From 1936 to 1938, more than 300 incidents were noted on the Soviet-Japanese border, the most famous of which occurred at the junction of the borders of the USSR, Manchuria and Korea at Lake Khasan in July-August 1938.
At the origins of the conflict
The conflict in the Lake Khasan area was caused by a number of both foreign policy factors and very difficult relations within the ruling elite of Japan. An important detail was the rivalry within the Japanese military-political machine itself, when funds were distributed to strengthen the army, and the presence of even an imaginary military threat could give the command of the Japanese Korean Army a good opportunity to remind itself, given that the priority at that time was the operations of Japanese troops in China, which never brought the desired result.
Another headache for Tokyo was the military aid flowing from the USSR to China. In this case, it was possible to exert military and political pressure by organizing a large-scale military provocation with a visible external effect. All that remained was to find a weak spot on the Soviet border where an invasion could be successfully carried out and the combat effectiveness of the Soviet troops could be tested. And such an area was found 35 km from Vladivostok.
And while on the Japanese side the border was approached by a railroad and several highways, on the Soviet side there was only one dirt road. . It is noteworthy that until 1938, this area, where there really was no clear border marking, was of no interest to anyone, and suddenly in July 1938, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs actively took up this problem.
After the refusal of the Soviet side to withdraw troops and the incident with the death of a Japanese gendarme, shot by a Soviet border guard in the disputed area, tension began to increase day by day.
On July 29, the Japanese launched an attack on the Soviet border post, but after a hot battle they were driven back. On the evening of July 31, the attack was repeated, and here the Japanese troops already managed to wedge 4 kilometers deep into Soviet territory. The first attempts to drive out the Japanese with the 40th Infantry Division were unsuccessful. However, everything was not going well for the Japanese either - every day the conflict grew, threatening to escalate into a big war, for which Japan, stuck in China, was not ready.
Richard Sorge reported to Moscow: “The Japanese General Staff is interested in a war with the USSR not now, but later. Active actions on the border were taken by the Japanese to show the Soviet Union that Japan was still capable of demonstrating its power."
Meanwhile, in difficult off-road conditions and poor readiness of individual units, the concentration of forces of the 39th Rifle Corps continued. With great difficulty, they managed to gather 15 thousand people, 1014 machine guns, 237 guns, and 285 tanks in the combat area. In total, the 39th Rifle Corps consisted of up to 32 thousand people, 609 guns and 345 tanks. 250 aircraft were sent to provide air support.
Hostages of provocation
If in the first days of the conflict, due to poor visibility and, apparently, the hope that the conflict can still be resolved diplomatically, soviet aviation was not used, then starting from August 5, Japanese positions were subjected to massive air strikes.
Aviation, including TB-3 heavy bombers, was brought in to destroy Japanese fortifications. The fighters carried out a series of assault strikes on Japanese troops. Moreover, the targets of Soviet aviation were located not only on the captured hills, but also deep in Korean territory.
It was later noted: “To defeat the Japanese infantry in the enemy’s trenches and artillery, high-explosive bombs were mainly used - 50, 82 and 100 kg, a total of 3,651 bombs were dropped. 6 pieces of high-explosive bombs 1000 kg on the battlefield 08/06/38. were used solely for the purpose of moral influence on the enemy infantry, and these bombs were dropped into the enemy infantry areas after these areas had been thoroughly hit by groups of SB-bombs FAB-50 and 100. The enemy infantry rushed about in the defensive zone, not finding cover, since almost the entire main line of their defense was covered with heavy fire from the explosions of bombs from our aircraft. 6 bombs of 1000 kg, dropped during this period in the area of the Zaozernaya height, shook the air with strong explosions, the roar of these bombs exploding across the valleys and mountains of Korea was heard tens of kilometers away. After the explosion of 1000 kg of bombs, the Zaozernaya height was covered with smoke and dust for several minutes. It must be assumed that in those areas where these bombs were dropped, the Japanese infantry were 100% incapacitated from shell shock and stones thrown out of the craters by the explosion of the bombs.”
Having completed 1003 sorties, Soviet aviation lost two aircraft - one SB and one I-15. The Japanese, having no more than 18-20 anti-aircraft guns in the conflict area, could not provide serious resistance. And throwing your own aviation into battle meant starting a large-scale war, for which neither the command of the Korean Army nor Tokyo were ready. From this moment on, the Japanese side begins to frantically look for a way out of the current situation, which required both saving face and stopping fighting, which no longer promised anything good for the Japanese infantry.
Denouement
The denouement came when Soviet troops launched a new offensive on August 8, having overwhelming military-technical superiority. The attack by tanks and infantry was carried out based on military expediency and without taking into account compliance with the border. As a result, Soviet troops managed to capture Bezymyannaya and a number of other heights, and also gain a foothold near the top of Zaozernaya, where the Soviet flag was hoisted.
On August 10, the chief of staff of the 19th telegraphed the chief of staff of the Korean Army: “Every day the combat effectiveness of the division is declining. The enemy suffered great damage. He is using new methods of combat and increasing artillery fire. If this continues, there is a danger that the fighting will escalate into even more fierce battles. Within one to three days it is necessary to decide on further actions divisions... Until now, Japanese troops have already demonstrated their power to the enemy, and therefore, while it is still possible, it is necessary to take measures to resolve the conflict diplomatically.”
On the same day, armistice negotiations began in Moscow and at noon on August 11, hostilities were stopped. Strategically and politically, the Japanese test of strength, and by and large, the military adventure ended in failure. Not being prepared for a major war with the USSR, the Japanese units in the Khasan area found themselves hostage to the created situation, when further expansion of the conflict was impossible, and it was also impossible to retreat while preserving the prestige of the army.
The Hassan conflict did not lead to a reduction in USSR military assistance to China. At the same time, the battles on Khasan revealed a number of weaknesses of both the troops of both the Far Eastern Military District and the Red Army as a whole. The Soviet troops apparently suffered even greater losses than the enemy; at the initial stage of the fighting, the interaction between the infantry, tank units and artillery turned out to be weak. Not on high level turned out to be reconnaissance that failed to reveal enemy positions.
The losses of the Red Army amounted to 759 people killed, 100 people died in hospitals, 95 people missing and 6 people killed in accidents. 2752 people was injured or sick (dysentery and colds). The Japanese admitted the loss to 650 killed and 2,500 wounded. At the same time, the battles on Khasan were far from the last military clash between the USSR and Japan in Far East. Less than a year later, an undeclared war began in Mongolia on Khalkhin Gol, where, however, the forces of the Japanese Kwantung Army, rather than the Korean ones, would be involved.
Before we begin the description concerning the events at Khasan and Khalkhin Gol, we should remember what Japan was like in 1938. Nominally the emperor rules, but in reality the military and oligarchs have power. The entire top military ranks, the local Chubais and other Khodorkovites, are sleeping and looking for someone to rob and fill their purses with. And since your country has already been plundered, you can only grab something outside of Japan.
Nationalists, lured by the oligarchs, call on the people to fight against everyone who has offended and is offending the Japanese. The Russians, the USA, England, the Chinese (who are waging a civil war among themselves) and the Koreans for company are assigned as the culprits for everything. The USSR looked weaker than the USA and England, and they decided to start there. But, rightly fearing for their own skins, they did not dare to start a war without considering “is it worth it?” and “can we?” For this, it was decided to conduct reconnaissance in force, without starting a full-scale war. The place where it was decided to try our strength was near Lake Khasan. If you want to fight, there will be a reason, you just have to look for it. They found a reason and made a claim to the territory, which “suddenly” turned out to be “disputed.” To get things started, diplomats step in and, rather rudely, offer to leave the “disputed” territories. Attempts to point out what was wrong were met with threats of force.
Due to the increased threat of a military attack from Japan, the OKDVA was transformed into the Far Eastern Front on July 1, 1938. The Marshal is appointed commander Soviet Union V. K. Blucher
(He was considered an expert on the East: it was under his command that in 1929, units of the Red Army defeated Chinese troops in a clash on the Chinese Eastern Railway. But at that time he was no longer the same dashing grunt. He drank himself to death, abandoned worries about providing the rear, and did not train soldiers and officers , distracted soldiers for chores. And cheerful reports were sent to Moscow about the constantly growing combat readiness.), a member of the Military Council was divisional commissar P. I. Mazepov, and chief of staff was corps commander G. M. Stern.
On the morning of June 13, 1938, the head of the NKVD department for the Far Eastern Territory, State Security Commissioner 3rd Rank Genrikh Lyushkov, ran over to the Japanese. Currying favor with his new masters, he spoke in detail about the deployment of Soviet troops, about the codes used in military communications, and handed over the radio communication codes, lists and operational documents he had taken with him.
The 19th Infantry Division, numbering up to 20 thousand people, which was to capture the hills adjacent to Lake Khasan, as well as a brigade of the 20th Infantry Division, a cavalry brigade, three separate machine-gun battalions and tanks began an offensive, with the goal (to begin with) of capturing border heights. Heavy artillery, armored trains, and anti-aircraft guns were brought here. Up to 70 combat aircraft were concentrated at nearby airfields.
The measures taken to strengthen defense capabilities turned out to be timely.
At the end of July 1938, the Japanese Armed Forces started a conflict, believing that here, in conditions of roadlessness and swampy terrain, it would be much more difficult for the Red Army to concentrate and deploy its troops. If the attack was successful, the Japanese plans went much further than moving the border near Lake Khasan.
On July 23, Japanese units located in Korea and Manchuria on the border with the USSR began expelling residents from border villages. And on another morning in the area sand islands Artillery firing positions appeared along the Tumen-Ula River. On railway armored trains hid. At Bogomolnaya heights, one kilometer from Zaozernaya, firing positions for machine guns and light artillery were set up. Japanese destroyers were cruising in Peter the Great Bay, near the territorial waters of the USSR. On July 25, in the area of border checkpoint No. 7, our border detachment was subjected to rifle and machine-gun fire, and the next day a reinforced Japanese company captured the border height of Devil's Mountain...
Dreaming of quickly returning to bottles and his young wife, Marshal Blucher decided to voluntarily engage in a “peaceful resolution” of the conflict. On July 24, secretly from his own headquarters, as well as from the deputies who were in Khabarovsk. People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Frinovsky and Deputy. People's Commissar of Defense Mekhlis, he sent a commission to the height of Zaozernaya. As a result of the “investigation”, carried out without the involvement of the head of the local border station, the commission found that our border guards were to blame for the conflict, allegedly violating the border by 3 meters. Having performed this act worthy of current “peacekeepers” like Shevardnadze and Lebed, Blucher sent a telegram to the People’s Commissar of Defense, in which he demanded the immediate arrest of the head of the border section and other “those responsible for provoking the conflict.” However, this “peace initiative” did not meet with understanding in Moscow, from where came a strict order to stop fussing with the commissions and implement the decisions of the Soviet government to organize resistance to the Japanese.
Early in the morning of July 29, under the cover of fog, two Japanese detachments crossed our state border and began an attack on Bezymyannaya Height. The border detachment under the command of Lieutenant A. M. Makhalin met the enemy with fire. For several hours, eleven warriors heroically repelled the onslaught of many times superior enemy forces. Five border guard soldiers were killed and the rest were wounded, mortally - Lieutenant Makhalin. At the cost big losses The Japanese managed to master the heights. A reserve of border guards and a rifle company under the command of the communist Lieutenant D. Levchenko arrived at the battlefield. With a bold bayonet attack and grenades, our valiant warriors knocked out the invaders from Soviet soil.
Having cleared the hill, the soldiers equipped trenches. At dawn on July 30, enemy artillery rained concentrated fire on them. And then the Japanese went on the attack several times, but Lieutenant Levchenko’s company fought to the death. The company commander himself was wounded three times, but did not leave the battle. A platoon of anti-tank guns under Lieutenant I. Lazarev came to the aid of Levchenko’s unit and shot the Japanese with direct fire. One of our gunners was killed. Lazarev, wounded in the shoulder, took his place. The artillerymen managed to suppress several enemy machine guns and destroy up to a company of infantry. It was with difficulty that the platoon commander was forced to leave for dressing. A day later he was back in action and fought until the final victory...
Already the first battles on July 29-30 showed that this was not an ordinary border incident.
Meanwhile, Blucher actually sabotaged the organization of armed resistance to the invading aggressors. Things got to the point that on August 1, during a conversation over a direct wire, Stalin asked him rhetorical question: “Tell me, Comrade Blucher, honestly, do you have a desire to really fight the Japanese? If you don’t have such a desire, tell me directly, as befits a communist, and if you have a desire, I would think that you should go to the place immediately.” However, having gone to the scene, the marshal only interfered with his subordinates. In particular, he stubbornly refused to use aviation against the Japanese under the pretext of fear of causing damage to the civilian Korean population of the adjacent strip. At the same time, despite the presence of a normally working telegraph connection, Blucher in within three for days he avoided talking on a direct line with People's Commissar Voroshilov.
Due to the remote location and the almost complete absence of roads, the advance of the 40th Infantry Division to the border was slow. The situation was complicated by continuous heavy rains. At 3 o'clock in the morning on July 31, the Japanese opened artillery fire and, with the help of two infantry regiments, launched an offensive on the heights of Zaozernaya and Bezymyannaya. After a fierce four-hour battle, the enemy occupied these heights. Our leading battalions retreated east of Lake Khasan: the battalion of the 119th regiment to a height of 194.0, the battalion of the 118th to Zarechye. The main forces of the 40th Infantry Division at that time were on the march 30-40 km from the battle area.
On the instructions of the People's Commissar of Defense K.E. Voroshilov, they were brought to combat readiness troops in the Primorsky Territory, as well as the forces of the Pacific Fleet. Repelling the enemy attack was entrusted to the 39th Rifle Corps under the command of brigade commander V.N. Sergeev. It included the 40th Rifle Division named after S. Ordzhonikidze (commander Colonel V.K. Bazarov), the 32nd Saratov Rifle Division (commander Colonel N.E. Berzarap) and the 2nd Mechanized Brigade (commander Colonel A.P. . Panfilov). The chief of staff of the front, corps commander G.M. Stern, arrived in the combat area with a group of commanders.
The Japanese, having captured Bezymyannaya and Zaozernaya, covered these hills with deep trenches within three days. Machine gun platforms, dugouts, firing positions for mortars and artillery, wire fences and anti-tank ditches were equipped. Armored hoods for machine guns were installed at key positions, and snipers were disguised behind rocks. The narrow passages between the lake and the border were mined.
The commander of the 40th Infantry Division made the decision to attack the enemy at the heights on the move on August 1 and restore the situation on the border. However, due to impassable roads, units of the division reached their starting lines late. Corporal Stern, who was at the command post of the formation, ordered the attack to be postponed until the next day.
On August 2, the commander of the Far Eastern Fleet troops, V.K. Blucher, arrived in Posiet. Having familiarized himself with the situation, he approved the actions of G. M. Stern and gave instructions for more thorough preparation of the troops for the attack.
On the same day, the 40th Infantry Division went on the offensive. The main attack on the Bezymyannaya height was carried out from the north by the 119th and 120th Infantry Regiments, with the attached 32nd separate tank battalion and two artillery divisions. The 118th Infantry Regiment was advancing from the south.
The fight was brutal. The enemy was in extremely advantageous positions. In front of his trenches lay a lake, which did not allow our troops to attack the heights from the front: it was necessary to bypass the lake, that is, move along the border itself, strictly within our own territory, under enemy flank fire.
The 119th Infantry Regiment, having forded and swam the northern part of Lake Khasan, reached the northeastern slopes of the Bezymyannaya Sochka by the end of August 2, where it encountered strong fire resistance from the Japanese. The soldiers lay down and dug in.
By that time, the 120th Infantry Regiment had captured the eastern slopes of the Bezymyannaya hill, however, having encountered strong opposition from the enemy, it stopped the attack and lay down. The 118th Infantry Regiment captured a hollow to the west of Height 62.1 and by the end of the day reached the eastern and southeastern slopes of Bezymyannaya.
The infantry was assisted by the 32nd separate tank battalion of Colonel M.V. Akimov.
No matter how great the courage of the Soviet soldiers, all attempts by our troops on August 2 and 3 to drive the Japanese out of the occupied territory were unsuccessful. The front command, on the instructions of the People's Commissar of Defense on August 3, entrusted the task of defeating the enemy to the 39th Rifle Corps, whose commander was G. M. Stern. The corps included the 40th, 32nd, 39th rifle divisions and the 2nd mechanized brigade with reinforcements.
Meanwhile, trying to gain time to bring even larger forces to the Lake Khasan area and gain a foothold on captured Soviet soil, the Japanese government resorted to a diplomatic maneuver. On August 4, the Japanese Ambassador to Moscow met with the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR M. M. Litvinov and stated that his government intended to resolve the conflict “peacefully.” This “peaceful path” meant an attempt to impose on the Soviet side negotiations on border changes, as well as to achieve the retention of Japanese troops in a number of areas of our territory. Such an impudent proposal was, naturally, resolutely rejected. The Soviet government firmly stated that a cessation of hostilities was possible only if the situation that existed before July 29 was restored. The Japanese refused this.
Then our troops were given the order to launch a general offensive. The order, in particular, said: “The task of the corps with attached units is to capture the Zaozernaya heights on August 6 and destroy the enemies who dared to invade our Soviet land.”
G. M. Stern proposed a bold plan: the 32nd Infantry Division with the 3rd Tank Battalion of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade would capture the Bezymyannaya height and, with a strike from the north-west, together with the 40th Infantry Division, expel the enemy from the Zaozernaya height;
The 40th division with the 2nd tank and reconnaissance battalions of the same brigade will capture the Machine-Gun Hill height and attack from the northeast together with the 32nd division - the Zaozernaya height; The 39th Infantry Division with the 121st Cavalry Regiment, the motorized rifle battalion of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade was charged with providing cover for the right flank of the corps along the Novo-Kievskoye line, height 106.9.
The operation included artillery preparation by three regiments of corps artillery, as well as support and cover of ground forces by aviation. This time too, infantry and tanks were prohibited from crossing the state border between China and Korea.
The day of the general attack at Lake Khasan coincided with the ninth anniversary of the founding of OKDVA. In the morning, on this occasion, an order was read out in all units and divisions of the corps on behalf of the commander of the Far Eastern Fleet V.K. Blucher. “...Deal a crushing blow to the insidious enemy,” the order said, “to destroy him completely—this is the sacred duty to the Motherland of every soldier, commander, and political worker.”
On August 6, at 16:00, after the thick fog cleared, TB-3 heavy bombers, under the cover of fighters, attacked Japanese troops. More than 250 guns began artillery preparation. After 55 minutes, infantry and tanks rushed into the attack.
The enemy resisted fiercely. Under his machine-gun fire, soldiers on in certain directions were forced to lie down in front of barbed wire barriers. And the heavily swampy terrain and dense artillery fire held back our tanks. But all these were just temporary delays.
By the end of the day on August 6, the 118th Infantry Regiment of the 40th Division captured the Soviet part of the Zaozernaya Height. The red banner on its top was hoisted by the secretary of the regiment's party bureau, Lieutenant (later Major General) I. N. Moshlyak, who inspired the soldiers with an example of personal courage. He went on the offensive with the lead battalion, and when the battalion commander died, he replaced him and ensured that the unit completed its combat mission.
The 32nd Rifle Division, under heavy enemy fire, persistently advanced along a narrow strip along Lake Khasan and successively captured the heights of Machine-Gun Hill and Bezymyannaya. The commander of the 1st battalion of the 95th Infantry Regiment, Captain M. S. Bochkarev, raised the soldiers to attack six times.
The fighting went on with unrelenting force. Both sides suffered heavy losses. Having brought up reserves, the enemy repeatedly launched counterattacks. Only on August 7, the enemy attempted them, for example, at the height of Zaozernaya twenty times! But they were all repulsed.
The battle lasted for four days without stopping. It ended with the defeat of Japanese units. On August 9, Soviet territory was completely cleared of foreign invaders. At noon on August 11, hostilities ceased. As a result, the Soviet side lost 960 people killed, died from wounds and went missing, and 3,279 were wounded and sick (Russia and the USSR in the wars of the twentieth century: Statistical research. M., 2001. P. 173). Japanese losses were 650 killed and about 2,500 wounded. Considering that we used aircraft and tanks, and the Japanese did not, the loss ratio should have been completely different. As has often happened in our history, officers and sergeants paid for the sloppiness of the highest military authorities and the poor training of soldiers with their heroism. This, in particular, is evidenced by the large losses of command personnel - 152 killed officers and 178 junior commanders. However, Soviet propaganda presented the results of the Hassan clash as a resounding victory for the Red Army. The country honored its heroes. Indeed, formally the battlefield remained with us, but it should be borne in mind that the Japanese did not particularly try to retain the heights behind them.
As for the main “hero,” a well-deserved reward also awaited him. After the end of hostilities, Blucher was summoned to Moscow, where on August 31, 1938, under the chairmanship of Voroshilov, a meeting of the Main Military Council of the Red Army was held, consisting of members of the military council Stalin, Shchadenko, Budyonny, Shaposhnikov, Kulik, Loktionov, Blucher and Pavlov, with the participation of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR Molotov and deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Frinovsky, who examined the issue of events in the area of Lake Khasan and the actions of the commander of the Far Eastern Front. As a result, Blucher was removed from his post, arrested and executed on November 9, 1938 (according to another version, he died during the investigation). Taking into account the sad experience of the Blucher leadership, it was decided not to concentrate the command of Soviet troops in the Far East in one hand. In place of the Far Eastern Front, two separate armies were created, directly subordinate to the People's Commissar of Defense, as well as the Trans-Baikal Military District.
The question arises: were Blucher’s actions ordinary sloppiness, or were they deliberate sabotage and sabotage? Since the materials of the investigative case are still classified, we cannot answer this question unambiguously. However, the version of Blucher’s betrayal cannot be considered deliberately false. So, back on December 14, 1937, Soviet intelligence officer Richard Sorge reported from Japan:
“There are, for example, serious conversations that there is reason to count on the separatist sentiments of Marshal Blucher, and therefore, as a result of the first decisive blow, it will be possible to achieve peace with him on terms favorable for Japan" (The Case of Richard Sorge: Unknown documents / Published by A.G. Fesyun. St. Petersburg. ; M., 2000. P.15). The defector Lyushkov also told the Japanese about the presence of an opposition-minded group in the command of the Far Eastern Front.
As for the supposed impossibility of betraying such a well-deserved revolutionary commander, history knows many similar examples. Thus, the generals of the French Republic, Dumouriez and Moreau, defected to the enemy’s side. In a similar way, in 1814, Napoleon was betrayed by his marshals. And speaking of conspiracy German generals There is no need to speak against Hitler, although many of them had services to the Third Reich no less than Blücher to the USSR.
From the point of view of the Japanese command, reconnaissance in force was more or less successful. It turned out that the Russians were still fighting poorly, even in conditions of numerical and technical superiority. However, due to the insignificant scale of the clash, Tokyo soon decided to conduct a new test of strength.
Lake Khasan is a small freshwater lake located in the southeast of Primorsky Krai near the borders with China and Korea, in the area of which a military conflict occurred between the USSR and Japan in 1938.
At the beginning of July 1938, the Japanese military command reinforced the garrison of border troops located west of Lake Khasan with field units that concentrated on the eastern bank of the Tumen-Ula River. As a result, three infantry divisions of the Kwantung Army, a mechanized brigade, a cavalry regiment, machine-gun battalions and about 70 aircraft were stationed in the area of the Soviet border.
The border conflict in the area of Lake Khasan was fleeting, but the losses of the parties were significant. Historians believe that in terms of the number of killed and wounded, the Khasan events reach the level of a local war.
According to official data published only in 1993, Soviet troops lost 792 people killed and 2,752 people wounded, Japanese troops lost 525 and 913 people, respectively.
For heroism and courage, the 40th Rifle Division was awarded the Order of Lenin, the 32nd Rifle Division and the Posyet Border Detachment were awarded the Order of the Red Banner, 26 servicemen were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 6.5 thousand people were awarded orders and medals.
The Khasan events of the summer of 1938 were the first serious test of the capabilities of the USSR Armed Forces. Soviet troops gained experience in the use of aviation and tanks, and in organizing artillery support for the offensive.
The international trial of major Japanese war criminals held in Tokyo from 1946 to 1948 concluded that the Lake Hassan attack, which was planned and carried out using significant forces, could not be regarded as a simple clash between border patrols. The Tokyo Tribunal also considered it established that hostilities were started by the Japanese and were clearly aggressive in nature.
After World War II, the documents, the decision and the very meaning of the Tokyo Tribunal were interpreted differently in historiography. The Khasan events themselves were assessed ambiguously and contradictorily.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Battles near Lake Khasan or Khasan battles - this is the name given to a series of clashes between Japan and the USSR that occurred in the summer of 1938 (from July 29 to August 11). The battles took place over a disputed territory near Lake Khasan, which is why this name of the conflict stuck.
Reason for conflict
Japan has put forward a territorial claim to the government of the USSR - this is official. However, in fact, this was a response to the USSR’s assistance to China, which was hostile to Japan. The USSR feared China's capitulation and therefore provided it with support.
In July, the Soviet army began to concentrate on the border. Japan demanded that the USSR withdraw its troops. However, on July 22, Japan received a decisive refusal. It was on this day that the Japanese leadership approved the plan to attack the Red Army forces.
Strengths of the parties
USSR
At the time of the outbreak of hostilities, the USSR had 15 thousand soldiers, about 240 guns, three hundred tanks, 250 aircraft, and more than 1 thousand machine guns.
Japan
Japan had at its disposal about 20 thousand soldiers, 200 guns, about 70 aircraft and three more armored trains, and naval forces also participated - 15 warships and 15 boats. Japanese snipers were also spotted in the battle.
Conflict
On July 29, 150 Japanese soldiers attacked the Bezymyannaya hill and took it in battle, losing 40 people, but they were forced to retreat before a counterattack by the USSR.
On July 30, Japanese artillery shelled Soviet positions on the Bezymyannaya and Zaozernaya hills, then an attack followed, but the Soviet army successfully repelled the attack.
The Japanese established a serious defense on the Machine Gun hill, and the Soviet army carried out two attacks on this position, but this did not bring success.
On August 2, the Soviet army went on the offensive, which was successful, but it was not possible to occupy the hills; it was decided to retreat and prepare for defense.
On August 4, all the forces of the Red Army on this section of the front were gathered into a fist, and a decisive attack was launched in order to restore state borders from Japanese soldiers. On August 6, a massive bombardment of Japanese positions was carried out.
All day on August 7, the Soviet army waged an active attack, but the Japanese carried out 12 counterattacks that day, which were unsuccessful. On August 9, the USSR occupied the Bezymyannaya hill. Thus, the Japanese army was driven abroad.
On August 10, peace negotiations began, the USSR agreed on the condition that the Union retain those territories where Red Army soldiers are now located. On this day, Japan was still bombing Soviet positions. However, by the end of the day it was suppressed by a retaliatory strike by Soviet artillery.
Soviet aviation was active in this conflict, using chemical bombs. Japanese aircraft were not used.
Result
The USSR army achieved its main task, the essence of which was the restoration of state borders, by defeating parts of the Japanese army.
Losses
USSR
960 people were killed or missing, and about 2,800 were wounded. 4 aircraft were destroyed and beyond repair.
Japan
They counted 650 people killed and 2,500 wounded. The equipment's weapons were significantly damaged. Japanese estimates were somewhat different, they spoke of less than a thousand wounded soldiers.
Soviet army managed to capture a lot of captured weapons, which were put on display in the Vladivostok museum. 26 Red Army soldiers received the title “Hero of the Soviet Union.”
This conflict also provoked the development of transport communications in this area.
Soviet era
Conflict on Lake Khasan
Patrol of Soviet border guards in the area of Lake Khasan, 1938
Throughout the 20-30s. In the 20th century, the aggressiveness of Japan steadily increased, trying to meet the growing needs of the economy and state at the expense of its Far Eastern neighbors. The active opposition of the Soviet Union to Japanese expansion in Southeast Asia created tension in relations between states, manifested in numerous local conflicts. Only on the border with Manchuria in 1936-1938. More than 200 border skirmishes occurred. The Japanese detained several Soviet ships, accusing them of violating Japan's maritime borders.
On July 15, 1938, the Charge d'Affaires of Japan in the USSR appeared at the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs and demanded the withdrawal of Soviet border guards from the heights in the area of Lake Khasan. After the Japanese representative was presented with the Hunchun Agreement between Russia and China of 1886 and the map attached to it, irrefutably indicating that Lake Khasan and the heights adjacent to it from the west are on Soviet territory and that, therefore, there are no violations in this no area, he retreated. However, on July 20, the Japanese ambassador in Moscow, Shigemitsu, repeated his claims to the Khasan area. When it was pointed out to him that such claims were unfounded, the ambassador said: if Japan's demands are not met, it will use force. It should be said that on July 19, 1938, the Soviet embassy in Tokyo was raided, and literally a few days later a border incident occurred between the USSR and Japan in the area of Lake Khasan (Primorye).
The Red Army soldiers go on the attack. Surroundings of Lake Khasan
The reason for the conflict was the construction of a fortification by Soviet border guards, which, according to the Japanese, crossed the border line.
In response, on July 29, 1938, a Japanese company, under the cover of fog, violated the state border of the USSR, shouting “banzai” and attacked Bezymyannaya Height. The night before, a detachment of 11 border guards, led by the assistant head of the outpost, Lieutenant Alexei Makhalin, arrived at this height. The Japanese chains surrounded the trench more and more tightly, and the border guards were running out of ammunition. Eleven soldiers heroically repelled the onslaught of superior enemy forces for several hours, and several border guards died. Then Alexey Makhalin decides to break through the encirclement with hand-to-hand combat. He rises to full height and with the words “Forward! For the Motherland! rushes with the fighters into a counterattack. They managed to break through the encirclement. But out of the eleven, six defenders of Nameless remained alive. Alexey Makhalin also died. (He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously). At the cost of heavy losses, the Japanese managed to take control of the heights. But soon a group of border guards and a rifle company under the command of Lieutenant D. Levchenko arrived at the battlefield. With a bold bayonet attack and grenades, our soldiers knocked out the invaders from the heights.
At dawn on July 30, enemy artillery brought down dense, concentrated fire onto the heights. And then the Japanese attacked several times, but Lieutenant Levchenko’s company fought to the death. The company commander himself was wounded three times, but did not leave the battle. A battery of anti-tank guns under Lieutenant I. Lazarev came to the aid of Levchenko’s unit and shot the Japanese with direct fire. One of our gunners died. Lazarev, wounded in the shoulder, took his place. The artillerymen managed to suppress several enemy machine guns and almost destroy the enemy company. It was with difficulty that the battery commander was forced to leave for dressing. A day later he was back in action and fought until final success.
Japanese soldiers dug in at Zaozernaya heights
The Japanese invaders decided to deliver a new and main blow in the area of the Zaozernaya hill. Anticipating this, the command of the Posyet border detachment (Colonel K.E. Grebennik) organized the defense of Zaozernaya. The northern slope of the height was guarded by a detachment of border guards under the command of Lieutenant Tereshkin. In the center and on the southern slope of Zaozernaya there was a reserve outpost of Lieutenant Khristolubov and a squad of fighters of a maneuver group with two crews of heavy machine guns. On the southern bank of Khasan there was a branch of Gilfan Batarshin. Their task was to cover the command post of the detachment commander and prevent the Japanese from reaching the rear of the border guards. Senior Lieutenant Bykhovtsev’s group strengthened on Bezymyannaya. Near the height was the 2nd company of the 119th regiment of the 40th Infantry Division under the command of Lieutenant Levchenko. Each height was a small, independently operating stronghold. Approximately halfway between the heights there was a group of Lieutenant Ratnikov, covering the flanks with reinforced units. Ratnikov had 16 soldiers with a machine gun. In addition, it was assigned a platoon of small-caliber guns and four T-26 light tanks. However, when the battle began, it turned out that the forces of the border defenders were meager. The lesson at Bezymyannaya was useful to the Japanese, and they brought into action two reinforced divisions total number up to 20 thousand people, about 200 guns and mortars, three armored trains, a battalion of tanks. The Japanese pinned great hopes on their “suicide bombers” who also took part in the battle.
On the night of July 31, a Japanese regiment, with artillery support, attacked Zaozernaya. The defenders of the hill returned fire, and then counterattacked the enemy and drove him back. Four times the Japanese rushed to Zaozernaya and each time they were forced to retreat with losses. A powerful avalanche of Japanese troops, although at the cost of heavy losses, managed to push back our fighters and reach the lake. Then, by decision of the government, units of the First Maritime Army entered the battle; its soldiers and commanders fought heroically alongside the border guards. During fierce military clashes on August 9, 1938, Soviet troops managed to dislodge the enemy from only part of the disputed territories. The Bezymyannaya and Zaozernaya hills were completely occupied later, after the conflict was resolved diplomatically.
Bombing of Zaozernaya Hill
The events on Lake Khasan, for all their complexity and ambiguity, clearly demonstrated the military power of the USSR. The experience of fighting with the regular Japanese army seriously helped the training of our soldiers and commanders during the battles at Khalkhin Gol in 1939 and in the Manchurian War. strategic operation in August 1945
Aviators, tank crews, and artillerymen also made a significant contribution to the overall success of repelling the enemy. Accurate bomb strikes fell on the heads of the invaders, the enemy was thrown to the ground by dashing tank attacks, and destroyed by irresistible and powerful artillery salvoes. The campaign of Japanese troops to Lake Khasan ended ingloriously. After August 9, the Japanese government had no choice but to enter into negotiations to end hostilities. On August 10, the USSR government proposed a truce to the Japanese side. The Japanese government accepted our terms, also agreeing to create a commission to resolve the controversial border issue. For the massive heroism shown in the battles near Lake Khasan, thousands of Soviet soldiers were awarded high state awards, many became Heroes of the Soviet Union. Settlements, streets, schools, and ships were named after the heroes.
Gabriel Tsobekhia
