Battle of Halhin Gol
Categories	Military history of Japan Military history of the USSR
Dates	1939
Place	Mongolia
Result	Resounding Soviet victory
Combatants Soviet Union Japan Strength 57,000 30,000 Casualties 6,831 killed 15,952 wounded 8,440 killed 8,766 wounded

The Battle of Halhin Gol, sometimes spelled Khalkhin Gol or Khalkin Gol and alternately known as the Nomonhan Incident (after a nearby village) in Japan, was the decisive engagement of the undeclared Soviet-Japanese Border War (1939), or Japanese-Soviet War. It should not be confused with the conflict in 1945 when the USSR declared war in support of the other Allies of World War II and launched Operation August Storm. The military history of Japan, like that of most nations, is characterized by a long and fierce period of feudal wars, followed by a long period of domestic stability. ... Joseph Stalin and Kliment Voroshilov salute a military parade in Red Square above the message Long Live the Worker-Peasant Red Army—Loyal Sentinel of the Soviet Borders! The military history of the Soviet Union began in the days following the 1917 October Revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power. ... Download high resolution version (1600x800, 6 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Soviet Union Space Shuttle Challenger Space Shuttle Enterprise Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Discovery Space Shuttle Atlantis Space Shuttle Endeavour Space exploration Shuttle Buran Modern pentathlon Football World Cup 1958 Football World Cup 1962... File links The following pages link to this file: Axis Powers User:John-1107 ... State motto (Russian): Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Translated: Workers of the world, unite!) Capital Moscow Official language None; Russian (de facto) Government Federation of Socialist republics/ Communist state Area  - Total  - % water Largest on the planet 22,402,200 km² ?% Population  - Total  - Density 3rd before collapse 293,047,571 (July... War is a state of widespread conflict between states, organisations, or relatively large groups of people, which is characterised by the use of lethal violence between combatants or upon civilians. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ... Operation August Storm was the code name for the Soviet invasion of Japanese occupied Manchuria, Korea and southern Sakhalin Island during World War II. The Soviets agreed at the Yalta Conference to enter the war against Japan within 3 months of the end of the war in Europe. ...

Background

After the occupation of Manchukuo and Korea, Japan turned its military interests to Soviet territories. The first major Soviet-Japanese border incident (Battle of Lake Khasan) happened in 1938 in Primorye. It has been suggested that Manchukuo (administration) be merged into this article or section. ... Korea refers to South Korea and North Korea together, which were a unified country until 1948. ... The Battle of Lake Khasan ( July 29, 1938 – August 11, 1938) and also known as the Changkufeng Incident (張鼓峰事件) in Japan, was an attempted military incursion of Manchukuo (Japanese) into the territory claimed by the Soviet Union. ... The Primorsky Krai (Russian: Примо́рский край), also known as Primorye (Примо́рье), is one of Russias 89 federal subjects (also referred to as members of the Federation). Krai is a term used to refer to several of Russias administrative units. ...

In 1939, Manchuria was a client state of Japan, known as Manchukuo. The Japanese maintained that the border between Manchukuo and Mongolia was the Halha River (also known in Russian as the Halhin Gol, or the Khalkhin Gol), while the Mongolians and their Russian allies maintained that it ran some 16 kilometres (10 miles) east of the river, just east of Nomonhan village. According to the notion of client states, just as a client of a corporation remains dependent on the corporation for a continued supply of products, and just as it is in the companys interest to make expendable products which need to be replaced regularly, client states of the two... It has been suggested that Manchukuo (administration) be merged into this article or section. ... Nomonhan is a small village near the border between Mongolia and Manchuria, China south of the Chinese city of Manzhouli. ...

Prelude

The incident began on 11 May 1939, when a Mongolian cavalry unit of some 70-90 men entered the disputed area in search of grazing for their horses, and encountered Manchukuoan cavalry who drove them out of the disputed territory. Two days later the Mongolian force returned and the Manchukoans were unable to evict them. May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). ... 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

At this point the Japanese Guandong Army became involved -- a reconnaissance unit under Lt. Col. Yaozo Azuma was sent to engage the Mongolians on 14 May, but they retreated west of the river with few losses. Joseph Stalin ordered STAVKA, the Red Army's high command, to develop a plan for a counterstrike against the Japanese. To lead the attack, Georgy Zhukov, a young officer of promise, was chosen. The Kwantung Army or Guandong Army (関東軍 Japanese: Kantōgun) was a unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that originated from a Guandong garrison established in 1906 to defend the Kwantung Leased Territory and the areas adjacent to the South Manchurian Railway. ... May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (135th in leap years). ... Joseph Stalin â–¶(?) (Russian, in full: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин (Josef Vissarionovich Stalin), real name: Иосиф Виссарионович Джугашвили (Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili), Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი (Ioseb Jughashvili); December 6 (OS)/December 18 (NS), 1878 – March 5, 1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from mid-1920s to his death in 1953 and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the... Stavka is an abbreviation for Shtab vierhovnogo komandovania, or General Headquarters of armed forces in late Imperial Russia and in the Soviet Union. ... A Red Army is a communist army. ... Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgi Zhukov Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov (Russian: Георгий Константинович Жуков) (December 1 N.S./November 19 O.S., 1896 – June 18, 1974), Soviet military commander and politician, considered by many as one of the most successful field commanders of World War II. // Prewar career Born into a peasant family...

The Mongolians and Soviets continued to build up forces in the area, and Azuma's force returned a week later. This time the Japanese forces were surrounded by superior numbers of Soviet and Mongolian infantry and tanks, and on 28-29 May the Azuma force was destroyed, suffering 8 officers and 97 men killed and one officer and 33 men wounded, with 63% casualties. The Guangdong Army decided that the area was not worth the expenditure of any more Japanese blood. May 29 is the 149th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (150th in leap years). ...

Throughout June, however, there were continuing reports of Soviet and Mongolian activity on both sides of the river near Nomonhan, and small-scale attacks on isolated Manchukoan units. At the end of the month the local Guandong Army commander, Lt. Gen. Michitaro Komatsubara, was given permission to "expel the invaders". The Japanese operation started on 1 July and was initially successful in crossing the Halha river. However, by the evening of 3 July the attack stalled and the Soviet forces, led by Zhukov, threw the Japanese back over the river. The front then stabilized with only minor actions for the summer. Lt. ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 181 days remaining. ...

The Battle

Finally, in mid-August, Zhukov decided it was time to break the stalemate. He deployed approximately 50,000 Russian and Mongolian troops of the 57th Special Corps to defend the east bank of the Halhin Gol River, then crossed the river on 20 August to attack the elite Japanese with three infantry divisions, massed artillery, a tank brigade, and the best planes of the Red Air Force. August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Japanese doctrine at the time was for front-line troops to hold their positions with high rates of fire, and await relief actions from the rear. While very successful against the lightly armed Chinese forces, the Soviet tanks turned the tables on them entirely, and the front lines were cut off. Two complete divisions were surrounded while the other forces were scattered. On 27 August the Japanese attempted to break out of the encirclement, but failed. When the surrounded forces refused to surrender, Zhukov wiped them out with artillery and air attacks. The battle ended 31 August with the complete destruction of the Japanese forces. August 27 is the 239th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (240th in leap years), with 126 days remaining. ... August 31 is the 243rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (244th in leap years), with 122 days remaining, as the final day of August. ...

Aftermath

Following the battle, the Red Army attacked what remained of the Japanese forces and drove them back into Manchukuo. On 16 September the Japanese asked for a cease-fire and nearly two years later signed a treaty in which they agreed to abide by the existing border. September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years). ...

Of the 30,000 troops on the Japanese side, 8440 were killed and 8766 wounded. The Red Army committed 57,000 infantry, 498 tanks, and 346 armoured cars to the battle, and claimed total losses (killed and wounded) of 9284 men. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, new documents about the battle changed the numbers considerably. The actual number of losses in the battle was 23,926, of whom 6,831 killed, 1,143 reported missing and 15,952 wounded. While the Red Army did win the battle, it was not a one-sided battle as previously believed.

Influence on World War II

Although this engagement is little-known in the West, it had profound implications on the conduct of World War II. It may be said to be the first "decisive battle" of World War II because it determined that the two principal Axis Powers, Germany and Japan, would never geographically link up their areas of control. World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

The defeat convinced the Imperial General Staff in Tokyo that the policy of the North Strike Group, favored by the army, which wanted to seize Siberia as far as Lake Baikal for its resources, was untenable. Instead the South Strike Group, favored by the navy, which wanted to seize the resources of Southeast Asia, especially the petroleum- and mineral-rich Dutch East Indies, gained the ascendancy, leading directly to the attack on Pearl Harbor two and a half years later in December 1941. Lake Baikal The Yenisei River basin, Lake Baikal, and the cities of Dikson, Dudinka, Turukhansk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk Lake Baikal (Russian: О́зеро Байка́л (Ozero Baykal)), a lake in southern Siberia, Russia, between Irkutsk Oblast on the northwest and Buryatia on the southeast, near Irkutsk. ... The Dutch East Indies, or Netherlands East Indies, (Dutch: Nederlands Indië) was the name of the colonies set up by the Dutch East India Company, which came under administration of the Netherlands during the 19th century (see Indonesia). ... Satellite image of Pearl Harbor. ...

It was the first victory for the famed Soviet general, Georgy Zhukov. The battle experience gained by the Siberian army was put to good use in December 1941 outside Moscow, under the command of Zhukov, when Siberian divisions spearheaded the first successful Soviet counteroffensive against the German invasion of 1941. The decision to move the divisions from Siberia was aided by the Soviet's masterspy Richard Sorge in Tokyo who was able to alert the Soviet government that the Japanese were looking south and were unlikely to launch another attack against Siberia in the immediate future. Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgi Zhukov Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov (Russian: Георгий Константинович Жуков) (December 1 N.S./November 19 O.S., 1896 – June 18, 1974), Soviet military commander and politician, considered by many as one of the most successful field commanders of World War II. // Prewar career Born into a peasant family... Richard Sorge Dr Sorge aka Ramsay Richard Sorge (Russian: Рихард Зорге) (October 4, 1895 - November 7, 1944) was a revolutionary, a journalist, working in Germany and Japan, and a spy for the Soviet Union in Japan before and during World War II. NKVD codename Ramsay Sorge was born in Adjikent, Baku, Azerbaijan...

In addition, as a result of this battle, Japan was reluctant to attack the Soviet Union, preferring eventually to fight the United States. The enormous deterrent effect upon the Japanese is almost inexplicable on the historical record, suggesting something missing in the account. It is speculated that this could be either Japanese losses being much greater than revealed, or the Japanese military regime feeling its status vulnerable to internal insurrection if obviouly defeated in war, particularly to the revolutionary egalitarian principles of the USSR. As neither side in this battle was open about their opinions as to its result, Adolf Hitler had no idea when he declared war on the United States. He had hoped to gain Japanese support against the Soviet Union with this act, unaware that his ally was unwilling to do so because of the previous encounter. Adolf Hitler ▶(?) (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 and Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader and Chancellor) of Germany from 1934 to his death. ...

External links

• Combined Arms Research Library (U.S. Army) paper on the battle, analyses the struggle in great detail.