The Siberian War/Russo-Japanese War (1943-1945)
Russians soldiers with a BT-7 cavalry barrel in a skirmish with Japanese troops in the Amur River Valley, circa 1944.
By the start of 1943, it had become clear to the Japanese that their "allies", the Radius Powers (which consisted of Britain, France, Russia, and the Confederacy) were going to lose the war to the Quadruple Alliance. In late January of 1943 the Japanese High Command would begin draw up war plans against the Radius Powers' Colonies in Asia and the Pacific. On the Japanese target list was the Russian Far East their client state of the Congress of Manchuria*, and so the Japanese would put together the Kantokuen Plan. The Japanese order of battle was that the attack on Manchuria was to be launched from both Japanese occupied China and Korea with a total of 42 divisions under the command of General Tomoyuki Yamashita, and his forces had contained almost a third of all the barrel forces in the Japanese Army's inventory as well as large amounts of aircraft such as the Ki 43 Hayabusa fighter and the Ki 49 Donryu bomber. Also in this operation was the elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy under Admiral Nishizo Tsukahara with his force of the battleships
Musashi and
Ise along with a modest force of four cruisers and 12 destroyers along with some air resources who were to support amphibious operations at Port Arthur, Vladivostok, Northern Sakhalin, and the Kamchatka Peninsula.
A photo of a Nakajima Ki-43 at an airfield outside of Chasong in Korea prior to the Japanese Invasion of Manchuria, circa 1943. The Hayabusa fighter was the Japanese Army Air Service's equivalent to the Imperial Navy's Zero which they had proved popular with the pilots who flew them due to it's speed and handling characteristics.
An illustration of a Type 97 Chi-Hai Kai Medium Barrel during the first days of Kantokuen Operation in Manchuria, circa 1943. The Chi-Ha along with the Type 95 Ha-Go kegs and Type 1 Ho-Ha halftracks would form the Japanese Armored Assault into Manchuria, in which the Japanese had taken a lot influence from the Confederate Invasion of Ohio in 1941.
The Russian and Manchurian forces facing them under General Urzhin Garmaev were in a rather weak position. The Russians had a total of 12 Divisions in Manchuria and further 26 in reserve in the Russian Far East, in which most of these units were rated below average for their battle ratings. In support, another 20 divisions of the Manchurian National Army were in support, which they too were rated as below average in battle rating. The Russian had also lacked sufficient heavy artillery, armored, and aviation assets as many of them that were in Manchuria before the war were moved to the European and Alaskan Fronts. The Russians had a total of 34 high caliber artillery pieces, 10 T-26 Model 1933 Kegs, 32 Polikarpov I-16 fighters, 14 Seversky I-18 fighters, 22 R-Z light bombers, and 15 Tupolev SB-2M bombers. The Manchurian Army Air Corps was also a modest force with 10 Polikarpov I-15, 6 I-16 fighters, and 18 Polikarpov R-2 biplanes (which were mostly used for training purposes). The Russian Navy of the Far East Fleet was also heavily under strength as most of their resources were redeployed to deal with the USN in the Pacific Northwest Region. Their forces at Port Arthur consisted of the old battleships
Retvizan and
Andrei Pervozvanny, the light cruiser
Admiral Spiridov, and two destroyers while at the port of Vladivostok had the heavy cruiser
Kerch, the light cruiser
Admiral Grieg, and 6 destroyers. At Port Arthur, the Imperial Russian Navy would have a large amount of coastal artillery along with a force of 12,000 on-shore naval personnel.
A Russian Air Force I-16 being serviced at a base outside of Mukden, circa 1942. The I-16 was the most numerous fighter plane in the Russian Arsenal at the time of the Japanese Attack on Manchuria, which would prove to be inferior to the Japanese Ki 43 Hayabusa and A6M Zero fighters.
Soldiers of the Manchurian National Army defending their positions against Japanese forces near Jehol, circa 1943. The Manchurian Army in 1943 had a total of 360,000 soldiers, 415 artillery guns, 10,500 horses, 92 trucks, 15 armored cars (mostly of Russian Civil War and 1920s vintage), 16 fighter planes, and 18 biplane bombers/trainers.
The opening moves of the Siberian War was made on April 4th, 1943 when the Japanese Naval Forces moved to attack Port Arthur, in which the Japanese warships had destroyed the small Russian force outside the harbor. The Japanese would launch simultaneous ground strikes from Korea and Northeastern China onto Manchuria with a combined armored thrust and paratroop attacks with heavy air support. Within a matter of days, the Japanese had easily broken through the weak frontier defenses and managed to secure around 40% of the country and had isolated the Russian positions on the Liaoning Peninsula. By that time, the Japanese Army and Naval Air units had driven the Russians from the skies, making them the undisputed master of the skies over Manchuria. To make matters worse for the Russians, many soldiers of the Manchurian National Army would switch sides and would join the Japanese Army. By April 30th, the Japanese had managed to drive the Russians out of the capital of Hsinking and the city of Harbin as well as capturing the port city of Vladivstok. The Japanese had also launched successful amphibious landings at Northern Sakhalin and the Kamchatka Peninsula which they suffered very light casualties. Also around this time, the Russian garrison at Port Arthur had surrendered after a few weeks siege with a loss of 6,732 men.
An artist's rendition of two Japanese Type 95 Kegs with Infantry Support during the opening days of the Manchukuo Campaign.
Russian sailors making a desperate defense of their positions against Japanese Marines at Port Arthur, circa May of 1943.
Japanese SNLF troops making an amphibious landing against a Russian coastal battery near Port Arthur.
A Japanese Army soldier posing with some destroyed Russian Aircraft at an airfield outside of Vladivostok.
A Russian USV field gun firing on attacking Japanese barrels outside of Harbin, circa April 22nd, 1943.
When news of the Japanese Attack reached the Russian High Command, they were shocked by the news of the betrayal by one of their allies. They had immediately reacted by ordered a good number of units to be redeployed to try and halt the Japanese Invasion. However, much of the Russian forces were tied down on the European, Caucasian, and Alaskan Fronts, and as a result, very few good units could be spared to deal with the Japanese. The Russians would find themselves short on adequate weapons to deal with the Japanese ones, but have managed to scrape together some to the Far Eastern Front. One example was that they had managed to get a squadron of Yak-1M fighters to be sent off to the Far East to better deal with the Japanese Hayabusa aircraft.
A photo of BT-7 barrels of a Russian Motorized Division in the Amur River Valley.
Over the summer of 1943, the Siberian War would intensify as the Russians would make desperate attempts to curtail the Japanese advance into Siberia from Manchuria as well as keeping the supply line to Russian America open. Major fighting had occurred across the Amur River as the Russians before war had constructed a defensive line in case of a war with Japan. One of the hot spots along the Amur Line was the Russian city of Khabarovsk where vicious urban fighting had occurred which left much of the city in rubble. Over the next year, back and forth fighting occurred along the Amur Line.
Russian field artillery battery on the Amur Line during a Break in the fighting, circa Summer of 1943.
Japanese soldiers during a firefight with Russian forces outside the settlement of Konstantinovka.
By the spring of 1944 after months of hard fighting, the Japanese had finally managed to break through the Amur River line and would begin to advance towards Lake Baikal to the west as well as other directions in order to capture other important Siberian settlements, it was this time that Russia would surrender to the Germans in Europe. It was when the Russians would attempt to redeploy these units from the European Front to the Siberian one, unfortunately, mutinies would break out with these units as many of these troops were tired of war. It was at this point that the Russians, following years of a disastrous war on the European Front, were at the breaking point. On September 18th, 1944, the Germans and the Union would pressure the Russians to make a cease fire with the Japanese, which after days of talks would end with an armistice on this front until Peace Talks settles the war. This armistice would remain in effect until the Russians broke it on May 3rd, 1945 under the belief that the Japanese have let their guard down in the region near the city of Chita. Unfortunately, the Russian attack would fail due to poor morale among the ranks, in response, the Japanese would launch a new offensive in the westward direction which had reached as far as the shores of Lake Baikal. After subsequent talks, a new armistice would be implemented which had remained in effect until the signing of the Treaty of Hiroshima in September of that year, which had concluded the Siberian War as well as the Pacific Front of the Second Great War as a whole.
The casualties for the Russo-Japanese War on the Japanese side were 345,000 men, 148 barrels, 243 artillery pieces, 102 armored vehicles, 1 destroyer, and 236 aircraft. For the Russians, they would suffer the loss of 517,000 men, 93 barrels, 468 artillery pieces. 115 armored vehicles, 5 destroyers, 2 light cruisers, 2 battleships, and 197 aircraft. The Siberian War in the Russian consciousness would be a another catastrophe in a series of disasters, which was a catalyst for the 1948 Coup d'etat by General Zhukov which caused the abdication of Tsar Mikhail II, leading to the creation of the Socialist Russian State as well as the Tsardom of Alaska. For the Japanese, the conflict had helped solidified it's position as the dominant power over East Asia as well as much of the Pacific, so therefore, it has largely been since viewed by the Japanese as a triumph.
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* = Following the Hispano-Japanese War in 1901, Russia which had feared getting into a war with Japan, would sign a treaty with them which had recognized each other's territorial claims, Japan for Korea and Russia for Manchuria respectively. In 1912, the Russian Empire would create the Congress of Manchuria which was an autonomous region of the Russian Empire with it's own Government, Economy, and Military, the Manchurian National Army.