| Soviet–Japanese border conflicts | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theinterwar period (until 1939) andWorld War II | |||||||
 Japanese light tanks during theBattles of Khalkhin Gol | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Soviet Union Mongolia | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Joseph StalinGeorgy ZhukovGrigory ShternNikolai BerzarinYakov SmushkevichVasily Blyukher  Khorloogiin ChoibalsanBataar Enkhjargal †Jaija Bataar † |  Kenkichi UedaYoshijirō UmezuRensuke IsogaiMichitaro KomatsubaraKōtoku SatōMasaomi YasuokaKamezō Suetaka [ja]Mihara Kanae Urzhin Garmaev | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
 | |||||||
TheSoviet–Japanese border conflicts[8] were a series of minor and major conflicts fought between theSoviet Union (led byJoseph Stalin),Mongolia (led byKhorloogiin Choibalsan) andJapan (led byHirohito) inNortheast Asia from 1932 to 1939.
TheJapanese expansion inNortheast China created a common border between Japanese-occupied Manchuria and theSoviet Far East. This led to growing tensions with the Soviet Union, with both sides often engaging in border violations and accusing the other of doing so. The Soviets and Japanese, including their respectiveclient states ofMongolia andManchukuo, fought in a series of escalating small border skirmishes andpunitive expeditions from 1935 until Soviet-Mongolian victory over the Japanese in the 1939Battles of Khalkhin Gol, which resolved the dispute and returned the borders tostatus quo ante bellum.
The Soviet–Japanese border conflicts heavily contributed to the signing of theSoviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in 1941.
In the aftermath of theFirst Sino-Japanese War and theEight Power Intervention against theBoxer Rebellion in China, theQing hold overManchuria andKorea had weakened significantly, leading to both the Russian and Japanese Empires vying for control over the territories.
TheRusso-Japanese War of 1904 to 1905 began when theEmpire of Japan (led byEmperor Meiji) launched asurprise attack on the Russian Pacific Fleet stationed at Port Arthur on theLiaodong Peninsula. Following one and a half years of fighting between theRussian Army and theJapanese Army and the disastrousbattle of Tsushima, theRussian Empire (led byTsar Nicholas II) sued for peace, thereby recognizing Japan's claims to Korea and agreeing to evacuate Manchuria. Following the1918 Siberian intervention byJapan in theRussian Civil War (during/after :World War 1) in theRussian Far East (later;the Soviet-Russian Far East) and fighting againstVladimir Lenin and theSoviet Bolshevik Communists from 1918 to 1922 after the Japanese tookthe German Qingdao Colony and theGerman Marshall Island Colonies from theGerman Empire (led byKaiser Wilhelm II) in1914 during WW1.
From 1918 to 1920 theImperial Japanese Army (commanded byEmperor Taishō afterMeiji died in 1912) were helping theWhite Army andAlexander Kerensky against theBolshevik Red Army. In the same years they also helped theCzechoslovak Legion in Siberia to get back to Europe after anArmoured Train fromAustria-Hungary[citation needed] inEurope got lost inSiberia. When theCzechoslovak Legion got back toEurope in 1920,Austria-Hungary had already collapsed andCzechoslovakia had been created two years before. Japan withdrew from theRussian Revolution and theCivil War in 1922. However, following its previousoccupation in 1919 and theSoviet intervention in Mongolia of 1921, theRepublic of China had to withdraw fromOuter Mongolia in 1921. In 1922, after they capturedVladivostok in 1918 to stop theBolsheviks in theRussian Far East during the Civil War, the Japanese had to retreat and withdraw back to Japan because theBolsheviks led byLenin were too powerful and everyone was tired of war afterThe Great War ended in 1918 (inEurope,Africa,Asia).
FollowingHirohito'sJapanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931–1932, (afterTaisho's death in 1926) violations of the borders betweenManchukuo, theMongolian People's Republic and theSoviet Union took place frequently. Many of them were misunderstandings due to insufficiently marked nature of the border, but some were intentional acts ofespionage. Between 1932 and 1934, according to theImperial Japanese Army, 152 border disputes occurred, largely because the Soviets infiltratedManchuria for intelligence purposes. The Soviets blamed the Japanese for 15 cases of border violation, 6 air intrusions, and 20 episodes of "spy smuggling" in 1933 alone.[9] Hundreds of other violations were reported by both sides throughout the following years. To make matters worse, Soviet-Japanese diplomacy and trust had declined even further, with the Japanese being openly called "fascist enemies" at the SeventhComintern Congress in July 1935.[10]
In early 1935 around January or February, the first shootingaffray took place. From then until April 1939, the Imperial Japanese Army recorded 108 such incidents.[11] On 8 January 1935, the first armed clash, theHalhamiao incident (哈爾哈廟事件,Haruhabyō jiken), occurred on the border between Mongolia and Manchukuo.[12] Several dozencavalrymen of theMongolian People's Army trespassed in Manchuria near some disputed fishing grounds, and engaged an 11-manManchukuo Imperial Army patrol unit near theBuddhist temple at Halhamiao, which was led by a Japanesemilitary advisor. The Manchukuo Army incurred slight casualties, suffering 6 wounded and 2 dead, including the Japanese officer. The Mongols suffered no casualties, and withdrew when the Japanese sent apunitive expedition to reclaim the disputed area. Two motorized cavalry companies, amachine gun company, and atankette platoon were sent and occupied the point for three weeks without resistance.[13]
In June 1935, the Japanese and Soviets directly exchanged fire for the first time when an 11-man Japanese patrol west ofLake Khanka was attacked by 6 Soviet horsemen, supposedly inside Manchukuo territory. In the ensuing firefight, one Soviet soldier was killed, and two horses were captured. While the Japanese asked the Soviets for a joint investigation of the issue, the Soviets rejected the request.
In October 1935, nine Japanese and 32 Manchukuoan border guards were engaged in setting up a post, about 20 kilometers north ofSuifenho, when they were attacked by a force of 50 Soviet soldiers. The Soviets opened fire on them with rifles and 5 heavy machine guns. In the ensuing clash, two Japanese and four Manchukuoan soldiers were killed, and another 5 were wounded. The Manchukuoan foreign affairs representative lodged a verbal protest with the Soviet consul at Suifenho. The Imperial Japanese Army'sKwantung Army also sent anintelligence officer to investigate the scene of the clash.[14]
On 19 December 1935, a Manchukuoan army unit engaging in areconnoitering project southwest ofBuir Lake clashed with a Mongolian party, reportedly capturing 10 soldiers. Five days later, 60 truck-borne Mongolian troops assaulted the Manchukuoans and were repulsed, at the cost of 3 Manchukuoan dead. The same day, at Brunders, Mongolian soldiers attempted to drive out Manchukuoan forces three times in the day, and then again at a night, but all attempts failed. More small attempts to dislodge the Manchukuoans from their outposts occurred in January, with the Mongolians this time utilizingairplanes for recon duty. Due to the arrival of a small force of Japanese troops in three trucks, these attempts also failed with a few casualties on both sides. Aside from the 10 prisoners taken, Mongolian casualties during these clashes are unknown.[15]
In February 1936, Lieutenant-Colonel Sugimoto Yasuo was ordered to form a detachment from the 14th Cavalry Regiment and, in the words of Lieutenant-General Kasai Heijuro, "out theOuter Mongol intruders from the Olankhuduk region". Sugimoto's detachment included cavalry guns,heavy machine guns, and tankettes. Arrayed against him were 140 Mongolians, equipped with heavy machine guns andlight artillery. On February 12, Sugimoto's men successfully drove the Mongolians south, at the cost of eight men killed, four men wounded, and one tankette destroyed. After this, they began to withdraw, but were attacked by 5-6 Mongolianarmored cars and 2bombers, which briefly wreaked havoc on a Japanesecolumn. This was rectified when the unit obtained artillery support, enabling it to destroy or drive off the armored cars.[15]
In March 1936, theTauran incident (タウラン事件,Tauran jiken) (ja) occurred. In this battle, both the Japanese Army and Mongolian Army used a small number ofarmored fighting vehicles and military aircraft. The Tauran incident of March 1936 occurred as the result of 100 Mongolian and six Soviet troops attacking and occupying the disputed village of Tauran, Mongolia, driving off the small Manchurian garrison in the process. They were supported by a handful of light bombers and armored cars, though their bombing sorties failed to inflict any damage on the Japanese, and three of them were shot down by Japanese heavy machine guns. Local Japanese forces counter-attacked, running dozens of bombing sorties on the village, and eventually assaulting it with 400 men and 10 tankettes. The result was a Mongolian rout, with 56 soldiers being killed, including three Soviet advisors, and an unknown number being wounded. Japanese losses amounted to 27 killed and nine wounded.[16]
Later in March 1936, there was another border clash, this time between the Japanese and the Soviets. Reports of border violations led theJapanese Korean Army to send ten men by truck to investigate, but this party itself was ambushed by 20 SovietNKVD soldiers deployed at a point 300 meters inside the territory claimed by the Japanese. After incurring several casualties, the Japanese patrol withdrew, and brought up 100 men within hours as reinforcements, who then drove off the Soviets. However, fighting erupted later in the day when the NKVD also brought reinforcements. By nightfall, the fighting had stopped and both sides had pulled back. The Soviets agreed to return the bodies of two Japanese soldiers who died in the fighting, which was seen as encouraging by the Japanese government.[17]
In early April 1936, three Japanese soldiers were killed near Suifenho, in one of many minor and barely documented affrays. However, this incident was notable in that the Soviets again returned the bodies of the dead servicemen.
In June 1937, theKanchazu Island incident (乾岔子島事件,Kanchazutou jiken) (ja) occurred on theAmur River at the Soviet–Manchukuo border. Three Sovietgunboats crossed the center line of the river, unloaded troops, and occupied Kanchazu (also spelled "Kanchatzu") island. Soldiers from theIJA 1st Division, using two horse-drawn 37mm artillery pieces, proceeded to hastily set up improvised firing sites, and load their guns with bothhigh-explosive andarmor-piercing shells. They shelled the Soviets, sinking the lead gunboat, crippling the second, and driving off the third. Japanese troops then fired on the swimming crewmen of the sunken ships with machine guns. 37 Soviet soldiers were killed in this incident; the Japanese forces suffered no casualties.[18] TheJapanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested and demanded the Soviet soldiers withdraw from the island. The Soviet leadership, apparently shocked by the display and not wanting things to escalate, agreed and evacuated their forces.[18]
In July 1937, the Japanese invadedChina, starting theSecond Sino-Japanese War.[14] Soviet-Japanese relations were chilled by the invasion andMikhail Kalinin, theSoviet head of state, told theAmerican ambassadorWilliam C. Bullitt inMoscow that same month that his country was prepared for an attack byNazi Germany in thewest and Japan in theeast.[19] During the first two years of the war, the Soviets heavily aided the Chinese, increasing tension with Japan. From October 1937 to September 1939, the Soviets supplied the Chinese with 82tanks, over 1,300 pieces of artillery, over 14,000 machine guns, 50,000 rifles, 1,550 trucks and tractors, and alsoammunition, equipment and supplies. They also provided 3,665 military advisors and volunteers as part of theSoviet Volunteer Group. 195 of these men, almost all officers, died in battle against Japanese forces. Large-scale aid ceased by the end of the Soviet–Japanese border conflicts.[20]
The Battle of Lake Khasan (29 July – 11 August 1938), also known as the "Changkufeng Incident" (Chinese:张鼓峰事件;pinyin:Zhānggǔfēng Shìjiàn, Japanese pronunciation:Chōkohō Jiken) in China and Japan, was an attempted military incursion from Manchukuo (by the Japanese) into territory claimed by the Soviet Union. This incursion was founded in the belief of the Japanese side that the Soviet Union misinterpreted thedemarcation of the boundary based on theConvention of Peking treaty between the formerImperial Russia andQing dynasty of China (and subsequent supplementary agreements on demarcation), and furthermore, that the demarcation markers had been tampered with. The Japanese 19th Division expelled a Soviet garrison from the disputed area, and repulsed numerous counterattacks by an overwhelmingly more numerous and heavily armed Soviet force. Both sides took heavy losses. The conflict was resolved diplomatically on August 10, when the Japanese ambassador in Moscow asked for peace. The Japanese troops withdrew the next day, and the Soviets re-occupied the area.
The conflict between the Soviet Union and Japan in 1939 is referred to by some historians as the "Forgotten Soviet-Japanese War."[21][22] It had a lasting and significant impact on Japanese strategic decisions in World War II.
The Battle of Khalkhin Gol, sometimes spelled Halhin Gol or Khalkin Gol after theHalha River passing through the battlefield and known in Japan as theNomonhan Incident, was the decisive battle of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese Border War. After skirmishes in May and June 1939, engagements withcorps-sized forces took place, though the Soviets were again far more numerous and more heavily armed than the Japanese. There were three principal engagements:
In this engagement the Soviets and Mongolians defeated the Japanese, and expelled them from Mongolia. The Soviet Union and Japan agreed to a cease-fire on 15 September, which took effect the following day. Free from a threat in theSoviet Far East,Stalin proceeded with theSoviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939 after he made a deal with theGerman Reich.[21]
After the Japanese defeat at Khalkhin Gol, Japan and the Soviet Union signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact on 13 April 1941, which was similar to theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact between the Germans and the Soviet Union of August 1939.[23][24][25] Later in 1941, Japan considered breaking the pact when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union inOperation Barbarossa but they made the crucial decision to keep it and to continue to press intoSoutheast Asia instead after the Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbor . This was said to be largely due to the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. The defeat there caused Japan not to join forces with Germany against the Soviet Union, even though Japan and Germany were part of theTripartite Pact. On 5 April 1945, the Soviet Union unilaterally denounced the neutrality pact, noting that it would not renew the treaty when it expired on 13 April 1946. Four months later, prior to the expiration of the neutrality pact and between theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, completely surprising the Japanese. TheSoviet invasion of Manchuria was launched in 1945 one hour after the declaration of war on Japan .
The fighting early in World War II between Japan and the Soviet Union plays a key part in theSouth Korean filmMy Way, in which Japanese soldiers (including Koreans in Japanese service) fight and are captured by the Soviets and forced to fight for them.
In the Japanese novelThe Wind-Up Bird Chronicle byHaruki Murakami the story frequently involves analepsis of the Japanese involvement in North China during the 1931–1948 period including the Soviet–Japanese border conflicts. Two side characters in the novel, Lieutenant Mamiya and Mr Honda who served in the Kwantung army, were severely mentally and physically affected by a (fictional) failed raid into theMongolian People's Republic and the following battle of the Battles of Khalkhin Gol. The novel explains these events in detail, particularly the failed raid, and it plays an important role in the larger story.[26]
mongolnow_com was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).In conformity with the spirit of the Pact on neutrality concluded on April 13, 1941, between the U.S.S.R. and Japan, the Government of the U.S.S.R. and the Government of Japan, in the interest of insuring peaceful and friendly relations between the two countries, solemnly declare that the U.S.S.R. pledges to respect the territorial integrity and inviolability of Manchoukuo and Japan pledges to respect the territorial integrity and inviolability of the Mongolian People's Republic.
