Chapter 18 – August 1945
AuthAAR’s Notes: I will try to be even more compact this time, with another tweak to the summary maps and combat descriptions.
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Introduction
Units at the eastern part of the front were beginning to outstrip air support from the main Soviet air bases supporting the north and central sectors.
Jakutsk was as yet relatively lightly populated with VVS wings.
1. Northern Sector
Four large battles took place in the Northern sector, stretching from
Lazo to
Enken, all in the first two weeks of August.
First, a major four-way assault on
Lazo from 1-8 August, a masterful blitz and envelopment overwhelming the Japanese defenders (Soviet 372 v 1,609 Japanese casualties), won without air support.
Simultaneously, the key port of
Ulya was attacked by the Soviets from
Curapca and
Ust’ Maja, who won a tough battle fought between 1-7 August (Soviet 1,165 v 1,028 Japanese casualties, plus 594 more killed in air raids). Overlapping both battles was another Soviet attack on
Enken, immediately south of
Ulya, resolved between 2-7 August (Soviet 680 v 1,172 Japanese casualties). During this battle, on 3 August it was noticed that the defending Japanese infantry division was suffering from a lack of supplies, even before being cut off. If either or both of these could be occupied, in would trap any Japanese units north of them in a pocket. And if
Ulya was taken, they would be without a port to supply them.
The fourth major attack was from
Ust Aldan on
Susuman from 8-12 August. This far northern province was the choke point through which Soviet land supply of the Red Banner Pacific Fleet’s base in Kamchatka had been cut off by Japanese occupation. The Soviets won this battle too (Soviet 654 v 1,145 Japanese casualties).
Of note, the already slow garrison division advancing on Susman was further slowed by bad weather for most of August – at the rate it was going, it would not liberate it by April 1946! This led to 6th Army’s northern objective being switched from
Ust Aldan to
Susuman, in the hope that a quicker formation might be sent there.
After this, the remaining battles were skirmishes only, a number of them clearing out arriving reinforcements or quickly abandoned enemy probes after the liberation of
Ulya (on 23 August) and
Enken (31 August) by the Soviets after their earlier victories.
The occupation of
Ulya on 23 August, after many previous attempts, was a decisive blow to the Japanese position in the north. The pocket was later further isolated after
Enken was taken at the end of the month.
By the end of the month, the northern pocket was cut off and being closed down, with the Soviets advancing on both
Susuman and
Okhotsk after earlier victories there.
Operational summary, Far East – Northern Sector, August 1945.
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2. Central Sector
Operation in the Central portion of the line were marked by broad but contested Soviet victories and then advances around the middle of August, some of which were in danger of being reversed by the end of the month. Again, Soviet air support was somewhat limited, as it had been in the North. Key flash points were in
Ust’ Urkima (where the Soviets had to defend a Japanese breakthrough),
Nemuy (which saw heavy fighting throughout the month) and
Tyndinsky (which boasted an air base) and the developing salient to its south-west.
Ust’ Urkima was attacked three times by the Japanese until they won against the exhausted defenders at the third attempt. The Soviets had earlier beaten off attacks on 4 August (Soviet 334 v 959 Japanese) and 11 August (Soviet 1,120 v 1,510 Japanese) until losing on 12 August (Soviet 114 v 255 Japanese) when they ran out of organisation. But the Japanese were attacked as soon as they occupied
Ust’ Urkima on 20 August and did not have the strength to hold it, losing after a brief battle and being evicted by 24 August.
In
Nemuy, the Soviets were victorious on 7 August (Soviet 823 v 879 Japanese) but unable to dislodge freshly arrived Japanese defenders between 11-13 August (Soviet 693 v 641 Japanese). But then a renewed attack was successful by 30 August (Soviet 705 v 646 Japanese) after a tough three-day fight. To its north, an attack on
Ayan failed earlier in the month, but an new assault began on 31 August and continued as the month ended.
A Soviet attack on the air base in
Tyndinskiy was successful on 11 August and it was occupied by the 17th. A subsequent serious Japanese counter-attack from 18-21 August was safely beaten off (Soviet 602 v 757 Japanese). At the same time,
Berezitovyy was also taken on 17 August and another serious Japanese counter-attack was weathered from 17-20 August (Soviet 335 v 1,091 Japanese).
Solov’evsk (27 August) and
Bomnaksk (31 August) were also taken, a Japanese counter-attack hitting the latter than day and still continuing as August finished. The Soviets were still advancing on
Stanovoj Hrebet after a victories there on 21 and 23 August, with a new Soviet attack from
Bomnaksk on
Silka had just started.
Also of note, partisans managed to take one of the Pacific ports on 27 August, but the Soviets were not yet in a position to exploit the windfall.
Only relatively light air strikes were launched during the month, in
Berezitovyy and
Tyndinsky. By 8 August, there were six VVS wings operating out of
Jakutsk, increasing to nine by 18 August (including four TAC and two CAS, plus three INT or MR fighter wings), though the base could not fully support more than one or two of them. After
Tyndinskiy was liberated, a two-wing MR/TAC group was deployed there by 22 August.
Operational summary, Far East – Central Sector, August 1945.
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3. Southern Sector
The main action in this sector during the month was centred around
Mogoca-Mogocha,
Erofej Pavlocic-Yerofey Pavlovich and
Vershino Darasunskiy. Gains were not as spectacular as in the neighbouring Central sector, but the Soviets emerged in the ascendant.
A battle for
Petropavlovsk Kamchatskiy had begun on 31 July and lasted until 3 August, ending in a victory for the defending Soviets: casualties were believed to be quite heavy, but no report of ground casualties was received. However, air raids disrupting the Japanese attackers in
Vershino Darasunskiy on 102 August killed 1,634 enemy soldiers.
From 1-4 August, the Japanese (in
Yerofey Pavlovich) carried out a new attack on
Erofej Pavlovic, where they had been advancing after winning a battle for it in July, after fresh Soviet troops slipped in before the province was lost. The Soviets managed to fend them off with heavy casualties (Soviet 263 v 1,009 Japanese). The tired Japanese were then immediately attacked in
Yerofey Pavlovich, inflicting more heavy casualties on the Japanese (Soviet 379 v 1,231 Japanese) in winning by 7 August.
With supply improving (see Section 5 below), the now small 1st Army was switched to an attacking stance on 12 August. Alas, they had made no move to attack their single objective of
Bukacaca by the end of the month.
A series of attempts by the Japanese to hold
Yerofey Pavlovich by inserting reinforcements failed on 12 and 15 August, with the Soviets securing it on 17 August, beating off a hasty Japanese counter-attack quickly.
To the south-west, seven battles and skirmished were fought to and from
Mogoca-Mogocha: not all were large enough to be tracked in the theatre summary below. The Soviets managed to take
Mogocha on 20 August, with first large battle being a Japanese attack from
Aksenovo Zilovskoye, which they won (Soviet 1,068 v 583 Japanese).
This completed a four-day period where the Soviet advanced in four provinces in the Central-Southern sector.
However, the Japanese reoccupied
Mogocha on 26 August. Skirmishes were swapped between
Mogoca and
Mogocha from 26 to 27 August, until a major Soviet attack was launched from 27-30 August, ending in a convincing victory (Soviet 334 v 1,265 Japanese). They were still advancing by the end of the month.
In the latter part of the month, a successful Soviet attack on
Vershino Darasunskiy was launched (with air support) and won on 22 August. Enemy reinforcements arrived on 26 August, but they too were defeated the next day, with the Soviets advancing on the province as the month ended.
There was only light air support for operations in the southern sector for the month, most of it in
Vershino Darasunskiy.
Operational summary, Far East – Southern Sector, August 1945.
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4. Mongolian Sector
The existing Soviet attack on
Ubur Khangaiin failed by 2 August, likely with fairly heavy casualties but no specific report was available. The Japanese counter-attacked immediately, putting the Soviets in
Taryacin into retreat after a short skirmish.
On 14 August, VVS aircraft based in
Irkutsk were supporting the Mongolian defence of
Dzhirgalanta by bombing
Tsetserlig, but the defence would ultimately fail, while
Taryacin had already been lost to the Japanese.
South of
Lake Baikal, a heavy Soviet attack with even heavier air support went in on
Selanga Burin on 24 August. The Soviets had won by 27 August (no ground casualty report, but 3,669 casualties had been caused by air raids) and were advancing on the province – which bordered the occupied Mongolian capital of
Ulaanbataar as 31 August ended.
The Mongolians fought and lost a few battles and skirmishes for which no reliable reporting was received, but by the end of the month
Taryacin had been lost, they were retreating once again from
Dzirgalanta and (more dangerously) the provisional capital (and last VP city)
Uliastay was attacked on 31 August.
Operational summary, Far East – Mongolia, August 1945.
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5. Logistics
Three new supply deals were offered and accepted between 6 and 18 August. Unfortunately, three more (two of them quite large) were cancelled by the other country. And not a single new supply source could be found by Molotov to replace them. On 1 August, trade deals provided 149.31 supplies per day, which was down to 139.96 by the end of the month.
In net terms, the supply stockpile varied up and down during the month, but gradually grew after some early draw-downs: from 50,438 to 57,976 by 31 August. The amount of IC allocated to supply production – 110 – was left unchanged for the whole month. This produced an average of 1,070 supply units per day.
The supply situation at the very front improved between 1 and 12 August, which was the spur to switch 1st Army to the attacking stance (even though they didn’t actually do anything with it). By the end of the month, supply at the front remained largely adequate, and was starting to ‘back up’ towards the source in the west, along the Trans-Siberian Railway.
In September, the Politburo decided it would experiment by lowering supply production to 100 IC.
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6. Naval
One Soviet convoy servicing the Kamchatka supply run was sunk on 7 August. In reinforced the desire to reopen the overland route via northern Siberia (ie
Susuman).
7. Diplomacy
Sweden remained self-aligning to the Comintern all month, but remained in a three-way tug-of-war between the three factions. Tibet started self-aligning again on 30 August. The influencing effort on Republican Spain and Turkey stayed in place, but influence by others kept them in stasis in their alignment.
8. Research
It was another month of fruitful research, from 11 August onwards. With the latest improvement to fighter pilot training, effort was directed to using the recently researched helicopters to start a medical evacuation capability for infantry-based units (clearly not something that would apply to armoured or mechanised troops!
).
Soon after, research was switched from cargo hold development to a pilot rescue system, also using the new helicopter capability.
Two advances came on 16 August: medium air search radars and submarine engines. The first was transferred into complementary medium navigation radar, while the submarine engine research team was rolled into the next level.
Submarine hull tech was due to progress to Level 2 on 21 September, so no new submarines would be built
before then.
On 19 August, torpedo tech progressed and was also rolled forward as part of the thorough upgrade program.
Torpedo upgrades would soon begin on the existing boats, which at this stage were mainly of the older Series II model, with a few of the newer 1934-vintage Series V-bis boats.
Heavy bomber training was rolled from ground crew back to pilot training on 22 August.
The next air force modernisation effort switched from TAC ground crew training to the development of RADAR-guided missiles to augment TAC and CAS ground attacks on 25 August.
9. Production
During the month, the continuing high supply demand meant the production queue remained in deficit, so new deployments were simply used to reduce that deficit in most cases.
A new RArt brigade was deployed to a front-line 15th Army division (bringing it to 3 x INF, 1 x RArt).
Stalin was brought great news on 4 August: the Politburo had miraculously managed to find some ‘semi-privately run companies’ (!!) to nationalise.
Another RArt brigade was deployed that day, this time bringing a 1st Army division up to four brigades after the brigade made its march to
Khantai in Mongolia to join them on 7 August. An exception was made to the temporary ‘no build’ policy on 7 August, with the now increasingly busy
Jakutsk air base, which had just been upgraded to level 2 facilities, having works continued to expand to level 3 and sent to the top of the queue.
The first wing of the new STRAT bombers – Pe-8s in 1 DBAD – was deployed in
Moskva on 8 August. It would stay there for now to minimise supply distribution issues. Six days later, a new NAV wing (4 MBAD) appeared and was similarly quartered in
Moscow.
Tyndinskiy fell to the Soviets on 17 August, and the level 2 facilities were soon being built to level 3.
The next deployments were two new infantry brigades; but instead of sending them east, it was decided to start raising the size of the western divisions facing Germany. It was thought there were already enough units now in the east, both for the fight ahead and to stop increasing the supply demand there.
10. Intelligence
In Turkey, one of the ten Soviet spy teams was eliminated on 5 August, Turkish strength remained at five and the Soviets soon replaced the lost team from a then 14-team reserve. By 9 August, revenge had been exacted, with two Turkish teams neutralised in the meantime. Another was taken on 17 and then 26 August.
On 29 August, the Japanese managed to neutralise a Soviet team, and on investigation it was discovered their strength had built back up to four. The full Soviet effort was immediately switched from disrupting national unity to counter-espionage. At that time, Manchurian spy strength was still only at one, so the national unity mission continued unchecked there.
The Japanese Kempeitai started and finished the month with three teams, adding one and losing one to Soviet, with the one Soviet agent lost. Japanese national unity had decreased by 0.8% from 65.4% to 64.6% (some of which was likely to be from convoy losses).
Manchukuo started the month with one agent teams at home and finished with two, with no agents lost on either side and one added during the month. Manchurian national unity had decreased by 0.9% from 67.6% to 66.7%.
Turkey had five spy teams at the start of the month, losing four to Soviet action and adding one to have two by month’s end. They had neutralised one Soviet agent.
Fewer enemy agents (24) were neutralised in August compared to July (31). The Germans had five agents neutralised, the next most was the four Turkish agents previously mentioned (actually in Turkey), the UK three and the rest one each among various countries.
The Soviets had lost three but produced six new teams in August, leaving them with a reserve of 16 on 31 August. It was decided a new mission would be launched: in Republican Spain. In that case, once established, the aim would try to build the power of the local Communist party, in an attempt to bring them voluntarily into the Comintern in due course, given the climate there was more politically favourable than in Turkey. If they could not be induced diplomatically to join later, then efforts might then turn to engineering a coup.
[Spain being one of the victory objectives.]
11. Theatre Summaries
The Far Eastern Theatre saw major Soviet gains in the Central-Southern sectors, with many significant victories and more potential advances in September, while Japan’s northern divisions were now trapped and without supplies. Mongolia was the weak spot, with their provisional capital again under threat.
Total
confirmed Soviet losses in land combat were down by around 1,500 compared to July at 12,147, with none lost to Japanese aircraft, which made no appearance at all that month.
The Japanese and their puppets lost 20,224 men (around 3,000 more than in July) in ground combat and 10,560 to air strikes (about 9,500 fewer than July, with Soviet air tempo down significantly). Total Japanese/Axis casualties were therefore 30,784, around 6,500 fewer than in June.
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In South East Asia and the West Pacific, there was steady progress in the Philippines, but
Guam was retaken from the Americans. There was – surprisingly – no progress in Malaya.
The Allies (under French command) only seemed to be facing HQs in the Philippines, but had not yet taken the final port in northern Luzon or southern Mindanao.
Allied management in Malaya was derelict: they seemed to have abandoned the job unfinished and had left
Singapore apparently undefended. Shocking.
Things still meandered in Australia, with the front again static in the north and indecisive in the south (Victoria).
In Europe, the geography had not changed of course, but now both Republican Spain and Turkey were the subject of intense Soviet diplomatic and now intelligence efforts.