Soviet invasion of Manchuria

Overview

The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation or simply the Manchurian Operation and sometimes, mainly in the West, as Operation August Storm, began on 9 August 1945 with the Soviet Union's invasion of the Empire of Japan's puppet states of Manchukuo and Mengjiang, in Japanese-occupied Manchuria and Inner Mongolia respectively. It was the largest campaign of the 1945 Soviet–Japanese War, which resumed hostilities between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Empire of Japan after almost six years of peace.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, launched on 9 August 1945, was the largest campaign of the Soviet–Japanese War and ended nearly six years of peace between the USSR and Japan. Deploying over 1.5 million troops against a Japanese-aligned force of roughly 665,500, Soviet forces moved simultaneously against Manchukuo and Mengjiang — the Empire of Japan's puppet states in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia respectively. The operation dismantled Japan's principal continental military position and struck at the political architecture Japan had constructed across northeastern Asia, including the Manchukuo regime headed by Puyi. Soviet casualties were relatively limited compared to the scale of the offensive, while Japanese losses exceeded 21,000. The campaign effectively eliminated Japan's capacity to sustain a land war on the Asian continent and contributed to the collapse of Japanese resistance in the final days of the Second World War.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (14)