Posted on 08/02/2008 6:34:43 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
The communiqué said the Japanese casualties totaled 400 dead and wounded. The Soviet losses were given as thirteen killed and fifty-five wounded.
[Japanese sources made no mention of large-scale hostilities on the border yesterday, but they reported that five Soviet bombers had been shot down over Korea.]
The battle began early yesterday morning, it was declared, when the Japanese forces suddenly overwhelmed Soviet frontier guards on the Changkufeng heights and advanced two and a half miles into soviet territory.
The opening onslaught was so severe, the communiqué said, that the Soviet detachment was driven from the heights, while the Japanese shelled adjacent positions to prevent the bringing up of reinforcements.
Some hours after the two-and-a-half mile advance of the Japanese, the official report said, Soviet regular forces rushed to the scene of action and drove the invaders back into Manchukuo.
[Apparently Russia and Japan both now claim possession of the Changkufeng region. The Japanese reported on Sunday that they had recaptured the zone in a “terrible fight,” and reports from Tokyo yesterday said that they were still in possession.]
It was declared that the Japanese had abandoned on Soviet soil five cannon, fourteen machine guns and 157 rifles. The Soviet equipment losses were put at one tank and one gun.
It is believed that a Soviet flier fell into Japanese hands after he had parachuted from a scouting plane.
Both before the Japanese attack and during the conflict, it was declared, Soviet troops did not once cross the Manchukuoan frontier – which deprived them of the possibility of surrounding or outflanking the invaders.
The Soviet Charge d’Affaires at Tokyo has been instructed to make an energetic protest to the Japanese Government, the communiqué said, and to direct its attention to the possibly grave consequences of operations by Japanese troops who refuse to respect the inviolability of Soviet territory, whose frontier is established by Russo-Chinese treaties and is clearly marked on maps bearing the signature of Chinese representatives.
The Soviet Foreign Office showed foreign correspondents photostatic copies of the maps in question. These place the frontier through the mountains west of Lake Khasan, to include the disputed Changkufeng heights well within Soviet territory. The maps are dated 1884. A map dated 1861, to which the Japanese have attempted to appeal, shows the boundary line several miles farther to the west.
Meanwhile, the anniversary of Germany’s declaration of war on Czarist Russia twenty-four years ago was observed in the Soviet Union today as “International Anti-War Day.”
But the danger of war is growing, and this is recognized in the press. The Red Star, the Soviet Army organ, declares that the “insolent provocation” of the Japanese “is only a single link of the chain of war preparation against the U. S. S. R., but that does not frighten us.” The newspaper asserts that “we are ready to answer blow with such crushing blow that it will sweep our enemies from the face of the earth.”
Also significant is a letter, published in the Communist Youth Pravda, from a group of Stakhanoffite workers in a Moscow lathe plant. The letter suggests that the Japanese are evidently trying to distract attention or create a diversion from their present “unsuccessful” war in China. Then, addressing the Japanese as “these foolish Samurai,” the letter continues:
“Make no mistake – the Far East is not so far as you think, and one fine day our Red pilots will remind you that it is much farther from Tokyo to Moscow than from Moscow to Tokyo. We warn you: do not stretch out your blood-stained fingers between the Soviet frontier doors lest you find your hands cut off.”
The Communist Youth Pravda is one of the best-edited papers in Russia and it is close to the Kremlin.
The Communist party newspaper Pravda stresses this statement of Joseph Stalin: “Our people must keep itself in a state of mobilized readiness to meet any attack.” That, perhaps, explains the apparent absence of excitement in official quarters and among the people. It is apparently taken for granted that the Soviet will fulfill Stalin’s pledge to “defend every inch of Soviet soil,” but most persons are inclined to doubt whether the Japanese are in a position to force the issue to the extent of a war.
Some members of the diplomatic corps take a graver view and believe that Japan has gone too far to back down. They believe that Japan may actually seek an occasion to limit her commitments in Central China or that the present Russo-Japanese incidents may “automatically” develop into an undeclared war.
Two of the Soviet planes were brought down about two and an half miles south of Kojo, two at Sozan and one near Suiryupo, the official reports said. [The Japanese reported that these planes were part of a formation of fifty, according to The Associated Press.]
It was declared that Soviet bombers in formation had attacked Korean border posts on the lower reaches of the Tumen River and bombed railway tracks near Kinsojo, south of Kojo, and a railway bridge at Keiko without causing serious damage before the five planes were shot down.
Meanwhile, it was added, other Soviet forces subjected Changkufeng, the disputed point on the Manchukuoan-Siberian border that has been responsible for the new clashes, to attacks by planes and artillery. No Japanese casualties were reported, but it was declared that the bodies of thirty-seven Russians had been found.
The developing situation caused Lieut. Gen. Seishiro Itagaki, the War Minister, to summon an urgent conference of army leaders to consider Japan’s course. The conference decided to take no action that might aggravate the seriousness of the situation, but at the same time to have Japanese forces ready to meet any emergency.
The military leaders took the view that the reported Soviet plane invasion was merely a demonstration against Changkufeng and not an offensive operation, according to Domei, the Japanese news agency.
Reports that Soviet planes had bombed Harbin in Manchukuo and Rashin and Seishin in Korea were denied by the Korean garrison headquarters, which said that the rest of the bombers had turned and fled after the five machines had been brought down.
It is authoritatively learned that the Japanese military authorities have no intention of sending war planes over Soviet territory in retaliation for the reported Soviet air raid, and that they insist that Japanese troops on the spot absolutely obey orders from Tokyo. The high command insists also, however, that positions already occupied will be retained pending diplomatic negotiations.
Although it is taken for granted that neither Tokyo nor Moscow desires actual warfare at the present moment, the situation at Changkufeng has followed much the same pattern as the incident in July, 1937, at Lukouchaio, near Peiping, which led to the present Sino-Japanese war.
The Japanese press is systematically playing down the seriousness of the situation, undoubtedly on orders, but the Japanese public is worried.
The Foreign Office spokesman says that Japan expects Russia to agree to reopen negotiations for a settlement of the border situation. He declared in an interview that Soviet troops might have mistaken recent Japanese activities along the border as a sign of weakness and a willingness to retreat and that hence they assumed an aggressive attitude. The spokesman added that Japan now took the position that, with the Japanese recapture of Changkufeng, the status quo ante territorially had been restored and must be maintained.
HSINKING, Manchukuo, Aug. 1 (AP).-In commenting on today’s raid by Soviet bombers in the disputed border region, Japanese Army officers here said that they took a serious view of the incident. They added, however, that the raid had been only a “face-saving” step on the part of the Russians.
The Japanese said the Soviet forces were seeking to counter the loss of Changkufeng Hill and other disputed positions that the Japanese reported they took yesterday. Army quarters added that except for the bombing raid the border was quiet today.
“If the Russians really meant business,” one official said, “they would have bombed the vital railway bridge near Yuki. It was untouched in today’s raid, which was concentrated on minor railway bridges, and the damage was slight.”
If major hostilities should develop on the Manchukuoan and Mongolian borders between Japan and Russia, the whole outlook of the China campaign would be changed overnight. The Soviet Government almost certainly would immediately augment China’s depleted air force. All major centers of Japanese occupation, especially Shanghai, probably would be subjected to Chinese and Russian air raids.
Foreign observers are undisguisedly dismayed at the prospect of large-scale Russo-Japanese hostilities, believing this certainly would prolong the war interminably, also aligning resurgent China irrevocably as an ally of Moscow, with a consequent rapid decline of American and British prestige and influence.
The news of the growing seriousness of Japanese-Soviet relations is causing noticeable restiveness among the Chinese population of Shanghai. Larger crowds are gathering around the bridgeheads, and extra editions of Chinese-language newspapers are selling in enormous quantities.
The situation is made more tense by exaggerated reports of the successes of Chinese guerrilla troops in the Shanghai delta area, coupled with prophecies of bombing outrages and guerrilla attacks on Aug. 13, the first anniversary of the outbreak of hostilities in Shanghai.
The authorities are already noticeably tightening precautions, fearing an outbreak of terrorism hastened by news from the Manchukuoan-Siberian borders.
SHANGHAI, Aug. 1 (AP).-Britain protested to Japanese authorities today against what was called the “increasingly belligerent attitude” of sentries guarding bridges from the International Settlement into Japanese–controlled sections of Shanghai.
The protest, delivered by Consul General Herbert Phillips, was the outgrowth of the alleged mistreatment of Miss Dorothea Lintilhac when she crossed the Garden Bridge on the wrong side of the street.
Miss Lintilhac and her mother later were arrested and detained four hours when, attempting to avoid repetition of the incident, they used the Chapoo Bridge. They said they were walking on the wrong side of the bridges because of barbed-wire entanglements and dangerous traffic.
HANKOW, China, Tuesday, Aug. 2 (AP).- United States Ambassador Nelson T. Johnson and six members of his staff left Hankow this morning for Chungking, to which the Chinese Foreign Office has moved because of the Japanese offensive directed toward the city. The Yangtze patrol flagship Luzon and the gunboat Tutuila carried the embassy staff.
F. Burke, Socialist member of the House of Assembly, suggested that the government sponsor such a race patterned after the Toronto derby, which ended in October, 1936.
A five to ten year period for the race would be suitable, Mr. Burke thought.
Legislators only laughed when a member of the United Australia party, A. Ross, asked the derby’s sponsor, “Will members of Parliament be allowed to compete?”
“Its success has not kept pace with the Japanese invasion of China nor reached the highest possible development.”
As a reason for this, the paper said:
“Some military officers, government officials and comrades of the Kuomintang have not thrown away their prejudices and are putting limitations by government order on freedom of the press and speech, arming of the masses and public assembly.”
The paper charged also that “deadly blows have not been dealt to traitors and Trotskyists.” It said that as a result the work of protecting the Wuhan cities had not progressed to the fullest extent.
The paper’s comments commemorated the third anniversary of the Communist party’s adoption of the united front and the seventeenth anniversary of its founding. In concluding, it demanded full freedom for the arming of the masses, liberty of press, speech and public meeting and called on the Chinese to make “Wuhan as impregnable as Madrid.”
The Battle of Khalkin Gol/Nomonhan is one of my favorite topics. A forgotten battle of WW2, this was the battle in which Gen. Zhukov became famous for his tactical brilliance and his willingness to use Russian (and Mongol) troops as cannon fodder.
Milhist ping
Glad to find another person who is interested in the Battle of Khalkin Gol.
I agree with your reasoning, btw. The thorough defeat of the Kwantung Army by Zhukov’s Ivans (and Mongol ancillaries) made the IJA lose all appetite for a land war on the Soviet eastern front.
This was an important turning point as the IJA expected a land equivalent and repeat of the 1905 Battle of Tsushima.
Lest MilHist ping list be misled, this thread is about a battle that occurred a year before Khalkin Gol.
You’re right, of course. My bad....Zhukov wasn’t on the front as yet though the stage was being set for the Battle of Khalkin Gol/Nomonhan.
The Japanese had no armor in this battle. The outcome was entirely predictable.
Khalkin Gol made Pearl Harbor possible.
Which battle?
August 1938 minor skirmish on Changkufeng heights, now completely forgotten by all except our own Homer Simpson?
Or July 1939 hugely significant (though largely forgotten) Battle of Khalkin Gol/Nomonhan?
The Battle of Khalkin Gol/Nomonhan did involve a Japanese division strength armored force. For further details and links, see several of the posts above.
According to this source, you are 100% correct, and Wikipedia is wrong.
From just the looks of it, this sources seems more authoritative, but it makes one wonder how they could report such diametrically opposite "facts."
I only know (or think I know) what I read.
Anyway, none of the sources I've seen mention Japanese armor in the Zhukov encirclement that led directly to the soviet victory, the battle that broke the stalemate. There may have been some in the general vicinity, but it was not involved in the battle.
Check out my posts #11 & #14 above, plus the Wikipedia articles they came from. One claims the Japanese had division strength armor there -- 180 tanks. That sounds pretty serious to me.
The other says a unit commander was killed when his new tank was hit by Soviet fire. That sounds to me like Japanese tanks were involved in the battle.
I wonder if maybe new information has come to light which puts a different interpretation on the Japanese defeat at Khalkhin Gol?
Perhaps. Thanks for the info.
The second and third articles in this thread deal with the foreign presence in Shanghai and elsewhere in China.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.