Battle of Lake Khasan
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| Manchuria |
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| Lake Khasan – Khalkhin Gol – August Storm |
The Battle of Lake Khasan ( July 29, 1938 – August 11, 1938) and also known as the Changkufeng Incident (Chinese & Japanese: 張鼓峰事件, Chinese pinyin: Zhānggǔfēng Shìjiàn, Japanese pronunciation: Chōkohō Jiken) in China and Japan, was an attempted military incursion of Manchukuo (Japanese) into the territory claimed by the Soviet Union. This incursion was founded in the beliefs of the Japanese side that the Soviet Union misinterpreted the demarcation of the boundary based on the Treaty of Peking between Imperial Russia and Manchu China (and subsequent supplementary agreements on demarcation), and furthermore, that the demarcation markers were tampered with.
Events
The conflict started on July 15, 1938, when the Japanese attaché in Moscow demanded the removal of Soviet border troops from the Bezymyannaya (высота Безымянная, Chinese name: Shachaofeng) and Zaozernaya (высота Заозерная, Chinese name: Changkufeng) Hills to the West of Lake Khasan in the south of Primorye, not far from Vladivostok, claiming this territory by the Russia-Korea border. The demand was rejected.The first Japanese attack on July 29 was repelled, but on July 31 the Soviet troops had to retreat. One of the Japanese Army Commanders on the site was Kotoku Sato who, as a Colonel, commanded the 75th Infantry' Regiment during a night assault which ousted the Russians from the disputed hill, in an action which the Japanese considered to be a model of its tactical type.
Under the command of the chief of the Far East Front, Vasily Blyukher, additional forces were moved to the zone of conflict and after several engagements during August 2-9 the Japanese forces were pushed off the Soviet territory.
On August 10, the Japanese attaché asked for peace and the hostilities ceased on August 11.
Consequences
This incident has been mostly unnoticed in the West, since the initial aggression of Japan in Asia has traditionally not been counted into World War II. However Soviet losses were significant, and the Japanese military, while taking the lesson seriously, was willing to engage with the Soviets once more, in 1939 – see Battle of Halhin Gol.Further reading
- Coox, Alvin D. The Anatomy of a Small War: The Soviet-Japanese Struggle for Changkufeng/Khasan, 1938. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1977 ISBN 0837194792
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