What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
1939 was a pivotal year for the Japanese Kwantung Army, which had been in tohoku for nearly eight years. Japan and China had entered a state of all-out war, and the Kwantung Army was not content to be just spectators, and the japanese army's top brass had the intention of expanding to the north. In view of the fact that during the Russo-Japanese War, Japan had defeated the powerful Tsarist army, allowing Japan to establish an invincible ambition, and at this time the Soviet Red Army was undergoing a purge campaign, and a large number of generals who could recruit good warriors were purged, resulting in a significant decline in the combat effectiveness of the Soviet army.
All of this made some arrogant people in the Japanese base camp begin to plot a tentative confrontation with the Soviet army, and at this time a border conflict between Mongolia and Puppet Manchuria made the Japanese Kwantung Army think that the opportunity had come. The Japanese Kwantung Army should take this opportunity to challenge the Soviet Army as a strategic test to find out what the combat effectiveness of the Soviet Army is, so as to determine the strategic direction of the Japanese Army in the future, whether it will go south or north.
Since 1935, the troops of the Japanese Kwantung Army stationed in Hailar, which occupies the northeast of our country, have continuously provoked the Soviet army and the Mongolian army in the border area with Outer Mongolia to test the strength of the Soviet Union and the Outer Mongolian army. Although there was a dispute between the two sides, no war broke out. In May 1939, a Mongol herders crossed the boundary river and was driven by the puppet Manchu army on the border. Fighting began on both sides, and the Japanese were looking forward to such an opportunity, and soon the Japanese Kwantung Army mobilized a number of aircraft, artillery, and tanks to strengthen the fire of the forward troops.
The Soviets also quickly deployed the 57th Army to Nomenkan, as well as the 36th Motorized Infantry Division and the 6th Mongolian Cavalry Division, where Soviet aircraft were also mobilized and air operations were strengthened. At dawn on May 28, 1939, the Japanese cavalry troops of about 1,200 people, East 800 Tibetan and Pseudo Manchuria launched an attack on Mongolia in three directions, and as a result, they were defeated by the Soviet-Mongolian coalition army, and the Japanese search team of about 200 people was almost wiped out, the captain of the East 800 Tibetans was also killed, and the other Japanese casualties were nearly 20%.
After that, similar battles occurred from time to time, and although the Japanese did not take advantage of anything, the losses of the Soviet army were not small. As the battle was fought, Stalin decided to put Zhukov in charge of the Battle of Nomonkan. The most famous general of the Soviet Army during World War II, Zhukov, who was known for his good use of surprise soldiers. However, the situation of the Soviet army was not optimistic, and one regimental commander even told Zhukov that the Japanese army had a tenacious Bushido situation, was not afraid of death at all, and even did not sympathize with the direction of suicide attacks that seriously damaged Soviet tanks. At this time, the Soviet front-line troops generally had the psychology of fearing the Japanese army.
Zhukov looked, this can't work! It should be known that during the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian army at that time was frightened by the Japanese army's pig-like charge, which led to the loss of the vital 203 heights, otherwise the Japanese army might not be able to take it down. The wounded soldiers of the Japanese army even detonated grenades and died together with the Soviet battlefield medical personnel who went to bandage them, which made the Soviet officers and soldiers feel incredible, thinking about it and feeling afraid, what kind of people is this? Not afraid of death at all. It seems that the first thing to be solved is the psychological problems of the troops, and he dismissed the regimental commander who was afraid of the enemy and made the deputy regimental commander the regimental commander.
In response to the Japanese Bushido that the Soviet army was afraid of, Zhukov clearly said that I came to fight Bushido specifically. He told the officers and men of the Soviet Army that our soldiers were better than the Japanese, and their will to fight was stronger than theirs! To deal with Japan's Bushido, it is enough to do it, and there is not a single Japanese soldier left on the battlefield. Even if he is a wounded soldier, our tanker, the armored rider, can be directly crushed with tracks. Zhukov asked the headquarters for reinforcements of heavy firepower, a total of 498 tanks, 346 armored vehicles, 542 cannons, and 515 aircraft to the front.
On 15 July, the troops that had been on the front line were expanded into an army group with 100,000 men, and Zhukov was appointed commander of the army group. With all this intact, the Soviets launched a powerful offensive against the Japanese. On August 31, after 11 days of being bombarded by tens of thousands of tons of shells, the Japanese 23rd Division decided to break through. Soldiers fought with grenades in close combat, and two thousand officers and men broke through the siege. The Battle of Nomonkan lasted 135 days. The two sides threw more than 200,000 soldiers into the battlefield, and finally the Japanese army died more than 19,000 people, and the Soviet army lost 6,000. The Battle of Nomonkan was originally triggered by the indiscretion of Lieutenant General Ogasawara of the Japanese 23rd Division, and he committed suicide after the war. At the Battle of Nomonkan, the Soviets defeated the Japanese with superior strength, allowing the Japanese to put away their attempts to advance north.