Kwantung Army

After losing the Russian-Japanese war (1904-05), the emperor in Japan in the Portsmun world achieved the transfer to his disposal of the Kwantung region (Liaodong peninsula). This territory was allowed to have a certain number of troops.

The newly formed Kwantung Army contributed to the strengthening of Japanese influence in China. In 1931, an urgent reorganization of these troops began. First of all, the number of soldiers increased.

It should be noted that the Kwantung Army was the most honorable military group in Japan. The service in these troops guaranteed promotion through the ranks. At that time the Kwantung Army was in some ways a base for training ground forces.

The Japanese government tried to implement as quickly as possible the plan for the construction of various strategically important facilities on the territory of Manchuria. By the end of the summer of 1945, about four hundred landings and airfields, twenty-two thousand automobile roads and seven and a half thousand railways were built. In addition, barracks were created to accommodate seventy divisions (about one and a half million soldiers), warehouses for food, ammunition and other materials were created. All this made it possible, in a rather short time, to deploy full-scale military operations, if necessary.

Due to the fact that Japan considered the Soviet Union its main enemy, seventeen fortified regions were created on the border with the USSR. The total length of these areas was about eight hundred kilometers. According to experts, the Kwantung Army could use these fortified areas not only to provide protection, but also to conduct offensive operations.

After unsuccessful military operations on Khanhin-Gol and Lake Khasan in 1938-39, Japan has taken all necessary measures to prevent the emergence of conflicts with its northern neighbor. Along with this, the preparations for the war against the USSR continued actively. The command of the Kwantung Army developed a plan for the invasion of the Soviet Union, which was adopted by the ruler of Japan in 1940. However, already in the following year, 1941, the Contokuen plan was approved (immediately after the German invasion of the USSR).

The outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad forced the Japanese to abandon the campaign against the Soviet Union. From that moment the Kwantung Army was somewhat disbanded. By the autumn of 1943, the best parts of the army were transferred to the south. The following year, one company of each engineering battalion and one battalion of each artillery and infantry regiment were withdrawn from the army. By the summer of 1945 a significant number of tank, sapper, artillery units had been transferred to Japan and China. Replenishment of troops was carried out at the expense of Japanese settlers (senior reserve and recruits). However, the six new divisions formed were unable to replace the seized parts. In addition, the new personnel, in general, was not prepared for military operations, and there was no time left for training.

By the end of the summer of 1945, the USSR had begun a war with Japan. The sufficiently well-trained and mobile troops of the Soviet Army relatively quickly overcome the resistance of the scattered units. The lack of aviation and tanks allowed penetration into the territory of Manchuria practically unhindered, which ensured further destruction of the Kwantung Army.

As a part of these troops there were about 900 thousand soldiers. At the same time, almost half of them were military servicemen of auxiliary units (engineering, road, sapper, liaison and others). About 90 thousand soldiers died in the course of military operations, about 15 thousand died from diseases and wounds, a small number fled.