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.
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.”
They never mention how the Japanese army was already in retreat.
This along with the A-bomb was also a factor in the surrender.
The history of the Soviet-Japanese conflict in WW2 goes beyond this incident in 1945. Before the war officially began, the Soviets (under the great Gen. Vassily Zhukov) destroyed the vaunted Kwantung Army that was based in Manchuria/Inner Mongolia.