Hey everyone. I took a WWII history class in university last semester and had to write a term paper on a subject of my choice. I’m going to post it here and I’m interested to see what you think of it.
The Soviet Invasion of Manchuria:
A Mismatch of Strength and Tactics“Churchill”
History 3387: World War II
“Dr. Professor”
4/6/2013With the defeat of Nazi Germany in Europe on May 8th 1945, the attention of the Big Three powers, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, turned towards the Pacific Ocean and Japan, the last of the Axis powers. As per their agreement with the UK and the USA, concluded in 1943, the USSR would invade Japanese controlled Manchuria three months after the defeat of Nazi Germany, an invasion that was bound to succeed due to differences in size, tactical doctrine, and supply of arms.
The Soviet Union and Japan had been at war many times in the past. The Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905 was a startling Russian loss and it announced the arrival of Japan on the world stage as a great power. The Soviet and Japanese border incidents regarding Manchuria and Mongolia lasted from 1932 to 1941. These attacks led to the Pact of Neutrality Between [the] Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan as well as the Declaration Regarding Mongolia, both signed on April 13, 1941. The Pact of Neutrality was similar to the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in which neither party would go to war with each other, and the Declaration Regarding Mongolia was signed to protect the territorial boundaries of the Soviet-protected Mongolian People’s Republic and the Japanese-protected area of China known as Manchoukuo.1
The Soviet Union denounced the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact on the 5th of April 1945, one month before the end of the war in Europe. This denunciation was made at that time due to time constraints imposed on the Soviet government by the Pact of Neutrality. Article Three of The Pact of Neutrality stated that:
"The present Pact comes into force from the day of its ratification by both Contracting Parties [April 13, 1941] and remains valid for five years. In case neither of the Contracting Parties denounces the Pact one year before the expiration of the term, it will be considered automatically prolonged for the next five years."3
The deadline for denouncing the pact was on the 13th of April 1945, a date which didn’t give enough time for the Soviets and Western Allies to defeat Nazi Germany. The Soviet declaration of war on Japan was given to Japanese Ambassador Sato by Foreign Commissar Molotov on August 8, 1945 at 2300 hours. Sixty one minutes after the official declaration of war, Soviet forces invaded Manchuria.4
The Soviet army in 1941 in the Far East was comprised of 30 divisions, of which the Japanese estimated the Soviets moved 15 infantry divisions, along with 1700 tanks and 1500 aircraft west to fight the Nazis during 1941-1942. By the time transfers to the western front had ceased in the later part of 1942, the strength of Soviet forces facing Japanese forces in Manchuria was 19 infantry divisions, 10 infantry brigades, which adds up to about 750,000 men, as well as 1000 tanks and 1000 aircraft. With the end of Nazi Germany near, the Soviet high command started the transfer of 30 divisions, nine brigades, and other units to the Far East. Japanese commanders expected the Soviets to attack when their operational strength reached 60 divisions, and therefore discarded the idea that the Soviets would attack with fewer.4 On August 9, when the invasion began, the Soviets had amassed a force of 11 combined-arms armies, one tank army, and three air armies. These forces consisted of 80 divisions comprising two tank and six cavalry divisions, four tank and mechanised corps, 40 separate tank and mechanised brigades, and six infantry brigades. In terms of manpower, just under 1.6 million men were ready to invade, of which just over one million were in combat roles. The Soviets had also amassed an overwhelming superiority in materiel as well: 26,000 artillery pieces and mortars, 3700 tanks and 1850 self-propelled guns, and 4800 combat aircraft.6 In command of the invading Soviet forces was Marshal Alexander M. Vasilevsky, with Colonel General S. P. Ivanov as his Chief of the General Staff. Under Vasilevsky were Marshal Rodion Ya. Malinovsky, commander of the Transbaikal Front, Marshal Kyril A. Meretskov, commander of the First Far East Front, and General of the Army Maxim A. Purkayev, commander of the Second Far East Front and the ex-commander of the Far East Front during most of the war on the Western Front.7
Facing this vast army were the Japanese, who reached peak strength of 1.1 million men in January 1942. Japanese tactical guidelines maintained that their forces should not go below 70 percent of Soviet strength. In July of 1944 the Japanese were at their weakest in Manchuria: seven divisions. This weakness had been corrected by the 9th of August 1945, with the formation and transfer of 24 Japanese divisions and 11 brigades in Manchuria as well as seven divisions in Korea. When combined with Manchukuoan and Inner Mongolian satellite troops, Japanese forces totaled just over 1 million men, of which between 600,000 and 780,000 were from the Kwantung Army in Manchuria. Supporting these forces were 1200 armored vehicles, 1800 aircraft, and 6700 artillery pieces and mortars.8
This Japanese force appears to be quite impressive, however there is another tale to be told of these forces. The majority of the Kwantung Army’s trained soldiers and front line equipment had been dispersed among other units of Japan’s armies, and all that remained were newly created units and obsolete equipment. The best example of the lack of preparation and training of the units of the Kwantung Army is the fact that the most ‘veteran’ of all of its remaining units was formed in the spring of 1944. Thirteen of the Kwantung Army’s 24 divisions in 1945 were formed after June of that year. At least one third of the units that were charged with defending Manchuria from a Soviet invasion were mobilised 10 days before the actual invasion, and the majority of the supposedly 23,000 man strong divisions were actually at about half of that strength.9 The majority of these divisions were under or ill-equipped: the Japanese Type 97 Chi-Ha tank weighed around 15 tons, compared to the 51 ton Soviet IS-2, no divisions were equipped with artillery heavier than 75mm, and all of the tactical fighter planes available were obsolete. The Japanese themselves were aware of the poor performance potential of this army, having rated its 24 divisions able to fight as if they were seven or eight, and the seven divisions in Korea were rated to fight as if they were two.10The Soviet Invasion of Manchuria started on August 9th, 1945 at 0001 hours when the Transbaikal Front, stationed in Mongolia and containing around half of the total Soviet forces, invaded Manchuria from the west in a two-pronged attack. The northern attack drove towards Tsitsihar and Harbin to rendezvous with the Second Far East Front. The main force of the attack was the southern prong, led by the 6th Guards Tank Army, which attacked the cities of Mukden and Changchun, around 450 kilometres from its staging ground. The time allotted for this 450 km charge and for the capture of Mukden and Changchun was 10 days. On the 24th of August, only 15 days after the start of the operation, Port Arthur and Dalian were in the hands of Soviet forces. In those 15 days, Soviet forces had advanced 1100 kilometres and encountered no grave setbacks other than lack of fuel. The advances of the First and Second Far East Fronts encountered stiffer resistance, however they were able to capture their objectives with few casualties. The success of the three Soviet fronts led the Japanese north of the 38th parallel to surrender within a few days of the 25th of August, and forces below the 38th parallel surrendered to American forces on the 8th of September 1945.11
The Soviet high command may have arranged the bulk of its forces against Manchuria, but that wasn’t the only axis of advance. Sakhalin Island was also an area of Soviet buildup and attack. Needless to say, Soviet forces completely outnumbered their Japanese opponents. This superiority in numbers and quality of the men and materiel makes it surprising to learn that on the 14th of August the 179th Regiment of the 79th Division was surrounded by the Japanese. The Sakhalin Campaign ended on the 25th of August. Other than Sakhalin Island, Soviet forces attacked the northern Kurile Islands. The Kurile Islands are the only area of operations between Soviet and Japanese forces where there was a relative parity of forces: both nations had around 8600 men, the Soviets had more artillery guns, but the Japanese had more machine guns. What may be the most surprising fact of the Kurile Islands campaign is that Soviet forces were outnumbered in the number of tanks they had: the Japanese had 60 light tanks whereas the Soviets had none! The Soviets however had over 200 anti-tank guns opposed to none for the Japanese. The final surrender of Kurile Island forces was completed on the 5th of September.12
