1.
Second Sino-Japanese War
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The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from July 7,1937 to September 9,1945. The First Sino-Japanese War was fought from 1894 to 1895, China fought Japan, with some economic help from Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the war merged into the conflict of World War II as a major front of what is broadly known as the Pacific War. Many scholars consider the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 to have been the beginning of World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War was the largest Asian war in the 20th century. The war was the result of a decades-long Japanese imperialist policy to expand its influence politically and militarily in order to access to raw material reserves, food. The period after World War One brought about increasing stress on the Japanese polity, leftists sought universal suffrage and greater rights for workers. Increasing textile production from Chinese mills was adversely affecting Japanese production, the Depression brought about a large slowdown in exports. All of this contributed to militant nationalism, culminating in the rise to power of a militarist fascist faction and this faction was led at its height by the Imperial Rule Assistance Associations Hideki Tojo cabinet under the edict from Emperor Shōwa. Before 1937, China and Japan fought in small, localized engagements, the last of these incidents was the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937, which is traditionally seen as the beginning of total war between the two countries. Since 2017 the Chinese Government has regarded the invasion of Manchuria by the Kwantung Army in 1931, initially the Japanese scored major victories, such as the Battle of Shanghai, and by the end of 1937 captured the Chinese capital of Nanjing. After failing to stop the Japanese in Wuhan, the Chinese central government was relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior, by 1939, after Chinese victories in Changsha and Guangxi, and with Japans lines of communications stretched deep into the Chinese interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were also unable to defeat the Chinese communist forces in Shaanxi, on December 7,1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the following day the United States declared war on Japan. The United States began to aid China via airlift matériel over the Himalayas after the Allied defeat in Burma that closed the Burma Road, in 1944 Japan launched the invasion, Operation Ichi-Go, that conquered Henan and Changsha. However, this failed to bring about the surrender of Chinese forces, in 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. At the same time, China launched large counteroffensives in South China and retook the west Hunan, the remaining Japanese occupation forces formally surrendered on September 9,1945 with the following International Military Tribunal for the Far East convened on April 29,1946. China was recognized as one of the Big Four of Allies during the war, in the Chinese language, the war is most commonly known as the War of Resistance Against Japan, and also known as the Eight Years War of Resistance, simply War of Resistance. It is also referred to as part of the Global Anti-Fascist War, which is how World War 2 is perceived by the Communist Party of China, in Japan, nowadays, the name Japan–China War is most commonly used because of its perceived objectivity. In Japan today, it is written as 日中戦争 in shinjitai, the word incident was used by Japan, as neither country had made a formal declaration of war
2.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
3.
Pacific Fleet (Russia)
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The Pacific Fleet is the part of the Russian Navy that is stationed in the Pacific Ocean, which formerly secured the Far Eastern borders of the Soviet Union. The fleet headquarters is located in Vladivostok and a number of bases are located in the Vladivostok area. Another important fleet base in the Russian Far East area is Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Avacha Bay on the Kamchatka Peninsula, in 1731, the Imperial Russian Navy created the Okhotsk Military Flotilla under its first commander, Grigoriy Skornyakov-Pisarev, to patrol and transport government goods to and from Kamchatka. In 1799,3 frigates and 3 smaller ships were sent to Okhotsk under the command of Rear-Admiral I, fomin to form a functioning military flotilla. In 1849, Petropavlovsk-na-Kamchatke became the Flotillas principal base, which a year later would be transferred to Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, in 1854, the men of the Flotilla distinguished themselves in the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy during the Crimean War. In 1856, the Okhotsk Military Flotilla changed its name to the Siberian Military Flotilla, in 1860, the provisions of the Convention of Peking ceded parts of Outer Manchuria in northeastern China, including the modern day Primorsky Krai to the Russian Empire. A large squadron under Rear Admiral A. A. Popov was sent from the Baltic Fleet to the Pacific Ocean, during the American Civil War ships of the squadron visited San Francisco while the Baltic Fleet visited New York City. Parts of the squadron, including the Finnish corvette Kalevala, returned to the Baltic in 1865, at the turn of the 19th century, the Flotilla was still small in numbers. Other ships of the Siberian Military Flotilla were stationed in Vladivostok, during the Russo-Japanese War, most of the Russian Navy in the Pacific was destroyed. The Russian Baltic Fleet under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, renamed the Second Pacific Squadron, was defeated at the Battle of Tsushima, during the Russian Civil War, almost all of the ships of the Pacific Fleet were seized by the White army and the Japanese. In 1926, these were disbanded, the Vladivostok unit was transferred to the command of the troops in the Far East. Owing to Japanese aggression in Manchuria in 1931, the Central Committee, in January 1935, they were renamed the Pacific Fleet, under commander M. Viktorov. The creation of the fleet entailed great difficulties, the first units were formed with small ships delivered by railroad. In 1932, the torpedo boat squadron and eight submarines were put into service, in 1934, the Pacific Fleet received 26 small submarines. The creation of the aviation and coastal artillery was underway. In 1937, they opened the Pacific Military School, at the same time, the Soviets transferred 1 destroyer leader,2 destroyers, and 5 submarines from the Pacific Fleet to the Northern Fleet. More than 140,000 sailors from the Pacific Fleet were incorporated in the rifle brigades, thousands of sailors and officers were awarded orders and medals for outstanding military service, more than fifty men received the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Eighteen ships and fleet units received the title of the Soviet Guards, on 5 May 1965, the Pacific Fleet itself was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner
4.
Manchuria
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Manchuria is a modern name, first created by the Japanese, given to a large geographic region in Northeast Asia. Depending on the context, Manchuria can either refer to a region that falls entirely within the Peoples Republic of China, the definition of Manchuria can be any one of several regions of various size. These are, from smallest to largest, Northeast China, consisting of Heilongjiang, Jilin and this is the area referred to as Manchuria in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions. Inner Manchuria, the above, plus parts of modern Inner Mongolia, The above, plus Outer Manchuria, the area from the Amur and Ussuri rivers to the Stanovoy Mountains, in Russian administrative terms, Ussuri krai, southern Harbin oblast, Primorskiy kray. The above, plus Sakhalin Island, which is included on Qing dynasty maps as part of Outer Manchuria even though it is not explicitly mentioned in the Treaty of Nerchinsk. The island was included in Manchuria on maps made by the Japanese Shogunate. Despite of lines on maps and empiress political claims, the island was inhabited by Ainu people until the Soviet Union enforced a policy after 1945. Three centuries and a half must now pass away before entering upon the act of the Manchu drama. During the ensuing two hundred years the Nü-chêns were scarcely heard of, the House of Ming being busily occupied in other directions and it may be noted here that Manchuria is unknown to the Chinese or to the Manchus themselves as a geographical expression. The present extensive home of the Manchus is usually spoken of as the Three Eastern Provinces, namely, Shêngking, or Liao-tung, or Kuan-tung, Kirin, and Heilungchiang or Tsitsihar. — Herbert A. Giles, China and the Manchus,1912 Manchuria is a translation of the Japanese word Manshū, the Manchu and Chinese languages had no such word as Manchuria and the word has imperialist connotations. According to Bill Sewell, it was Europeans who first started using the name Manchuria to refer to the location, the historian Gavan McCormack agreed with Robert H. G. The Japanese had their own motive for deliberately spreading the usage of the term Manchuria, the historian Norman Smith wrote that The term Manchuria is controversial. Professor Mariko Asano Tamanoi said that she should use the term in quotation marks when referring to Manchuria, in his 2012 dissertation on the Jurchen people to obtain a Doctor of Philosophy degree in History from the University of Washington, Professor Chad D. In the 18th-century Europe, the later known as Manchuria was most commonly referred to as Tartary. However, the term Manchuria started appearing by the end of the century, in current Chinese parlance, an inhabitant of the Northeast, or Northeast China, is a Northeasterner. In China, the term Manchuria is rarely used today, and this usage is seen in the expression Chuǎng Guāndōng referring to the mass migration of Han Chinese to Manchuria in the 19th and 20th centuries. The name Guandong later came to be used more narrowly for the area of the Kwantung Leased Territory on the Liaodong Peninsula and it is not to be confused with the southern province of Guangdong
5.
Manchukuo
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Manchukuo was a puppet state in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia, which was governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The area, collectively known as Manchuria by westerners and Japanese, was designated by Chinas erstwhile Qing Dynasty as the homeland of the familys ethnic group. In 1931, the region was seized by Japan following the Mukden Incident and a government was installed one year later with Puyi. Manchukuos government was abolished in 1945 after the defeat of Imperial Japan at the end of World War II, Manchus formed a minority in Manchukuo, whose largest ethnic group were Han Chinese. The population of Koreans increased during the Manchukuo period, and there were also Japanese, Mongols, White Russians, the Mongol regions of western Manchukuo were ruled under a slightly different system in acknowledgement of the Mongolian traditions there. The southern part of the Liaodong Peninsula was ruled by Japan as the Kwantung Leased Territory, Manchuria is a transcription of the Japanese reading of the Chinese word 滿洲 which means Manchuria, which in Japanese is Manshū, which in turn dates from the 19th century. The name Manzhou was invented and given to the Jurchen people by Hong Taiji in 1635 as a new name for their ethnic group. However, the name Manchuria was never used by the Manchus or the Qing dynasty itself to refer to their homeland, the name itself holding imperialistic connotation. According to Mark C. 满洲 then began to appear as a place names in more maps created by Japanese like Kondi Jūzō, Takahashi Kageyasu, Baba Sadayoshi and these maps were brought to Europe by the Dutch Philipp von Siebold. According to Bill Sewell, it was Europeans who first started using Manchuria as a name to refer to the location, the historian Gavan McCormack agreed with Robert H. G. Ordinary Manchus largely spurned Manchukuo which claimed to be established for their cause, the Japanese had their own motive for deliberately spreading the usage of the term Manchuria. The historian Norman Smith wrote that The term Manchuria is controversial, professor Mariko Asano Tamanoi said that she should use the term in quotation marks, when referring to Manchuria. Herbert Giles wrote that Manchuria was unknown to the Manchus themselves as a geographical expression, the Qing Dynasty, which replaced the Shun and Ming dynasties in China, was founded by Manchus from Manchuria. The Manchu emperors separated their homeland in Jilin and Heilongjiang from the Han Liaoning province with the Willow Palisade and this ethnic division continued until the Qing dynasty encouraged massive immigration of Han in the 19th century during Chuang Guandong to prevent the Russians from seizing the area from the Qing. After conquering the Ming, the Qing identified their state as China, the lands in Manchuria were explicitly stated by the Qing to belong to China in Qing edicts and in the Treaty of Nerchinsk. The area of Manchuria was then converted into three provinces by the late Qing government in 1907, as the power of the court in Beijing weakened, many outlying areas either broke free or fell under the control of Imperialist powers. In the 19th century, Imperial Russia was most interested in the lands of the Qing Empire. In 1858, Russia gained control over a tract of land called Outer Manchuria thanks to the Supplementary Treaty of Beijing that ended the Second Opium War
6.
Inner Mongolia
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Its capital is Hohhot, and other major cities include Baotou, Chifeng, and Ordos. It is the third largest subdivision of China, spanning approximately 1,200,000 km2 or 12% of Chinas total land area and it recorded a population of 24,706,321 in the 2010 census, accounting for 1. 84% of Mainland Chinas total population. Inner Mongolia is the countrys 23rd most populous province-level division, the majority of the population in the region is Han Chinese, with a sizeable titular Mongol minority. In Chinese, the region is known as Inner Mongolia, where the terms of Inner/Outer are derived from Manchu dorgi/tulergi. The term Inner 内 referred to the Nei Fan 内番, i. e. those descendants of Genghis Khan who granted the title khan in Ming and Qing Dynasties and lived in part of southern part of Mongolia. In recent years, some Mongols began to call Inner Mongolia Nan Menggu, literally South Mongolia, much of what is known about the history of Greater Mongolia, including Inner Mongolia, is known through Chinese chronicles and historians. Slab Grave cultural monuments are found in northern, central and eastern Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, north-western China, Mongolian scholars prove that this culture related to the Proto-Mongols. During the Zhou Dynasty, central and western Inner Mongolia were inhabited by peoples such as the Loufan, Linhu. During the Warring States period, King Wuling of the state of Zhao based in what is now Hebei, after destroying the Dí state of Zhongshan in what is now Hebei province, he defeated the Linhu and Loufan and created the commandery of Yunzhong near modern Hohhot. King Wuling of Zhao also built a long wall stretching through the Hetao region and he also maintained two commanderies in the region, Jiuyuan and Yunzhong, and moved 30,000 households there to solidify the region. After the Qin Dynasty collapsed in 206 BC, these efforts were abandoned, during the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu sent the general Wei Qing to reconquer the Hetao region from the Xiongnu in 127 BC. After the conquest, Emperor Wu continued the policy of building settlements in Hetao to defend against the Xiong-Nu, in that same year he established the commanderies of Shuofang and Wuyuan in Hetao. At the same time, what is now eastern Inner Mongolia was controlled by the Xianbei, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xiongnu who surrendered to the Han Dynasty began to be settled in Hetao, and intermingled with the Han immigrants in the area. Hetao was then taken over by the Khitan Empire, founded by the Khitans and they were followed by the Western Xia of the Tanguts, who took control of what is now the western part of Inner Mongolia. The Khitans were later replaced by the Jurchens, precursors to the modern Manchus, after Genghis Khan unified the Mongol tribes in 1206 and founded the Mongol Empire, the Tangut Western Xia empire was ultimately conquered in 1227, and the Jurchen Jin dynasty fell in 1234. In 1271, Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan established the Yuan dynasty, Kublai Khans summer capital Shangdu was located near present-day Dolonnor. During that time Ongud and Khunggirad peoples dominated the area of what is now Inner Mongolia, after the Yuan dynasty was overthrown by the Han-led Ming dynasty in 1368, the Ming captured parts of Inner Mongolia including Shangdu and Yingchang. The Ming rebuilt the Great Wall of China at its present location, the Ming established the Three Guards composed of the Mongols there
7.
Mengjiang
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Formed in 1939, it consisted of the then-Chinese provinces of Chahar and Suiyuan, corresponding to the central part of modern Inner Mongolia. The capital was Kalgan, and the ruler was Demchugdongrub, the territory returned to Chinese control after the defeat of the Japanese Empire in 1945. Following Japan’s occupation of Manchuria in 1931 and the establishment of the state of Manchukuo, Japan sought to expand its influence in Mongolia. In 1936 and 1937, similar operations in Suiyuan saw the occupation and absorption of that province also, formed on 12 May 1936, the Mongol Military Government had Prince Yondonwangchug of Ulanqab as its first chairman. It was renamed in October 1937 as the Mongol United Autonomous Government, the capital was established at Zhangbei, near Kalgan, with the governments control extending around Hohhot. On 4 August 1941, it was renamed, the Mongolian Autonomous Federation. After Wang Jingwei formed a new government for the Republic of China in Nanjing, Mengjiang was placed under its control, Mengjiang ceased to exist in 1945 when it was invaded by the Soviet Red Army and Mongol Red Army as part of the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation. Most of the area, with the exception of Kalgan, is now part of Inner Mongolia in the Peoples Republic of China. Some traditional local money shops also made currency with Chinese year numbering system, such as the Jiachen Year, the Japanese had mineral interests in their created state of Mengjiang. The Mengjiang iron deposits were exported directly to Japan, at the same time, the Japanese sought the coal reserves of Suiyuan, including one of 417 million tonnes, and one with a potential extraction of 58,000 tonnes in 1940. The Mengjiang National Army was the Japanese created native army organized in Mengjiang and it was a Kwantung Army special force group under direct command, having native commanders alongside Japanese commanding officers, as in other auxiliary outer sections of the Kwantung Army. The purpose of the army was to support any eventual Japanese operations against Outer Mongolia, or the north China areas and it also had the duty of protecting Prince De Wang, the head of state, and the Mengjiang native establishment and local government properties. The army was equipped with rifles, pistols, light and medium guns, mortars and some artillery. It was organised as a cavalry and light infantry force with little artillery support. In 1936, the Inner Mongolian Army was armed with Mauser rifles and they had 200 machine guns, mostly the Czechoslovak ZB-26, model 1930 submachine gun for Teh Wangs 1,000 bodyguard troops. They had 70 artillery pieces, mostly mortars and a few captured Chinese mountain, the few tanks and armored cars were captured Chinese vehicles crewed by Japanese. Each regiment were to have three Saber companies and a gun company of 120 men. However these divisions actually ranged in size from 1,000 men to 2,000 men, in 1943, the Mongol 4th and 5th Divisions were combined to form a new 8th Division and the old 7th and 8th Divisions formed the new 9th Division
8.
Korea
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Korea is a historical state in East Asia, since 1945 divided into two distinct sovereign states, North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by China to the northwest and it is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan. Korea emerged as a political entity after centuries of conflict among the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Later Silla divided into three states during the Later Three Kingdoms period. Goryeo, which had succeeded Goguryeo, defeated the two states and united the Korean Peninsula. Around the same time, Balhae collapsed and its last crown prince fled south to Goryeo, Goryeo, whose name developed into the modern exonym Korea, was a highly cultured state that created the worlds first metal movable type in 1234. However, multiple invasions by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty during the 13th century greatly weakened the nation, following the Yuan Dynastys collapse, severe political strife followed, and Goryeo eventually fell to a coup led by General Yi Seong-gye, who established Joseon in 1388. The first 200 years of Joseon were marked by peace and saw the creation of the Korean alphabet by Sejong the Great in the 14th century. During the later part of the dynasty, however, Koreas isolationist policy earned it the Western nickname of the Hermit Kingdom, by the late 19th century, the country became the object of imperial design by the Empire of Japan. Despite attempts at modernization by the Korean Empire, in 1910 Korea was annexed by Japan and these circumstances soon became the basis for the division of Korea by the two superpowers, exacerbated by their incapability to agree on the terms of Korean independence. To date, both continue to compete with each other as the sole legitimate government of all of Korea. Korea is the spelling of Corea, a name attested in English as early as 1614. It is a derived from Cauli, Marco Polos transcription of the Chinese 高麗. This was the Hanja for the Korean kingdom of Goryeo or Koryŏ, Goryeos name was a continuation of the earlier Goguryeo or Koguryŏ, the northernmost of the Samguk, which was officially known by the shortened form Goryeo after the 5th-century reign of King Jangsu. The original name was a combination of the go with the name of a local Yemaek tribe. The name Korea is now used in English contexts by both North and South Korea. In South Korea, Korea as a whole is referred to as Hanguk, the name references the Samhan—Ma, Jin, and Byeon—who preceded the Three Kingdoms in the southern and central end of the peninsula during the 1st centuries BC and AD. It has been linked with the title khan used by the nomads of Manchuria
9.
Allies of World War II
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The Allies of World War II, called the United Nations from the 1 January 1942 declaration, were the countries that together opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War. The Allies promoted the alliance as seeking to stop German, Japanese, at the start of the war on 1 September 1939, the Allies consisted of France, Poland and the United Kingdom, and dependent states, such as the British India. Within days they were joined by the independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Poland was a minor factor after its defeat in 1939, France was a minor factor after its defeat in 1940. China had already been into a war with Japan since the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937. The alliance was formalised by the Declaration by United Nations, from 1 January 1942, however, the name United Nations was rarely used to describe the Allies during the war. The leaders of the Big Three – the UK, the Soviet Union, in 1945, the Allied nations became the basis of the United Nations. The origins of the Allied powers stem from the Allies of World War I, Germany resented signing Treaty of Versailles. The new Weimar republics legitimacy became shaken, by the early 1930s, the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler became the dominant revanchist movement in Germany and Hitler and the Nazis gained power in 1933. The Nazi regime demanded the cancellation of the Treaty of Versailles and made claims to German-populated Austria. The likelihood of war was high, and the question was whether it could be avoided through strategies such as appeasement, in Asia, when Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, the League of Nations condemned it for aggression against China. Japan responded by leaving the League of Nations in March 1933, after four quiet years, the Sino-Japanese War erupted in 1937 with Japanese forces invading China. The League of Nations condemned Japans actions and initiated sanctions on Japan, the United States, in particular, was angered at Japan and sought to support China. In March 1939, Germany took over Czechoslovakia, violating the Munich Agreement signed six months before, Britain and France decided that Hitler had no intention to uphold diplomatic agreements and responded by preparing for war. On 31 March 1939, Britain formed the Anglo-Polish military alliance in an effort to avert a German attack on the country, also, the French had a long-standing alliance with Poland since 1921. The Soviet Union sought an alliance with the powers. The agreement secretly divided the independent nations of eastern Europe between the two powers and assured adequate oil supplies for the German war machine, on 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany. Then, on 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, a Polish government-in-exile was set up and it continued to be one of the Allies, a model followed by other occupied countries. After a quiet winter, Germany in April 1940 invaded and quickly defeated Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Britain and its Empire stood alone against Hitler and Mussolini
10.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
11.
Mongolian People's Republic
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Mongolia, officially the Mongolian Peoples Republic is the period of Mongolian history which existed between 1924 and 1992 as a landlocked unitary sovereign socialist state in East Asia. It was ruled by the Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party and maintained links with the Soviet Union throughout its history. Geographically, it was bordered by China to its south, the Soviet Union to its north, from 1691 to 1911, Outer Mongolia was ruled by the Manchu Qing dynasty. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Qing government began implementing the so-called New Policies, upset by the prospect of the colonization akin to the developments in Inner Mongolia during the 19th century, the Mongolian aristocracy turned to the Russian Empire for support. In August 1911, a Mongol delegation went to Saint Petersburg, when they returned, the Xinhai Revolution that eventually led to the collapse of the Qing dynasty had begun. In the Khiagt agreement of 1915, China, Russia and Mongolia agreed on Mongolias status as autonomy under Chinese suzerainty, according to an Associated Press dispatch, some Mongol chieftains signed a petition asking China to retake administration of Mongolia and end Outer Mongolias autonomy. The Tusiyetu Khan Aimaks Prince Darchin Chin Wang was a supporter of Chinese rule while his younger brother Tsewang was a supporter of Ungern-Sternberg. It was under Chinese occupation that the Mongolian Peoples Party was founded and once again looked to the north, this time to Soviet Russia, for help. In the meantime, White Russian troops led by Roman Ungern von Sternberg had occupied Khuree in early March 1921, the Peoples Party founded a new government, but kept the Bogd Khaan as nominal head of state. In the following years through some violent power struggles, Soviet influence got ever stronger, and after the Bogd Khaans death, the government took control of the Bogda Khans seal after his death according to the 26 November 1924 Constitution of the Mongolian Peoples Republic. It was proposed that Zhang Zuolins domain take Outer Mongolia under its administration by the Bogda Khan, between 1925 and 1928, the new regime became established. At the time, Mongolia was severely underdeveloped, industry was nonexistent and all wealth was controlled by the nobility and religious establishments. The population numbered less than a people and was shrinking due to nearly half of all Mongolian males living in monasteries. In 1928, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and comintern ordered the building of socialism, in 1934, Peljidiin Genden visited Moscow and angrily accused Stalin of Red imperialism. He subsequently died in the Great Purge after being tricked into taking a holiday on the Black Sea, after 1932, the implementation of a command economy was scaled back. In 1936, Stalin then ordered the liquidation of the countrys Buddhist institutions, meanwhile, Japanese incursions in Manchuria were a casus belli for Moscow to station troops in Mongolia. At the same time, the Great Purge spilled into Mongolia, among those killed included Genden, Anandyn Amar, Demid, and Losol. After the removal of Genden from power, Marshal Khorloogiin Choibalsan, the purges led to the almost complete eradication of Tibetan Buddhism in the country, and cost an estimated 30, 000–35,000 lives, equivalent to about five percent of Mongolias population
12.
Axis powers
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The Axis powers, also known as the Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, were the nations that fought in World War II against the Allied Powers. The Axis agreed on their opposition to the Allies, but did not completely coordinate their activity, the Axis grew out of the diplomatic efforts of Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the treaty signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936, Mussolini declared on 1 November that all other European countries would from then on rotate on the Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term Axis. The almost simultaneous second step was the signing in November 1936 of the Anti-Comintern Pact, Italy joined the Pact in 1937. At its zenith during World War II, the Axis presided over territories that occupied parts of Europe, North Africa. There were no three-way summit meetings and cooperation and coordination was minimal, the war ended in 1945 with the defeat of the Axis powers and the dissolution of their alliance. As in the case of the Allies, membership of the Axis was fluid, at the time he was seeking an alliance with the Weimar Republic against Yugoslavia and France in the dispute over the Free State of Fiume. The term was used by Hungarys prime minister Gyula Gömbös when advocating an alliance of Hungary with Germany, when Mussolini publicly announced the signing on 1 November, he proclaimed the creation of a Rome–Berlin axis. Italy under Duce Benito Mussolini had pursued an alliance of Italy with Germany against France since the early 1920s. He believed that Italy could expand its influence in Europe by allying with Germany against France, in early 1923, as a goodwill gesture to Germany, Italy secretly delivered weapons for the German Army, which had faced major disarmament under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. General Hans von Seeckt supported an alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union to invade and partition Poland between them and restore the German-Russian border of 1914. The discussions concluded that Germans still wanted a war of revenge against France but were short on weapons, however at this time Mussolini stressed one important condition that Italy must pursue in an alliance with Germany, that Italy must. Tow them, not be towed by them, the French government warned Italy that it had to choose whether to be on the side of the pro-Versailles powers or that of the anti-Versailles revanchists. Grandi responded that Italy would be willing to offer France support against Germany if France gave Italy its mandate over Cameroon, France refused Italys proposed exchange for support, as it believed Italys demands were unacceptable and the threat from Germany was not yet immediate. In 1932, Gyula Gömbös and the Party of National Unity rose to power in Hungary, Gömbös sought to alter Hungarys post–Treaty of Trianon borders by forming an alliance with Austria and Italy, knowing that Hungary alone was not capable of challenging the Little Entente powers. At the meeting between Gömbös and Mussolini in Rome on 10 November 1932, the question came up of the sovereignty of Austria in relation to the rise to power in Germany of the Nazi Party. Mussolini was worried about Nazi ambitions towards Austria, and indicated that at least in the term he was committed to maintaining Austria as a sovereign state. Italy had concerns over a Germany which included Austria laying land claims to German-populated territories of the South Tyrol within Italy, Mussolini said he hoped the Anschluss could be postponed as long as possible until the breakout of a European war that he estimated would begin in 1938
13.
Empire of Japan
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The Empire of Japan was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan. Imperial Japans rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei led to its emergence as a world power, after several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the State of Japan or simply rendered Japan in English. The historical state is referred to as the Empire of Japan or the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku, which translates to Greater Japanese Empire and this is analogous to Großdeutsches Reich, a term that translates to Greater German Empire in English and Dai Doitsu Teikoku in Japanese. This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun. After two centuries, the policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The following years saw increased trade and interaction, commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the terms of these Unequal Treaties, the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement. In March 1863, the Emperor issued the order to expel barbarians, although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, the British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and they responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. For Richardsons death, the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity, shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the coup known as the Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, in early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito. On November 9,1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor, however, while Yoshinobus resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. On January 3,1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the palace in Kyoto. On January 17,1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration, on January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces
14.
Aleksandr Vasilevsky
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Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky was a Russian career officer in the Red Army who was promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1943. He was the Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces and Deputy Minister of Defense during World War II, Vasilevsky began his military career during World War I, earning the rank of captain by 1917. At the start of the October Revolution and the Civil War he was conscripted into the Red Army, after the war, he quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a regimental commander by 1930. In this position, he showed skill in organizing and training his troops. Vasilevskys talent was noticed, and in 1931 he was appointed a member of the Directorate of Military Training, in 1937, following Stalins Great Purge, he was promoted to General Staff officer. In July 1945, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Soviet forces in the Far East, executing the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation, after the war, he became the Soviet Defense Minister, a position he held until Stalins death in 1953. With Nikita Khrushchevs rise, Vasilevsky began losing power and was pensioned off. After his death, he was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in recognition of his past service, Vasilevsky was born on September 30,1895 in Novaya Golchikha in the Kineshma Uyezd in a family of Russian ethnicity. Vasilevsky was the fourth of eight children and his father, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vasilevsky, was a priest to the nearby St. Nicholas Church. His mother, Nadezhda Ivanovna Sokolova, was the daughter of a priest in the village of Ugletz. Vasilevsky reportedly broke off all contact with his parents after 1926 because of his Communist Party membership and his duties in the Red Army. However, the family resumed relations in 1940, following Joseph Stalins suggestion that they do so, according to Vasilevsky, his family was extremely poor. His father spent most of his working to earn money. In 1897, the moved to Novopokrovskoe, where his father became a priest to the newly built Ascension Church. In 1909, he entered Kostroma seminary, which required considerable financial sacrifice on the part of his parents, the same year, a ministerial directive preventing former seminarists from starting university studies initiated a nationwide seminarist movement, with classes stopping in most Russian seminaries. Vasilevsky, among others, was expelled from Kostroma, and only returned several months later, after the demands had been satisfied. According to his own words, he was overwhelmed with patriotic feelings, Vasilevsky took his exams in January 1915 and entered the Alexander Military Law Academy in February. As he recalls, I did not decide to become an officer to start a military career, I still wanted to be an agronomist and work in some remote corner of Russia after the war
15.
Ivan Yumashev
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Ivan Stepanovich Yumashev was a Soviet Navy admiral, Hero of the Soviet Union, and Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Naval Forces from January 1947 to July 1951. Yumashev was the son of a railwayman and joined the Baltic Fleet after finishing school in 1912 and he served as a machinist and was promoted to petty officer in 1917. During the Russian Civil War he served in the Volga River, in 1921 he was gunnery officer on the battleship Marat. In 1926 he transferred to the Black Sea Fleet as captain of the cruiser Komintern and he subsequently commanded the cruiser Profintern and destroyer flotillas. In 1938 Yumashev was given command of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, in 1947 he was promoted to Commander in Chief of the Soviet Navy, while also becoming Minister of the Navy, replacing Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov. In 1951 Admiral Kuznetsov was restored to his position and Yumashev was made a deputy of the Supreme Soviet, Yumashev retired in 1957 and died in Leningrad in 1972. Ivan Yumashev was awarded six Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, Order of the Red Star, and numerous medals, the Kresta II class cruiser Admiral Yumashev was named after him. Герои Советского Союза, Краткий биографический словарь, Хабаровск,1982, кн.2 Цкитишвили К. Герои Советского Союза из Грузии. - Тб.1981
16.
Prisoner of war
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A prisoner of war is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the prisoner of war dates to 1660. The first Roman gladiators were prisoners of war and were named according to their ethnic roots such as Samnite, Thracian, typically, little distinction was made between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although women and children were more likely to be spared. Sometimes, the purpose of a battle, if not a war, was to capture women, a known as raptio. Typically women had no rights, and were legally as chattel. For this he was eventually canonized, during Childerics siege and blockade of Paris in 464, the nun Geneviève pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so, many French prisoners of war were killed during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. In the later Middle Ages, a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat, in Christian Europe, the extermination of heretics was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades, likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Muslims in the 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed, their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the status of the captive. In feudal Japan there was no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, in Termez, on the Oxus, all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain. The Aztecs were constantly at war with neighbouring tribes and groups, for the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, between 10,000 and 80,400 persons were sacrificed. During the early Muslim conquests, Muslims routinely captured large number of prisoners, aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or enslaved. Christians who were captured during the Crusades, were either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom. The freeing of prisoners was highly recommended as a charitable act, there also evolved the right of parole, French for discourse, in which a captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to escape, he could gain better accommodations, if he swore to cease hostilities against the nation who held him captive, he could be repatriated or exchanged but could not serve against his former captors in a military capacity. Early historical narratives of captured colonial Europeans, including perspectives of literate women captured by the peoples of North America. The writings of Mary Rowlandson, captured in the fighting of King Philips War, are an example
17.
Zhang Jinghui
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Zhang Jinghui, was a Chinese general and politician during the Warlord era. He is noted for his role in the Japanese puppet regime of Manchukuo in which he served as its second, Zhang Jinghui was born in Taian, southwest of Mukden, Liaoning Province. The area was a battlefield in the First Sino-Japanese War, and these forces were recruited as mercenaries by the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. At that time, Zhang Jinghui was appointed commander of the Beiyang Army’s 27th Infantry Brigade, however, with the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916, the Beiyang Army split into several mutually hostile factions. Zhang Jinghui deserted Zhang Zuolin to join with Wu Peifus Zhili clique and he later rejoined Zhang Zuolin and served as his Minister of War in the Beiyang Government from May 1926 to June 1927. He then served as Minister of Enterprises in the Beiyang Government from June 1927 to June 1928, within the year he was appointed governor of the Harbin and China Eastern Railway Special District in northern Manchuria. Following the expulsion of pro-Kuomintang General Ma Zhanshan from Qiqihar, Zhang proclaimed his territory to be self-governing, however, his refusal to leave his stronghold in Harbin to take up residence in Qiqihar created friction with the Kwangtung Army leadership. However, when Ma Zhanshan agreed to terms with the Japanese on 14 February 1932 in exchange for the post of Governor of Heilongjiang Province, Ma later revolted in April 1932 and Zhang took his place as Minister of Defense of the Empire of Manchukuo. On 21 May 1935, Zhang succeeded Zheng Xiaoxu as Prime Minister of Manchukuo at the instigation of the Kwantung Army over the objections of Emperor Puyi, in 1943, he was the official delegate from Manchukuo to the Greater East Asia Conference held in Tokyo. Zhang held the position of Prime Minister until the collapse of Manchukuo following the Soviet Red Armys invasion of Manchuria in August 1945 and he died of heart failure nine years later in 1959. The Manchurian Myth, Nationalism, Resistance, and Collaboration in Modern China, IMTFE Judgement, Invasion & Occupation of Manchuria Photo at World War II Database
18.
36th Army (Soviet Union)
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The 36th Army was a military formation of the Red Army and Soviet Ground Forces. It participated in the protection of the border of the USSR Trans-Baikal. Formed in July 1941 and Transbaikal Military District based on 12th Rifle Corps, major-General, the October 1943 Lieutenant General Fomenko SS, Lieutenant General, from September 1945 Colonel-General A. A. Luchinsky. 36th Army entry lists and units of the Red Army in the army in 1939–45. Lucinschi AA, Zabaykaltsy on the Hills of Manchuria, AUIAB1971, №8
19.
6th Guards Tank Army
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Its commander was Lt. Gen. Tank Tr. A. G. Kravchenko. Initially commanding the 5th Mechanised Corps and the 5th Guards Tank Corps and it then fought in the Iassy-Kishinev Offensive during August 1944 before gaining a Guards title in September 1944. Under its new title, it was engaged in the Battle of Debrecen on the 2nd Ukrainian Front. Pushing west, the army moved south of Vienna, Austria. At the end of the war, one of its subordinate formations, the 6th Guards Tank Army was then moved to the Transbaikal Military District in order to take part in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. The army, under the command of Colonel General Andrei Kravchenko spearheaded the Transbaikal Fronts offensive against the Japanese Kwantung Army on 9 August 1945. The 6th Guards Tank Army consisted of the 5th Guards Tank Corps, and 7th and 9th Guards Mechanised Corps, and many smaller formations, in all, a total of 1,019 tanks and self-propelled guns. For this operation, the army was restructured such that the infantry, artillery. This was the first example of what proved to be the standard Soviet mechanized army organization during the Cold War and it was stationed in Mongolia, reporting to the Transbaikal Military District, for 15 years after the war. The friendship with China of those days and the Nikita Khrushchev military reductions changed the fate of the Army, 22nd Guards Tank Division joined the army in 1957. Toward the end of the 1980s it appears to have retained three or four Guards Tank Divisions - the 17th, 42nd and the 75th (formerly the 75th Guards Rifle Division, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union it became part of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. In March 1992 Major General Volodymyr Shkidchenko returned home to become the armys commander and he was promoted to Lieutenant General by Edict 642/92 of 31 December 1992. Shkidchenko was released from command of the 6th Guards Tank Army by Presidential Edict No, 220/93 June 19,1993, to be appointed to another post. The first reference to the 6th Army Corps, the successor formation, thus it appears the 6th Guards Tank Army was disbanded by redesignation sometime between June and August 1993. The 6th Army Corps was based at Dnipropetrovsk and consisted of brigades, including the 17th Armored Brigade. The Soviet Army in the Period of the Cold War, Tomsk University Press,2004 David M. Glantz, Companion to Colussus Reborn, Lawrence, David M. Glantz, When Titans Clashed, Lawrence, University Press of Kansas,1995
20.
Mongolian People's Army
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The Mongolian Peoples Army or Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Army was established on 18 March 1921 as a secondary army under Soviet Red Army command during the 1920s and during World War II. In 1992, when the Mongolian Peoples Republic dissolved, the structure changed. It was then reorganized and renamed as the General Purpose Force, the MPRP was aided by the Russian SFSR Red Army, which helped to secure the Mongolian Peoples Republic and remained in its territory until at least 1925. During the Pei-ta-shan Incident, elite Qinghai Chinese Muslim cavalry were sent by the Chinese Kuomintang to destroy the Mongols, the unit served to raise morale and to prevent enemy political propaganda. Up to one third of army units were members of the party, the Red Mongol Army received sixty percent of the government budget in early years and it to expanded from 2,560 men in 1923 to 4,000 in 1924 and to 7,000 in 1927. By 1926 the government planned to train 10,000 conscripts annually, Chinese intelligence reports in 1927 indicated that between 40,000 and 50,000 reservists could be mustered at short notice. In 1929 a general mobilization was called to test the training, the expected turnout was to have been 30,000 troops but only 2,000 men presented. This failure initiated serious reforms in recruiting and training systems, the basic unit was the 2, 000-man cavalry regiment consisting of three squadrons. Each 600-plus-man squadron was divided into five companies, a gun company. Cavalry regiments were organized into larger units--brigades or divisions—which included artillery, the chief advantage of this force was mobility over the great distances in Mongolia, small units were able to cover more than 160 km in 24 hours. Until 1924, Peoples Army personnel wore traditional deel, which had their respective shoulder insignias, in the mid-1930s, the army adopted Soviet Gymnasterka and developed its true rank and distinction system. All personnel were distinct by their sleeve and collar insignias from the population when the gymnastyorka was rather popular. After the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, slight modifications were made, in 1944 all uniforms and insignia were significantly changed to include shoulder insignia and camouflage cloaks, similar to Soviet uniform modifications but on olive green. From the 1960s, the equipment and uniforms of the Mongolian Peoples Army were included a program to modernize the military, as before, the Mongolian Peoples Army was similar to the Soviet Red Army in appearance and structure. Units of Mongolian Peoples Army were supported and allied with the Soviet Red Army in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939, domestically, it took part in the suppression of the 1932 armed uprising. It also involved in border conflicts against Manchukuo and the Kwantung Army. The Imperial Japanese Army recorded 152 minor incidents on the border of Manchuria between 1932 and 1934, the number of incidents increased to over 150 per year in 1935 and 1936, and the scale of incidents became larger. In January 1935, the first armed battle, Halhamiao incident occurred on the border between Mongolia and Manchukuo, scores of Mongolian cavalry units engaged with a Manchukuo army patrol unit near the Buddhist temple of Halhamiao
21.
5th Red Banner Army
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The 5th Army is a Russian Ground Forces formation in the Far East Military District. During the Soviet period it was known as the 5th Red Banner Army, in the disastrous first months of Barbarossa, the 5th Army was encircled and destroyed around Kiev. The 5th Army itself only advanced as far as East Prussia before it was moved east to take part in the Soviet attack on Japan. Since 1945 under the Soviet and now Russian flag it has formed part of the Far East Military District keeping watch on the border with the Peoples Republic of China, the 5th Army was created in August 1939 in the Special Kiev Military District from the Northern Army Group. In September 1939 the 5th Army took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland, the Army was originally placed under the command of I. G. The Army’s rifle divisions were assigned to cover the Lutsk-Rovno approaches to the Ukraine and were tasked to man the Kovel, Strumilov, the Army was stationed in barracks up to forty miles from the frontier, and would need three to four days to take up its positions. The Commander Southwestern Front, Mikhail Kirponos, decided to halt this with an attack into the flank of Panzer Group 1 using all the mobile forces – five mechanised corps. Potapov, now commanding the 5th Army, was ordered on 29 June to make attack on Panzer Group 1’s flank from the woods of Klevany. Amid these efforts, Kirponos managed to withdraw most of his Front to a new line almost on the old Soviet/Polish border, and prevented the Germans from rupturing the Soviet defensive line. By 7 September the 5th Army was threatened with being split in two by the Second Army coming from the east and the Sixth Army’s northern outflanking of Kiev. The Stavka refused permission initially for the 5th Army to withdraw, by 9 September Stalin had finally given authority for the 5th Army to withdraw but by then it was trapped, and on 20 September Potapov and his command group were taken prisoner. In the disastrous battle, the German forces encircled forces from the 5th, 21st, 26th, and 37th Armies, captured Kiev, and claimed 665,000 prisoners. The 5th Army was re-raised for the time in October 1941, under the command of Dmitri Lelyushenko. Recent sources give the actual re-raising date as 11 October 1941 and it included two rifle divisions and three tank brigades. Lelyuschenko was wounded and General L. A. Govorov took over, what thin reserves there were ran out, and Mozhaisk fell on 18 October. Later that year the Army took part in the Klin-Solnechogorsk offensive operation, eventually the 5th Army defeated the Germans near Zvenigorod, and the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps forced itself into the German rear in a daring raid, making further advances possible. In Western Front directives of 6 and 8 January 1942, the 5th Army received orders to first outflank, however Govorovs rifle divisions were falling to below 2,500 each, and the Army ‘started to run out of steam. In April 1942 Govorov was posted to command the Leningrad Front, as part of the Western Front the 5th Army then took part in the Operation of Rzhev-Vyazma, including the Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive in November–December 1942
22.
Kwantung Army
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The Kwantung Army was an army group of the Imperial Japanese Army in the first half of the 20th century. It became the largest and most prestigious command in the IJA, in August 1945, the army group, only around 713,000 men at the time, was defeated by and surrendered to Soviet troops as a result of the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation. Following the Russo-Japanese War, Japan obtained the Kwantung Leased Territory, Kwantung means east of Shanhaiguan, a guarded pass, east of which lies Manchuria. It was headquartered in Port Arthur, known as Ryojun in Japanese, after a reorganization in 1919, the Kwantung Garrison was renamed the Kwantung Army. They also advocated an aggressive, expansionist foreign policy regarding the Asian mainland. Members or former members of the Kwantung Army were active in numerous coup détat attempts against the civilian government, conspirators within the junior officer corps of the Kwantung Army plotted and carried out the assassination of Manchurian warlord Chang Tsolin in the Huanggutun Incident of 1928. Presented with the fait accompli, Imperial General Headquarters had little choice, the success of the campaign meant that the insubordination of the Kwantung Army was rewarded rather than punished. With the foundation of Manchukuo in 1932, the Kwantung Army played a role in the political administration of the new state as well as in its defense. When war broke out in the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937, its forces participated in Battle of Beiping-Tianjin, later, Kwantung forces supported the war in China from time to time. The Kwantung Army was heavily augmented over the few years, up to a strength of 700,000 troops by 1941. The Kwantung Army also oversaw the creation, training, and equipping of an auxiliary force, during this time, Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda worked as liaison officer between the Imperial house and the Kwantung Army. Although a source of constant unrest during the 1930s, the Kwantung Army remained remarkably obedient during the 1940s. As combat spread south into central China and southern China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, however, as the war situation began to deteriorate for the Imperial Japanese Army on all fronts, the large, well-trained, and well-equipped Kwantung Army could no longer be held in strategic reserve. Many of its front line units were stripped of their best units and equipment. Other units were sent south into China for Operation Ichi-Go, by 1945, the Kwantung Army consisted of a mere 713,000 personnel, divided into 31 infantry divisions, nine infantry brigades, two tank brigades, and one special purpose brigade. It also possessed 1,155 light tanks,5,360 guns, the quality of troops had fallen drastically, as all the best men and materiel were siphoned off for use in other theaters. These forces were replaced by militia, draft levies, reservists, the Kwantung Army had also bacteriological weapons, prepared for use against Soviet troops. The bulk of equipment was developed in the 1930s
23.
Third Army (Japan)
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The Japanese 3rd Army was initially raised during the Russo-Japanese War under the command of General Nogi Maresuke. In the initial stages of the war, its mission was the Siege of Port Arthur. After the fall of that Russian stronghold, it was transferred north and it was disbanded at the end of the war. The Japanese 3rd Army was raised again on January 13,1938 in Manchukuo as a force to guard the eastern borders against possible incursions by the Soviet Red Army. It afterwards came under the command of the Japanese First Area Army in July 1942, as the war situation deteriorated for the Japanese in southeast Asia, the more experienced units and much of the equipment of the IJA 3rd Army were transferred to other units. Downfall, The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. The Pacific War Companion, From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima, the Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria,1945. Lt. Col. David Glantz, August Storm, The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, Leavenworth Paper No.7, Command and General Staff College, kwantung Army Order of Battle 30 July 1945 Wendel, Marcus
24.
Thirtieth Army (Japan)
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The Japanese 30th Army was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the final days of World War II. The Japanese 30th Army was initially raised on July 30,1945 in the Manchukuo capital of Hsinking, as the war situation on the Pacific front grew increasingly desperate for Japan, the Imperial Japanese Army transferred more and more experienced divisions out of Manchukuo to other fronts. By early 1945, the vaunted Kwantung Army was largely hollowed out, after a brief struggle at Hsinking (during which time the remnants of the Manchukuo Imperial Guard also defected to the Soviet side, the Japanese 30th Army surrendered. Most of its survivors became Japanese POWs in the Soviet Union, many of whom died under harsh conditions in Siberia, downfall, The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire. Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945, the Pacific War Companion, From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria,1945
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Soviet Union
Mongolia
Aleksandr Vasilevsky
Ivan Yumashev
Otozō Yamada (POW)
Zhang Jinghui (POW)
Media related to World War II Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation at Wikimedia Commons
