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2023-09-04 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
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The collapse of the 'ripe persimmon' strategy
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
Text taken from Russian ministry of defense news website. redstar.ru (available only through a VPN)
by Marina Shcherbakova
Lessons of history that enemies should not forget.
On September 3, for the first time in many years, Russia officially celebrated the victory over militaristic Japan. The history of this memorable date dates back to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 2, 1945 on the announcement of September 3 as Victory Day over Japan. Initially, it was an official holiday, but since 1947 it has become a worker again. And although the memorable date has remained on the calendar since then, it has practically ceased to be celebrated.
When the State Duma adopted Federal Law No. 32 “On the Days of Military Glory and Commemorative Dates of Russia” dated March 13, 1995, this day was not included in the list of victorious events without any justification.
And in 2010, the wording was generally changed to “The Day of the End of World War II” and they began to celebrate September 2 as the day of military glory. In 2020, this date was again postponed to September 3.
And finally, according to the Federal Law adopted by the State Duma on June 20, 2023, the name of the day of military glory has become historically correct: "The Day of Victory over militaristic Japan and the end of World War II (1945)".
This decision provoked a nervous reaction from official Tokyo. Recently, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said that "the celebration of Victory Day over Japan could provoke an" emotional confrontation "between the peoples of the two countries." He called Russia's actions "extremely regrettable." It is clear why the changes made to our law are not to the liking of the Japanese.
But the revanchists on the Japanese islands and the homegrown zealots of universal values should not forget that Russia also has national interests. The brilliant victory won by the Red Army in August-September 1945 is an unshakable fact of history that we have the right to be proud of and the right to celebrate this victory as we see fit.
In August of this year, commemorative ceremonies were held in Japan dedicated to the 78th anniversary of the American atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed more than 200,000 people, and later during the year, the same number died from injuries and the consequences of radiation sickness. The United States thus wanted to hasten the surrender of Japan in World War II. However, it was not the nuclear bombings, but the entry of the USSR into the war that forced the Kwantung Army to lay down its arms.
But in Japan and in the United States of America today they are trying to forget about the role of the Soviet Union in the defeat of Japanese militarism. Moreover, at the mourning events, neither Tokyo nor the UN mentioned the culprit of what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Japanese prime minister even said that the main nuclear threat now comes from Moscow.
Japan has always, openly or covertly, considered aggression against our country as the main goal of its foreign policy. Suffice it to recall the war unleashed against Russia in 1904, which resulted in the loss of primordially Russian territories, the participation of Japanese troops in the intervention in the Far East in the early years of Soviet power, the occupation of Northern Sakhalin, the provocation near Lake Khasan, the armed aggression against the MPR and the USSR in the area Khalkhin-Gol river.
Despite the Neutrality Pact between the USSR and Japan of April 13, 1941, throughout the Great Patriotic War there was a threat of an attack on the Soviet Union by the Japanese, who concentrated very significant forces along our border, defiantly conducted tactical exercises there, and supplied their ally Germany specific information about the economic, political and military situation of the Soviet Union and constantly carried out various kinds of provocations.
In particular, from 1941 to the end of 1944, the Japanese detained 178 Soviet merchant ships, several ships were sunk by Japanese submarines. In 1944 alone, the Soviet border was violated 144 times, shelled dozens of times. In this regard, the Soviet government sent a note of protest 80 times.
In July 1941, the Japanese General Staff developed an operational plan for the war against the USSR, code-named "Special Maneuvers of the Kwantung Army" - "Kantokuen", in accordance with which a massive covert mobilization of the population was carried out with the aim of attacking the Soviet Union at the most favorable moment.
In accordance with the so-called strategy of ripe persimmons, the Japanese were preparing to attack the Soviet Far East and Siberia at a time when the USSR was on the verge of defeat in the European part. The defeat of the German troops in the Battle of Stalingrad convinced Japanese politicians and generals that the moment they had so much expected when the USSR “falls at their feet like a ripe persimmon” would not come. The heroic struggle of the Soviet people and their Armed Forces against fascist Germany had a sobering effect on the militarists of the Land of the Rising Sun.
The troops of the Kwantung grouping were consolidated into front-line and army formations, which included three fronts - the 1st, 3rd and 17th, a separate 4th Field Army, two air armies - the 2nd and 5th, as well as the Sungaria military flotilla.
In addition, the Japanese command had at its disposal the troops of the 250,000-strong army of the puppet state of Manchukuo, along with the cavalry formations of Prince Dewan (Tonlopa), a Japanese protege in Inner Mongolia.
In July 1945, the imperial headquarters also instructed the redeployment of the 34th Army from South Korea to the North, which became part of the 17th Front on August 10. The total number of Japanese and puppet troops by August 1945 exceeded 1 million people. It was armed with 6,640 guns and mortars, 1,215 tanks, 1,907 combat aircraft and 26 ships.
On September 2, 1945, the signing ceremony of the Japanese Surrender Act took place on the USS Missouri.
Japan's policy was to continue the war. Even after the capitulation of fascist Germany, the Japanese government defiantly declared that the change in the situation in Europe did not in any way change the military-political goals and objectives of Japan. It rejected the demand of the Allied Powers for unconditional surrender, worked out in Potsdam on July 26, 1945.
In order to eliminate the last hotbed of World War II, to provide assistance to the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition and the peoples of the countries occupied by Japan, on April 5, 1945, the Soviet government denounced the neutrality pact with Japan.
On August 8, 1945, the USSR declared war on Japan, which became a logical continuation of the Great Patriotic War and at the same time an integral part of World War II.
The troops of the Trans-Baikal, 1st and 2nd Far Eastern fronts, in cooperation with the Pacific Fleet, the Amur military flotilla and the troops of the Mongolian People's Republic, opposed the Kwantung grouping. The Soviet side outnumbered the enemy in the number of aircraft by 2.7 times, warships - by 3.6 times, tanks, guns and mortars - by 4.5 times. Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilevsky was appointed commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East in the war with Japan.
The Manchurian strategic offensive operation, codenamed "Strategic Pincers", is known in the West as the "August Storm", or "August Storm". Officially, the campaign lasted 24 days. Military operations were conducted on a vast land theater and in the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea on an area of 1.5 million square kilometers.
On the night of August 8-9, 1945, the shock groups of the Soviet fronts attacked the Japanese from land, air and sea. Within just a few weeks, the Khingan-Mukden, Harbino-Gira and Sungari offensive operations were successfully carried out. With powerful cutting blows from two main directions (MPR and Primorye) and auxiliary blows on the directions converging in the center of Manchuria, Soviet troops broke through the defenses of the Japanese army and by August 20 advanced deep into Manchuria from the west to 400–800 km, from the east to 200–300 km.
The calculation, according to the experience of the war with Germany, was made for a quick bypass of the fortified areas of the Japanese with tank and mechanized units, followed by blocking them with infantry. The main forces did not get involved in protracted battles to eliminate enemy groups in fortified areas. They bypassed them and moved further in the given directions. Surrounded garrisons were forced to surrender or destroyed by second-echelon troops.
The successful advance of Soviet troops in Manchuria made it possible to launch the South Sakhalin offensive operation on August 11, 1945. On August 15, the decree of Emperor Hirohito of Japan was broadcast on the radio on the acceptance of the terms of surrender by the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain and China.
From that day on, hostilities between the American, British and Japanese armed forces were stopped. However, the units of the Kwantung Army that opposed the Soviet troops did not receive an order to surrender and continued to resist. The same thing happened during the South Kuril landing operation that began on August 18, 1945, and the fighting on Sakhalin did not subside.
The fighting did not stop even after the commander of the Kwantung Army, General O. Yamada, signed the act of unconditional surrender in Changchun on August 19. August 22 only the million-strong Kwantung Army was defeated. According to Soviet data, her losses in killed amounted to 84 thousand people, about 600 thousand were taken prisoner. The irretrievable losses of the Red Army amounted to 12 thousand people.
On September 2, 1945, the signing ceremony of the Japanese Surrender Act was held on the USS Missouri. On behalf of the states of the anti-Hitler coalition, he was assured by representatives of the United States, Britain, the USSR, China, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands. This day is considered to be the date of the end of World War II.
Under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, Japan's sovereignty was limited to the islands of Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido, as well as some smaller islands of the Japanese archipelago. The islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Khabomai went to the Soviet Union.
American leaders and historians have repeatedly stated that without the entry of the USSR into the war, the war would have continued for at least another year and would have cost an additional several million human lives. The victory of the Red Army contributed to a powerful upsurge in the national liberation movement throughout Asia, and the Japanese people finally received liberation from the yoke of militarism and entered a new stage of political and economic development.
However, as time has shown, Japan has not learned the lessons of history and is activating revanchist aspirations towards Russia. Therefore, the restored holiday of September 3 is needed not only for us, so as not to forget, not to belittle our own victories. But for them, too, as a signal message to the future: the Red Army did not allow the persimmon to ripen during the Second World War, and Japan will not have a chance to profit from these fruits in the 21st century.
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Posted by badanov 2023-09-04 00:00||
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