15 August in the war with Japan. Participation of the USSR in the war with Japan: meaning and consequences. The situation in the Far East during the Second World War

Without detracting from the merits of the American, British and other allied armies, but guided by the principle of objectivity, we note that, as in the European theater of World War II, the main burden of victory over militaristic Japan fell on the shoulders of the Soviet soldier. The louder the glory of our heroic ancestors who managed to do this in an unthinkably short time!

Recall that by the time the Great Patriotic War ended, there was a military grouping of about 1.2 million people in the Far East of the USSR. But in order not to defend, but to carry out an offensive operation against the Japanese army in Manchuria and Korea, this was not enough, therefore, in three months, by the beginning of August 1945, more than four hundred thousand soldiers and officers of the Soviet Union were hastily transported here from Europe. army, as well as a huge amount of military equipment. In total, by the beginning of hostilities against the Japanese troops, the Soviet army concentrated on the border: more than 1,745 thousand people, 30 thousand guns and mortars, 5,250 tanks and self-propelled guns, over 5 thousand aircraft, 93 warships of the main classes (including submarines ) Aleksandrov A.A. Great victory in the Far East. August 1945: from Transbaikalia to Korea. M., 2004. S. 8 .. All this mass of people and equipment was reduced to three fronts - the Trans-Baikal, the 1st and 2nd Far Eastern, the Pacific Fleet and the Amur military flotilla. In operational subordination they had border troops. The troops of the Mongolian People's Republic also took part in the offensive operation.

The Soviet army group was led by famous generals. Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. was appointed commander-in-chief of the Far Eastern troops. Vasilevsky, chief of staff - Colonel General S.P. Ivanov, a member of the Military Council - Lieutenant General I.V. Shishkin. The Trans-Baikal Front was commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union R.Ya. Malinovsky, 1st Far Eastern Front - Marshal of the Soviet Union K.A. Meretskov [SLIDE 17], 2nd Far Eastern Front - General of the Army M.A. Purkaev, aviation group - Air Chief Marshal A.A. Novikov, the Pacific Fleet and the Amur Military Flotilla - Admiral of the Fleet N.G. Kuznetsov, Marshal Kh. Choibalsan led the Mongolian troops.

The Soviet troops had to conduct combat operations in difficult natural and climatic conditions over a vast area. Only the territory of Manchuria was equal in size to Germany, Italy and Japan combined. It was necessary to force the large and wayward rivers - Argun, Amur, Ussuri and Songhua, behind which the Japanese built powerful defensive fortified areas. On the way of our troops there were several high and extended mountain ranges of the Greater and Lesser Khingan, open steppe regions and the Gobi desert, and somewhere, on the contrary, impenetrable taiga. Sea approaches were also difficult. One Kuril ridge (more than 30 large islands) stretched for 1,200 km, and many of the islands were turned into fortresses by the Japanese. In general, the entire theater of operations was difficult and varied.

The Soviet army was opposed by the Japanese troops of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria, the Korean Front, the island front in South Sakhalin and the Kuriles, individual military and gendarmerie units (up to 1.2 million people in total), as well as the armies of the puppet states of Manchukuo (about 180 thousand people) and Mengjiang (created by the Japanese in 1936 in Inner Mongolia) - about 60 thousand people. This entire group, under the command of General Otsuzo Yamada, was armed with: 1,215 tanks, 6,640 guns and mortars, over 1,900 aircraft and 26 warships. The defensive lines consisted of 17 fortified regions, with a total length of about 800 km, each of which had three echeloned lines of fortifications. The Japanese command attached great importance to suicide bombers. The ratio of the military forces of the parties approximately corresponded to the classical proportions for defensive and offensive battles. The Soviet army concentrated at the borders outnumbered the enemy: in manpower - 1.2 times, in artillery - 4.8 times, in tanks - 4.8 times, in aircraft 1.9 times, in warships - 3 times. ,6 times See: Aleksandrov A.A. Great victory in the Far East. August 1945: from Transbaikalia to Korea. M., 2004. S. 8-18; History of the Second World War / Grouping of Japanese troops near the Soviet borders, strengthening of Manchuria. [Electronic resource]. Access mode: http://www.protown.ru/information/hide/5451.html(accessed 10.09.2015). (See table 3).

Table 3. The ratio of forces of the belligerents to the beginning

Soviet-Japanese War of 1945

The strategic plan of the Soviet command had one main goal - to prevent the enemy from conducting successful defensive battles and gradually retreating into the depths of China, prolonging the war and stretching Soviet communications. The general plan of action provided for the rapid envelopment of the Kwantung grouping in pincers, its complete encirclement and defeat. The island territories were supposed to be taken by landing operations from the sea.

Just before the start of the Soviet military operation, the new American leadership, headed by President Harry Truman, carried out one of the most barbaric deeds of the Second World War. On August 6 and 9, 1945, atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which did not have military installations and concentrations of troops, which killed more than 160 thousand people directly in those days. (taking into account those who died later - more than 200 thousand people). On the one hand, the Americans sought in this way to force Japan to capitulate as soon as possible, on the other hand, to make it clear to the USSR that in the future post-war world the leadership would be for the United States. However, these bombings did not have the desired result for the Americans either on the Soviet leadership or on the Japanese, who continued the rhetoric of the war to a victorious end and did not take into account human losses. It became completely clear that without the intervention of the USSR, it would not be possible to end the war quickly.

On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic officially declared war on Japan, and at dawn on August 9, Soviet troops were ordered to cross the border. Overcoming the stubborn resistance of the enemy, the Soviet army carried out a number of successful operations to encircle and defeat it. During the Manchurian strategic operation, the troops of the Trans-Baikal Front, together with the Mongolian troops, advancing from Dauria and Outer Mongolia, crossed the Gobi Desert and the Khingan Ranges and by August 20 united in the Mukden area with the troops of the 1st Far Eastern Front, advancing from Primorye in the south western Manchuria and North Korea, cutting off the Kwantung Army from the rest of China. The troops of the 2nd Far Eastern Front, having crossed the Amur and Ussuri in the regions of Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk, advanced towards them through the Khingan Mountains and Harbin. Parts of the same front, together with the Pacific Fleet, carried out two more successful offensives - the Yuzhno-Sakhalin offensive and the Kuril landing operations, having captured the islands by September 1.

Guided by the developed plan, the Soviet troops, breaking through the Japanese defenses, left the most fortified sectors in their rear or bypassed some large cities, trying to connect the “pincers” of the fronts into a ring as soon as possible and close the Kwantung Army into a cauldron. The fate of these enemy groupings left in the rear was dealt with by the Soviet units, which followed the forward formations, and large landing forces were often dropped into the cities left in the rear (among them, for example, such large ones as Harbin, Fengtian, Dairen, etc.). One of them captured the frightened emperor of Manchukuo (aka the last Chinese emperor of the Qing dynasty) Pu Yi in Mukden. it's the Americans. The Chinese and Korean population liberated from the brutal Japanese occupation greeted the Soviet soldiers-liberators with sincere delight and gratitude.

Seeing the futility of further resistance, the Japanese emperor signed a decree on surrender on August 14, but it was brought to the Japanese troops fighting the Soviet army only on August 19, and even then not everywhere. For this reason, some fanatical Japanese units continued fighting in Manchuria until September 10, and in Sakhalin and the Kuriles until September 5. But the overwhelming majority of Japanese soldiers and officers from August 20 began to surrender en masse. Simultaneously with the Soviet troops, a number of military operations against the Japanese militarists in China and South Korea were carried out by the allied American-British army. The last chord of World War II was the signing ceremony on September 2, 1945, by representatives of the Japanese Empire of the Act of its unconditional surrender on board the American battleship Missouri, which was on a raid in Tokyo Bay. Together with representatives of the eight allied powers, the USSR signed its signature in the Acceptance Act capitulation was put by Lieutenant General K.N. Derevianko.

So the war is over. The Soviet side, in the course of fierce two-week battles, paid with the lives of 12 thousand of its soldiers and officers in order to put a victorious point in the most terrible war. The troops of Japan and its allies lost about 84 thousand people killed. and another 640 thousand people. were taken prisoner.

As a result of the war, the Soviet Union, implementing the Yalta and Soviet-Chinese agreements, returned the territories of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to its composition. The latter were ceded by Russia to Japan under the treaties of 1855 and 1875. on the settlement of the border in exchange for the southern part of Sakhalin. But at the conclusion of the Portsmouth Peace in 1905 following the Russo-Japanese War, in order to justify the capture of South Sakhalin, Japan renounced all previously concluded agreements with Russia. Therefore, the issue of returning the Kuril ridge to the USSR did not contradict the legal norms of international law.

The Soviet Union also received from China the right to lease the naval base of Port Arthur (it was carried out until 1954). The Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria, built with Russian money at the beginning of the 20th century, began to be used by the USSR jointly with China until the end of 1952. The Soviet Union acquired priority political and economic influence in Northeast China and North Korea for a long time. In addition, the USSR, as a country that won the Second World War, greatly strengthened its position in the world and began to enjoy enormous prestige, which in the near future influenced the formation of a socialist camp not only from European, but also from Asian countries.

In 1946 - 1948 in Tokyo and in 1949 in Khabarovsk, international criminal trials were held against Japanese war criminals guilty of genocide and experiments on people in the creation of bacteriological weapons, severely punishing the perpetrators.

Soviet participation in the war with militarist Japan was of great military and political importance.

Firstly, the defeat in such a short time of the largest Japanese land group - the Kwantung Army, finally pushed the Japanese government to surrender, and saved the lives of millions of people.

Secondly, the largest source of half a century of conflicts in Asia and a direct threat to Soviet security in the Far East, aggressive militaristic Japan, which later became demilitarized Japan, was eliminated.

Thirdly, the peoples of China and Korea were liberated from the cruelest colonial oppression and genocide. The collapse of the Japanese Empire opened the way for many peoples of Asia to freedom and national self-determination.

Thus, the Soviet people and their army made every effort to end the Second World War, which claimed the lives of more than 70 million people. In the great sacrifice of the Soviet people for the liberation of their country and the whole world from the supposed nightmarish future lies the main world-historical significance of the two interconnected great victories of the Second World War - May 9 and September 2, 1945, which people have no right to forget.

Brief materials on the lecture

1. Basic terms and concepts:

World War II, "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis", militaristic Japan, Manchukuo, Mengjiang, Kwantung Army, Far Eastern Front, neutrality pact, act of unconditional surrender, Yalta Conference, Manchurian strategic operation, denunciation, occupation, genocide.

2. Personalities:

I.V. Stalin, F. Roosevelt, G. Truman, V.K. Blucher, G.K. Zhukov, A.M. Vasilevsky, R.Ya. Malinovsky, K.A. Meretskov, M.A. Purkaev, A.A. Novikov, N.G. Kuznetsov, H. Choibalsan, K.N. Derevianko, Otsuzo Yamado, Pu Yi, Chiang Kai-shek.

3. Important dates:
1931 - 1932 - The occupation of Manchuria by the Japanese army and the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo.
July 7, 1937 – September 2, 1945 – Sino-Japanese War

July - August 1938 - the first formation of the Far Eastern Front of the Red Army.

July 29 - August 11, 1938 - Soviet-Japanese border conflict near Lake Khasan
May 11 - September 16, 1939 - military operations of the Soviet-Mongolian troops against the Japanese-Manchurian aggressors near the Khalkhin Gol River.

July 1940 - the second formation of the Far Eastern Front of the Red Army.

September 27, 1940 - Conclusion of the Berlin Pact, creation of the "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis"
April 13, 1941 - the conclusion of the Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact.

September 1941 - formation of the Trans-Baikal Front of the Red Army.

December 7, 1941 - US entry into the war with Japan.
February 4 - 11, 1945 - Yalta (Crimean) conference.
April 5, 1945 - denunciation by the USSR government of the Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact.
August 6 and 9, 1945 - atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively.
August 8, 1945 - The USSR and the MPR declare war on Japan.
August 9, 1945 - September 1, 1945 - the fighting of the Soviet troops against the Japanese army.
August 14, 1945 - the conclusion of the Soviet-Chinese treaty of friendship and alliance.
September 2, 1945 - Signing of the act of unconditional surrender by Japan, the end of World War II.

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

URAL STATE UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMY

SUMMARY ON THE TOPIC:

Soviet-Japanese war: causes, stages, results

Completed by: 1st year student of TVET-11

Tuktagulov Ilya

Head: Kruzhkova Tatyana Ivanovna

Yekaterinburg. year 2012

Preparing for war

The threat of war between the USSR and Japan has existed since the second half of the 1930s. In 1938, there were clashes on Lake Khasan, in 1939 there was a battle at Khalin Gol on the border of Mongolia and Manchukuo. In 1940, the Soviet Far Eastern Front was created, which indicated a real threat of the outbreak of war.

But the aggravation of the situation on the western borders forced the USSR to seek a compromise in relations with Japan. The latter, in turn, sought to strengthen its borders with the USSR. The result of the coincidence of interests of the two countries is the non-aggression pact signed on April 13, 1941, according to Article 2 of which: "If one of the parties to the agreement becomes the object of hostilities with one or more third countries, the other side will remain neutral throughout conflict."

In 1941, the countries of the Nazi coalition, except for Japan, declared war on the USSR, and in the same year Japan attacked the United States, initiating the war in the Pacific.

In February 1945, at the Yalta Conference, Stalin pledged to the Allies to declare war on Japan 2-3 months after the end of hostilities in Europe. At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, the Allies issued a general declaration demanding Japan's unconditional surrender. In the same year, in the summer, Japan tried to conduct separate negotiations with the USSR, but to no avail.

On August 8, 1945, the USSR unilaterally withdrew from the Soviet-Japanese non-aggression pact and declared war on the Empire of Japan.

The course of the war

The commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops during the invasion of Manchuria was Marshal of the Soviet Union O.M. Vasilevsky. There were 3 fronts: Trans-Baikal, First Far Eastern and Second Far Eastern Fronts (commanders R.Ya. Malinovsky, K.P. Meretskov and M.O. Purkaev), with a total number of 1.5 million people. They were opposed by the Kwantung Army under the command of General Yamada Otozo.

As stated in the "History of the Great Patriotic War": "In the units and formations of the Kwantung Army, there were absolutely no machine guns, anti-tank rifles, rocket artillery, small and large-caliber artillery (in infantry divisions and brigades as part of artillery regiments and divisions, in most cases there were 75-mm guns)".

Despite the efforts of the Japanese to concentrate as many troops as possible on the islands of the empire itself, as well as in China south of Manchuria, the Japanese command also paid attention to the Manchurian direction.

That is why the nine infantry divisions that remained in Manchuria at the end of 1944, the Japanese deployed an additional 24 divisions and 10 brigades until August 1945.

True, the Japanese were able to use only untrained young conscripts to organize new divisions and brigades, who made up more than half of the personnel of the Kwantung Army. Also, in the newly created Japanese divisions and brigades in Manchuria, in addition to the small number of combat personnel, artillery was often absent.

The most significant forces of the Kwantung Army - up to ten divisions - were deployed in the east of Manchuria, which bordered on the Soviet Primorye, where the first Far Eastern Front was stationed as part of 31 infantry divisions, a cavalry division, a mechanized corps and 11 tank brigades.

In the north of Manchuria, the Japanese concentrated one infantry division and two brigades - while they were opposed by the 2nd Far Eastern Front, consisting of 11 infantry divisions, 4 infantry and 9 tank brigades.

In the west of Manchuria, the Japanese deployed 6 infantry divisions and one brigade against 33 Soviet divisions, including two tank, two mechanized corps, a tank corps and six tank brigades.

In central and southern Manchuria, the Japanese had several more divisions and brigades, as well as two tank brigades and all combat aviation.

It should be noted that the tanks and aircraft of the Japanese army in 1945, according to the criteria of that time, they were obsolete. They roughly corresponded to the Soviet tanks and aircraft of 1939. This also applies to Japanese anti-tank guns, which had a caliber of 37 and 47 mm - that is, capable of fighting only light Soviet tanks.

Considering the experience of the war with the Germans, the fortified areas of the Japanese were bypassed by mobile units and blocked by infantry.

The 6th Guards Tank Army of General Kravchenko was advancing from Mongolia to the center of Manchuria. On August 11, the army’s equipment stopped due to lack of fuel, but the experience of German tank units was used - the delivery of fuel to tanks by transport aircraft. As a result, until August 17, the 6th Guards Tank Army advanced several hundred kilometers - and about one hundred and fifty kilometers remained to the capital of Manchuria, the city of Chanchun.

The First Far Eastern Front at that time broke the Japanese defenses in the east of Manchuria, occupying the largest city in this region - Mudanjian.

In a number of areas, Soviet troops had to overcome the stubborn resistance of the enemy. In the zone of the 5th Army, the Japanese defenses in the Mudanjiang area held out with particular ferocity. There were cases of stubborn resistance by Japanese troops in the lines of the Trans-Baikal and 2nd Far Eastern fronts. The Japanese army also launched numerous counterattacks.

On August 17, 1945, in Mukden, Soviet troops captured Emperor Pu I of Manchukuo (the last emperor of China)

On August 14, the Japanese command requested a truce. But military operations on the Japanese side did not stop. Only three days later, the Kwantung Army received an order from the command to surrender, which came into force on August 20.

On August 18, a landing was launched on the northernmost of the Kuril Islands. On the same day, the commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East ordered the occupation of the Japanese island of Hokkaido by the forces of two infantry divisions. This landing was not carried out due to the delay in the advance of Soviet troops on South Sakhalin, and then postponed until the orders of the Headquarters.

Soviet troops occupied the southern part of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Manchuria and part of Korea, capturing Seoul. The main fighting on the continent continued for another 12 days, until 20 August. But separate battles continued until September 10, which became the day of the complete surrender of the Kwantung Army. The fighting on the islands ended completely on 1 September.

Japan's surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. From the Soviet Union, the act was signed by Lieutenant General K.M. Derevianko

Timeline of the conflict

soviet japanese war manchurian

April 13, 1941 - a neutrality pact was concluded between the USSR and Japan, in the declaration to which the USSR "de jure" recognized Manchukuo. The pact was accompanied by an agreement on minor economic concessions from Japan, which she ignored. [Source not specified 687 days]

December 1, 1943 -- Tehran conference. The Allies are charting the contours of the post-war structure of the Asia-Pacific region.

February 1945 -- Yalta conference. The Allies agree on the post-war structure of the world, including the Asia-Pacific region. The USSR assumes an unofficial obligation to enter the war with Japan no later than 3 months after the defeat of Germany.

June 1945 - Japan begins preparations to repulse the landing on the Japanese islands.

July 12, 1945 - The Japanese ambassador in Moscow addresses the USSR with a request for mediation in peace negotiations. On July 13 he was informed that an answer could not be given in connection with the departure of Stalin and Molotov to Potsdam.

July 26, 1945 - At the Potsdam Conference, the United States formally formulates the terms of Japan's surrender. Japan refuses to accept them.

August 8 - The USSR announced to the Japanese ambassador that it had joined the Potsdam Declaration and declared war on Japan.

August 10, 1945 - Japan officially declares its readiness to accept the Potsdam terms of surrender with a reservation regarding the preservation of the structure of imperial power in the country.

August 14 -- Japan formally accepts the terms of unconditional surrender and informs the Allies.

The results of the war

The Soviet-Japanese War was of great political and military importance. Thus, on August 9, at an emergency meeting of the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War, Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki declared: The entry of the Soviet Union into the war this morning puts us completely in a hopeless situation and makes it impossible to continue the war. The Soviet Army defeated the strong Kwantung Army of Japan. The Soviet Union, having entered the war with the Empire of Japan and made a significant contribution to its defeat, hastened the end of World War II.

American leaders and historians have repeatedly stated that without the entry of the USSR into the war, it would have continued for at least another year and would have cost an additional several million human lives.

As a result of the war, the USSR actually returned to its composition the territories lost by the Russian Empire in 1905 as a result of the Treaty of Portsmouth, as well as the main group of the Kuril Islands previously ceded to Japan in 1875 and the southern part of the Kuriles assigned to Japan by the Shimoda Treaty of 1855. The last territorial loss by Japan has not yet been recognized. Under the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan renounced any claims to Sakhalin and the Kuriles. But the treaty did not determine the ownership of the islands and the USSR did not sign it. However, in 1956, the Moscow Declaration was signed, which ended the state of war and established diplomatic and consular relations between the USSR and Japan.

Japan is involved in a territorial dispute with the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China over ownership of the Senkaku Islands, despite the existence of peace treaties between the countries. In addition, despite the existence of the Basic Treaty on Relations between Japan and Korea, Japan and the Republic of Korea are also involved in a territorial dispute over the ownership of the Liancourt Islands.

According to Japanese data, up to two million Japanese servicemen and civilians were deported to work in the USSR. As a result of hard work, frost and disease, according to Japanese data, 374,041 people died. According to Soviet data, the number of prisoners of war was 640,276 people. Immediately after the end of hostilities, 65,176 wounded and sick were released. Died in captivity 62,069 prisoners of war, of which 22,331 before entering the territory of the USSR. An average of 100,000 people were repatriated annually. By the beginning of 1950, there were about 3,000 people convicted of criminal and war crimes (of which 971 were transferred to China for crimes committed against the Chinese people), who, in accordance with the Soviet-Japanese Declaration of 1956, were released early and repatriated to their homeland.

The victory of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Far East in September 1945 came at the cost of the lives of many thousands of Soviet servicemen. The total losses of the Soviet troops, taking into account the sanitary ones, amounted to 36,456 people. The formations of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army lost 197 people, of which 72 people were irretrievably lost.

Medal "For the victory over Japan"

The medal "For the Victory over Japan" was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on September 30, 1945.

In accordance with the regulations, the medal was awarded to:

"All military personnel and civilian personnel of units and formations of the Red Army, the Navy and the NKVD troops, who took a direct part in the hostilities against the Japanese imperialists in the period from August 9 to 23, 1945 as part of the 1st Far Eastern and Trans-Baikal fronts, the Pacific Fleet and the Amur River Flotilla;

military personnel of the central departments of the NPO, the NKVMF and the NKVD who took part in supporting the combat operations of the Soviet troops in the Far East (according to personal lists approved by the heads of the main departments of the NPO of the USSR, the NKVMF and the NKVD).

Persons awarded the medal "For the Victory over Japan" were subsequently awarded commemorative medals "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945", "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945." and "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945".

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Tough decision

The decision that the USSR would go to war with Japan was made at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. In exchange for participation in hostilities, the USSR was to receive South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, which after 1905 belonged to Japan. In order to better organize the transfer of troops to the areas of concentration and further to the areas of deployment, the headquarters of the Trans-Baikal Front sent special groups of officers to Irkutsk and to the Karymskaya station in advance. 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.

Our advantages

The grouping of Red Army troops at the time of the start of the offensive had a serious numerical superiority over the enemy: in terms of the number of fighters alone, it reached 1.6 times. 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. 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 Japan. The experience gained by our troops during the war with fascist Germany also gave an advantage.

heroic operation

The operation of the Soviet troops to overcome the Gobi Desert and the Khingan Range can be called outstanding and unique. The 350-kilometer throw of the 6th Guards Tank Army is still a demonstration operation. High mountain passes with slopes up to 50 degrees seriously complicated the movement. The technique moved in a traverse, that is, in zigzags. The weather conditions also left much to be desired: heavy rains made the soil impassable with mud, and mountain rivers overflowed their banks. 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 outstanding offensive, the Red Army managed to capture only about 200,000 Japanese prisoners. In addition, a lot of equipment and weapons were captured.

No negotiations!

The 1st Far Eastern Front of the Red Army faced fierce resistance from the Japanese, who fortified on the heights of "Acute" and "Camel", which were part of the Khotous fortified area. The approaches to these heights were swampy, indented by a large number of small streams. Scarps were excavated on the slopes and wire fences were installed. The Japanese cut down firing points in a granite rock massif. Concrete caps of pillboxes had a thickness of about one and a half meters. The defenders of the height "Acute" rejected all calls for surrender, the Japanese were famous for the fact that they did not go to any negotiations. A peasant who wished to become a truce was publicly cut off his head. When the Soviet troops nevertheless took the height, they found all its defenders dead: men and women.

Kamikaze

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. However, the suicide attacks were only initially successful. In the future, the Red Army increased their vigilance and, as a rule, managed to shoot the saboteur before he had time to approach and explode, causing damage to equipment or manpower.

Surrender

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 to unite all forces to build a new future. Three days later - on August 18, 1945 - at 13 o'clock local time, an appeal was made by the Kwantung Army command to the troops, which said that due to the senselessness of further resistance decided 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.

Results

As a result of the war, the USSR actually returned to its territory the territories lost by the Russian Empire in 1905 as a result of the Treaty of Portsmouth.
Japan's loss of the South Kuriles has not yet been recognized by Japan. According to the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan renounced the rights to Sakhalin (Karafuto) and the main group of the Kuriles, but did not recognize them as having passed to the USSR. Surprisingly, this treaty was not yet signed by the USSR, which, thus, was legally at war with Japan until the end of its existence. At present, these territorial problems prevent the conclusion of a peace treaty between Japan and Russia as the successor to the USSR.

The Russo-Japanese War arose from the ambition to carry out the expansion of Manchuria and Korea. The parties were preparing for war, realizing that sooner or later they would go to battles in order to resolve the “Far Eastern issue” between the countries.

Causes of the war

The main reason for the war was the clash of the colonial interests of Japan, which dominated the region, and Russia, which claimed to be a world power.

After the "Meiji Revolution" in the Empire of the Rising Sun, Westernization proceeded at an accelerated pace, and at the same time, Japan increasingly grew territorially and politically in its region. Having won the war with China in 1894-1895, Japan received part of Manchuria and Taiwan, and also tried to turn economically backward Korea into its colony.

In Russia, in 1894, Nicholas II ascended the throne, whose authority among the people after Khodynka was not at its best. He needed a "small victorious war" to win back the love of the people. There were no states in Europe where he could easily win, and Japan, with its ambitions, was ideally suited for this role.

The Liaodong Peninsula was leased from China, a naval base was built in Port Arthur, and a railway line was built to the city. Attempts through negotiations to delimit spheres of influence with Japan did not produce results. It was clear that it was going to war.

Plans and tasks of the parties

At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia had a powerful land army, but its main forces were stationed west of the Urals. Directly in the proposed theater of operations was a small Pacific Fleet and about 100,000 soldiers.

The Japanese fleet was built with the help of the British, and training was also carried out under the guidance of European specialists. The Japanese army was about 375,000 fighters.

The Russian troops developed a plan for a defensive war before the imminent transfer of additional military units from the European part of Russia. After creating a numerical superiority, the army had to go on the offensive. Admiral E. I. Alekseev was appointed commander-in-chief. The commander of the Manchurian army, General A.N. Kuropatkin, and vice-admiral S.O. Makarov, who assumed the post in February 1904, were subordinate to him.

The Japanese headquarters hoped to use the advantage in manpower to eliminate the Russian naval base in Port Arthur and transfer military operations to Russian territory.

The course of the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905.

Hostilities began on January 27, 1904. The Japanese squadron attacked the Russian Pacific Fleet, which was stationed without much protection on the Port Arthur roadstead.

On the same day, the cruiser Varyag and the gunboat Koreets were attacked in the port of Chemulpo. The ships refused to surrender and took up battle against 14 Japanese ships. The enemy paid tribute to the heroes who accomplished the feat and refused to give up their ship to the delight of the enemies.

Rice. 1. The death of the cruiser Varyag.

The attack on Russian ships stirred up the broad masses of the people, in which even before that “hat-captive” moods were formed. Processions were held in many cities, even the opposition ceased its activities for the duration of the war.

In February-March 1904, the army of General Kuroka landed in Korea. The Russian army met her in Manchuria with the task of delaying the enemy without accepting a pitched battle. However, on April 18, in the battle of Tyurechen, the eastern part of the army was defeated and there was a threat of encirclement of the Russian army by the Japanese. Meanwhile, the Japanese, having an advantage at sea, carried out the transfer of military forces to the mainland and besieged Port Arthur.

Rice. 2. Poster The enemy is terrible, but God is merciful.

The first Pacific squadron, blockaded in Port Arthur, took the battle three times, but Admiral Togo did not accept the pitched battle. He was probably afraid of Vice Admiral Makarov, who was the first to use the new tactics of waging a naval battle "stick over T".

A great tragedy for Russian sailors was the death of Vice Admiral Makarov. His ship hit a mine. After the death of the commander, the First Pacific Squadron ceased to conduct active operations at sea.

Soon the Japanese managed to pull large artillery under the city and bring up fresh forces in the amount of 50,000 people. The last hope was the Manchurian army, which could lift the siege. In August 1904, she was defeated at the battle of Liaoyang, and it looked quite real. The Kuban Cossacks posed a great threat to the Japanese army. Their constant attacks and fearless participation in battles harmed communications and manpower.

The Japanese command began to talk about the impossibility to continue the war. If the Russian army went on the offensive, it would have happened, but Commander Kropotkin gave an absolutely stupid order to retreat. The Russian army had many chances to develop the offensive and win the general battle, but Kropotkin retreated every time, giving the enemy time to regroup.

In December 1904, the commander of the fortress, R. I. Kondratenko, died and, contrary to the opinion of soldiers and officers, Port Arthur was surrendered.

In the company of 1905, the Japanese outstripped the Russian offensive, inflicting a defeat on them at Mukden. Public sentiment began to express dissatisfaction with the war, unrest began.

Rice. 3. Battle of Mukden.

In May 1905, the Second and Third Pacific Squadrons formed in St. Petersburg entered the waters of Japan. During the Battle of Tsushima, both squadrons were destroyed. The Japanese used new types of shells filled with "shimosa", melting the side of the ship, and not piercing it.

After this battle, the participants in the war decided to sit down at the negotiating table.

Summing up, we will summarize in the table “Events and dates of the Russo-Japanese War”, noting which battles took place in the Russo-Japanese War.

The last defeats of the Russian troops had grave consequences, resulting in the First Russian Revolution. It is not in the chronological table, but it was this factor that provoked the signing of peace against Japan, exhausted by the war.

Results

During the war years in Russia, a huge amount of money was stolen. Embezzlement in the Far East flourished, which created problems with the supply of the army. In the American city of Portsmouth, through the mediation of US President T. Roosevelt, a peace treaty was signed, according to which Russia transferred southern Sakhalin and Port Arthur to Japan. Russia also recognized Japan's dominance in Korea.

The defeat of Russia in the war was of great importance for the future political system in Russia, where the power of the emperor would be limited for the first time in several hundred years.

What have we learned?

Speaking briefly about the Russo-Japanese War, it should be noted that if Nicholas II had recognized Korea for the Japanese, there would have been no war. However, the race for colonies gave rise to a clash between the two countries, although back in the 19th century, the attitude towards the Russians among the Japanese was generally more positive than towards many other Europeans.

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