to fight the revolution and he decided to start peace negotiations with Japan.
- Immediately after the signing of the Peace of Portsmouth, the revolution in Russia began to wane.
Reasons for the defeat of Russia
Why was Russia defeated in the war with Japan? The reasons for Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War are as follows:
- The weakness of the grouping of Russian troops in the Far East.
- The unfinished Trans-Siberian Railway, which did not allow the transfer of troops in full.
- Mistakes of the army command. I already wrote above about the Kuropatkin factor.
- Japan's superiority in military equipment.
The last point is extremely important. He is often forgotten, but undeservedly. In terms of technical equipment, primarily in the navy, Japan was far ahead of Russia. 
Portsmouth Peace
To conclude peace between countries, Japan demanded that Theodore Roosevelt, the President of the United States, act as an intermediary. Negotiations began and the Russian delegation was headed by Witte. Nicholas 2 returned him to his post and entrusted him with negotiating, knowing the talents of this man. And Witte really took a very tough position, not allowing Japan to get significant gains from the war.
The terms of the Peace of Portsmouth were as follows:
- Russia recognized Japan's right to dominate Korea.
- Russia ceded part of the territory of Sakhalin Island (the Japanese wanted to get the entire island, but Witte was against it).
- Russia transferred the Kwantung Peninsula to Japan along with Port Arthur.
- No one paid indemnities to anyone, but Russia had to pay a reward to the enemy for the maintenance of Russian prisoners of war.
Consequences of the war
During the war, Russia and Japan lost about 300 thousand people each, but in view of the population for Japan, these were almost catastrophic losses. The losses were due to the fact that this was the first major war in which automatic weapons were used. At sea, there was a big bias towards the use of mines.
An important fact that many bypass, it was after the Russo-Japanese War that the Entente (Russia, France and England) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary) were finally formed. The fact of the formation of the Entente draws upon itself. Before the war, Europe had an alliance between Russia and France. The latter did not want its expansion. But the events of the Russian war against Japan showed that the Russian army had many problems (it really was), so France signed agreements with England.
Positions of world powers during the war
During the Russo-Japanese War, the world powers occupied the following positions:
- England and USA. Traditionally, the interests of these countries were extremely similar. They supported Japan, but mostly financially. Approximately 40% of Japan's costs of the war were covered by Anglo-Saxon money.
- France declared neutrality. Although, in fact, she had an allied agreement with Russia, she did not fulfill her allied obligations.
- Germany from the first days of the war declared its neutrality.
The Russian-Japanese war was practically not analyzed by tsarist historians, since they simply did not have enough time. After the end of the war, the Russian Empire lasted almost 12 years, which included a revolution, economic problems and a world war. Therefore, the main study took place already in Soviet times. But it is important to understand that for Soviet historians it was a war against the backdrop of a revolution. That is, "the tsarist regime strove for aggression, and the people prevented this with all their might." That is why it is written in Soviet textbooks that, for example, the Liaoyang operation ended in the defeat of Russia. Although technically it was a draw.
The end of the war is also seen as the complete defeat of the Russian army on land and in the navy. If at sea the situation was indeed close to defeat, then on land Japan was on the brink of an abyss, since they no longer had the manpower to continue the war. I propose to look at this question even a little wider. How did the wars of that era end after the unconditional defeat (and this is what Soviet historians often talked about) of one of the parties? Large indemnities, large territorial concessions, partial economic and political dependence of the loser on the winner. But there is nothing like it in the Portsmouth world. Russia did not pay anything, lost only the southern part of Sakhalin (an insignificant territory) and refused the land leased from China. The argument is often made that Japan won the fight for dominance in Korea. But Russia has never seriously fought for this territory. She was only interested in Manchuria. And if we go back to the origins of the war, we will see that the Japanese government would never have started a war if Nicholas 2 had recognized Japan's dominance in Korea, just as the Japanese government would have recognized Russia's positions in Manbchuria. Therefore, at the end of the war, Russia did what it should have done back in 1903, without bringing matters to a war. But this is a question for the personality of Nicholas 2, who today is extremely fashionable to call a martyr and hero of Russia, but it was his actions that provoked the war.
On August 9, 1945, the Soviet Union, fulfilling its agreements with the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition in World War II, entered the war against Japan. This war matured throughout the Great Patriotic War and was inevitable, in particular, because only one victory over Germany did not give a complete guarantee of the security of the USSR. Its Far Eastern borders continued to be threatened by the nearly one million Kwantung grouping of the Japanese army. All this and a number of other circumstances allow us to state that the Soviet-Japanese war, representing an independent part of World War II, was at the same time a logical continuation of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people for their independence, security and sovereignty of the USSR.
The capitulation of Nazi Germany in May 1945 marked the end of the war in Europe. But in the Far East and the Pacific, Japan continued to fight against the United States, Great Britain and other allies of the USSR in the Asia-Pacific region. According to the allies, despite the presence of atomic weapons in the United States, the war in the East could drag on for another one and a half to two years and would take the lives of at least 1.5 million soldiers and officers of their armies, as well as 10 million Japanese.
The Soviet Union could not consider its security assured in the Far East, where the Soviet government during 1941-1945. was forced to keep about 30% of the combat strength of its troops and fleet forces, while the fire of war blazed there and Japan continued to pursue an aggressive policy. In this situation, on April 5, 1945, the USSR announced the denunciation of the Neutrality Pact with Japan, i.e., the intention to terminate it unilaterally with all the ensuing consequences. However, the Japanese government did not heed this serious warning and continued to support Germany until the end of the war in Europe, and then rejected the Potsdam Declaration of the Allies, published on July 26, 1945, which contained the demand for the unconditional surrender of Japan. On August 8, 1945, the Soviet government announced that the USSR would enter the war against Japan the next day.
The entry of Soviet troops into Harbin. September 1945
Plans and forces of the parties
The political goal of the military campaign of the Soviet Union in the Far East was to eliminate as quickly as possible the last hotbed of World War II, to eliminate the constant threat of Japanese invaders attacking the USSR, to expel them together with the allies from the countries occupied by Japan, to promote the restoration of world peace. The speedy end of the war saved mankind, including the Japanese people, from further many millions of victims and suffering, and contributed to the development of the national liberation movement in Asian countries.
The military-strategic goal of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union in the war against Japan was the defeat of the Kwantung Group of Forces and the liberation of Northeast China (Manchuria) and North Korea from the Japanese invaders. Operations to liberate South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, which were ceded to Japan as a result of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, as well as the occupation of the northern part of the Japanese island of Hokkaido, were made dependent on the fulfillment of this main task.
Three fronts were involved in the Far Eastern campaign - the Trans-Baikal (commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union R. Ya. Malinovsky), the 1st Far Eastern (commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union K. A. Meretskov) and the 2nd Far Eastern (commanded by General of the Army M. A. Purkaev), the Pacific Fleet (commander Admiral I. S. Yumashev), the Amur Military Flotilla (commander Rear Admiral N. V. Antonov), three air defense armies, as well as units of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army (commander-in-chief Marshal X Choibalsan). Soviet and Mongolian troops and naval forces numbered more than 1.7 million people, about 30 thousand guns and mortars (without anti-aircraft artillery), 5.25 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts, 5.2 thousand aircraft, 93 main warships classes. The command of the troops was carried out by the High Command of the Soviet Forces in the Far East, specially created by the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (Commander-in-Chief Marshal of the Soviet Union A. M. Vasilevsky).
The Japanese Kwantung Group of Forces included the 1st and 3rd Fronts, the 4th Separate and 2nd Air Armies, and the Sungari River Flotilla. On August 10, the 17th Front and the 5th Air Army stationed in Korea were operationally subordinated to it. The total number of enemy troops concentrated near the Soviet borders exceeded 1 million people. They were armed with 1215 tanks, 6640 guns, 1907 aircraft, over 30 warships and boats. In addition, on the territory of Manchuria and Korea there were a significant number of Japanese gendarmerie, police, railway and other formations, as well as the troops of Manchukuo and Inner Mongolia. On the border with the USSR and the MPR, the Japanese had 17 fortified areas with a total length of over 800 km, in which there were 4.5 thousand long-term firing structures.
The Japanese command expected that "against the superior in strength and training of the Soviet troops" the Japanese troops in Manchuria would hold out for a year. At the first stage (about three months), it planned to put up stubborn resistance to the enemy in the fortified border areas, and then on the mountain ranges blocking the path from Mongolia and from the USSR border to the central regions of Manchuria, where the main forces of the Japanese were concentrated. In the event of a breakthrough of this line, it was planned to occupy the defense on the Tumen-Changchun-Dalian railway line and launch a decisive counteroffensive.
The course of hostilities
From the first hours of August 9, 1945, the shock groups of the Soviet fronts attacked the Japanese troops from land, air and sea. The fighting unfolded on the front with a total length of more than 5 thousand km. A powerful air strike was dealt to the command posts, headquarters and communication centers of the enemy. As a result of this strike, communication between the headquarters and formations of the Japanese troops and their control in the very first hours of the war were disrupted, which made it easier for the Soviet troops to solve the tasks assigned to them.
The Pacific Fleet took to the open sea, cut off the sea communications used by the troops of the Kwantung Group to communicate with Japan, and the forces of aviation and torpedo boats delivered powerful blows to Japanese naval bases in North Korea.
With the assistance of the Amur Flotilla and the Air Force, Soviet troops crossed the Amur and Ussuri rivers on a wide front and, having broken the fierce resistance of the Japanese in the fortified border areas in stubborn battles, began to develop a successful offensive deep into Manchuria. The armored and motorized formations of the Trans-Baikal Front, which included divisions that had gone through the war with Nazi Germany, and cavalry formations of Mongolia, advanced especially rapidly. The lightning-fast actions of all branches of the armed forces, aviation and navy frustrated Japanese plans for the use of bacteriological weapons.
Already in the first five or six days of the offensive, Soviet and Mongolian troops defeated the fanatically resisting enemy in 16 fortified areas and advanced 450 km. On August 12, formations of the 6th Guards Tank Army, Colonel General A. G. Kravchenko, overcame the "impregnable" Greater Khingan and wedged deep into the rear of the Kwantung Group of Forces, preventing its main forces from reaching this mountain range.
In the coastal direction, the troops of the 1st Far Eastern Front were advancing. From the sea, they were supported by the Pacific Fleet, which, with the help of landings, captured the Japanese bases and ports of Yuki, Rasin, Seishin, Odejin, Gyonzan in Korea and the Port Arthur fortress, depriving the enemy of the opportunity to evacuate his troops by sea.
The main forces of the Amur Flotilla operated in the Sungarian and Sakhalin directions, ensuring the crossing of the troops of the 15th and 2nd Red Banner armies of the 2nd Far Eastern Front through water lines, artillery support for their offensive and landing.
The offensive developed so rapidly that the enemy was unable to hold back the onslaught of the Soviet troops. Within ten days, the troops of the Red Army, with the active support of aviation and navy, were able to dismember and actually defeat the strategic grouping of Japanese troops in Manchuria and North Korea. On August 19, the Japanese began to surrender almost everywhere. In order to prevent the enemy from evacuating or destroying material values, from August 18 to 27, airborne assault forces were landed in Harbin, Mukden, Changchun, Girin, Luishun, Dalian, Pyongyang, Hamhung and other cities, army mobile forward detachments were actively operating.
On August 11, the Soviet command launched the South Sakhalin offensive operation. The operation was entrusted to the troops of the 56th Rifle Corps of the 16th Army of the 2nd Far Eastern Front and the Northern Pacific Flotilla. South Sakhalin was defended by the reinforced 88th Japanese Infantry Division, which was part of the 5th Front with headquarters on the island of Hokkaido, based on the powerful Koton fortified area. The fighting on Sakhalin began with a breakthrough of this fortified area. The offensive was carried out along the only dirt road that connected Northern Sakhalin with Southern Sakhalin and passed between the hard-to-reach spurs of the mountains and the swampy valley of the Poronai River. On August 16, an amphibious assault was landed behind enemy lines in the port of Toro (Shakhtyorsk). On August 18, the enemy defenses were broken through by the counter strikes of the Soviet troops. On August 20, amphibious assaults landed in the port of Maoka (Kholmsk), and on the morning of August 25 - in the port of Otomari (Korsakov). On the same day, Soviet troops entered the administrative center of South Sakhalin, Toyokhara (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), where the headquarters of the 88th Infantry Division was located. The organized resistance of the Japanese garrison, which numbered about 30 thousand soldiers and officers in South Sakhalin, ceased.
Japanese prisoners of war under the supervision of a Soviet soldier. August 1945
On August 18, Soviet troops began the operation to liberate the Kuril Islands, where the 5th Japanese Front had over 50 thousand soldiers and officers, and at the same time to prepare a major landing operation in Hokkaido, the need for which, however, soon disappeared. The troops of the Kamchatka Defense Region (KOR) and ships of the Pacific Fleet were involved in the Kuril landing operation. The operation began with the landing of troops on the island of Shumshu, the most fortified in antiamphibious relation; the fighting for him took on a fierce character and ended on August 23 with his release. By the beginning of September, the troops of the KOR and the Petropavlovsk naval base occupied the entire northern ridge of the islands, including Urup Island, and the forces of the Northern Pacific Flotilla occupied the rest of the islands to the south.
The crushing blow to the Japanese Kwantung Group of Forces led to the largest defeat of the Japanese Armed Forces in World War II and to the most severe losses for them, exceeding 720 thousand soldiers and officers, including 84 thousand killed and wounded and more than 640 thousand prisoners . A major victory achieved in a short time was not easy: the Armed Forces of the USSR lost 36,456 people killed, wounded and missing in the war with Japan, including 12,031 dead.
Japan, having lost the largest military-industrial base on the Asian subcontinent and the most powerful grouping of ground forces, was unable to continue the armed struggle. This greatly reduced the timing of the end of World War II and the number of its victims. The defeat by the USSR Armed Forces of Japanese troops in Manchuria and Korea, as well as in South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, deprived Japan of all bridgeheads and bases that it had been creating for many years in preparation for aggression against the USSR. The security of the Soviet Union in the East was ensured.
The Soviet-Japanese War lasted less than four weeks, but in terms of scope, skill of operations and results, it belongs to the outstanding campaigns of the Second World War. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 2, 1945, September 3 was declared Victory Day over Japan.
World War II, which lasted 6 years and 1 day, is over. 61 states took part in it, in which about 80% of the world's population lived at that time. It claimed more than 60 million human lives. The Soviet Union suffered the heaviest losses, putting 26.6 million human lives on the altar of a common victory over Nazism and militarism. 10 million Chinese, 9.4 million Germans, 6 million Jews, 4 million Poles, 2.5 million Japanese, 1.7 million Yugoslavs, 600 thousand French, 405 thousand Americans, millions of people of other nationalities also died in the fire of World War II .
On June 26, 1945, the United Nations Organization was created, designed to become the guarantor of peace and security on our planet.
background
At the Yalta Conference of the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition, held in February 1945, the United States and Great Britain obtained final consent from the USSR to enter the war with Japan three months after the victory over Nazi Germany. In exchange for participation in hostilities, the Soviet Union was to receive South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, lost after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.
At that time, the Neutrality Pact was in force between the USSR and Japan, concluded in 1941 for a period of 5 years. In April 1945, the USSR announced the unilateral termination of the pact on the grounds that Japan was an ally of Germany and waged war against the allies of the USSR. “In this situation, the Neutrality Pact between Japan and the USSR lost its meaning, and the extension of this Pact became impossible,” the Soviet side said. The sudden termination of the treaty threw the Japanese government into disarray. And it was from what! The position of the Land of the Rising Sun in the war was approaching critical, the allies inflicted a number of heavy defeats on the Pacific theater of operations. Japanese cities and industrial centers were subjected to continuous bombardment. Not a single more or less reasonable person in the Japanese government and command no longer believed in the possibility of victory, the only hope was that they would be able to wear down the American troops and achieve acceptable surrender conditions for themselves.
In turn, the Americans understood that victory over Japan would not be easy. A good example of this are the battles for the island of Okinawa. The Japanese had about 77,000 people on the island. The Americans fielded about 470,000 against them. The island was taken, but the Americans lost nearly 50 thousand soldiers killed and wounded. According to the estimate of the US Secretary of War, a final victory over Japan, provided the Soviet Union did not intervene, would have cost America about a million dead and wounded.
The document declaring war was handed over to the Japanese ambassador in Moscow at 17:00 on August 8, 1945. It said that hostilities would begin the next day. However, taking into account the time difference between Moscow and the Far East, in fact, the Japanese had only one hour before the Red Army went on the offensive.
Confrontation
The strategic plan of the Soviet side included three operations: Manchurian, South Sakhalin and Kuril. It was the first one that was the most significant and large-scale, and it is on it that we should dwell in more detail.
In Manchuria, the Kwantung Army under the command of General Otsuzo Yamada became an enemy of the USSR. It included about a million personnel, more than 6,000 guns and mortars, about 1,500 aircraft, and more than 1,000 tanks.
The grouping of troops of the Red Army at the time of the start of the offensive had a serious numerical superiority over the enemy: only there were 1.6 times more fighters. In terms of the number of tanks, the Soviet troops outnumbered the Japanese by about 5 times, in artillery and mortars - 10 times, in aircraft - more than three times. Moreover, the superiority of the Soviet Union was not only quantitative. The equipment that was in service with the Red Army was much more modern and powerful than that of its enemy.
The Japanese had long understood that war with the Soviet Union was inevitable. Therefore, a large number of fortified areas were created. Let us consider as an example one of them - the Hailar region, against which the left flank of the Trans-Baikal Front of the Red Army acted. This area has been under construction for over 10 years. By August 1945, it consisted of 116 pillboxes connected by concrete underground communication passages, a developed system of trenches and a large number of engineering defensive structures. The area was defended by Japanese troops numbering more than a division.
It took the Soviet troops several days to suppress the resistance of this fortified area. It would seem that not too long a time, the troops were not stuck for months. But during this time, in other sectors of the Trans-Baikal Front, the Red Army managed to advance more than 150 kilometers. So by the standards of this war, the obstacle was quite serious. And even after the main forces of the garrison of the Hailar region surrendered, separate groups of Japanese soldiers continued to fight, demonstrating examples of fanatical courage. In Soviet reports from the battlefield, soldiers of the Kwantung Army are constantly mentioned, who chained themselves to machine guns so as not to be able to leave the position.
Against the background of the very successful actions of the Red Army, it is necessary to note such an outstanding operation as the 350-kilometer throw of the 6th Guards Tank Army across the Gobi Desert and the Khingan Range. The Khingan Mountains seemed like an insurmountable obstacle to technology. The passes through which the Soviet tanks went were at an altitude of about 2 thousand meters above sea level. The steepness of the slopes in some places reached 50 degrees, so the cars had to move in a zigzag. The situation was complicated by continuous heavy rains, impassable mud and overflow of mountain rivers. Nevertheless, Soviet tanks stubbornly moved forward. By August 11, they had crossed the mountains and found themselves in the rear of the Kwantung Army, on the Central Manchurian Plain. The army experienced a shortage of fuel and ammunition, so the Soviet command had to establish supplies by air. Transport aviation delivered more than 900 tons of tank fuel alone to our troops. As a result of this unprecedented offensive, the Red Army managed to capture only about 200,000 Japanese prisoners. In addition, a large number of weapons and equipment were captured.
The 1st Far Eastern Front of the Red Army faced fierce resistance from the Japanese, who fortified on the heights of Ostraya and Camel, which were part of the Khotous fortified region. The approaches to these heights were swampy, indented by a large number of small rivers. Scarps were excavated on the slopes and wire fences were installed. The Japanese cut down firing points in a granite rock massif. The concrete caps of the pillboxes were about one and a half meters thick.
The defenders of the height of Ostraya rejected all the demands of the Soviet troops for surrender. The commander of the fortified area cut off his head to a local resident, who was used as a truce (the Japanese did not go into dialogue with the Red Army at all). And when the Soviet troops finally managed to break into the fortifications, they found only the dead there. Moreover, among the defenders were not only men, but even women armed with grenades and daggers.
In the battles for the city of Mudanjiang, the Japanese actively used kamikaze saboteurs. Strapped with grenades, these people rushed at Soviet tanks and soldiers. On one of the sectors of the front, about 200 "live mines" lay on the ground in front of the advancing equipment. Suicide attacks were successful only at first. In the future, the Red Army increased their vigilance and, as a rule, managed to shoot the saboteur before he could approach and explode, causing damage to equipment or manpower.
The final
On August 15, Emperor Hirohito made a radio address announcing that Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam Conference and capitulated. The emperor called on the nation to courage, patience and unite all forces to build a new future.
Three days later, on August 18, 1945, at 13:00 local time, the Kwantung Army Command addressed the troops on the radio, saying that in view of the futility of further resistance, a decision was made to surrender. Over the next few days, the Japanese units that did not have direct contact with the headquarters were notified and the terms of surrender were agreed.
Most of the military accepted the terms of surrender without objection. Moreover, in the city of Changchun, where the strength of the Soviet troops was not enough, the Japanese themselves guarded military facilities for several days. At the same time, a small number of fanatical soldiers and officers continued to resist, refusing to obey the "cowardly" order to cease hostilities. Their war stopped only when they died.
On September 2, 1945, an act of unconditional surrender of Japan was signed in Tokyo Bay aboard the USS Missouri. The signing of this document is the official date for the end of World War II.
