Soviet invasion of Manchuria

This article is about the Soviet invasion in 1945. For the 1900 Russian invasion, see Russian invasion of Manchuria.
Soviet invasion of Manchuria
Part of the Soviet–Japanese War of World War II

Soviet gains in North East Asia, August 1945
Date9–20 August 1945
Location
Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and northern Korea
Result Soviet victory
Territorial
changes

Collapse of Japanese puppet states

Belligerents
Allies:
 Soviet Union
 Mongolia

Axis:
 Japan

Commanders and leaders
Units involved
Soviet armies
Japanese armies
Strength
Soviet Union Soviet Union:
  • 1,577,725 troops[3]
  • 27,086 artillery pieces
  • 1,152 rocket launchers
  • 5,556 tanks and self-propelled guns
  • 3,721 aircraft
  • Mongolian People's Republic Mongolia:
  • 16,000 troops
  • Total:
  • 1,573,725 troops
  • 27,086 artillery pieces
  • 1,152 rocket launchers
  • 5,556 tanks and self-propelled guns
  • 3,721 aircraft
Empire of Japan Japan:
  • Manchuria:
  • 665,500 soldiers and sailors[4][a]
  • 290 tanks[6]
  • 1,042 aircraft (232 combat)[7][b]
  • Korea:
  • 335,900 soldiers and sailors[4]
    ~80 tanks[c]
  • 962 aircraft (395 combat)[7]
  • Manchukuo Manchukuo:
  • 170,000[1]–200,000 troops[8]
  • Mengjiang Mengjiang:
  • 44,000 troops
  • Total:
  • 1,215,400–1,245,400 troops and sailor
  • 370 tanks
  • 2,004 aircraft (627 combat)
Casualties and losses
Soviet Union Soviet Union:
  • 9,780–12,031 killed
  • 24,425 wounded[9][10]
  • 300+ tanks destroyed[11]
  • Mongolian People's Republic Mongolia:
  • 72 killed
  • 125 wounded[12]
  • Total:
  • 9,852–12,103 killed
  • 24,550 wounded
  • 300+ tanks destroyed
Empire of Japan Japanese medical records:
  • 21,389 killed[13][d]
  • Unknown captured in combat
  • Large amounts of equipment captured[e]
  • Manchukuo Manchukuo:
  • Most troops deserted beforehand[1]
  • Mengjiang Mengjiang:
  • Most troops deserted beforehand[1]
  • Soviet Union Soviet claim:
  • 83,737 killed
  • 20,000 wounded[d]
  • 594,000–609,000 POWs
  • 861–925 aircraft
  • 369–600 tanks
  • 2,576–3,704 guns and mortars captured
  • 2,129–2,300 other vehicles captured[f][g]

The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation[14] or simply the Manchurian Operation (Маньчжурская операция) and sometimes Operation August Storm,[1] began on 9 August 1945 with the Soviet invasion of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, which was situated in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. It was the largest campaign of the 1945 Soviet–Japanese War, which resumed hostilities between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Empire of Japan after almost six years of peace.

Soviet gains on the continent were Manchukuo, Mengjiang (the northeast section of present-day Inner Mongolia) and northern Korea. The Soviet entry into this theater of the war and the defeat of the Kwantung Army were significant factors in the Japanese government's decision to surrender unconditionally, as it became apparent that the Soviet Union had no intention of acting as a third party in negotiating an end of the war on conditional terms.[1][2][15][16][17][18][19][20]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g LTC David M. Glantz (February 1983), "August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria". Leavenworth Papers No. 7, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth Kansas.
  2. ^ a b "Battlefield Manchuria – The Forgotten Victory", Battlefield, 2001, 98 minutes.
  3. ^ a b Glantz, David M. & House, Jonathan (1995), When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler, Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, ISBN 0-7006-0899-0, p. 378
  4. ^ a b AJRP: Dispositions and Deaths Retrieved 5/3/2021
  5. ^ p. 230
  6. ^ I. B. Moschanskiy, "West – East", Ch. 12, "Разгром Квантунской армии". Retrieved 5/3/2021. Japanese AFV losses in combat were relatively light.
  7. ^ a b SCAP, "Final Report: Progress of Demobilization of the Japanese Armed Forces, 30 December 1946" Part IV, inclosure no. 51. Retrieved 4/23/2021
  8. ^ Jowett, p. 53.
  9. ^ "Russia and USSR in Wars of the 20th Century". И.И.Ивлев. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2008.. Total casualties of the three fronts, excluding the Pacific Fleet involved in the invasions of the Kuriles and South Sakhalin.
  10. ^ a b c Coox, Alvin D. Nomonhan; Japan Against Russia, 1939. 1985; 2 volumes. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-1160-7. p. 1176.
  11. ^ Glantz, David (2004). Soviet Operational and Tactical Combat in Manchuria, 1945: 'August Storm'. Routledge. p. 124.
  12. ^ "Russia and USSR in Wars of the 20th Century". И.И.Ивлев. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2008.
  13. ^ Australian War Memorial. "Australia-Japan Research Project: Dispositions and deaths". Citing figures of the Relief Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, March 1964. Total dead in Manchuria are given as 45,900 for the IJA, but this includes the earlier Soviet–Japanese border conflicts (c. 10,000 deaths), soldiers killed by Chinese Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army and Chinese Anti-Japanese volunteer armies in the Manchurian insurgency (c. 15,000 deaths), and POW deaths after the war.
  14. ^ (Russian: Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция, romanized: Manchzhurskaya Strategicheskaya Nastupatelnaya Operatsiya)
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hayashi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Drea was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Robert Butow, Japan's Decision to Surrender, Stanford University Press, 1954 ISBN 978-0-8047-0460-1.
  18. ^ Richard B. Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, Penguin, 2001 ISBN 978-0-14-100146-3.
  19. ^ Robert James Maddox, Hiroshima in History: The Myths of Revisionism, University of Missouri Press, 2007 ISBN 978-0-8262-1732-5.
  20. ^ Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan, Belknap Press, 2006 ISBN 0-674-01693-9.


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