Soviet invasion of Manchuria
| Soviet invasion of Manchuria | |||||||||
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| Part of the Soviet–Japanese War of World War II | |||||||||
Soviet gains in Northeast Asia, August 1945 | |||||||||
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Soviet armies |
Japanese armies | ||||||||
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Japanese medical records:
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The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation or simply the Manchurian Operation (Маньчжурская операция) and sometimes, mainly in the West, as Operation August Storm, began on 9 August 1945 with the Soviet Union's invasion of the Empire of Japan's puppet states of Manchukuo and Mengjiang, in Japanese-occupied Manchuria and Inner Mongolia respectively. It was the largest campaign of the 1945 Soviet–Japanese War, which resumed hostilities between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Empire of Japan after almost six years of peace.
The invasion began hours before the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The Soviet entry into the war against Japan and the defeat of the Kwantung Army are often considered a major factor, alongside the atomic bombings, in the Japanese government's decision to surrender unconditionally by 15 August. The Japanese government had previously hoped the Soviet Union would act as a third party, and end the Pacific War by negotiating a conditional surrender for Japan with the Western Allies. The Kwantung Army officially surrendered on 16 August, although fighting continued until 2 September, when the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed.
The Soviet Union occupied Manchuria as well as the Japanese Mengjiang puppet state in Inner Mongolia. The Soviet Navy also launched an amphibious assault capturing the northern half of Japanese-occupied Korea, later establishing the Soviet Civil Administration. On 14 August it signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with the Kuomintang government. The resumption of full-scale conflict in the Chinese Civil War prompted the Red Army to withdraw by 3 May 1946, handing much of Manchuria and Inner Mongolia to territories controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. The Soviets continued to occupy northern Korea until 1948 and the Port Arthur naval base until 1955.
Soviet forces also captured scientists of the Kwantung Army's Unit 731 division, involved in Japanese biological warfare and chemical warfare, sentencing them in the 1949 Khabarovsk war crimes trials while allegedly using their information and experience in the Soviet biological weapons program.