In February 1945, a conference was held in Yalta, which was attended by representatives of the countries that were part of the anti-Hitler coalition. Great Britain and the United States managed to get the Soviet Union to agree to take a direct part in the war with Japan. In exchange for this, they promised him to return the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin, lost during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905.
Termination of a peace treaty
At that time, when the decision was made in Yalta, the so-called Neutrality Pact was in effect between Japan and the Soviet Union, which was concluded in 1941 and was supposed to be valid for 5 years. But already in April 1945, the USSR announced that it was breaking the treaty unilaterally. The Russo-Japanese War (1945), the reasons for which was that the Land of the Rising Sun in recent years acted on the side of Germany, and also fought against the allies of the USSR, became almost inevitable.
Such a sudden statement literally plunged the Japanese leadership into complete confusion. And this is understandable, because her situation was very critical - her allies inflicted significant damage in the Pacific Ocean, and industrial centers and cities were subjected to almost continuous bombing. The government of this country was well aware that to achieve victory in such conditions is almost impossible. But still, it still hoped that he would be able to somehow exhaust the American army and achieve more favorable conditions for the surrender of its troops.
The United States, in turn, did not expect the victory to come to them easily. An example of this is the battle unfolding over the island of Okinawa. About 77 thousand people fought here from Japan, and about 470 thousand soldiers from the United States. In the end, the island was taken by the Americans, but their losses were simply astounding - almost 50 thousand killed. According to the US Secretary of Defense, if the Russo-Japanese War of 1945 had not begun, which will be briefly described in this article, the losses would have been much more serious and could have amounted to 1 million soldiers killed and wounded.
War Announcement
On August 8, in Moscow, the document was handed to the Japanese ambassador to the USSR at exactly 5 p.m. It said that the Russo-Japanese War (1945) was beginning almost the very next day. But since there is a significant time difference between the Far East and Moscow, it turned out that only 1 hour was left before the onset of the Soviet Army.
In the USSR, a plan was developed consisting of three military operations: the Kuril, Manchurian and South Sakhalin. All of them were very important. But still, the Manchu operation was the most large-scale and significant.
Forces of the parties
On the territory of Manchuria, the Soviet Union was opposed by the Kwantung Army, commanded by General Otzo Jamada. It consisted of about 1 million people, more than 1 thousand tanks, about 6 thousand guns and 1.6 thousand aircraft.
At the time when the Russo-Japanese War of 1945 began, the forces of the USSR had a significant numerical superiority in manpower: only the soldiers numbered one and a half times more. As for technology, the number of mortars and artillery exceeded the enemy’s similar forces by 10 times. Our army had 5 and 3 times more tanks and aircraft, respectively, than the corresponding weapons of the Japanese. It should be noted that the superiority of the USSR over Japan in military equipment consisted not only in its strength. The equipment at the disposal of Russia was modern and more powerful than that of its adversary.
Enemy fortified areas
All participants in the Russo-Japanese War of 1945 were well aware that sooner or later, but it was supposed to begin. That is why the Japanese created a significant number of well-fortified sites in advance. For example, you can take at least the Hailar region, where the left flank of the Transbaikal Front of the Soviet Army was located. Barrage facilities on this site have been built for more than 10 years. By the time the Russo-Japanese War began (1945, August), there were already 116 bunkers that were connected by underground tunnels made of concrete, a well-developed system of trenches and a significant number of fortifications. This area was covered by Japanese soldiers, the number of which exceeded the divisional.
In order to suppress the resistance of the Hailar fortified area of the Soviet Army, it took several days. In war conditions this is a short time, but during the same time, the rest of the Transbaikal Front advanced approximately 150 km. Given the scale of the Russo-Japanese War (1945), the obstacle in the form of this fortified area turned out to be quite serious. Even when his garrison surrendered, Japanese warriors continued to fight fanatical courage.
In the reports of Soviet military leaders very often you can see references to soldiers of the Kwantung Army. The documents said that the Japanese military deliberately chained themselves to the machine gun frame, so as not to have the slightest opportunity to retreat.
Workaround
The Russo-Japanese War of 1945 and the actions of the Soviet Army from the very beginning were very successful. I would like to note one outstanding operation, which consisted of a 350-kilometer throw of the 6th Panzer Army through the Khingan Range and the Gobi Desert. If you glance at the mountains, then they seem an insurmountable obstacle to the passage of technology. The passes that Soviet tanks had to go through were located at an altitude of about 2 thousand meters above sea level, and the slopes sometimes reached a steepness of 50⁰. That is why cars often had to ride in a zigzag.
In addition, the advancement of technology was also complicated by frequent torrential rains, accompanied by floods of rivers and impassable mud. But, despite this, the tanks nevertheless moved forward, and already on August 11 they overcame the mountains and reached the Central Manchurian Plain, in the rear of the Kwantung Army. After such a large-scale transition, Soviet troops began to experience an acute shortage of fuel, so they had to arrange for its additional delivery by air. With the help of transport aircraft, about 900 tons of tank fuel were transported. As a result of this operation, more than 200 thousand Japanese soldiers were captured, as well as a huge amount of equipment, weapons and ammunition.
Defenders of Sharp Altitude
The Japanese war of 1945 continued. On the site of the 1st Far Eastern Front, Soviet troops encountered unprecedentedly fierce resistance from the enemy. The Japanese were well established at the heights of Camel and Ostry, which were among the fortifications of the Hotous fortified area. It must be said that the approaches to these heights were cut by many small rivers and were very boggy. In addition, on their slopes were wire fences and dug up eskarp. Japanese soldiers fired out firing points directly in the rocky granite rock, and the concrete caps protecting the bunkers reached a thickness of one and a half meters.
During the fighting, the Soviet command suggested that the defenders of Ostroy surrender. As a parliamentarian, a man from among the local residents was sent to the Japanese, but they acted extremely cruelly - the commander of the fortified area cut off his head. However, this act was not surprising. From the moment the Russo-Japanese War (1945) began, the enemy basically did not go to any negotiations. When the Soviet troops finally entered the fortification, they found only dead soldiers. It is worth noting that the defenders of heights were not only men, but also women who were armed with daggers and grenades.
Features of military operations
The Russo-Japanese War of 1945 had its own specific features. For example, in battles for the city of Mudanjiang, the enemy used kamikaze saboteurs against parts of the Soviet Army. These suicide bombers tied themselves with grenades and rushed under tanks or soldiers. There was also a case when, in one section of the front, about two hundred “live mines” lay on the ground next to each other. But such suicidal actions did not last long. Soon, Soviet soldiers became more vigilant and managed to destroy the saboteur before he came close and exploded next to equipment or people.
Surrender
The Russian-Japanese war of 1945 ended on August 15, when the country's emperor Hirohito turned on the radio to his people. He stated that the country decided to accept the terms of the Potsdam Conference and surrender. At the same time, the emperor called on his nation to observe patience and to combine all forces to build a new future for the country.
3 days after Hirohito’s appeal on the radio, the command of the Kwantung Army called for his soldiers. It stated that further resistance is pointless and that there is already a decision on surrender. Since many Japanese units had no connection with the main headquarters, their warning continued for several more days. But there were also cases when fanatical servicemen did not want to obey orders and lay down their arms. Therefore, their war continued until they died.
Effects
It must be said that the Russo-Japanese War of 1945 had truly enormous not only military, but also political significance. The Soviet Army was able to completely defeat the strongest Kwantung army and end the Second World War. By the way, its official end is September 2, when in the Gulf of Tokyo directly on board the battleship Missouri, owned by the US armed forces , the act of surrender of Japan was finally signed.
As a result, the Soviet Union regained the territories that were lost back in 1905 - a group of islands and part of the South Kuril Islands. Also, according to the peace treaty signed in San Francisco, Japan refused any claims to Sakhalin.