Khalkhin-Gol: The forgotten battle that shaped WW2
Andy Young who runs Siberian Light – The Russian Blog, writes in to point us to his post about a long forgotten battle fought between Japan and the Soviet Union in the opening days of World War II. Forgotten, but so significant that it literall altered the course of history.
In August 1939, just weeks before Hitler invaded Poland, the Soviet Union and Japan fought a massive tank battle on the Mongolian border – the largest the world had ever seen.
Under the then unknown Georgy Zhukov, the Soviets won a crushing victory at the batte of Khalkhin-Gol (known in Japan as the Nomonhan Incident). Defeat persuaded the Japanese to expand into the Pacific, where they saw the United States as a weaker opponent than the Soviet Union. If the Japanese had not lost at Khalkhin Gol, they may never have attacked Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese decision to expand southwards also meant that the Soviet Eastern flank was secured for the duration of the war. Instead of having to fight on two fronts, the Soviets could mass their troops – under the newly promoted General Zhukov – against the threat of Nazi Germany in the West.
In terms of its strategic impact, the battle of Khalkhin Gol was one of the most decisive battles of the Second World War, but no-one has ever heard of it. Why?
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perfeckt 10:10
Sorry, but the largest tank battle of the world/all time was the Battle of Kursk with other 6000 tanks involved. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk).
Other than that, very interesting article.Makes you wonder how different everything could have been!
February 8th, 2008 at 10:19 amI agree that this is very fascinating.
As for the Battle of Kursk, it occurred after the Battle of Khalkhin-Gol, which means that the cited passage is not incorrect on this basis.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:27 amMurakami’s “Wind Up Bird Chronicle” mentions Nomonhan quite a bit. It was the first time I heard of it.
February 8th, 2008 at 5:36 pm“In August 1939, just weeks before Hitler invaded Poland” – Should be: just weeks before both Hitler and Stalin invaded Poland. Fall Weiss was approved and discussed by Soviet command in secret protocols of Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty.
By 17 of September the Red army did their share of the job in starting of the Second World War. Their bravery in later fight with Nazism is unquestionable, however, Moscow did everything it could to break the war out and helped Nazis in early stages of it.Yes indeed, Russians altered the history but mainly for their own sake.
August 20th, 2009 at 4:28 am