Battles for Lake Hassan

The thirties of the twentieth century were extremely difficult for the whole world. This concerns both the internal situation in many countries of the world and the international situation. After all, global contradictions developed more and more in the world arena during this period. One of them was the Soviet-Japanese conflict at the end of the decade.

Background of the battles for Lake Hassan

1938 The leadership of the Soviet Union is literally obsessed with internal (counter-revolutionary) and external threats. And this idea is to no small degree justified. The threat of Hitler's Germany in the West is clearly evolving. In the east in the mid-1930s, China was occupied by the armies of Japan, which already throws predatory glances at Soviet lands. Thus, in the first half of 1938, a powerful anti-Soviet propaganda campaign was launched in this country, calling for a "war against communism" and a frank seizure of territories. Such aggression of the Japanese is promoted by their newly acquired partner in the coalition - Germany. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the Western states, Britain and France, in every way delay the signing of any treaty with the USSR on mutual protection, hoping thereby to provoke the mutual destruction of their natural enemies: Stalin and Hitler. This provocation is completely spreading And on Soviet-Japanese relations. In the early summer of 1938, the Japanese government began to talk more and more about contrived "disputed territories". In the beginning of July, the center of events is Lake Khasan located in the frontier zone. Here, the formation of the Kwantung Army is becoming increasingly concentrated. These actions the Japanese side justified by the fact that the border zones of the USSR, located near this lake, are the territories of Manchuria. The latter region, in general, was in no way historically Japanese, it belonged to China. But China in previous years was itself occupied by the imperial army. July 15, 1938, Japan demanded the withdrawal of Soviet border troops from this territory, arguing that they belong to China. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR reacted harshly to such a statement, providing copies of the agreement of Russia with the Celestial Empire from 1886, where appropriate maps were attached, proving the correctness of the Soviet side.

The beginning of the battles for Lake Hassan

However, Japan was not at all intent on giving up. The impossibility of substantiating their claims to Lake Khasan reasonably did not stop it. Of course, Soviet defense was also strengthened in this area. The first attack followed on July 29, when a company of the Kwantung Army crossed the state border and attacked one of the heights. At the cost of significant losses, the Japanese managed to master this height. However, already on the morning of July 30 more powerful forces came to the aid of the Soviet border guards. The Japanese for several days unsuccessfully attacked the defense of opponents, losing a large amount of equipment and manpower on a daily basis. The battle at Lake Khasan was completed on August 11. On this day, a truce was declared between the troops. By mutual consent of the parties, it was decided that the interstate border should be established under the Russia-China treaty of 1886, since no later agreement on this matter existed at that time. Thus, Lake Hassan became a silent reminder of the army's infamous campaign of the Kwantung Army for new territories.