More counter attacks were ordered in and around Mongolia shortly after the invasion began. Higashukuni and Terauchi co-ordinated their assaults to remove freshly advanced enemy armour from Ulan Bator and Chita. A large concentration of enemy armour would be very difficult to move and both commanders were more than happy to keep the enemy troops moving backwards to prevent such an occurance.
Less than forty eight after hours requesting bomber assistance in India those bombers were over Birjand and beginning to inflict casualties on the slow moving enemy advance towards Karachi. Most of these troops would not survive the march if previous campaigns were anything to go by. Maybe this somewhat light weight attack was something to do with keeping Stalin happy after the Allies had finally got him to join in against Japan.
2300 June 25th 1946.
Imperial GHQ. Tokyo, Japan.
Field Marshall Sugiyama, commander of the defences of mainland Japan, rarely had anything to occupy his time other than visiting troops on the island to make sure they were prepared for any eventuality.
He received a report of enemy Dive bombers attacking the Japanese division defending Sapporo in the north. The enemy was already using the airbase that they captured in Toyohara province. The Dive bombers were wasting their time trying to inflict casualties on a division that had been heavily entrenched for years. The enemy did possess a Strategic bomber force which could be a larger problem if they began to pound Japanese industry. Sugiyama would request fighter cover should this occur but for now he was not particularly troubled.
1400 June 26th 1946.
Kwantung Army Headquarters. Harbin, Manchukuo.
Meretskov decided to test the defences of Harbin again on June 26th. He attacked at night when the defenders were at their strongest but would use an enveloping attack to try and even the odds. Soviet forces were still suffering from some dissent which did not help their cause.
After eight hours of fighting the strong armoured center of Terauchi's line had already forced three enemy divisions to leave the battle and Meretskov would be forced to abandon his latest attack at dawn as his casualties became intolerable. Two extra defensive divisions from Manchukuo had arrived to bolster the defences and they had artillery brigades with them. The Red Army would need to devote a much larger force than this to even have a chance of forcing Terauchi to consider a withdrawal. His troops had suffered very few losses during this latest assault.
0100 June 27th 1946.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.
Another enemy formation had arrived in Ulan Bator in Mongolia and Higashikuni gave the orders to General Nishio to attack it.
Only two divisions had entered the province on this occasion and they were easily forced to retreat after a brief battle.
At 1000 hours the Americans tried a second invasion of Colombo. This time the Submarines would take their time before intercepting the Transport ships and forcing the invasion to be called off. The delay would prove to be very costly to the American troops who began dieing in large numbers trying this latest exercise in futility.
No further large enemy formations had crossed the border into Sinkiang and the bombers had been working their magic in the mean time. The ten divisions in Gulja had been reduced to seven as some of them tried to advance passed Urumqi and into Korla province to the south. They would continue to advance a division at a time which made them easy prey for the bombers overhead. Higashikuni might be able to force this now smaller army to leave once it had been reduced further.
2300 June 27th 1946.
Kwantung Army Headquarters. Harbin, Manchukuo.
A very large part of the enemy force that had once been in Jiamusi province had moved towards Vladivostok which could mean a possible future attack into northern Korea. Only sixteen of over fifty divisions remained.
The bombers and interceptors targetting this area added to the casualties that the defenders had suffered during their latest aborted attack on Harbin. The damage was still barely scratching the surface of the massive Red Army but the lack of attacks against Japanese forces throughout Asia was an indication that these bombing runs were having an effect. The Red Army was clearly still not at full strength anywhere along the two Fronts and was suffering as a result.
It was looking increasingly likely that neither Terauchi or Higashikuni would have to face the full force of the enemy for some months to come. Estimates put the possible travel time from Moscow to Siberia at anything from two months by train to six months on foot which would mean that a lot of the enemy force could be anywhere in central Russia at this time.
On June 30th General Koiso reported a small problem. A larger force had entered Chita province that his forces could remove if they pushed hard but the casualties would be high in doing so. Terauchi ordered the attack to be halted to prevent such casualties from occuring. Japan did not have the Soviets almost bottomless manpower pool to call upon to replace such losses. The enemy formation appeared to be heading towards Ulan Bator where it could be removed a little easier despite the mountain terrain.
