| Operation codename: August Storm |
Unlike the Western Allies, the Soviet Union did not too much looking back to Japans surrender formalities and managed to only their own political interests. After declaring war to Japan launched the Soviet troops in the Far East (Marshall Vasilevskij) on 9th August to Manchuria attack from several directions, using its overwhelming superiority over the Kwantung Army (General O. Yamada) and totally beated her. Red Army offensive operations continue regardless of the willingness of Japans surrender ... (Jaroslav Hrbek, Ivan Hrbek - Vítězství přichází z moře, Naše vojsko 1999)
Article on Czech Wikipedia
Article on English Wikipedia| Scenario in dates: |
| July 1, 1942: |
Inner Mongolia (area in China under Japanese control) - on Pao Tow Chien airport successfully landed Italian plane Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 GA after courageous and dangerous long distance flight, which started from the Germans held the Ukrainian Zaporozhye on the previous day and despite all the difficulties crossed the European and Asian territories hostile USSR. Later, he will fly to Tokyo and return back to Italy. The indisputable and unique success of the transport links between the Axis powers is well propagandistically used in Italy in spite of Japanese wishes to keep it in secret, since Japan maintains strict neutrality towards the USSR. |
| July 2, 1944: |
Above Manchuria - Japanese experimental long-range aircraft Tachikawa Ki-77 is taking a record 16,500 km long flight on a triangular route, which he completed a total of nineteen times. Although the action does not directly contribute to the war effort, it is used for propaganda purposes. |
| February 4, 1945: |
In the Soviet Union - The Yalta Conference begins. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin and their senior military and political advisors meet to discuss the postwar order and the war with Japan. Yalta is a recently liberated Crimean resort. |
| February 11, 1945: |
In the Soviet Union - The Yalta Conference ends. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin and their senior military and political advisors meet to discuss the postwar order and the war with Japan. It is agreed that the USSR will join the war against Japan within three months of the end of the war in Europe. In return, the Soviet Union will be granted the Japanese part of Sakhalin Island and the Kurile Islands. Also, the postwar borders of Poland are established, as is the division of Germany into occupation zones. There are vague Soviet assurances concerning "free" and "democratic" elections in eastern European countries liberated by the USSR. In addition, there is discussion of a United Nations Organization and there is agreement on a preliminary meeting to create the institution, in April in San Francisco. Yalta is a recently liberated Crimean resort. The Soviet delegation leaves the Crimea over the Kerch Strait on the originally Germans built the Kerch Railroad Bridge, which will be destroyed a week later by the ice pushed by wind from the Azov Sea, and both shores will again link up the Crimean Bridge in 2018. |
| April 5, 1945: |
Soviet Union - The USSR government announces the denunciation of the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact for its alleged persistent violations by the Japanese side. |
| July 26, 1945: |
Occupied Germany - The so-called Potsdam Declaration is being adopted at a conference in Potsdam near Berlin, calling on Japan to surrender according to the conditions, otherwise it will face complete destruction. The declaration is signed by US President Harry Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek. The Soviet Union is not a signatory of the declaration because it is not in war with Japan, but it is bound by the secret conclusions of the Yalta Conference to attack Japan within three months after the end of the war in Europe. During the conference, Truman generally mentions to Stalin "a powerful new weapon," but he does not show signs of surprise becouse he is informed about the US nuclear weapon by his agents. At the same time, the results of the June elections in Britain, after the counting of the overseas votes, are published. Winston Churchill recieves a crushing defeat and leaves the conference and the post of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. His successor becomes Clement Attlee. |
| July 28, 1945: |
Over Japan - Some 2000 Allied planes bomb Kure, Kobe and targets in the Inland Sea. The air strikes sink the Japanese aircraft carrier Amagi, battleships Ise and Haruna, the old cruiser Izumo, the light cruiser Oyodo and demage aircraft carriers Kaiyo and Katsuragi. The destruction of japanese warships in Kure and the inland sea in last few days is considered as the Japanese Navy´s Pearl Harbor and leaves Nagato at Yokosuka as the only remaining capital ship in Japan´s inventory. The weak Soviet Pacific Fleet has dispelled the threat in the Japanese Sea. |
| August 2, 1945: |
In Occupied Germany - The Potsdam conference ends. Attlee, Truman and Stalin agree to limit German industrial growth and transfer a significant amount of eastern German territory to the USSR and Poland (in return for land annexed by the Soviet Union). Allied reparations are to be paid for by German assets and major war criminals are to be brought to trial soon. German cartels, as well as war industries, are to be broken up. Going some way to accepting the controversial proposal of the US Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr., the Big Three propose that the German economy should "give primary emphasis to agriculture" and "domestic industries." In addition, Stalin confirms that the Soviet Union will join the war against Japan while also mentioning Japanese efforts to have the USSR mediate peace talks with the Americans and British. |
| August 8, 1945: |
In Moscow - The Soviet Union declares itself to be at war with Japan as of midnight (August 9th), citing the Japanese failure to respond to the Potsdam Declaration. Commissar Molotov says that the USSR has declared war because Japan is the only great power preventing peace. He indicates that it was in the interests of shortening the war and bring peace to the world that the Soviet Union has agreed to the Allied request made at Potsdam to join the war. Furthermore, Molotov states that the Soviets had been asked to mediate by Japan, but that proposal had lost all basis when Japan refused to surrender unconditionally. |
| August 9, 1945: |
In China - In the north, Soviet forces begin an offensive against the Japanese army occupying Manchuria with puppet state Manchukuo about 10 minutes after midnight. The Soviets have assembled about 1,500,000 troops in three army groups for the operation: 1st Far East Front, 2nd Far East Front and the Transbaikal Front. They are equipped with 3900 aircraft, 5500 tanks and 26,000 artillery tubes. The outnumbered 1,000,000 men of the poorly equipped Japanese Kwantung Army (Yamada) lack armor, artillery and aircraft. Japanese defenses are quickly overcome. Meanwhile, Chinese paratroopers are dropped on the Canton-Hankow rail line. |
| August 9, 1945: |
In Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki says that the entry of the USSR into the war "makes the continuance of the war impossible." Towards midnight Emperor Hirohito calls the Supreme Council together and tries to make the military leaders accept the proposed surrender. At about 0300 hours, the meeting breaks up with nothing decided other than a cautious sounding of the possibilities of peace through Sweden and Switzerland. |
| August 10, 1945: |
In Mongolia - In Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian government declares war on Japan. |
| August 10, 1945: |
In China - Soviet forces have advanced 120 miles into Manchukuo (Manchuria) since declaring war on Japan. |
| August 12, 1945: |
In China - The Soviets 1st Far Eastern Front continues offensive operations in difficult mountain and wooded country. The towns of Muchang and Kunchung have been captured. |
| August 12, 1945: |
In Korea - Soviet forces, advancing from near Vladivostock, penetrate the Korean peninsula from the north. Landing parties from the Soviet Pacific Fleet capture the ports of Yuki and Rashin in the northern. |
| August 14, 1945: |
In China - Soviet forces have routed the Japanese Kwangtung Army and penetrated between 100 and 250 miles into Manchuria, occupying a number of towns. |
| August 15, 1945: |
In Moscow - The Nationalist government of China and the USSR sign a Treaty of Friendship. Manchuria, which the Japanese called Manchukuo, is to be returned to Chinese sovereignty within three months of the end of hostilities. The treaty excludes Chinese Communists and is viewed as a tactical victory by the Nationalists in the rivalry with the Communists. In return for the recovery of Manchuria, the Chinese government has recognized Soviet sovereignty over Port Arthur, which is to be a joint naval base and Dairen a free port. |
| August 16, 1945: |
In China - The Soviet commander, Marshal Vassilevsky, calls on the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria to surrender by August 20th. There is no reply from the Japanese headquarters, but from 1900 hours many Japanese units begin to surrender. |
| August 17, 1945: |
In China - Fighting continues in Manchuria, but the Soviet high command announces that Japanese forces have begun to surrender in several places. |
| August 18, 1945: |
In China - Most of Manchuria has been overrun by Soviet forces. They have taken Harbin and are closing in on Mukden and Changchun. In an advance from near Vladivostock, they have entered northern Korea. Japanese forces continue to resist in spite of the Imperial order to surrender. |
| August 19, 1945: |
In China - Chiang Kai-shek forbids Japanese forces from surrendering to the Red Chinese forces and demands of the communist forces that they not advance. The Communist forces disregard the demand. Meanwhile, in Manchuria, the Soviet 2nd Far Eastern Front captures Tsitsihar in the Manchurian Plain. Transbaikal Front armor advances toward the town from the west, by-passing pockets of Japanese resistance. Soviet troops link up with Chinese Communist forces. |
| August 19, 1945: |
Manchuria - Fearing that a defunct Soviet high-ranking NKVD officer, Genrich Lyushkov, could hand over Japanese military secrets to the Soviets if captured by the advancing Red Army, the Japanese intelligence service assassinates the agent. |
| August 20, 1945: |
In China - Communist and Nationalist troops clash in the north. In Manchuria, the Red Army occupies Mukden and Harbin. An American volunteer team rescues a number of high-ranking Allied prisoners of war by parachuting into Mukden, in Manchuria, shortly before the arrival of Soviet troops. Among the POWs are Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, who led the American last stand on Corregidor in the Philippines in 1942, Lt. Gen. Arthur Percival, commander of the Singapore garrison at its surrender in 1942, and the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, Mr. van Starkenborch Stachouwer Starkenborgh Stachouwer. |
| August 21, 1945: |
In China - Soviet forces have occupied nearly all of Manchuria. Troops of the Japanese Kwantung Army are surrendering at a rate of 100,000 per day. The Red Army continues to advance and seize territory. |
| August 22, 1945: |
In Manchuria - The Japanese Kwantung Army surrenders to Soviet forces at Harbin. Some fighting continues, however, because Japanese headquarters have been unable to contact all the divisions retreating in disorder before the Red Army. In the continuing advance, Soviet forces reach Port Arthur and Dairen. Soviet forces also capture 39-year-old Pu Yi, the nominal head of the Japanese sponsored state of Manchukuo (Manchuria) who held the title Emperor Kang Teh. |
| August 23, 1945: |
In China - Soviet troops occupy Port Arthur. The port was seized by Japan from Russia in 1905. |
| August 28, 1945: |
In Japan - the southern half of Sakhalin Island is occupied by Soviet forces. |
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| Literature sources: |  | Jordan, David, Wiest Andrew: Atlas Of World War II., Ottovo nakladatelství, 2006, Praha |  | Pchu-i, Henri: From Emperor to Citizen, Panorama, 1990, Praha |  | Novotný, Josef: Causa Dohihara, Laser, 1994, Plzeň |  . | Skřivan, Aleš: Japonská válka 1931 - 1945 (Japanese War 1931 - 1945), Libri, 1997, Praha |  | Novotný, Josef: Kantó Gun: Historie kuangtungské armády (Kanto Gun: History of Kwangtung army), Fontána, 2003, Olomouc |  | Pejčoch, I., Spurný S.: Obrněná technika 3 (Armored machinery 3), Ares, 1999, Praha | | . | Pejčoch, I., Spurný S.: Obrněná technika 4 (Armored machinery 4), Ares, 2002, Praha |  | Glantz, David M.: The Soviet strategic offensive in Manchuria, 1945, Naše vojsko, 2006, Praha | Tesárek, Bohuslav: Japonské tankové síly do roku 1945 (Japanese Armored Forces up to 1945), HPM No. 5 a 6/1997
Novotný, Josef, JUDr.: Japonské tanky do roku 1945 (Japanese Tanks up to 1945), HPM No. 2 a 3/1993
Pejčoch, Ivo: Japonský střední tank Typ 89 Chi-Ro (Japanese Middle Tank Type 89 Chi-Ro), HPM No. 9/2006
Spurný, Svatopluk: Lehký tank T-26 (Light Tank T-26), HPM No. 12/1997 + 1 a 2/1998
Pejčoch, Ivo: Lehký tank Typ 95 Ha-Go (Light tank Type 95 Ha-Go), HPM No. 1/1994
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