During World War II, Japan and Germany were allied Axis powers. In terms of specific operations, Germany focused on the European battlefield, occupying a large area of European territory in just one year, attacking Poland, surrendering France, bombing Britain, and waiting for the opportunity to march east to attack the Soviet Union. The Japanese army focused on the Chinese battlefield, and the soldiers captured most of China in three ways. Why didn't Germany and Japan jointly attack the Soviet Union when their forces were at their peak? Mainly because of a battle and a comment:
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Commander of the Soviet Army
In May 1939, the Japanese and the Soviet Union launched a general war in Nomonhan, and Hitler was eager to know how effective his ally Japan in the Far East was and to assess the possibility of a joint attack on the Soviet Union, so Hitler sent a military observation mission to Nomenkhan. The military observation mission sent by Hitler was ostensibly to guide and help the Japanese army to defeat the Soviet Union, but in fact it was Hitler's secret envoy, the main purpose of which was to assess whether the Kwantung Army, which claimed to be japan's most elite army, had a few pounds and a few pounds and could jointly fight to defeat the Soviet Union.
Hitler's intentions were naturally well known to the Japanese side, so the Japanese army attached great importance to this campaign, wanting to recreate the glory of the Russo-Japanese War, open up the "northward" route and impress Hitler and show its strength. To this end, the Japanese army sent the 23rd Division of the elite Kwantung Army Komatsubara Division, the 7th Division of the "Sino-Japanese War" and the "Russo-Japanese War", and the only tank division in Japan, the 1st Tank Division.
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Commander of the Japanese Army
On 28 May, the Japanese 23rd Division and the Yamagata Detachment, under the cover of a large number of aircraft, crossed the Halaha River and attacked the Soviet-Mongolian positions from the west, and the first Battle of Nomonhan began. The Soviet 11th Tank Brigade and the 36th Motorized Infantry Division returned fire on the Japanese fiercely, and the Japanese returned in defeat.
Unwilling to accept defeat, the Japanese army gathered 13 infantry brigades (more than 36,000 people), 182 tanks, 112 artillery pieces, 180 aircraft and 400 vehicles to launch another attack on the Soviet-Mongolian coalition. Komatsubara called this the Second Russo-Japanese War and invited a German observer group to the front to watch the battle. In order to win, Komatsu originally sent the only armored division of the Japanese army. The Japanese army learned the lesson of the failure of the first Battle of Nomonhan this time, and adopted the "roundabout encirclement" tactic that the Japanese army was best at, in an attempt to ambush the Soviet flank and crush it.
On July 2, the Great War began again. More than 15,000 Japanese troops crossed the Halaha River and fought fiercely with the Soviets in the area of Bayincha Mountain on the west bank. The Japanese tanks had small tonnage, thin armor, and a small radius of action, and were no match for Soviet tanks. The Japanese tanks were directly knocked over and crushed by the Soviet tanks, and the Japanese suffered heavy casualties. In order to save the situation, the Japanese army launched three large-scale night raids in succession, resulting in night raids on the bare steppe, and the Japanese army became a living target for the Heavy Machine Gun of the Soviet Army, and the Japanese suffered more than 5,000 casualties, and once again suffered a fiasco.
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? German Observer Mission
On August 4, the Japanese army regrouped and programmed the 6th Army, together with the puppet Manchu army, with a total strength of 75,000 people, with 500 artillery pieces, 182 tanks, and 300 aircraft to support. The Soviet commander Zhukov decided to settle the Battle of Nomonhan as soon as possible, so he changed the 57th Special Army into the 1st Army and deceived the Japanese intelligence.
On August 20, the Soviet general offensive forces launched an attack in the south, middle and north, overwhelming the Japanese army step by step and forming a large encirclement. After August 24, the Japanese forces at each garrison counterattacked both inside and outside, trying to break through the encirclement, but both failed. The Japanese army was completely expelled from the borders claimed by the Mongolian side. The 23rd Division of the Kwantung Army was largely annihilated in this battle – with a total strength of 15,975 men, 12,220 losses, and a casualty rate of 80%. The remaining 2,000 officers and men of the Japanese 23rd Division escaped from the encirclement, and the Japanese Kwantung Army ended in a crushing defeat.
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? The Japanese marched at the Battle of Nomonhan
The result of the war was the defeat of the Japanese army, which impressed the German observer mission with its performance. So at the end of 1939, the German envoy sent Hitler a report assessing the combat strength of the Japanese army, which raised serious doubts about the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army, and the full text of the report is as follows:
The Japanese commander Komatsubara was very convinced that his division could defeat Zhukov's three divisions, and the japanese pre-war training made all the German officers present very stunned, and the Japanese army actually practiced white-knife warfare and charging, and most officers believed that Japan thought it was in the era of the Russo-Japanese War.
Japanese tanks are difficult to call tanks, and there is only one tank division in the country, and the combat effectiveness is unimaginable. In the first battle on May 28, the Japanese tanks were opened one by one like military cans, and the cavalry foolishly attacked the Soviet Spitfire tank company, which was quickly completely annihilated, and the Japanese tactics were still stuck before the First World War, very dull and stiff.
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Japanese artillery in Nomonhan
From June 20, the Japanese army began to attack, using tank divisions to attack frontally, infantry detours, which is simply unbelievable, on the plains do not use mobile armored units to circumvent, but use infantry, completely armored combat laymen. On July 4, the Japanese tank division was largely annihilated. Komatsubara stubbornly disobeyed us and ordered his soldiers to launch a night raid.
It is worth mentioning that the diminutive Japanese soldiers were equipped with a rifle with a bayonet up to 60 cm long, which was obviously designed for white-knife warfare, but the stupid dense charge was defeated by the automatic fire of the Soviet army, Komatsubara said that the casualties were less than a thousand, but according to my observation, no less than three thousand (in fact, five thousand), the Soviet army reported 263 casualties.
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Japanese infantry
This is a complete failure, the tactics are outdated, the equipment is not used properly, in order to cherish the incredible tactic of using infantry to cover the tank. In order to show its bravery, the Japanese army actually allowed senior commanders to charge together with the troops, and the price was very heavy, and this was a completely stupid and reckless act that lacked the necessary common sense of military command.
We believe that the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army is very weak, that it is not a wise move for the Empire to ally with it, and that it is not a wise move to provoke the Soviet Union to sabotage our imperial plan, and that we should be extra cautious in diplomacy and not be too close to Japan.
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Japanese artillery captured by the Soviets
In the Battle of Nomonhan, the Japanese Kwantung Army lost nearly 50,000 people, the 23rd Infantry Division, the 7th Division, the 8th Border Garrison, the 1st Independent Garrison (Brigade), and the 1st Tank Division were almost completely lost, 11 special forces companies were completely incapacitated, and the casualties of officers were unprecedented.
The illusion that the Japanese army wanted to use this to establish its might in front of the German secret envoys finally vanished. The Japanese commander Komatsubara committed suicide after the defeat. Since then, the Japanese army has exhausted its main force to the south, and has since abandoned the northward strategy.
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Peace talks at the Battle of Nomonhan
At the Battle of Nomenhan, the evaluation of the German secret envoys was to the point, although the casualties of the Soviet army in this battle were higher than those of the Japanese army, but the Soviet army grasped the strategic initiative, avoided two-front operations, and changed the course of World War II. The Commander of the Soviet Army, Zhukov, also became famous for this battle, and the Battle of Nomonhan has become a classic example in the history of world wars.
[This article is written by Barnyard Shi Hou, mistakes and omissions, Jingxi readers correct]