Chapter 11 – January 1945
AuthAAR’s Notes: January proved a lot quieter in terms of ground combat – it could be that the ferocity of the winter weather simply inhibited most attacking. But there were some interesting developments, including abroad. I have also tinkered a little with the operational summary maps, to more clearly distinguish between air raids (now in lighter outline colours) and land battles – hope that helps the visual presentation.
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1. Far East – Northern Sector
Despite a now healthy estimated force ratio compared to the Japanese in the north, 6th Army did not launch any attacks during the period – most likely because of the atrocious weather. But at midnight on 14 January, the Japanese Sasebo Rikusentai (Marines), who were already approaching
Ust Aldan, attacked 2 Garnizon (Garrison) Div as soon it arrived there. The enemy did so over a river and in very bad weather.
Five days later, the Japanese attack continued
[-27% progress] in terrible conditions, now being counter attacked by 2 Gar Div. Indeed, the Japanese were still going at it by the end of the month – with seemingly little impact on either side. The reasons for this were made clear in MAJGEN Pukhov’s detailed combat report on 31 January. In essence, the troops were too busy trying to stay warm to do much fighting at all! With temperatures approaching -30c, more men were likely being lost to attrition than combat.
The bigger picture showed this desultory ‘battle’ was the only action in the sector during the whole month, despite 6th Army’s advantage in numbers and an attacking posture.
Operational summary, Far East – Northern Sector, January 1945.
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2. Far East – Central Sector
There was more action in the central sector (both 6th and 15th Army troops involved), but it was light compared to previous months.
The new year was celebrated at 0000 hr on 1 January by a major Soviet attack on
Artemovskij. 179 SD (in
Sorgo) and 205 Mot Div (
Lensk) hit the leaderless 35 Hoheishidan with a breakthrough attack which completed negated their attempted ambush, though the enemy were dug in on forested terrain and the weather was poor
[46% progress].
After three days of fighting
[progress now 60%], the Japanese launched an air raid (1 x M/R, 1 x TAC) on 205 Mot Div in
Lensk at 0300 hr on 4 January. They were met by two fighter wings (already low on organisation) based out of
Mutina, with all sides (Japanese and Soviet) taking some damage. The ground attack went in, killing 124 Soviet troops.
The same Japanese air group returned at 0800 hr, but were met this time by three near full-strength Soviet fighter wings out of
Olenek. The Japanese escorts were reduced to around 50% strength and were completely disorganised after just an hour. Their bombers were also heavily damaged, breaking off their attack and not returning again.
Unfortunately for the Japanese,
Lensk fell into an area of overlap of interceptor coverage from both
Olenek and
Mutina. Soviet air controllers did an excellent job of alternating responses so the interceptors were not overcrowded.
Victory came in
Artemovskij at 0800 hr on 7 January, with around 1,650 Japanese defenders killed and about half as many Soviets soldiers. The skies remained clear – no Soviet attacking missions were flown in support. On 11 January, a single Soviet ground attack mission was flown against neighbouring
Torgo, but it was unclear what its specific purpose was (other than harassment), with no ground combat going on at the time.
By 18 January, the sector remained quiet – troops on both sides hunkered down through the bitter winter conditions. Along the central front, the ground was typically between 25% to 86% frozen, and at 1400 hr the temperatures ranged from -5.9c to -13.8c.
205 Mot Div liberated
Artemovskij at 0100 hr on 23 January and just three hours later probed
Njuja to the north, supported by 1 'Moskovskaya' Mech Div attacking east from
Lensk. A single air strike was launched in support, but the blitzing probe against two dug in Japanese marine divisions, over a river and in bad weather, was broken off only two hours later after just two hours with minimal casualties on both sides. It was to prove the last combat activity in the sector for the remainder of the month, with 15th Army not game to conduct any further offensives in these conditions.
At 1100 hr on 31 January, 1st FE Front issued amended orders to General Ratnikov, commander 15th Army.
Shilka was removed from their objective list and
Chumikan, on the Pacific coast, was added. When conditions became conducive, it was hoped the Soviet forces might be able to extend their recent gains in
Kedrovyy and
Artemovskij all the way across on a narrower front. The aim was to ultimately cut off Japanese forces further north, which the now reinforced 6th Army would drive, as the hammer onto 15th Army’s anvil.
Kedrovyy had been gained earlier in the month, occupied after a Soviet victory there back on 17 December 1944, with
Artemovskij the other territory gained in the centre during January 1945.
Operational summary, Far East – Central Sector, January 1945.
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3. Far East – Southern Sector
The year began in the south as the last one ended: with the 2nd FE Front HQ trying to get 1st Army to attack. Some had questioned the previously aggressive General E.A. Egorov’s stomach for the fight: but his main trait was in offensive doctrine, so that wasn't it. Compared to 6th and 15th Armies, his estimated force ratio to the enemy was far closer – just a little superior. His orders remained for all-out attack, but perhaps that estimated overall strength and poor terrain and weather had made Egorov more cautious. He was left in command.
7th Army in Mongolia also started the month relatively quietly. Air raids were launched on
Tsetserlig from 13-14 January, apparently in support of Mongolian troops defending
Taryacin. They struck the same location again from 17-20 January, with the two series of raids killing over 3,000 Japanese defenders.
Then on 19 January, as the raids on
Tsetserlig continued, a Soviet attack struck
Dzirgalanta, with air support flown from
Irkutsk throughout its duration, overlapping with the other mission on
Tsetserlig for the first few days. The attack was carried out by 79 SD from
Ider, beginning with a reckless assault against a single Japanese infantry division
[35% initial attack progress]. The battle would continue until 24 January, ending in a hard-fought Soviet victory, losing over 400 men to about 300 Japanese defenders on the ground. But incessant Soviet air raids were probably the decisive factor: a massive 2,754 defenders perished in this aerial onslaught.
As the attack on
Dzhirgalanta went on, 22 January saw concurrent air raids begin on
Ubur Khangalin, attempting to spoil another Japanese attack on Mongolian-held
Taryacin. Between 22-25 January, 2,155 enemy troops were killed there. The air base in
Irkutsk, its pilots and ground crew were busy indeed!
By this time, 1st Army had still failed to attack in the North-east
Baikal area. This was despite the estimate of enemy strength facing them having been downgraded significantly since the beginning of the month and the commander's 'wish list' having shrunk somewhat. Perhaps the next step would be to focus Egorov’s objective on just one location – either
Burjatija or
Bukacaca and specify an axis of advance
[thanks @Surt ]. But with the weather the way it was, the reluctance to attack was partly understandable and he was cut some more slack. For now.
The Soviet Air Force then resumed strikes on
Tsetserlig, between 26-28 January and again from 30-31 January. The latter missions attempted to disrupt a new Japanese attack on
Dzhirgalanta, which 79 SD had occupied by 2000 hr on 29 January, finding itself under immediate attack from a Japanese infantry and a Manchurian cavalry division from
Tsetserlig. Complementary strikes were also made on neighbouring
Khadasan when one of the
Tsetserlig-based enemy divisions dropped out, replaced by one from
Khadasan. This set of three ground attack missions killed more than 4,000 enemy troops.
By the end of 31 January 1945, the latest Japanese attack on
Dzhirgalanta continued
[-26% progress]. Reports indicated Mongolia may have been forced to retreat from
Taryacin.
Operational summary, Far East – Southern Sector, January 1945.
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4. Persia
The now standard initial staff check at the start of the month revealed all the objectives for the Western Front HQ had again been deleted, so these were reset. For some reason, they just did not seem to ‘stick’.
[Always after a reload, even though they held OK for the FE Army HQs. And what I only noticed later, when compiling the AAR chapter, was that a defensive stance had also been reset, even though it didn’t seem to slow down the conquest of Persia too much.]
On the eastern flank, the battle for
Bam carried over from December was won at 1700 hr on 2 January, with fairly heavy casualties on both sides. The other continuing battle, for
Kashan (south of
Tehran) in the centre, finished at 0100 on 3 January. This sent all Persian formations in the province retreating south to
Esfahan, the new makeshift Persian capital.
On 9 January, the final push to close up at the Caspian Pocket and liquidate the units remaining in it started in earnest with an attack on
Ramsar (on the southern
Caspian Sea coast) at midnight, by 148 SD (attacking from the west). Just six hours later 229 SD arrived in
Babolsar and attacked
Ramsar from the east. Persian resistance ended at 1600 hr that afternoon, with 23 Soviet and 78 Persian troops killed.
A short battle for
Esfahan kicked off at 2200 hr on 11 January, with 133 SD attacking from
Anarak in the east against the barely prepared Persian 4th Infantry Division. It was all over at 0100 hr the following morning, with only light casualties on either side before the Persians routed, ahead of the other units still fleeing south from
Kashan.
Up in the north, at 0600 hr on 12 January the 1st Guards Div attacked the Persian 1st Cavalry in
Rasht, inland from
Ramsar and the last haven the routed units from
Ramsar had to retreat to. Resistance was light and over in five hours. By the afternoon of 18 January, the Persians were each trying to retreat to the provinces their comrades had been defeated in, while the Soviets marched to occupy both of them.
Then at 2200 hr on 18 January,
Esfahan was taken by 133 SD. The oilfields
[and VP location] of
Ahvaz had been occupied earlier that day. The Persian Government now transferred to
Bushehr and was perilously close to surrendering, but fought on for now.
133 SD won a short skirmish at 0900 hr on 21 January as it drove south from
Esfahan to
Yasuj, continuing a thrust aimed at
Bushehr – which if captured would surely trigger a Persian capitulation.
Back up north, 1st Guards Div occupied
Rasht at 0600 hr on 23 January, sending all four remaining trapped Persian HQs and divisions back to
Ramsar. The pocket was sewn shut at 1400 hr that afternoon, when 229 SD arrived in
Ramsar. The remaining Persian troops were marched into captivity.
When January ended, Persian resistance was crumbling as the Soviets closed in on the last remaining centres of Persian resistance. After the two major battles in
Bam and
Kashan were resolved early in the month, all remaining clashes had been little more than skirmishes.
Operational summary, Persia, January 1945.
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5. Finland
At midnight on 12 January 1945, the previous warnings of partisan activity in Finland erupted in a major uprising. Eight provinces in the south-east, bordering on the Soviet Union and extending inland from there, rose in revolt, a brigade of partisans in each. A new front was opened, afterwards referred to as the
Second Winter War.
The local Soviet commanders had been given devolved responsibility to handle the uprising on their own. No specific orders or objectives were issued by STAVKA. After eight days, the first Soviet units were arriving in place and many more were
en route from the Swedish and Norwegian borders aboard trucks and trains.
At 1600 hr on 21 January, the embarrassing news came that Finnish partisans had crossed the border into the Soviet Union and taken the (formerly Finnish) province of
Hiitola, on the north-west of
Lake Ladoga.
27 SD was the first Soviet formation in position and ready to attack, which they did on the afternoon of 22 January. The Finns fought back, trying to ambush the assaulting Soviets. Despite attacking entrenched troops over a river in terrible winter weather, the Finns were heavily outnumbered and lacked heavy equipment. Still, they did not run at first contact.
Later that day, a second partisan unit crossed into Soviet territory, occupying the fortifications of
Sortavala at 2300 hr.
By 2000 hr on 23 January, the Finns in
Suolahti still resisted, but the Soviets increasingly gained the upper hand
[74% progress]. Early the next morning, 25 SD was ready to attack the Finns defending
Suonenjoki [57%], facing similar conditions to 27 SD in
Suolahti, immediately to its south. Meanwhile, by 1000 hr on 24 January, a third Soviet border province (
Antrea) had been seized: but this time, they turned around and tried to escape as they discovered 317 SD advancing on them from the south.
Two hours later, 317 SD found and attacked them, the partisans suffering six killed for no Soviet casualties in the briefest of clashes.
Soviet victories came at 1000 hr on 25 January in
Suolahti and then in
Suonenjoki at 1400 hr on 26 January. In both battles the Soviets suffered a handful of casualties, killing more than a hundred partisans in each case.
The general situation at the end of January showed some partisans still running riot as more Soviet divisions rolled in from the north, while the Soviets had started to roll them up from the west and south.
Operational summary, Finland, January 1945.
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6. Naval Operations
Eight more Japanese convoys were sunk by Soviet submarines during the month in the period between 11-31 January, after a slow start. But this time, on 26 January the Japanese Navy managed to intercept one of the submarine squadrons with carrier-based aircraft south-east of
Tokyo. They Soviet submariners only just managed to escape before being totally annihilated, ordered back to port with great urgency. The rest of the raiders kept up their work.
To the relief of all, they limped into
Petropavlovsk Kamcackij at 0800 hr on 29 January, though in a parlous state, to begin their long rebuilding process.
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7. Diplomatic and Intelligence
The only diplomatic report of any interest during the month was the Swedes ceasing their diplomatic self-alignment to the Comintern on the morning of 26 January.
But it had been a good month for the GRU and NKVD.
In Japan, the Kempeitai started and finished the month with one team, adding and losing two during the month, with no Soviet agents lost. With one third of Soviet agents devoted now to undermining national unity, it had decreased marginally from 69 to 68.4%.
Manchukuo started with two agents added one and lost three during the month, finishing with only one, with no Soviet spies neutralised. The full focus remained on counter-espionage, but unity disruption work may well resume there in February. Manchurian national unity remained steady at 69.4%.
The Soviets had lost no teams for the month and added five more, with 19 now in reserve. It would soon be time for another espionage operation to be launched – most likely against a major Allied target, which would almost certainly require more replacements. Some advocated the US, concerned about their possible nuclear bomb program. Others wanted France, the UK or Germany targeted, for varying logical strategic reasons. No decision had been taken by the end of the month.
It was a bumper month for apprehending and neutralising enemy agents in the USSR: including the five from Japan and Manchuria, 35 were rounded up during the month.
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8. Production
The big news of the month on the production front was the completion of the Soviet rocket test facility in
Lyubertsy, just south of
Moscow, on 8 January. It was decided there was no great value in building another of these, as it was hoped that (once the remaining precursor technologies had been researched) that building rockets themselves would give the practical knowledge that would hasten their construction.
In order to free up the capacity for that extra research immediately, the diplomatic mission to Nationalist China was withdrawn. As some pundits in the Foreign Ministry had previously advocated, it was left in a diplomatic tug-o-war between the Axis and allies.
[The new projects commenced with the freed leadership are listed in the next section.]
The large amount of industrial capacity available after the test facility was completed was directed to building a wing of Tu-2T NAV bombers. They would at least be wanted to help support the Red Banner Pacific Fleet when the time came to begin launching amphibious attacks in the Far East. The other half went to the raising of a second (complete) marine division.
On 16 January, level three facilities were installed at the air base in
Olenek (Northern Sector), with level four beginning construction straight away.
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9. Research
Civil nuclear research progressed to level two on 2 January, with the researchers moving straight on to the next. In addition to having at least one operational nuclear reactor, research would have to progress to level four before construction of a nuclear weapon could even commence.
Four engine aircraft airframe design was improved on 3 January, with that team also kept on the job as the Soviet Union sought to bring this technical area up to world leading standards.
The additional research effort freed on 8 January (mentioned above) was put into rocket engine research, made possible by the completion of the
Lyubertsy rocket testing site. The other new research team went to work on upgrading single engine aircraft armament.
On 12 January large fuel tank design was improved and, as with airframes, was maintained to try to bring Soviet heavy bombers up to ‘world standards’ as they stood in 1943.
Finally, the first basic training doctrine was issued for TAC ground crews, which was continued so as to try to bring Soviet practice closer to modern standards.
10. Global Summaries
The pace of ground combat in the Far East had tapered off in the middle of a miserable winter, though a little more ground was taken in the centre and south. This might provide the basis for a spring and summer offensive later in 1945.
Total recorded losses to land combat for battles on all fronts (including Finland and Persia) were relatively light. The Soviets were lost 1,956 men in land combat and only 124 Soviet losses from a single completed Japanese air raid, giving total combat losses of 2,080.
The Axis lost 3,222 soldiers killed (and excluding the Persian troops captured in the Caspian Pocket) on land, but the toll from the air (all in the Far East) was still heavy, with 12,275 enemy troops killed from air raids. Total Axis casualties were therefore 15,497 in all theatres (again, not including the thousands captured in Persia).
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South East Asia was inactive everywhere except in Indo-China, where the most dramatic collapse of the anti-Japanese war so far occurred, with the Allies running riot through Indo-China.
In order to broadly trace what had happened since the end of December, weekly reports
[ie game saves] were sifted through to get the broad thrust of the successful Allied campaign. By 8 January, the new French landings south of
Hanoi had taken that city and the French were fanning out west and south, while the British marines attacked their Japanese counterparts north-east of
Hanoi. In the south, Allied forces had begun to push forward all across the front against the main centre of Japanese resistance, whose western inland flank was now wide open.
And the reason for the recent lack of Allied troops and action in Malaya was now apparent. France and the UK were taking advantage of their pre-existing military access arrangements with Siam to funnel three Royal Marine divisions by rail all the way up to reinforce the Indo-China front.
By 17 January the Japanese position in Indo-China had been cut in two. In the north, their remaining divisions were being pushed inland, with no apparent escape route. In the south, the Allies were closing in, starting to bottle up the main Japanese force against the coast. All Japanese resistance in the north appeared to have ended by 24 January, while the Allied noose tightened in the south as the reinforcements travelling via Siam neared.
As January ended, the Allies were mopping up in the north.
And in the south, the few remaining Japanese formations left were being pressed back towards their last port of
Quang Ngai. It was unknown whether they had evacuated any of the divisions there or they had been destroyed in combat. With the combined strength of the Allied forces now deployed in Indo-China, resistance would not last much longer. The big question was what the Allies might do next with this large army once their immediate objectives had been secured.
There had again been no territorial movement in the Central Pacific, but things were also turning worse for the Japanese in Australia, though not yet as dramatically as Indo-China.
In Australia, the Allied offensive in the north continued towards, while the Japanese had also been pushed back again in the south. Brisbane had been retaken, though the exchange of ground balanced out in the south along the Murray River, which constituted the border between Victoria (to the south) and New South Wales. But without the apparent means to resist the Allied drive from the north and at the end of a long and precarious supply line by sea, the Japanese position here also seemed doomed.
Stalin reading the monthly summary reports for January 1945 – he was now well-enough pleased with progress on all fronts (including production, research and espionage). Though the military police in Finland might be looking over their shoulders at the moment following the widespread revolt there and the embarrassing seizure of Soviet border provinces by Finnish partisans …