Battles of Khalkhin Gol


The Battles of Khalkhin Gol were the decisive engagements of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese border conflicts involving the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Japan and Manchukuo in 1939. The conflict was named after the river Khalkhin Gol, which passes through the battlefield. In Japan, the decisive battle of the conflict is known as the Nomonhan Incident after Nomonhan Burd Obo, an obo, a cairn set as a border marker in the Yongzheng period of the Qing dynasty. The battles resulted in the defeat of the Japanese Sixth Army.

Background

After the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931, Japan turned its military interests to Soviet territories that bordered those areas. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of Mongolia signed a Mutual Assistance Pact in March 1936, allowing the former to send troops to Mongolia. In the same year, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in response. Following Japan's full invasion of China in July 1937, the Soviet Union sent the 57th Special Corps led by Ivan Konev to Mongolia. On 13 June, Genrikh Lyushkov, a Soviet NKVD major general who knew Stalin personally, defected to Japan for fear of the Great Purge. He took with him a large number of secret documents that allegedly revealed the dire situation of the Soviet army in the Far East. The first major Soviet-Japanese border incident, the Battle of Lake Khasan, occurred in 1938 in Primorye. Clashes between Japanese and Soviet forces occurred frequently along the border of Manchuria.
In 1939, Manchuria was a puppet state of Japan known as Manchukuo, and Mongolia was a communist state allied with the Soviet Union, known as the Mongolian People's Republic. The Japanese maintained that the border between Manchukuo and Mongolia was the Khalkhin Gol which flows into Lake Buir. In contrast, the Mongolians and their Soviet allies maintained that the border ran some east of the river, just east of Nomonhan.
The principal occupying army of Manchukuo was the Kwantung Army of Japan and had instructions from the Japanese Cabinet to strengthen and fortify Manchukuo's borders with Mongolia and the Soviet Union. However, the Kwantung Army, which had long been stationed in Manchuria far from the Japanese Home Islands, had become largely autonomous and tended to act without approval from, or even against the direction of, the Japanese government. It consisted of some of the best Japanese units in 1939. However, the western region of Manchukuo was garrisoned by the relatively newly formed 23rd Infantry Division at Hailar under General Michitarō Komatsubara and included several Manchu army and border guard units all under the direct command of the Sixth Army. The 23rd was the newest and least experienced division in the entire Kwantung Army. In addition to this, the 23rd Division was equipped with outdated equipment. Japanese army experts rated the combat capability of the 23rd Division as "below medium", comparable to a garrison division on occupation duty in China.
The Soviet forces consisted of the 57th Special Corps, deployed from the Transbaikal Military District. They were responsible for defending the border between Siberia and Manchuria. The Mongolian troops mainly consisted of cavalry brigades and light artillery units, and proved to be effective and agile, but lacked armor and manpower in sufficient numbers.
From May 1938, the commander of the Soviet forces and of the Far East Front was Komandarm Grigori Shtern.
On 1 June 1939, Comcor Georgy Zhukov was summoned to Moscow and feared he was to be arrested and interrogated by the NKVD, but instead was told on 2 June by Commissar of Defence Kliment Voroshilov that Stalin was dissatisfied with the local commander and he was to go to Mongolia, take command of the 57th Special Corps and eliminate Japanese provocations by inflicting a decisive reverse on the Imperial Japanese Army.
Hence Soviet 57th Special Corps and Japanese 23rd Infantry Division were set to clash violently.

Battles

May: Skirmishes

The battles began on 11 May 1939. A Mongolian cavalry unit of some 70 to 90 men had entered the disputed area in search of grazing for their horses. On that day, Manchu cavalry attacked the Mongolians and drove them back across the river Khalkhin Gol. On 13 May, the Mongolian force returned in greater numbers and the Manchukoans failed to dislodge them.
On 14 May, Lt. Col. Yaozo Azuma led the reconnaissance regiment of the 23rd Infantry Division, supported by the 64th Infantry Regiment of the same division, under Colonel Takemitsu Yamagata, into the territory and the Mongolians withdrew. Soviet and Mongolian troops returned to the disputed region, however, and Azuma's force again moved to evict them, but the Soviet-Mongolian forces surrounded Azuma's force on 28 May and destroyed it. The Azuma force suffered eight officers and 97 men killed and one officer and 33 men wounded, for 63% total casualties.

June: Escalation

Both sides increased their forces in the area. On 5 June, Zhukov, the new corps commander, arrived, and brought more motorized and armored forces to the combat zone. Accompanying Zhukov was Comcor Yakov Smushkevich with his aviation unit. Zhamyangiyn Lhagvasuren, Corps Commissar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army, was appointed Zhukov's deputy.
On 27 June, the Japanese Army Air Force's 2nd Air Brigade struck the Soviet airbase at Tamsak-Bulak in Mongolia. The Japanese won this engagement, but the strike had been ordered by the Kwantung Army without obtaining permission from Imperial Japanese Army headquarters in Tokyo. In an effort to prevent the incident from escalating, Tokyo promptly ordered the JAAF not to conduct any more air-strikes against Soviet airbases.
File:Khalkhin Gol Destroyed Soviet plane 1939.jpg|thumb|A destroyed Soviet biplane fighter
Throughout June there were 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 commander of the 23rd Japanese Infantry Division, Lt. Gen. Michitarō Komatsubara, received permission to "expel the invaders".

July: Japanese assault

The Japanese planned a two-pronged assault. The first attack would be made by three regiments plus part of a fourth: the 71st and the 72nd Infantry Regiment, a battalion of the 64th Infantry Regiment and the 26th Infantry Regiment under Colonel Shinichiro Sumi. This force would advance across the Khalkhin Gol, destroy Soviet forces on Baintsagan Hill on the west bank, then make a left turn and advance south to the Kawatama Bridge. The second prong of the attack would be the task of the IJA 1st Tank Corps , consisting of the 3rd and 4th Tank Regiments, plus a part of the 64th Infantry Regiment, a battalion from the 28th Infantry Regiment, detached from the 7th Infantry, 24th Engineer Regiment, and a battalion from the 13th Field-Artillery Regiment, all under the overall command of Lieutenant General Yasuoka Masaomi. This force would attack Soviet troops on the east bank of the Khalkhin Gol and north of the Holsten River. The two Japanese thrusts were to join on the wings. The order of battle was thus:
The northern task force succeeded in crossing the Khalkhin Gol, driving the Soviets from Baintsagan Hill, and advancing south along the west bank. However, Zhukov, perceiving the threat, launched a counterattack with 450 tanks and armored cars. The tanks consisted of primarily BT tanks with a handful of T-26s, while the armored cars were BA-10s and BA-3/6s, which were similar in armor and armament to the Soviet light tanks.
The Soviet armored force, despite being unsupported by infantry, attacked the Japanese on three sides and nearly encircled them. The Japanese force, further handicapped by having only one pontoon bridge across the river for supplies, was forced to withdraw, recrossing the river on 5 July.
Meanwhile, the 1st Tank Corps of the Yasuoka Detachment attacked on the night of 2 July, moving in the darkness to avoid the Soviet artillery on the high ground of the river's west bank. A pitched battle ensued in which the Yasuoka Detachment lost over half its armor, but still could not break through the Soviet forces on the east bank and reach the Kawatama Bridge. After a Soviet counterattack on 9 July threw the battered, depleted Yasuoka Detachment back, it was dissolved and Yasuoka was relieved.
File:Khalkhin Gol Japanese pilots 1939.jpg|thumb|left|Japanese pilots pictured on a Toyota KC starter truck
The two armies continued to spar with each other over the next two weeks along a front running along the east bank of the Khalkhin Gol to its junction with the Holsten River. Zhukov, whose army was away from its base of supply, assembled a fleet of 2,600 trucks to supply his troops, while the Japanese suffered severe supply problems due to a lack of similar motor transport. In early July the Japanese had only 600 trucks, rising to 1,000 by the end of the month, of which only 75% were operable. By 20 August the Japanese managed to accumulate 2,000 trucks delivering 1,500 tons of supply daily, but even this fell below the Red Army's capabilities.
On 23 July, the Japanese launched another large-scale assault, sending the 64th and 72nd Infantry Regiments against Soviet forces defending the Kawatama Bridge. Over a period of two days, Japanese artillery supported the attack with a massive barrage that consumed more than half of their ammunition stores. The attack made some progress but failed to break through Soviet lines and reach the bridge. The Japanese disengaged from the attack on 25 July due to mounting casualties and depleted artillery stores. By this point they had suffered over 5,000 casualties between late May and 25 July, with Soviet losses being much higher but more easily replaced. The battle drifted into a stalemate.