Evacuation of Manchukuo

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The Evacuation of Manchukuo occurred during the Soviet Red Army's invasion of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, during the August Storm operation of August 1945.

The Soviets recovered territory which had been captured by Japan during the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905, and they dismantled the Manchu industrial infrastructure. This deprived Chiang Kai Shek's troops of a vital region of China, and gave Mao Zedong's VIII Army the opportunity to overrun the ancient Manchu kingdom^{[citation needed]}.

Contents 1 Kwantung Army strength 2 Russian military operations in Manchukuo and Korea 3 The fate of the Puyi regime 4 Internment in camps

[edit] Kwantung Army strength

On August 10, 1945, troops of the 17th Japanese Army (in Korea) and the fifth Japanese Air Army were placed under the command of the Kwantung Army. At this point, the Japanese Kwantung Army numbered nearly 750,000 officers and men. It had 1,155 tanks and self-propelled guns, 1,800 warplanes, and 30 battleships and gunboats. The entire Japanese force deployed in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and Korea numbered over one million officers and men.

[edit] Russian military operations in Manchukuo and Korea

Soviet Army poses 1.7 times more Infantry, 4.5 times more armor,and 2.8 times more aircrafts why the Japanese.on the sea theater, Russian naval forces,unlike Japan, had no aircraft carriers and battleships.in case of those vessels would appear in Gulf of Korea and Japan Sea were improbable,given that Russian air domination was complete.

On August 9, 1945, the Soviet Army began the Sungari Offensive. The Amur Flotilla assisted troops of the second Far Eastern Front in routing the Japanese Kwantung Army. Having crossed the Amur and Ussuri rivers with the help of the Amur Flotilla, troops from two Soviet armies and infantry corps captured two river bridgeheads.

The Japanese used yours Type 45 24cm Howitzers,Type 7 30cm Long Howitzers,Type 45/96 15cm Heavy Cannons,Type 89 15cm Cannons among Type 38 75mm Field Guns and other disposable artillery with little quantities of shell stocks in frontier line for futile attempting to stopped of Red Army invasion,with scarcies results against the great waves of Russian infantry and armored groups why irrupted in Manchukuo and Mengchiang from Soviet Far East and Mongolia.

At the same time and with gunboat support a Soviet landing party entered Fuyuan and quickly took the city. The First Brigade of river gunboats from the Amur Flotilla, having swept shipping channels, entered the estuary of the river Sungari to support the troops as they landed with artillery fire. On August 10, Soviet forces captured the Sungari Fortified District and the Tuntsiang defense center. It was here that the crew of the gunboat Sun Yatsen distinguished itself.

When Soviet forces took the Futsing Fortified District, the gunboat, acting jointly with a detachment of armoured launches, destroyed five permanent emplacements, a munitions depot and six mortar batteries with precise artillery. At the same time, the Sun Yatsen transferred landing parties across the river and supported their land operations with artillery fire.

On August 18, troops of the 15th Army captured the Sun'u Fortified District and Sun’u City and took 20,000 Japanese officers and men prisoner. On August 19, Soviet ground troops and Amur Flotilla sailors captured Sansing. On August 20, in Harbin, already occupied by Soviet paratroopers, the first and second Amur Flotilla Brigades accepted the capitulation of Japan’s Sungari Flotilla.

If remarked why Soviet air superiority was virtually total;In any case,if any Japanese Army planes attempt to take off from their airdromes,Russian fighters almost instantly shot them down.soon after the crushing raids of Soviet Air Force and Soviet Naval Air Service aviators on Japanese land bases and ports in Manchukuoan and Chosen coasts.

Paratroopers formed from crews of warships and coastal units of the Pacific Fleet landed in Port Arthur (Liaoshun) and Dairen (Dalian). On August 25, 17 GST seaplanes which had flown five hours from Sukhodol airport near Vladivostok landed in the Port Arthur inlet with landing parties made up of Pacific navymen. On the same day, Japanese garrisons in Port Arthur and Dairen laid down their arms, and the Russian Pacific navy hoisted the Soviet naval ensign over Port Arthur fortress.

It was the Pacific Fleet's aviation group that opened hostilities by delivering heavy strikes against the Japanese ports of Yuki, Rashin and Seishin, which served as the Japanese naval bases in North Korea. As a result of Soviet air strikes, Japan's sea communications were cut during the first days of the war.

Soon after effective raids by Soviet aviators on Japanese bases Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral I. S. Yumashev decided, by agreement with Marshal A. M. Vasilevsky, to make landings in Yuki, Rashin and Seishin. On the eve of the operation naval bombers and attack planes continued to attack those ports. At the same time, the ports were attacked from the sea by torpedo boats led by division commanders Captain K. V. Kazachinsky, Captain S. P. Kostritsky and Lieutenant-Captain M. G. Malik. The sea and air attacks seriously weakened the defenses of the three cities, causing the Japanese to lose as many as twenty transports and other vessels.

The purpose of the Seishin landing operation, achieved during the first days of the war, was to capture the Japanese naval base in order to deprive the enemy of the ability to transport reinforcements, equipment, and ammunition from Japan, and also to prevent the evacuation of troops and equipment to Japan proper. Seishin was a fortified district with 4,000 officers and men, protected from the sea by coastal artillery. The Pacific Fleet's intention was to make a sudden landing to capture the port's moorage line and reconnoiter enemy forces. It was planned to subsequently land the main forces, occupy the city and hold it until the arrival of the 25th Soviet Army's troops advancing along the coastline.

The main landing force included the 355th Separate Marine Battalion under Major M. Barabolko (1st echelon), the 13th Marine Brigade under Major-General V. P. Trushin (2nd echelon) and the 335th Infantry Division (3rd echelon). The destroyer Voikov, mine-layer Argun, eight coast guards, seven minesweepers, twenty-four torpedo boats, twelve landing vessels and seven transports were involved. The air protection and landing support group had 188 bombers and 73 fighters — almost seven air regiments. Major-General Trushin was in command of the entire operation with Captain A. F Studenchikov leading the landing party.

At 0700 hours on August 13, after the Pacific Fleet air force had finished bombing enemy defense structures in Seishin, six torpedo boats led by Lieutenant-Captain Markovsky sailed to Seishin. These boats came with a scout detachment under Senior Lieutenant V. N. Leonov, and a company of submachine gunners under Senior Lieutenant I. M. Yarotsky from Inlet Novik (Russky Island). As the vanguard of this landing party advanced along the streets of Seishin, Japanese resistance became fiercer. The sailors advanced slowly while engaged with the enemy in hand-to-hand fighting. On the morning of August 14, fighters of the first echelon landed in Seishin, with the second echelon landing on August 15. There was no need to land the third echelon, since the six thousand sailors who had already entered Seishin were sufficient to capture the city. By the afternoon of August 16, the sailors, cooperating with the 393rd Infantry Division of the 25th Soviet Army, had captured the city.

The success of the landing was largely possible thanks to the effective support provided by warships and naval aviation. The destroyer Voikov, the minelayer Argun and other warships opened fire against the enemy sixty-five times. The coast guard Metel, under Lieutenant-Captain L. N. Baliakin provided support to the landing party by shooting down an enemy plane. Metel's artillery also destroyed an armoured train carrying combat equipment, a Japanese coastal battery, and eight enemy concrete fortifications and emplacements.

In the Battle of Seishin, the Japanese lost more than 3,000 officers and men and a large quantity of armaments and equipment. Hundreds of Soviet officers and men were awarded orders and medals.

After taking Seishin, Pacific Fleet sailors under the command of Studenchikov captured two more major strongholds: the ports of Odetsin and Genzan, where 6,238 Japanese officers and men were taken prisoner.

One particular case as the action sustained by Japanese against Soviets in Kotou Fortress,as part of Japanese Army Frontier Fortified Districts,located near Ussuri River in the Soviet-Manchurian border.If one of most strongest fortress in Manchukuo,among others eight Japanese fortresses in Russian-Manchu frontier.

Your detachment as the 15th Border Guard Unit,same unit are special artillery unit also conformed by 1st Battery (with 5 howitzers and operators),2nd Battery (with 6 heavy cannons and 2 field guns with personnel),3rd Battalion (Type 88 75mm AA Guns with operators),13th Battery (Type 90 24cm Railway Gun and personnel) and 14th Battery (Experimental 41cm Howitzer and operators);all unit under lead in time by Captain Ohki.

During July 1945 the 15th Border Guard Unit was created and commissioned for the garrison of the Kotou Fortress.when the Soviets irrupted over Manchukuo in Aug.,1945,stayed ones 1,400 units in place.thougth the Soviets announced the surrender of Japan,Japanese garrisons did not believe this.They decided to continued to fight until last men.

Such gun fired and destroyed a railway bridge of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Then, it fired with over 100 rounds during about one week until it was overrun by Red Army.in same action,the Type 90 24cm Railway Gun was moved to other position for best firing against Russians.It was destroyed by Soviet artillery and abandoned heavily damaged by japanese in area.The battle for Kotou Fortress ended on Aug. 26th.

[edit] The fate of the Puyi regime

On August 9, the new supreme commander in Manchukuo, General Yamata, informed Puyi that Stalin had entered the East Asian war and that Soviet troops had crossed the frontier. Having faith in final victory, he immediately heard the first aerial bombing alert in Hsinking, but continued the interview in the Salt Rates Palace. Puyi saw explosives falling on a jail recently constructed by the Japanese in front of the palace.

On August 10, the General called to inform Puyi that the Army was "giving heavy resistance" in South Manchuria, but the capital was being evacuated temporarily to Tunghua. Puyi wanted to retreat if things got worse. He was preoccupied with his enormous family and its possessions of paintings, jewels and jade. Yoshioka mentioned: "if [Puyi] did not leave, he would be the first to be assassinated by Soviet Troops." One of the Russian Armies who had advanced to Manchuria and a Mongol unit, trained by the Soviets, noticed the panic growing. Puyi immediately wore the uniform of Commander in Chief of the Manchukuoan Army and ordered into his presence Chang-Ching Hui, the Prime Minister, and Tadayuki Furume, the Chairman of General Affairs of State Council of Manchukuo, the real civil power in the land.

"In order to support the holy war in the country of our ancestors, with all forces resist the Soviet Armies until the last," said Kangde Emperor. Yoshioka retired from the room, and Japanese troops surrounded the palace. Puyi believed he was going to die. Puyi, intent to communicate with Yoshioka over evacuation plans, talked about remaining if evacuation took place on August 11.

Later, on August 11, his brother Pu-Chieh with his wife Hiro and other family members were taken in a government train. Puyi selected some goods and abandoned the larger pieces, keeping the more interesting ones in suitcases and a photographic camera bag. He was the last to leave the palace with Yoshioka. The majority of the Japanese veteran troops had left for Chosen, wrote Hiro.

Until the end, formality was strictly observed. In the Puyi convoy to the rail station, leaving in the first car were the Shintoist "sacred relics" given by Hirohito into the hands of the first shinto priest in Manchukuo State, the ex-provo marshal Toranosuke Hashimoto. All left the palace hearing explosions: the Japanese blew up the Shintoist temple and National Foundation culture center, in which the Kangde Emperor prayed in line with the rites of Japanese religion.

Hiro mentioned when the group started their journey that the local population in Hsinking was preparing to receive the Russians, and women were making flags with a hammer and sickle. One Japanese officer who stayed calm in this crisis was Masaiko Amakasu, the same man who had received Puyi when he arrived in Manchukuo 14 years before, as chairman of the Film Industry in Manchukuo.

The train which carried the Kangde Emperor and Japanese officials left from Hsinking Station travelling south, but did not arrive at Tunghua (its original destination) because of Soviet strikes, and changed its route to the mining city of Talitzou, where it arrived at night. On the way, Puyi recounted the end of Japanese dreams of victory; during the whole journey to the south they saw Japanese military convoys "with the look of the troops mixed between soldiers and panicked persons". En route to Talitzou, General Yamata boarded the train. He mentioned, "the Japanese army are gaining and destroyed many aircraft and enemy tanks", according to Puyi. But in the station he saw many Japanese retreating in fear, the civilians desperately taking the last trains "crying at guards who let them enter", and between guards there were armed fights.

On the way, Puyi talked with Yoshioka about their future in this situation. The plan was to obtain an aircraft that would leave Kangde for Chosen, which the Allies had yet to invade. From this province he hoped to get to Japan. Puyi was uncertain where in Japan he would stay, but settled upon Kioto on the advice of the Kangde Emperor. Puyi planned to move their funds from a local bank to one in Tokyo and Yoshioka trusted that the Americans would not invade Japan due to the high cost in lives, but added, when the Kangde Emperor arrived on Japanese soil, "His Imperial Majesty cannot assume responsibility unconditionally of the personal security of his majesty".

On the night of August 14, the train arrived at Talitzou and Puyi and his court were taken to an administrative two-storey building belonging to a mining company. Here, the following day, the group met around the radio receiver, listening to the message of Hirohito to his people, announcing the unconditional surrender of Japan. In formal language, reserved for ceremonies, with his characteristic voice, he spoke to his subjects for the first time over radio waves (cutting the electric supply country wide as all were listening). Hirohito made a short speech explaining his actions:

"We declared the war against United States and England in our sincere desire to secure the survival of Japan and stability of East Asia, distant much of our volunteer the reduced the sovereign of other nations or embarked in territorial expansionism..."

This speech included one reference to the enemy's "one terrible new bomb, of lethal effects with heavy destructive power" and mentioned the result of World War II "the belic situation, if not developed to our advantage." Pu Chieh, the brother of the Kangde Emperor, translated these speeches and his cousin Hiro mentioned how both brothers shook hands and cried.

Two days later, in the dining room of the building, its grandest room, a surreal and symbolic ceremony took place at which Puyi renounced the Manchukuo throne and proclaimed the dissolution of the government and returned territories to the Chinese mainland. They took a symbolic vote, and all present approved the measure. Puyi stamped his seal for the last time to enact the law, and continued in a firm voice without emotion and all the old ministers of his cabinet shook hands with him. Hiro said how this one simple, emotive ceremony, probably gave Puyi a sense of peace, finishing his part in the government after 13 years and five months. Coincidentally, the Talitzou act contains another piece of symbolism, for precisely in the same place about 350 years before, Nurhaci started the organization of troops for defeat of the Chinese Ming Dynasty.

The region was very dangerous under the control of Communist guerrillas, who took all provinces. The group divided; one part returned to Hsinking with ex-prime minister Chang-Ching Hui for a last radio contact with Chiang Kai Shek, to give over control of Manchukuo and prevent the Soviet occupation, but eventually the Soviets occupied the whole country. Originally Puyi wanted to travel to Peking to meet with his father and the rest of the family, but Yoshioka discouraged him, noting the danger involved and the digression from their plans.

Puyi and his entourage arrived at the Talitzou airfield to find one small plane in the hangar of the airport. Puyi elected only eight people, including his brother Pu Chieh, Jui Lon, Big Li and his personal medic. This plan was devised by Yoshioka, for fear of detainment by the Russians.

When this occurred Elizabeth and Jade Lute cried and the latter decided to return to her family in Hsinking. Hiro however packed a small suitcase with needs for Pu Chieh, who said with good humour "Why is this needed? If we stay in next hour we will be in Japan." "Keeped ones at others" recommended Puyi, to the rest of the group who did not travel in the aircraft, and he told Hiro to travel to Chosen before the arrival of the Soviets. In case they did not encounter each other in Chosen, Puyi assured them all that "in the local Japanese bank there is sufficient money for all".

As a last act, as the members of Manchu imperial court took the train, he shook the hands of all present and said "We served with honour, we prayed to heaven for your health and long life". Hiro saw Puyi cry. At the airport they all quickly boarded a small plane and took off for Mukden airport for a large plane to Chosen. While awaiting the aircraft, they heard engine sounds arriving at the airport. Puyi and the group saw the disembarkation of Soviet troops who disarmed the small Japanese Army groups who remained in their base.

Soon Puyi and his companions, including Yoshioka, were surrounded. All spent the night in the passengers room at the airport and the next morning were loaded aboard a Russian plane. Between Mukden and Khabarovsk the plane landed for refuelling, where Puyi spoke to the commander of the group. He said that he "did not like being in the same airplane with Japanese war criminals" and Yoshioka and other Japanese officers remained at the airfield while the rest continued their travel.

The Kangde Emperor, Manchu Ministers and Japanese and Manchu high-ranking officers when they arrived in Khabarovsk were sent first to a hotel resort reserved for the Soviet High Establishment which was transformed into a detention centre. Later this group was sent to "Detention Center N°45" in a school building in same city.

[edit] Internment in camps

The rest of the Japanese and Manchu prisoners were shipped to nearby gulags. Among these prisoners were Big Li and Rong Qi. Prince Su was in a Puyi group which arrived later.

During this period it is not known how Puyi and his companions were treated in the Soviet detention center in Khabarovsk. The Kangde Emperor was interrogated several times by a Colonel of Soviet Intelligence Service, but not in depth. The other captives were also interrogated for diverse information about Manchukuo.

The Soviets claimed that the harsh and apparently bad conditions of the camps were not used as punishment. Waiting for Mao's victory in the Chinese mainland, the prisoners worked in factories, on collective farms or completed community work. Some of the prisoners also became aids or filled other minor occupations within the camp itself.