The Little Known War

     Japan's rise in Asia began with Imjin Wars and culminated in the disastrous defeat in World War Two.  In between, Japan experienced some "highs," like their victory in the first Sino-Japanese war of 1898 (which essentially gave them the right to grab Korea) and was quickly followed by the Russo-Japanese War.  By that time Japan had a solid grip on Korea and officially annexed it.  Japan then eyed other territories, Manchuria first (where they already had a foothold after Russo-Japanese War), Sakhalin Island was annexed after Japan's participation of allied campaign against the Bolsheviks in Siberia 1919.  Manchuria became officially Japanese in 1931 as the puppet state of "Manchukuo" and in 1937 Japan launched the second Sino-Japanese War against a very weak and disunited Nationalist China.
     As if all that aggression wasn't enough, the great Kwantung Army which at its peak numbered well over a million men, greedily eyed some territory north of Manchuria, territory that used to be part of Manchuria and was called outer Manchuria before Russia grabbed it from the weak Ching Dynasty China.  So, without even receiving approval from Tokyo (Kwantung Army was almost an independent entity by this time, after all the success it had experienced!) the Kwantung Army began preparations for another war!  The Kwantung Army was not engaged in the Sino-Japanese War, so they were free to do what they wanted.  They first increased the strength of the army by enlisting additional men, mostly ethnic Koreans from Manchuria.  They were inducted into the Kwantung Army for the purpose of being used as ammo bearers and other non-combat duties, but in the combat zone.  When they felt that they were prepared, they launched an invasion of Soviet territory along Manchurian/Mongolian border at a place called Nomanhan in 1939, before Hitler had signed a Non-Aggression Pact with Stalin.  Hitler had already invaded several countries in eastern Europe and Japan felt that it too could expand its territory.
     Well, it turned out that the Kwantung Army had bitten off more than it could chew.  Instead of rolling into the Soviet territory as they imagined that they would, they ran across very stiff resistance from Mongolian army first, then from the Soviet army that came to the Mongol's assistance.  A little known Soviet general gained minor fame in that undeclared "non-war."  General Giorgi Zhukov, who was later to become a Soviet national hero as the savior of the Soviet Union, commanded the Soviet forces at Nomanhan.  The Kwantung Army was not just defeated, it was almost completely destroyed, at least those units that participated in that conflict!  It was an embarrassing defeat for the Japanese and especially the Kwantung Army.  Up until that time, the Japanese had run roughshod over anyone that they faced, sort of like what the German's were experiencing in Europe.
     The Soviets not only won that little war, but captured a significant number of Japanese prisoners that they immediately sent off to their Gulags in Siberia.  Most of the so-called Japanese prisoners were ethnic Koreans who had no stomach to fight and die for Japan. 
     The aftermath of this little known war caused two things to take place.  Hitler decided that for a time being, he'd better not go to war against Soviet Union, so he immediately signed a Non-Aggression Pact with Stalin.  Japan and the Kwantung Army realized that the Soviet Red Army was not the pushover that they thought it was and decided not to go to war against the Russians.  In fact, the government in Tokyo made it a point to avoid any kind of conflict with the Soviets for the duration of their Pacific Campaign.  Japan's fear of the Soviet Union kept a million man army, the Kwantung Army, tied up in Manchuria and not used in the Pacific against the Americans.  From time to time, in desperation, various units from the Kwantung Army were seconded to units in the Pacific, but generally speaking, the Kwantung Army stayed out of the war, until it was forced into it at the very end when the Soviets invaded Manchuria in the closing days of World War Two, and this time, completely destroyed it.