Soviet Invasion of Manchuria

     In several earlier blogs, I discussed the Soviet Occupation of Manchuria, their looting and criminal behavior, the arrests and deportations.  I mentioned all of those things in The Manchurian Tales.  However, I did not discuss the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria, the military operation and the subsequent battles and casualties.  Having received my schooling during the "Cold War" era, I learned very little about Soviet war history.  Think about it.  Do you recall ever reading anything positive about the Soviet Union in your text books or newspapers, or hearing on TV news?  
     Naturally, during the "Cold War" era there was the tendency to either ignore or make little of anything that might show the Soviet Union in a favorable light.  The Soviets, of course, did exactly the same thing when it came to us.  With the fall of the Soviet Union, we became much more accepting and generous about Soviet successes and other things that may be viewed as positive.  For instance, it would have been unthinkable to make a movie such as the Enemy at the Gates, a rather positive presentation of the Soviet sniper, Zaitsev.  There were some pro Soviet movies made during WWII, after all, they were our allies then.  But nothing afterwards, not until the fall of the Soviet Union.  Consequently, what was written in our school text books about Soviet contribution in the Pacific was simply waved off or ignored.  If anything, much criticism was directed at the Soviet Union for not stepping in earlier, to help out in the Pacific.  Of course, we did not discuss the fact that the Soviets fought the Nazis almost single handedly for a long time and we did not open the "second front" until the Normandy Invasion in June of 1944.  Be that as it may, the Soviets did play a very important role in the Pacific, even if they did not enter the war until the closing days.
     Japan's best army, the Kwantung Army of almost a million and a half men were kept in Manchuria and never sent to fight our troops in the Pacific.  The Kwantung Army was kept in reserve because of Japanese fear of Russian invasion, which did finally take place.  But in the meantime, it kept valuable manpower away from the Pacific battlegrounds.  To be sure, some units were shipped off to battle, for the Kwantung Army in full strength should have been close to two million men, not one point four million, as it was when the Soviets invaded Manchuria.  But nevertheless, one point four million men and all the equipment, tanks, artillery, etc., is no joking matter, and it was kept in Manchuria.
     In February of 1945, during the famous Yalta Conference, FDR, Churchill, and Stalin agreed that the Soviet Union would not step into war in the Pacific until the Nazis were defeated in Germany.  This was mutually agreed upon.  Germany surrendered in May of 1945, and in July of 1945, at the Potsdam Conference, the new US President Truman, Churchill, and Stalin met and Stalin informed Truman and Churchill that he would launch an invasion of Manchuria on August 9.  Truman did not tell Stalin that the US was going to drop the atomic bomb on the 6th of August, although he hinted of a surprise!  Churchill knew, but they did not tell Stalin.
     On August 9, three days after the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima, two million Soviet troops crossed into Manchuria in a classic pincer movement.  One element crossed the Ussuri River from Primorsky Krai in the east, and another element crossed into Manchuria from Mongolia in the north.  There were fierce battles ranging all over, and the fighting lasted until September 2 in some places, more than two weeks after Japan's unconditional surrender!  However, Manchuria was taken very quickly, before Japan's official surrender.  Some members of the Kwantung Army refused to accept the surrender and fought on in small pockets and were wiped out.  The casualties?  In a war that essentially lasted two weeks, the Soviets lost 9,726 KIA and 24, 425 wounded.  On the Japanese side, the losses were horrendous.  The Kwantung Army lost 83,737 KIA and 640,276 who heeded the Emperor's call for surrender and gave up, only to be sent off to the Gulags where most of them died.  So, in short, Japan lost a million four hundred thousand men in Manchuria in less than a two week period! 
     There are historians in Japan, and in America, well respected historians who believe that Japan's surrender was partly encouraged by the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria.  Of course the two atomic bombs were no doubt major reason for the decision to surrender, but no doubt the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria and the subsequent  annihilation of Japan's best army, the Kwantung Army, had a role in it as well.