"Zhukov utilized his tanks in armored battle groups along with SP Arty & Motorized Infantry in a deep penetration battle — essentially a Blitzkrieg assault."
Exactly.
I've argued here before, the battle of Khalkhin Gol (aka the Nomonhan Incident) of July 1939 can even be considered the war's "turning point," despite it happening before the war started.
My reasoning is that Hitler's only real possibility to win militarily was in first knocking the Soviets out of the war, before taking on the Americans.
But Hitler could only destroy the Soviets IF the Japanese kept Stalin's Far East Army tied down there.
But after Zhukov defeated the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol in 1939, most Japanese leaders lost enthusiasm for tangling with the Soviets again.
So, in their internal debates during the summer and fall of 1941, those Japanese officials who favored attacking the Soviets again (the foreign minister & army officers) were overruled and removed by those (the Navy)who favored attacking south and east.
Hense Japan decided to attack the Phillippines & Pearl Harbor, while Stalin was left free to transport his Far East divisions west for the Battle of Moscow in late 1941. After that, Hitler was doomed to eventually lose.
Well, put.
There was also the 'Natural Resources' (OIL) dimension in the debate that argued that the Dutch East Indies was the obvious direction to redress Japan's needs. In order to go there, you have to deal with American forces in the Philippines. In order to deal with US Forces in the PI you have to neutralize the US battlefleet at Pearl (Yamamoto's contribution). But this 'Southern Strategy' only really becomes apparent after Hitler overruns the Low Countries & France (1940) thereby making the French (Indochina) & East Indies (Holland) colonial holdings easy pickings.
I guess that the Japanese Army's relative lack of mechanization made them somewhat immune to the Oil-argument, insitutionally-speaking. Until mid-1940, that is.
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.