Posted on 08/08/2007 6:06:01 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
1945 : Soviets declare war on Japan; invade Manchuria
On this day in 1945, the Soviet Union officially declares war on Japan, pouring more than 1 million Soviet soldiers into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, northeastern China, to take on the 700,000-strong Japanese army.
The dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima by the Americans did not have the effect intended: unconditional surrender by Japan. Half of the Japanese inner Cabinet, called the Supreme War Direction Council, refused to surrender unless guarantees about Japan's future were given by the Allies, especially regarding the position of the emperor, Hirohito. The only Japanese civilians who even knew what happened at Hiroshima were either dead or suffering terribly.
Japan had not been too worried about the Soviet Union, so busy with the Germans on the Eastern front. The Japanese army went so far as to believe that they would not have to engage a Soviet attack until spring 1946. But the Soviets surprised them with their invasion of Manchuria, an assault so strong (of the 850 Japanese soldiers engaged at Pingyanchen, 650 were killed or wounded within the first two days of fighting) that Emperor Hirohito began to plead with his War Council to reconsider surrender. The recalcitrant members began to waver.
This was a mistake on Truman’s part which we’re still paying for. Japan was totally defeated at the time whether their army bosses knew it or not and there was no reason for Russian involvement.
“...of the 850 Japanese soldiers engaged at Pingyanchen, 650 were killed or wounded within the first two days of fighting...”
So these modest numbers had a greater impact on the Japanese decision to surrender than the quantum leap in technology and the massive destruction manifested in the atomic bomb??? This is taken right from the Soviet viewpoint.
In reality land the one-two punch of the two atomic bombs gave the Japanese a sense that it was no longer a war where heroism could bring triumph...it was no longer a fair fight...it gave them an out...it demonstrated the futility of defending the homeland with bolt action rifles...it quickly led to the surrender.
I still think we could have had Japan without the “help” of the Russians. Without Russian presence in the Pacific theater, Mao would almost certainly not have succeeded, Kim Il Sung (N. Lorea) and Ho Chi Minh, would not have been what they became. In other words, the whole history of East Asia would have been totally different. This is just an opinion of course, but I believe it is not altogether untenable.
Military history ping (for later)
abb - check this out.
I don’t think Stalin was going to ask for Truman’s permission to get involved.
Actually it was FDR’s doing. Truman had nothing to do with various of FDR’s “deals” like Tehran, Yalta, ...
USSR’s attack had no real strategic or tactical military value or purpose. The statement that 650 were killed or wounded is unremarkable when related to WWII combat involving the Soviets.
The only reason USSR attacked was so they could have a “piece of the pie of post-war Japan.” They wanted northern Japanese islands as “war reparations.”
>>>bolt action rifles
...and home factories were turning our bamboo pikes for the final battles in the mountains when they expected to have no ammunition.
I don’t disagree with your opinion. For want of a nail and all that.
I suppose Truman made what he thought was the best decision he could under the circumstances. His decision to use the Bomb should earn his undying gratitude from all Americans, imo.
The Soviets had as much to do with our victory over Japan as the Italians did with the Germans defeat of France in 1940.
I just got done watching “Letters from Iwo Jima” last night. It certainly leaves one with no doubt about what an invasion of the home islands would have been like.
Perhaps some day from the Japanese as well.
Imagine, without Lend-Lease Germany and USSR bled each other to death; without aid to China (US and USSR) - Mao and Nationalists fight Japan to a stalmate ...
Many "what if" scenarios ... The real winner of WWII was the USSR and what became Communist China - thank you very much FDR and his Adminstration.
Where the idea of US/Britian being the policeman of the world comes from ... is another story. As is the "flexible" ideal of "national interest" ...
I have had liberal, hate America professors tell me that the Soviet invasion of Machuria was the REAL tipping point in getting Japan to surrender in WWII. Its absolute BS. That viewpoint only comes from a pre-concieved notion that America dropping atomic bombs on Japan was bad.
I thought that in order to actually win a war, you needed to have troops on the ground. Maybe I’m wrong.
At Yalta Stalin promised to enter the war against Japan within two to three months after the defeat of Germany. At that time FDR couldn’t know for sure that the atomic bomb would work. Stalin kept his promise to the day, declaring war on Japan exactly three months after V-E Day.
There were troops on the ground in Okinawa, Japan’s southern island, and preparing for Operation Coronet.
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