🇷🇺⚔️🇯🇵 The Soviet blitzkrieg in the hills of Manchuria 78 years ago, the defeat of Japan marked the end of WWII.
European historians argue that World War II began in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Chinese historical accounts, however, date it back to July 1937 when Japan initiated a full-scale war against China. There is no dispute about the final date: World War II concluded in September 1945 with the defeat and surrender of Japan.
September often remains overshadowed by May, which is understandable but unfair. The Manchurian campaign by the Red Army was one of the most significant events in modern history.
Three weeks that shook the world
Today, some argue that it was the U.S. atomic bombings that decided everything. However, in 1945, this was not apparent to anyone, and "conventional" bombings of Tokyo by the US claimed far more lives (not to mention that the nuclear mushroom clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be seen as the beginning of the Cold War, a demonstration of Truman's American "wunderwaffe"). A swift defeat of the Japanese military machine was not anticipated at the time. Let's remember how difficult it was for the Americans, who had been fighting Japan since late 1941, to take Iwo Jima and Okinawa! In China, Japan maintained a million-strong Kwantung Army.
According to American generals' assessments, Japan could have resisted until 1947, and its collapse would have cost America a million soldiers' lives. Of course, the United States played a significant role in Japan's defeat, but Stalin's Manchurian blitzkrieg left Japan with no chances. Already on August 9, 1945, Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki stated, "The entry… of the Soviet Union into the war places us in an absolutely hopeless situation and makes the further continuation of the war impossible." Even Churchill, who did not have a favorable view of Russians, eventually admitted, "It would be a mistake to suppose that the fate of Japan… was settled by the atomic bomb."
Vasiliy Avchenko for @WarGonzo
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https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/79686