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The Soviet-Japanese War was a campaign of World War II that began with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria on 8 August 1945 and resulted in the Soviet Union and Mongolian People's Republic's toppling of the Japanese puppet states of Manchukuo in Manchuria and Mengkukuo in Inner Mongolia, as well as the capture of northern Korea, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. The defeat of Japan's Kwantung Army helped bring about the surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945 and the end of World War II.

History[]

In November 1943, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin agreed that the USSR would enter the Western Allies' war against Japan once Nazi Germany was defeated. In February 1945, Stalin agreed to Allied pleas to enter the Pacific War within three months of the end of the war in Europe. With Germany's surrender on 9 May 1945, Stalin was bound to enter the war against the Empire of Japan by 9 August 1945.

At 11 PM on 8 August 1945, Soviet minister Vyacheslav Molotov informed Japanese ambassador Naotake Sato that the Soviet Union had declared war on Japan. At midnight on 9 August, the Soviets commenced their invasions of eastern, western, and northern Manchuria. The Transbaikal Front and the 1st Far East Front attacked from the east and the 2nd Far East Front at the center of the pocket, with Soviet forces totaling 89 divisions with 1.5 million men, 3,704 tanks, 1,852 self-propelled guns, 85,819 vehicles, and 3,721 aircraft. The Kwantung Army's First Area Army and Third Area Army, together with three independent armies, held Manchuria, as did the 40,000-strong Manchukuo Defense Force. The Kwantung Army was badly trained, poorly equipped, and had only limited supplies.

Marshal Rodion Malinovsky's Transbaikal Front attacked across the Inner Mongolian desert and over the Great Khingan mountains to secure Mukden and meet the 1st Far East Front at Changchun. The 1st Far East Front under Marshal Kirill Meretskov struck towards Mutanchiang before moving on Jilin, Changchun, and Harbin; after this, the front would invade Korea up to the 38th parallel. The 2nd Far East Front under General Maksim Purkayev would take Harbin and Qiqihar, after which it would attack the Liaodong Peninsula and seize Port Arthur (Lushun). The Kwantung Army put up fierce resistance at Hailar, but Soviet Airborne Forces seized airfields and city centers in advance of the land forces. The Japanese were forced to utilize suicide bombers and kamikaze pilots in vain attempts to stop the Soviet advances. Japanese troops in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia retreated out of fear, and Japanese forces in Inner Mongolia abandoned Kalgan and fled south without resistance. Physically fit Japanese prisoners of war were transferred to Siberia to perform slave labor in revenge for the Russo-Japanese War.

On 18 August, the Soviets launched three amphibious landings in northern Korea, one in south Sakhalin, and one in the Kuril Islands. On 10 August, the Soviets agreed to divide the occupation of Korea with the United States at the 38th parallel, and Soviet troops landed at Wonsan on 16 August and took Pyongyang on 24 August. American forces landed at Incheon on 8 September and took control of the south.

The collapse of the Kwantung Army, together with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, broke the Japanese political deadlock and forced Japan's political leaders to accept the Allies' demands for unconditional surrender. The Japanese settlers in Manchukuo would experience deadly violence from Chinese residents, others were imprisoned in Siberia for up to 20 years, and others made their way to the Home Islands, only to be treated as foreigners. The Soviets established Manchuria as the main base of operations for Mao Zedong's communist forces during the Chinese Civil War, and the Soviets relocated Japanese-built industry from Manchuria to war-torn Soviet territory, while destroying any industry left over.

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