The Forgotten Soviet-Japanese War of 1939

In 1939, USSR and Japanese forces clashed on the Manchurian-Mongolian frontier in a little-known war with far-reaching consequences for the planet. This was not some tiny border clas, this undeclared war raged from May to September 1939 with over 100,000 troops used over 1,000 tanks and aircraft. Some 30,000-50,000 men were killed and wounded in the conflict, and yet little is ever said of the war. In the major battle, August 20-31, 1939, the Japanese were crushed, and very little know of this war. This coincided with the conclusion of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact (August 23, 1939) – the green light for Hitler's invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II one week later on. These events seem to be very connected. Thoughts?

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reply to post by travis911


Is it little known?

I was taught about this whilst at school (part of the World War 2 history, build up to war, etc). It wasn't just a lesson either, spent a couple of weeks on it.

ETA:

Wonder if it has been taken off syllabus. And if so, why?

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by travis911

 

I was taught about this whilst at school (part of the World War 2 history, build up to war, etc). It wasn't just a lesson either, spent a couple of weeks on it.

Wonder if it has been taken off syllabus. And if so, why?

edit on 28-8-2012 by Flavian because: (no reason given)

History is distorted as is but the education system is selective and politically influenced where the curriculum is designed accordingly for the citizens of a particular nation In a way the OP is correct since the general concentration and focus revolves around recent times and issues in the academia. Students read history books to satisfy the requirements for the most part but the importance of history is never really stressed in many institutions IMO.

Learned it in WWII History in college. Pretty well known in WWII circiles. Russia has always maintined security on it's eastern borders that have caused conflict with their east Asian neighbors.. They have had large engagements with the Chinese in 60's through the early 80's. Te Japaness prior to WWII as mentioned above, and another war with Japan in I beleive 1903.

I don't want to sound sarcastic or rude.....but I have found most Americans under say 25 have very little historical knowledge. In fact even when I was in school the most common things I heard in history was, "why do we have to learn about dead people" and "do we have to know the dates". Pathetic. Yes you need to know why these people are dead and you need to know the date so you can put it in context and sequence with other events. That way you don't make the same mistakes at the same time and end up dead too. Its' part of why the country is so screwed up now, and why people buy into everything the media says. They don't know any better.

So when younger Americans' learn something "new" (to them) they come on to ATS and post things like, "little known...." and "secret history of....". News flash, just because YOU learned something new doesn't mean those of us that took history seriously in HS and college didn't already "know" that info, or that you have discovered some "secret history".

If find the historical knowledge around here is pretty low.

End of soap box rant.

It was an important event and largely unknown here in the US. Heck, most Americans couldn't tell you where Manchuria was on a map. At any rate it did change the events of the war and led to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Japan could never have taken on Russia effectively as they had no real motorized armored forces. Japanese tanks were deplorable and suitable for movable pill boxes. Russian would have defeated Japan quite badly had they persisted in attacking. The Japanese were masters of jungle warfare and acquitted themselves well everywhere they fought in Southeast Asia. MacArthurs island-hopping campaign made US losses somewhat easier but it was still very costly to defeat the Japanese land forces.

Yes I too knew of this, as one poster pointed out it's not that unknown.

I believe it goes by two names as I recall the Nomonahan Incident (Japan) and Khalkhin Gol (Russia).

I never really thought of it as a war as such though, rather a series of skirmishes and clashes.

Its where Zhukov first made his name and learned tactics he would later use to stop the Germans. Not sure I would call it forgotten, maybe not as sexy or as popular as the second world war that followed but, not forgotten by any means.