On May 11, 1939, an armed conflict (war) began on the Khalkhin-Gol River between the USSR and the Japanese Empire; in Japanese historiography, it is called the “Nomonkhan incident”. The clash between the two great powers took place on the territory of a third country - Mongolia.
On May 11, 1939, the Japanese attacked the Mongol border outposts near the Khalkhin-Gol River. The formal reason for the attack was a border dispute. The Japanese side believed that the border between Mongolia and Manchukuo, a puppet state created by the Japanese military administration in 1932 on the territory of Manchuria occupied by the Japanese Empire, should run along the Khalkhin Gol River. The Mongolian side believed that the border should be 20-25 km east of the river. By May 14, the Japanese army occupied the entire "disputed" territory and declared it to belong to Manchukuo, that is, de facto Japan. Mongolia could not by armed means support its right to these lands - its armed forces were very small in number and poorly armed.
Soldiers set the banner of victory on the Zaozernaya hill. 1938. District of Lake Khasan Shooting author: Temin Viktor Antonovich
Moscow, in accordance with the Agreement on Mutual Assistance of March 12, 1936 between the USSR and the Mongolian People's Republic (MPR), transferred parts of the 57th Special Corps to the Khalkhin-Gol region. After the fighting, the Soviet-Mongolian units, with varying success, managed to oust Japanese units from the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic by the end of May. Almost simultaneously with the fighting on land - from May 22, fierce air battles began. June became the month of the struggle for air supremacy. Until the end of May, the Japanese Air Force had air superiority - the Soviet pilots had little experience, the aircraft were represented by old models. The Soviet command took decisive measures to eliminate the Japanese advantage in the air: on May 29, a group of experienced pilots was sent to the front line from Moscow, led by Deputy Chief of the Red Army Air Force Yakov Smushkevich. 17 of them were heroes of the Soviet Union, many had experience of war in China and Spain. New fighters were also transferred - modernized fighters I-16 and I-153 "Chaika". After that, the Japanese Air Force lost its advantage and began to suffer significant losses. By the end of June, the Soviet Air Force, after fierce fighting, had gained superiority in the sky.
In June, both sides did not take active action on land, preparing for a decisive battle. Within a month, both the Japanese and Soviet commanders were pulling new troops into the conflict area. At the headquarters of G. K. Zhukov, and the brigade commander Mikhail Bogdanov, who had arrived with Zhukov, became the chief of staff of the corps, a plan of hostilities was prepared. They were going to conduct an active defense on the bridgehead across the Khalkhin-Gol River and prepare a strong counterstrike against the grouping of the Japanese army opposing the Soviet-Mongolian forces. The General Staff of the Red Army and the People's Commissariat of Defense approved this plan.
Soviet officers during the battle for Khalkhin Gol. 1939 g.
On July 2, the Japanese group went on the offensive: a blow was struck at the Soviet-Mongolian units on the eastern bank of the river, while Japanese troops crossed the river and captured Mount Bayan-Tsagan on its western bank. The Japanese command was going to create a powerful defense in the area of the hill and strike from this position on the allied forces on the eastern bank of the Khalkhin Gol River in order to cut them off from the main forces and eliminate them. Zhukov threw the 11th tank brigade of brigade commander MP Yakovlev and the Mongolian armored division, which was in reserve, against the enemy that had broken through. Then the approaching rifle units joined the battle. In the course of a fierce battle, the Japanese forces that broke through were completely defeated and by the morning of the 5th they fled, having lost all armored vehicles and artillery. It should be noted that a battle was taking place in the sky at the same time, involving up to 300 aircraft from both sides.
Already on July 8, the Japanese attacked Soviet positions on the eastern bank of the river. Fierce battles lasted for several days. On July 23, after the shelling, Japanese troops launched an offensive on the bridgehead of the Soviet-Mongolian troops. But after a two-day battle, having suffered heavy losses, the Japanese troops withdrew to their original positions. At the same time, there were intense air battles, so from July 21 to 26, the Japanese Air Force lost 67 aircraft, and the Soviet 20. At the same time, the Japanese command was preparing a new major offensive - it was planned for August 24.
Captured soldiers of the 6th (Kwantung) Army. 1939
Anticipating the offensive of the enemy, the Soviet command struck on 20 August. The offensive of the Soviet troops came as a complete surprise to the Japanese command. After fierce battles, the Kwantung Army was defeated by August 31, and the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic was cleared of enemy troops. In early September, Soviet troops repulsed several attempts to cross the state border line, and the war on land was over. The fighting in the air continued until September 15: that day, another major air battle took place - 120 aircraft of the Japanese Air Force against 207 Soviet aircraft. On the same day, an agreement was signed between the Soviet Union, Mongolia and Japan on an armistice, and on September 16, hostilities on the border were stopped.
US game in the Far East
Many people know this or that information about the role of the great powers of the West (France, Great Britain and the United States) in organizing the "crusade" of European countries led by the German Empire against the Soviet Union. In fact, Adolf Hitler, National Socialism (Nazism) and the Third Reich were projects of the "world behind the scenes". Germany was the spearhead of a weapon directed against the Red (Stalinist) project of human development.
At the same time, the United States tried to confront the USSR and the Japanese Empire. Japan was supposed to divert the forces and attention of Moscow to the Far East. Initially, the Americans tried to use China as a means of external pressure on the USSR. The Americans sharply strengthened their positions in the Celestial Empire after the right-wing nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek came to power. By 1930, in comparison with 1914, US capital investments in China had increased 3, 7 times, government loans and financial assistance increased 6 times. But by 1930, Americans were seriously disillusioned with the Kuomintang leader. Chiang Kai-shek was unable to restore the unity of the state by eliminating the communists and general's semi-feudal clans, to create a united, strong China, which could threaten the USSR from the East. In 1929, the Chinese troops suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Soviet troops. In addition, a significant part of China came under the control and influence of the Chinese communists, which was unacceptable for the West and the United States.
Therefore, the United States urgently began to look for a force in the Far East that could make China controlled by American capital (expelling European competitors - the British and French), and turning Chinese territory into a springboard for military influence on the Union. As a result, they followed the path of the British Empire, which used Japan to undermine the positions of the Russian Empire in the Far East (the Americans also took part in this case). The choice fell on the Japanese Empire, which, after the Europeans, together with the United States, drove it out of China in 1920-1922. needed raw materials, markets for its goods and capital investments for its developing industry. China was supposed to be a source of raw materials and a sales market for the Japanese, and the United States was to have the finances.
Mongol soldiers on the front line
In addition, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria was beneficial to the United States in the sense that it was supposed to force Chiang Kai-shek to focus on the United States even more. The creation of a "hotbed of war" in the Far East had a lot of advantages for the United States. In June 1930, the United States pushed Japan to war: the Americans raised customs duties on goods from the Empire of Japan by 23% and thus virtually completely closed their domestic market to the Japanese. In addition, Japan was financially dependent on the West and the United States. Taking into account the Americans and the expansionist designs of the Japanese, at this stage the interests of Japan and the United States coincided. On September 18, 1931, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria began. Under political and diplomatic pressure from the Americans, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Chinese troops to retreat without offering resistance to the aggressor. During the year and a half, during which Japanese troops were seizing Manchuria, the United States provided financial assistance to Japan in the amount of $ 182 million.
It is believed that until mid-1939, Tokyo pursued a foreign policy that was fully coordinated with Washington. In 1937, with the permission of the United States, the Japanese Empire launched a new war with China in order to undermine the positions of British and French capital there, expand the sphere of American influence in the Celestial Empire at the expense of these powers. In the summer of 1938, the United States pushed Japan to aggression against the Soviet Union in order to distract Moscow from events in Europe (the conflict between Czechoslovakia and Germany over the Sudetenland) and to test the strength of the Red Army. There is a conflict at Lake Khasan.
Commander of the 2nd rank G. M. Stern, Marshal of the Mongolian People's Republic H. Choibalsan and corps commander G. K. Zhukov at the command post of Khamar-Dab
In May-September 1939, Japan, with the consent of the United States, strikes a new blow at the USSR. The operation in the area of the Khalkin-Gol River was supposed to divert Soviet forces and attention to the East, on the eve of the Wehrmacht's invasion of Poland (and the possible movement of German troops further - to the USSR). Washington planned to organize a full-scale war in the Far East, so that the USSR faced the threat of war on two fronts. Only the decisive actions of the Red Army and the firmness of Moscow preserved the shaky peace on the eastern borders of the USSR. But the West partially solved the problem of diverting the forces and resources of the USSR to the Far East. The USSR was forced to seriously increase its grouping in the Far East in order to fend off a potential blow from the Japanese Empire.
The United States generously funded the Empire of Japan to hold down Soviet forces in the Far East. In 1938 alone, the Morgan Financial Group provided loans to Japan for 125 million dollars, and the general assistance of the States to the Japanese in 1937-1939. amounted to 511 million dollars. In fact, the Americans financed the war against the Chinese people and the occupation of China by equipping the Japanese army. The United States supported Japan in its aggressive designs against the USSR and Mongolia.
In addition, the British supported their old ally. In July 1939, an agreement was concluded between Tokyo and London, according to which the British side recognized the Japanese conquests in China (thereby, Great Britain provided diplomatic support for the aggression of the Japanese Empire against the Mongolian People's Republic and its ally, the USSR). The American government extended the previously canceled trade agreement with the Japanese Empire for six months, and then completely restored it altogether. As part of this agreement, the Japanese side purchased trucks for the Kwantung Army (which fought with Soviet troops), machine tools for aircraft factories, various strategic materials (steel and iron scrap, gasoline and oil products, etc.). A new embargo on trade with Japan was imposed only on July 26, 1941.
