Page 144 - The Chief Culprit

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Stalin’s Trap for Hitler

According to this agreement, it turned out that Hitler started the war. is was beneficial
for us from the military and from the moral standpoint. With his actions, he would pro-
voke war with France and England, by going against Poland. We could remain neutral.
—N. K

Stalin turned out to be a rare strategist who planned history, a phenomenal tactician who
organized victories under a foreign flag and with foreign hands.
—A. A, ORIGINS OF PARTOCRACY

n the beginning of May 1939, on the border between Mongolia and China near the
river Khalkhin-Gol, an armed conflict occurred between Soviet and Japanese troops.
IMongolia was under Soviet control. e adjoining Chinese territory was occupied by
Japan. e clash of Soviet and Japanese troops turned into battles, fought with the use of avia-
tion, artillery, and tanks. Nobody declared war, but the intensity of armed operations grew.
On June 1, 1939, the government of the Soviet Union officially declared: “We will defend the
borders of the Mongolian People’s Republic as we defend our own.”
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Actions went according to those words. Precisely on that day, June 1, 1939, the deputy
commander of the Byelorussia military district G. K. Zhukov was summoned from Minsk
to appear in Moscow. On the following day, Zhukov flew out of Moscow to Mongolia.
ere, he took command of the Soviet and Mongolian troops and defended Mongolia from
Japanese aggression just as he would have defended the territory of his own country.
Stalin ordered Soviet troops in Mongolia to be armed with the most modern weapons.
Upon a direct order from Stalin, a group of the best Soviet pilots, who had battle experience
in Spain and China, was sent to Mongolia. Each pilot had in previous battles shot down at
least ten enemy planes. e Soviet pilots managed to turn the situation to their advantage
and established air superiority above the theater of operations. On August 20, 1939, in the
Mongolian sky, five Soviet I-16 fighters for the first time successfully used air-to-air RS-82
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rocket missiles, equipped with remote detonators.
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