Page 329 - The Chief Culprit

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troops about the catastrophe. e Japanese resistance stopped only after the troops received
orders to capitulate. Before these orders came in, the Japanese fought to the death. But their
tenacity was met with maneuvers. e territories fought over were huge, and Soviet troops
simply bypassed the points of resistance, without engaging in prolonged combat.
Soviet troops did the impossible. e 6th Tank Guards Army overcame the Great
Khingan Range, reached the open areas, and completed an incredible advance toward the
Yellow Sea. In eleven days, with battles, its troops covered 810 kilometers. Assault units and
paratroops operated ahead of them, taking air bases, bridges, and ferries. Here is a list of just
some of the cities around which paratroops were landed successfully: Kharbin, Chongjin,
Port-Artur, Mukden, Pyongyang, and Khynnam. e masters of blitzkrieg, German gener-
als, gave high marks to the actions of the 6th Tank Guards Army and other Soviet troops.
Major General F. W. von Mellentin recounted: “To illustrate the growing flexibility of the
Red Army’s military actions and its capacity to successfully conduct broad and decisive tank
operations, I want to point to Marshal Malinovsky’s sensational advance into Manchuria in
August 1945.” 49
Von Mellentin continued to say:

Other Soviet troops acted just as decisively and successfully. e Soviet navy sank Japanese
ships, and landed naval assault forces on Sakhalin, in North Korea, and on the Kuril
Islands. After entering the Sungari River, the Amur flotilla supported the advance of the
15th Army right up to the Kharbin Ranges. It constantly received rifle companies on
board, and functioned as a sort of vanguard for the main forces of the 15th Army. In ten
days of advance, the main forces of the flotilla, together with the troops of the 15th Army,
which in part were stationed on the ships and in part advanced along the shorelines of the
Sungari, covered over nine hundred kilometers along the Amur and Sungari rivers.
50

Supplying one and a half million advancing troops was quite a formidable task. “ e
restoring of railroads, with the changing of the gauge to the Soviet standard, was done on the
1st Far Eastern Front at an average rate of seventy-one kilometers per day. is was achieved
through the innovativeness of the railroad workers. ey were included in the air assault
troops and frontline units, so they were able to take over railroad connections and immedi-
ately organize the local population to repair the tracks and change the gauges.” 51
Officially, the Soviet military campaign in the Far East lasted twenty-four days, but
battles only took place for twelve days. Not even two weeks had passed before a massive sur-
render of the Japanese troops began. Japanese losses numbered 84,000 killed and 594,000
taken prisoner. Among the prisoners were 148 Japanese generals. Unbelievable trophies were
captured.
e results of the operation were enviable. e United States had fought against Japan
for almost four years, and what did it receive? e Soviet Union fought against Japan for
twelve days, and all of China, North Korea, and North Vietnam fell under the Soviet Union’s
control. Vasilevsky happily reported:

By delivering a crushing blow to the Japanese troops in Korea, the Soviet Army created
favorable conditions for the activities of revolutionaries. . . . In the northern section of the
country, workers led by Communists began to build the first truly independent, demo-