Chapter 7 – September 1944
AuthAAR’s Notes: I’m still working on streamlining the presentation and detail to make this AAR ‘Quick and Dirty’, but still sufficient to follow the war with some detail, especially over the parts where I exert more overall control. An interesting month, with noticeably different AI behaviour (guided on the Soviet side, in reaction on the Japanese side).
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1. Far East Land Combat - Northern Sector
The sector north of
Lake Baikal again saw the bulk of the fighting, such that for reporting, the front has been split again into North, Centre and South. This also reflects changed commanded arrangement which occurred during the month, which will be explained below.
While two major Soviet attacks begun the month before – on
Artemovskij and
Sorgo – continued, the first key development in the month came with the establishment of another new air base, in
Olonek, at midnight on 2 September. This would be the crucial third base to complete air coverage of the entire Soviet front line.
The improved branch rail line already under construction to
Mutina would be extended another four provinces north to
Olonek to try to improve supply flows for the large numbers of aircraft that would soon be based there. The transfer of aircraft from Europe and one TAC wing from the overcrowded
Irkutsk base began immediately (2 x CAS, 2 x TAC, plus 1 x M/R to link up with the TAC as integrated escorts). A group of three INT wings would follow (from
Voronezh, far to the west) at 1600hr.
The Soviet attack on
Sorgo begun on 29 August was called off early on 2 September: losses had been heavy on both sides, but despite inflicting more than they suffered, the Soviet attackers tired first. But almost straight away, at 0400hr the fresh 35 SD began a follow-up shock attack on the two weakened Japanese marine divisions defending
Sorgo.
As the new attack on
Sorgo continued into 3 September, the overlapping defensive and offensive air coverage for the Far Eastern Front was complete. The two new northern bases in particular would take some time to build up and be able to cope with work-up and damage repair of their many wings at all adequately. But this new network would make a big difference, especially in the previously hard-hit northern sector.
The second
Sorgo attack saw the Soviets victorious on 3 September, though at a comparatively heavy cost. And the distances in the east meant the Japanese would be able to get reinforcements in place before the Soviets could secure it on this occasion.
Sorgo was to become an almost obsessive Soviet focus for the rest of the month.
The Soviet attack on
Artemovskij, which had also started on 29 August, was won well by the Soviets on 4 September after six days of heavy fighting, though again the time taken to move in there meant it was still not occupied by the end of the month! And
Tjung (the battle for which had been lost in August) finally fell to the Japanese at 0400hr on 5 September.
To the south of these battles, the Soviets had launched yet another attack on 1 September, another major assault on
Dronovskiy. It took five days of intense combat for the Soviets to triumph, which they did on 6 September. But, as with
Artemovskij, despite no further Japanese opposition they had still not secured in by the end of September.
During a short lull in operational tempo in the north, the delivery of a new mechanised division (236 MD) to 15th Army required one of the reserve corps HQs (15th Mechanised) held back in
Oka to be activated and attached.
Njuja, another province where the battle was lost in August, fell to the Japanese at 0900 hr on 10 September. But later that same day, the newly energetic Soviet commanders launched two new attacks. One was on
Tjung, where 216 MD sought to break through the lines of the Japanese cavalry division which had advanced there five days previously. The battle would last five days, ending in a Soviet victory.
The second attack was on
Sorgo, necessitated by the arrival of fresh Japanese troops to contest the advance at 2200 hr on 10 September. The battle was ‘fast and furious’, with a reckless assault by three Soviet divisions striking an ambush by the latest Japanese troops sent to halt them.
Within two days, Soviet forces had inflicted a heavy defeat on the unprepared defenders, killing over 1,200 of the enemy for fewer than 350 men lost. It seemed their determination to retake
Sorgo was not to be denied.
Over a week followed the victory in
Tjung on 15 September where little combat occurred in the northern sector. On 13 September, more divisions had arrived to reinforce 6th Army’s lines in the far north. They were now pushing beyond
Olenek and the army commander Marshal Shestopalov
[all the AI’s own work] was spreading his men north-east to cover the narrow supply lines to Kamchatka, perhaps to head off the Japanese advance there, too.
It was at this point, on 14 September, that the Commander 1st Far Eastern Front, Marshal Garnov
[ie me ] rather unwisely granted his three army commanders the power to reorganise units under their command, thinking this might assist with the integration of new units being deployed to the front. The result was chaos! New corps HQs were suddenly formed; these then generated new army HQs, which then generated two new army group (ie Front) HQs!
[OK, now I see just how zany AI organisational control can be].
It took Garnov’s staff some time to untangle the mess that had been created, sending many disappointed new commanders back to staff jobs in the rear again. But one good thing did come out of it: the need to reset all the army objectives and unscramble the suddenly shambolic chain of command made Garnov realise that 1st Army in particular was spread too widely, north and south of
Lake Baikal. Radio communication between 1st Army HQ and the corps HQs in the south had become unworkable too. It also meant that the switching of armies from one stance to another was not finely enough controlled, especially if different stances might become desired in those locations.
7th Army was therefore brought out of reserve in
Oka and attached to the 1st Far Eastern Front. Marshal Ryback took command of the two corps fighting in and around Mongolia in the south. He was also allocated two of the (escorted) TAC wings. Troops were shuffled from Marshal E.A. Egorov’s 1st Army to Ratnikov’s 15th and from there to the 6th Army of Marshal Shestopalov. It was now 6th Army and then 15th in the north, 1st (overlapping 15th and 7th) in the centre and 7th Army in the south.
[More will be shown of the layout of 1st Army in the centre and 7th in the south in the respective sections.]
6th Army (143,000 men in four corps) now had
Olenek as its air support base, retaining its previous objectives of
Jakutsk and
Ulya, with
Ust Aldan added to help safeguard the supply lines to Kamchatka. His orders were currently to remain on the defensive on the ground and in the air, but his power was building.
Ratnikov’s 15th Army had 155,000 men in four corps. He retained
Shilka and
Tyndinskiy as offensive objectives, but the key pivot point of
Stanovoe Nagore replaced
Vitimsko Ploskogore as his defensive objective. The latter, on the north of
Lake Baikal, would now be looked after by 1st Army.
On the evening of 19 September, it was realised that no one had ordered the next expansion of the new airbase in
Olenek as yet. This oversight was corrected, with the level two expansion request sent to near the top of the production queue.
With the majority of the reinforcements now in place or close to arrival, Marshal Garnov switched the tactical direction of his army commanders (and those below them) from moderately defensive to moderately aggressive in nature. It was time to up the pressure on the despised enemy.
This did not prevent 15 MD executing a tactical withdrawal from
Tomtor when it arrived there and was attacked by advancing Japanese troops on the morning of 22 September. It was barely damaged in a short skirmish, but resumed its previous orders to secure
Ust Aldan – much to the relief of his corps and army commanders.
Tomtor would have to be fought for on another day.
Garnov added to his previous orders for more tactical aggression that morning by boosting the stance of 15th Army to attacking on the ground and offensive in the air. The other three armies were left on a defensive stance for now, but all their air units were switched to the air offensive, to ensure maximum air support for troops attacking or under attack at the front.
At 0500 hr on 22 September, the fast-moving 69 MD had been the first Soviet formation to arrive in
Sorgo: it came under immediate assault by a Japanese infantry and cavalry division from the south, matched by an elastic defence. After a quick fight, the enemy backed off later that day, leaving 367 men dead on the field, with 45 Soviet soldiers killed.
Another more determined Japanese attack started on
Sorgo the next day, but it too was beaten off with even heavier enemy casualties on 25 September. And in
Tjung, the Soviet advance after the victory there on 15 September ran into opposition: the Soviets pulled back after short firefight.
The new spirit of aggression was shown in the air while the latest battle for
Sorgo was fought out on the ground. The Japanese sent escorted TAC bombers to strike the Soviet defenders on 24 September. In their first mission from their new base in
Mutina, three wings of Yak-3 interceptors rose to meet them, even though most were yet to achieve high operational readiness after re-basing there in August (base facilities were badly overstretched).
But they did their job well, duelling with the Japanese fighter escorts and badly carving up the Japanese bombers, who were unable to press home their ground attack. No Japanese aircraft were seen again for the rest of the month. This would be their only foray: an enormous change from the damage they had done in the north in previous months.
When 15 MD arrived to reinforce
Sorgo at 0600 hr on 29 September, they leap-frogged the recovering defenders and launch a bold strike on
Kedrovyy, to the south-east. Three enemy divisions were defending there, but all were still quite badly disorganised from previous fighting in
Sorgo. The attack continued
[at 50% progress] as September ended.
Operational summary, Soviet Far East – Northern Sector, September 1944. [Note: minor encounters (fewer than 100 troops lost on either side) are simply shown with a date, arrow and outcome icon.]
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2. Far East Land Combat - Central Sector
No battles carried over from August in the central sector, but the first week of the month saw a good deal of action near the north of
Lake Baikal. An air group from
Gorkiy (1 x TAC, 1 x M/R wing) was transferred to bolster the Soviet air units in
Mutina, arriving early on 1 September.
The first combat action was an attack by the Soviets from
Vitimskoe Ploskogore on
Burjatija – the first of six probes or fully fledged attacks on the province during the month. Straight away, an ill-fated Japanese spoiling attack on
Vitimskoe Ploskogore was launched from
Bukacaca.
The Soviets soon discontinued their attack, both sides taking minimal casualties. But the Japanese continued for too long: by the next day, they had suffered over 1,100 casualties for the loss of only 25 Soviet defenders before they too stopped. Stories of brave but foolhardy
banzai charges against Soviet machineguns were told for many years afterwards. To compound the Japanese misery, Soviet air attacks on
Bukacaca killed 1,435 more of the enemy.
Another short Soviet attack followed later on 2 September, but that too was soon over. The next Soviet attack – still on 2 September – came at 1100hr and was far more serious (two fresh and full-strength divisions on each side). The fighting would last for another five days, finishing in a Soviet victory on 7 September, with almost 1,500 Soviet and 1,700 Japanese soldiers perishing in the ground combat. The Soviets had also pounded
Burjatija continuously from the air for the whole week with some heavy raids from planes based in
Irkutsk: an estimated 4,521 Japanese troops were killed in those ground attacks.
Things were quiet in the sector for the next week, the next event of note being the major higher command reorganisation of 1st Far Eastern Front on 14 September mentioned in Section 1 above. 1st Army was reduced to three corps (103,000 men) after 7th Army took over the bulk of forces in Mongolia, though some divisions south of L
ake Baikal remained under 1st Army command.
Marshal E.A. Egorov shared defensive duties for
Stanovoe Nagore with 15th Army and
Ulan Ude with 7th Army. 1st Army was given sole responsibility for the defence of
Vitimskoe Ploskogore. Their ground and air forces remained on the defensive for now, though that did not prevent attacks being made when Egorov thought the conditions were suited. Which, where
Burjatija was concerned, seemed to be
all the time. Whether they were or not!
After regarding the new army frontages and responsibilities, on 15 September Front Commander Garnov added one offensive objective (at
Goryachinsk) to 1st Army’s remit in order to focus their efforts and drastically narrow (to both the north and south) the army’s frontage. This may also have encouraged Egorov’s almost unhealthy obsession with taking
Burjatija. But Garnov was happy enough to see the enemy pressed harder and harder: this war must be ended at some point and Soviet territory needed to be liberated before the fight could be taken to the enemy’s homelands.
A new attack on
Burjatija was launched at 1800 hr on 16 September, again with heavy air support, when new Japanese defenders made it there before the advancing Soviets could occupy it. But the attempt at a shock attack was negated by a Japanese ambush. Even though the Soviets outnumbered the enemy two-to-one, the attack was off to a bad start. It continued until 19 September, but was broken off after another Japanese spoiling attack on
Vitimskoe Ploskogore from
Bukacaca. Both sides had lost over 600 men in
Burjatija and the Japanese another 842 from the air. The Japanese broke off their spoiling attack more quickly this time, but still lost over 400 men in saving their comrades in
Burjatija.
Egorov was not finished with
Burjatija: a new attack on 24 September was pressed home, again with air support, but by 26 September it too had failed, after a third corresponding Japanese spoiling attack from
Bukacaca (little more than a probe this time). The Soviets lost more than twice as many men as the defenders on the ground in
Burjatija, but not before Soviet air power had inflicted 1,654 casualties on the Japanese troops.
Then hoping to surprise the Japanese in
Burjatija by doing exactly the same thing as he had done the previous five times that month, Egorov ordered a quick follow-up attack by different units later on the 26th! But this amounted to little more than a brief probe, broken off after Soviet casualties mounted at over five times the rate of the defenders. Egorov’s frustrating attempt to take the province had ended in failure.
There was a final sting in the tail for September, with a hopeless-looking
[5%] Japanese attack on
Stanovoe Nagore starting on the 30th.
Operational summary, Soviet Far East – Central Sector, September 1944. A veritable traffic jam in and around Burjatija.
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3. Far East Land Combat - Southern Sector
187 SD arrived to reoccupy
Taryacin at 1300 hr on 4 September, only to find itself under heavy attack
[62%] by approaching Japanese forces. More Soviet and Mongolian units were on their way from
Uliastay, but the distance involved meant none were able to join them before they were forced to retreat on 8 September, with the Japanese taking heavy losses (well over 800), but the Soviets losing almost 1,300 men. During this time, Soviet aircraft based in
Irkutsk hit the Japanese stepping off points for the attack hard: 3,716 were killed in
Dzhirgalanta from 4-8 September and 1,736 in
Tsetserlig on 6 and 8 September, butthey could not prevent a Japanese victory and eventual reoccupation of
Taryacin.
The 14 September reorganisation activated Marshal Ryback’s HQ 7th Army, which had so far been held in reserve in
Oka, and given it command of the southern sector (82,690 men in two corps). They shared
Ulan Ude as a defensive objective with 1st Army, taking over sole Soviet responsibility for
Uliastay and
Ulanbaataar. They too remained in a primarily defensive posture for now.
With the latest loss of the briefly-held
Taryacin and developments elsewhere on the Far Eastern Front, Ryback was given an additional offensive objective of
Tsetserlig on 27 September, with an attacking land stance added to the air offensive ordered some days before. His HQ asserted their strength was far lower than the enemy’s, but perhaps the Mongolians could help, while any more new troops deploying to the theatre were promised to 7th Army (though none were immediately to hand).
Across the whole Far Eastern Front, a more aggressive posture by the Soviets in most sectors had seen a dramatic rise in casualties on both sides, though as yet not many territorial gains –
Sorgo being the brightest spot. Ground combat saw 8,679 Soviet and 12,030 Japanese troops killed during the month in the theatre. Soviet air strikes killed a massive 13,904 Japanese and puppet troops, while not a single Soviet soldier perished as a result of Japanese air action – their one attempt at a raid having been turned back after interception from the Yak-3s newly stationed in
Mutina.
Excluding the one battle in Persia, almost 26,000 Japanese and other Axis troops had been killed in the Far East in one month, against 8,679 Soviets. Japan still had plenty of reserve manpower (an estimated 1,365,000 as at 30 September), but it was hoped the drain on Japanese industrial capacity (estimated at 211 IC) to replace such losses might have a proportionally greater effect.
Operational summary, Soviet Far East – including Southern Sector, September 1944. This month represents perhaps the clearest indication yet that the initiative is at last shifting from the Axis to the Comintern in the Far East.
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4. Persia
The battle for
Gonbad e Kavus, in the eastern sector of the Persian Front, had begun on 27 August and turned into a long and bloody affair. It took seven days of heavy fighting before the Soviets were able to assert victory, losing around 1,600 men to the Persians’ slightly more than 1,800.
But movement was generally slow in this theatre and no other battles were fought during the month. The Persians finally deployed a unit in the west – a cavalry division which retook an undefended
Ardabil at 0100 hr on 27 September. With the distances and terrain, progress in this theatre too would be slow and laborious, it seemed. The Allies seemed not to be taking any interest as yet.
5. Naval Operations
Soviet submarines continued to operate largely unhindered in the waters off Japan, sinking eight convoys (sometimes two at a time) during the month.
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6. Diplomatic and Intelligence
The start of the month had seen a search for spare TAC bombers that might be sent to the new air bases in the Far East. It turned up an anomaly that stumped Soviet diplomats. It seemed a substantial number of German and Hungarian wings were still sitting in Soviet air bases months after the war in Europe had finished. This was despite neither power having a military access agreement with the USSR. And there seemed no way
[other than tagging over and ordering them out, which I suppose I will have to do] to get rid of them by diplomatic means!
Another trade opportunity with Spain was taken up on 4 September: the Allies were in a tug-of-war for Spanish sentiment, so any additional influence was welcome. And Turkey was now being courted by all three factions, which now had them vacillating between them.
On 6 September came news the Swedes were no longer aligning themselves to the Comintern. A pity, but they were not important enough (yet) to be directly targeted by Soviet agents of influence.
As the espionage war got more intense in Japan and Manchukuo, the smaller Japanese puppet state was eventually ground down. By 20 September they had no field teams left, with the Soviets switching to some good old-fashioned agitprop to undermine Manchurian national unity (if the Japanese stooge could even be described as a ‘nation’).
And as the month drew to a close, a class traitor was arrested: a Communist Chinese spy had attempted to infiltrate the Soviet Union! Shame on them. His neutralisation was especially brutal. Even as a government in exile, they found the time and resources to try to spy on the country of their philosophical inspiration (or so the Soviets conceived of themselves).
The month had seen Japan start with four teams, add one but lose three, leaving them with only two in place by the end of the month. Manchukuo had started with three and added two more to their domestic counter-espionage operations in September, but had lost all of them to Soviet efforts, leaving them with none by the end of the month. Their national unity had been at 72.6% on 20 September (when Soviet influence efforts began) and had fallen a little to 72.3% by month’s end.
The Soviets had also taken heavy losses in this struggle. They had lost three teams in Japan and two in Manchukuo, while only producing an extra three in the month. They maintained a full 10-team presence at home and in Japan and Manchukuo, but now had only six in reserve, down two from the end of August.
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7. Research and Production
The new lend-lease agreement with the US was up and running by 3 September, with a Soviet convoy ferrying supplies from
Boston to
Leningrad. And it began running at over 63 IC! It was almost precisely the same amount as the Soviets were spending on the building of their first nuclear reactor. Stalin could not help but chuckle mischievously when he heard the news. By later in the month, the amount was averaging around 70 IC. It did show though what a massive industrial base (over 594 IC) the US alone maintained.
A notable day in Soviet aircraft design came on 7 September with the first home-grown strategic bomber design being finalised. None would be built for a while, however, given the great backlog in Soviet production caused by nuclear and rocket projects. But the day would come, perhaps when the designs were a bit more advanced. Attention was turned to improving armoured organisation instead.
Another improvement (and additional upgrade bill) for single engine aircraft armament on 11 September was followed up with a project to develop better twin engine airframes.
As at 15 September, the following were the major aircraft types in service with the Soviet Air Force.
The strategic bomber program advanced further on 18 September with a new airframe design. Given how backward this aspect was, research effort was maintained there.
And on 21 September, small fuel tank design advanced sufficiently for the innovation of drop tanks to be pursued. Range for INT and CAS in particular was always a limitation, felt even more so on the Far Eastern front. This was another important step in improving the effectiveness of the Soviet air arm.
By 24 September, the aircraft improvements in particular had increased the upgrade bill to just over 80 IC again. But the supply situation had settled somewhat, with 70 IC being enough to keep the stockpile in rough equilibrium, or even growing a little again.
A new parachute division (still working through previously ordered units here) was deployed on 27 September – it was paired up with a transport wing and held in strategic reserve, under the command of the Baltic Theatre back in
Vitsyebsk.
The final tech advance of the month came on 28 September. Yet another aviation improvement – to large fuel tanks – would extend the all-important range of Soviet strategic bombers. Vital for a proposed nuclear weapon delivery vehicle. The same line of research was renewed.
8. Global Summaries
South East Asia had seen the usual arm-wrestle in Indo-China (Stalin was quite happy to see neither side prevailing there, as long as they continued bleeding each other), but advances were made in various parts of the Dutch East Indies.
The French and their allies seemed to be gradually gaining a slight advantage in Indo-China, but it was far from decisive as yet.
The Dutch and British had finally broken out of
Batavia and also sent troops from Eastern Java. They were on the cusp of expelling the Japanese from that island completely and may be able to pursue them across the
Sunda Strait (over which the Japanese were now retreating) into resource-rich Sumatra. Anything that might begin to bring Japanese industry to its knees would be welcome in the Kremlin.
And the Japanese had made some small advances in Australia during the month, but the key centres of
Melbourne and
Adelaide had not yet fallen. And the Japanese must be having difficulty keeping this theatre in supply.
There were no changes in New Guinea or the Central Pacific.