SOVIET UNION x JAPAN
Complexity: 80.64 Map: 122x88
Dates: 8/9/1945-9/27/1945
Manchuria 1945 (Last Stand version)
- Soviet invasion of Manchuria, 1945 & Japan denounces Potsdam Declaration
by Nikolai Ezhov
Date: September 8th, 1945
Location: Manchuria and northern China
Map Scale: 20km/hex
Time Scale: Half week/turn
Unit Scale: Division/Brigade/Regiment
Length: 16 turns
Unit colors:
Gold on Red: Soviet Red Army, 1st Far-eastern Front
White on Red: Soviet Red Army, 2nd Far-eastern Front
Clay on Red: Soviet Red Army, Trans-Baikal Front
Black on Red: Soviet Red Navy
Cherry on Red: Soviet Red Air Force(VVS)
Cherry on Black: Soviet NKVD Border Troops
Cherry on Olive: Mongolian People's Army (MAA)
Yellow on White: Imperial Japanese Army(IJA) Troops
Blue on White: Imperial Japanese Navy(IJN) Troops
Yellow on Clay: Manchukuo State Army
Black on Green: Inner Mongolian Army (collaborate Mongolian army)
Yellow on Olive: Northern China Pacification Army (collaborate Chinese army)
Yellow on Grey: Japanese irregulars
Soviet Army designation glossary:
KD=Cavalry Division
MAP=Motorcycle Regiment
OPMBr=Independent Pontoon-bridge Brigade
TPMP=Heavy Pontoon-bridge Brigade
OZhBr=Independent Railway Brigade
SD=Rifle Division
OSBr=Independent Rifle Brigade
OSP=Independent Rifle Regiment
OGSP=Independent Mountain Rifle Regiment
ovdb=Independent Airborne Battalion
osbn=Independent Battalion of Special Designation
TD=Tank Division
Tbr=Tank Brigade
otb=Independent Tank Battalion
MBr=Mechanized Brigade
MSBr=Motorized Rifle Brigade
UR=Fortified Region
PTABr=Anti-tank Artillery Brigade
TMABr=Heavy Mortar Artillery Brigade
MABr=Mortar Artillery Brigade
TSAP=Heavy Self-propelled Artillery Regiment
SABr=Self-propelled Artillery Brigade
LABr=Light Artillery Brigade
ReakABr=Rocket Artillery Brigade
ReakAP=Rocket Artillery Regiment
OAD=Artillery Division of breakthrough
ZAD=Anti-aircraft Artillery Division
ISBr=Engineer-Sapper Brigade
USBr=Assault Sapper Brigade
KABr=Corps Artillery Brigade
PABr=Cannon Artillery Brigade
TPAP=Heavy Cannon Artillery Regiment
TGABr=Heavy Howitzer Artillery Brigade
GABr=Howitzer Artillery Brigade
APBM=Artillery Regiment of High Power
BAD=Bomber Aviation Division
IAD=Fighter Aviation Division
ShAD=Assault Aviation Division
SAD=Composite Aviation Division
Major events:
1. The collapse of Manchukuo and Inner Mongolian Army. These puppet armies were not willing to meet the certain doom along with their Japanese master. Instead, many units chose to desert from the battlefield or even rebel against the Japanese. From Turn 2 to Turn 4 all ground units of these forces will randomly retreat from the battlefield. Any unit which survived to Turn 4 will stand to the last. Japanese player must be careful using these armies – they can betray you anytime!
2. Northern China Pacification Army was a group of Chinese collaborate force that mainly made up from defected/surrendered Chinese nationalist troops. Their mission was to assist the Japanese Army with the pacification missions in northern China against communist partisans. Also knowing the upcoming defeat of their Japanese master, they are afraid of surrendering to either the Soviets or the Chinese communist. Therefore, they will fight to the last stand until the formal surrender of Japan, when nationalist Chinese troops could come back to absorb them.
3. Japan will formally dismiss Potsdam Declaration on August 15th, 1945, vowing to fight for a last stand. This will expand the length of the Soviet operation to one and a half month, and make the United States continues atomic bombing and initiate preclude battles of Operation Olympic, the invasion of Tanegashima island and Yakusima island.
4. Defend off the Soviets is impossible. The only way for Japanese player to prevail is to prevent as many troops as possible into Korea peninsula.
Three months since the downfall of Nazi Germany and the death of its Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. However, war is still on-going in Pacific. In Spring 1945, the allied invasion of Iwo Jima and Okinawa were succeeded, but not without tremendous casualties. Strategic bombing on Japanese islands had leveled dozens of Japanese cities, but the resistance was still fierce.
As agreed with the Allies at the Tehran Conference in November 1943 and the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the Soviet Union should enter Pacific Theater within three months of the end of the war in Europe. In April 1945, the Soviet Union denounced the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact. From May to August, thousands of trains fully loaded with military personnel and equipment, travelled east through the Siberian Railway. By early August 1945, the Soviet preparation of a war against Japanese was complete.
The Soviet plan of invasion including three fronts attacking from two different theaters of war: the 1st and 2nd Far-eastern Front attack along the Ussuri River, while Trans-baikal Front would attack from Outer Mongolia and cross over the Hsingan mountains. The 2nd Far-eastern Front also took part in the offensive operations in Sakhalin island and Kuril Islands.
On the other hand, the Japanese Kwantung Army, the major Japanese army group in charge of the defense of Manchuria, watched carefully on the Soviet mobilization. From late 1944, Kwantung Army had already realized that an upcoming war against the Soviet in Manchuria was inevitable. But due to the grim situation in Southern Front, Kwantung Army had to spare its most elite forces to Pacific islands. By August 1945, the apparently powerful Kwantung Army was composed of 25 divisions and 6 independent composite brigades, totaling of 715000 personnel. However, most of these divisions were just activated in that year with insufficient training and equipment. The approximate combat capability of these 25 divisions merely equaled to 7 regular divisions in the early 1940's.
Besides the Imperial Army, the Japanese also had his allies, the Manchukuo Army, Inner Mongolian Army and collaborate Chinese Army. These puppet armies were raised and controlled by Japanese army officers, but their capability and loyalty were questionable.
It is clear from the beginning that defending off a full-scale Soviet invasion is just impossible. A more realistic goal for the Japanese is to delay the advance of Soviet troops, in order to retreat Japanese civilian and remaining troops to the mountainous Korean peninsula. Therefore, the campaign was in fact a race toward south for both sides.
August 8th, 1945. Two days after the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, Soviet Union declared war against Japan. At 3:00, Red Army artillery started bombarding Japanese positions alongside the border. The Manchuria offensive operation, later known in the west as the "August Storm", began.
Pre-War positions of the Soviet Trans-Baikal Front and the Soviet-Mongolian Cavalry-Mechanized Group
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