All language subtitles for Soviet.Storm.WWII.in.the.East.Series.2.9of9.War.Against.Japan.1080p.WEB-DL.h264.AC3.MVGroup.Forum_[eng]

April 1945. As the war
in Europe draws to a close,

Stalin agrees to join
the war against Japan.

Soviet troops prepare
to move to the Far East.

Originally produced
for Russian television in 2011,

this is the story
of Russia s Great Patriotic War

and the Red Army s long road
from defeat to victory.

The Soviet assault team advanced
through the ruins of Koenigsberg

with the confidence of veterans.

They used the cover
of the smoke and buildings,

and cleared the way with short
bursts of submachine gun fire.

It was April 1945,
and the Red Army was clearing

the last German stronghold
in East Prussia.

At the headquarters
of the 3rd Byelorussian Front,

Marshal Vasilevsky followed
events with satisfaction.

He was generous with his praise.

But many of his commanders knew
he was mentally selecting the
men

to take with him on
his next assignment.

He had already been
told what to expect.

In the summer of 1944 I learnt
that after the Byelorussian
Operation,

I would have to go
to the Far East.

Stalin told me that I would be
given command of the army there

for the war against Japan.

Stalin had promised the Allies
that he would join the war
against Japan

within 90 days of
Germany s surrender.

In turn, he had been assured
that certain Soviet territorial
demands

in the Far East would be met.

As the fighting continued in the
East Prussian capital of
Koenigsberg,

the Soviet Union denounced its
1941 Neutrality Pact with Japan.

It had done little to ease
tension between the two powers.

Stalin had kept almost
40 divisions stationed

in the Far East
throughout the war.

The Soviet denunciation
of the Neutrality Pact

was a clear warning of
Stalin s intentions.

Now the Red Army began to build
up its forces in the Far East.

The new arrivals included the
53rd Army and 6th Guards Tank
Army

redeployed from Czechoslovakia.

Their experience of fighting in
the mountains of Romania and
Austria

would prove extremely
valuable in the Far East.

Some of the soldiers thought
they were going home after the
defeat of Nazi Germany.

But their war wasn t over yet.

Japan had attacked Manchuria
in northeast China in 1931,

before Hitler even
came to power.

It led to border clashes with
the Soviets at Lake Khasan in
1938,

and at Khalkhin-Gol in 1939.

Japan had embarked on a policy
of ruthless imperial expansion,

which brought war with China,
America and the British Empire.

After Germany s defeat, the
Allies met for a conference at
Potsdam, near Berlin.

There, the US, the UK and China
issued a stark threat to Japan

surrender, or face
"prompt and utter destruction".

The Japanese response
was predictable.

Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki
stated that the Japanese
government

would ignore the declaration,
and "move forward to
successfully conclude the war".

The response condemned the
country to a terrible,
unprecedented fate.

In the New Mexico desert, the
Americans had just tested the
first atomic bomb.

On 26th July 1945, the USS
Indianapolis delivered the
"Little Boy" bomb

to the US base on Tinian island.

Two days later General Marshall,
the US Chief of Staff,

confirmed the order authorising
its use against Japan.

The primary target
was the city of Hiroshima.

Alternative targets
were Kokura and Nagasaki.

Many civilians had been
evacuated from Hiroshima

because of the
threat of air raids.

But at the time of the attack,
there were still 350,000 people
living in the city.

On 6th August, at 8.15 AM, the
bomb was dropped from a height
of 9 kilometres.

43 seconds later,
600 metres above the city,

the bomb exploded with the
force of 13,000 tons of TNT.

70,000 people were
killed almost instantly.

It s estimated
that the effects of radiation

killed the same number
again within 6 months.

Within 5 years, total fatalities
had reached 200,000.

Three days later, the Americans
dropped a plutonium bomb,

with an explosive force
equivalent to 21 kilotons of
TNT, on Nagasaki.

According to a report
of the Nagasaki Prefecture,

everyone within a 1 kilometre
radius was killed instantly.

Within 2 kilometres almost
all houses were destroyed,

and within 3 kilometres all
flammable material was set on
fire.

By the end of 1945, total deaths
in Nagasaki had reached 80,000.

In the years that followed,
thousands more died from
leukaemia and cancers,

caused by the effects
of radiation.

The two nuclear blows against
Japan did not immediately break

the country s will to fight on.

Few outside the affected areas
knew anything about the
bombings.

Members of Japan s
Supreme Council

still believed they could
negotiate an end to the war.

But a third catastrophic
blow was materialising.

The Japanese had detected heavy
troop movements along the
trans-Siberian railway.

It could mean only one thing...

US forces had just completed a
brutal struggle for the island
of Okinawa,

300 miles south of the
Japanese mainland.

The experience taught them that
an invasion of the Japanese
homeland

would be a long and
bloody affair.

The war might drag on
for at least another year.

But a blow from the seasoned
Red Army could prove decisive.

Particularly if it was struck
against a strategically vital
part

of the Japanese empire.

Manchuria, in northeast China,
was such a place.

With Korea to the south, it was
indispensable to Japan s
economy.

Its industries produced coal,
iron, steel, electricity,

and more than half
of Japan s synthetic fuel.

Factories had been moved here
from Japan to be out of range of
US bombers.

The loss of Manchuria would make
it impossible for Japan to fight
on.

The sheer size of the theatre of
operations was daunting enough.

Manchuria is as big as Germany
and Italy combined.

Its central plain is like a
fortress, surrounded by a ring
of mountains.

And the remoteness of its
frontiers was another important
factor.

Between the Far East
and the Russian interior,

the roads and railways simply
did not exist to move or supply
a big army.

Japanese forces in Manchuria,
centred on the "Kwantung Army",

had been greatly weakened
to reinforce the Pacific,

but still contained 700,000 men.

The commander of the Kwantung
Army, General Yamada,

knew it was impossible to defend
the whole length of the
frontier.

So he placed only light
screening forces along the
border.

His reserves were located in the
interior. They were stationed
close to railway hubs,

ready for rapid deployment when
the enemy s intentions became
clear.

The Soviet High Command
planned nothing less

than a double envelopment
of the whole of Manchuria.

One pincer would attack from
Mongolia, the other from
Vladivostok.

The attack from the West would
be made by Marshal Malinovsky s
Trans-Baikal Front;

from the East by Marshal
Meretskov s 1st Far Eastern
Front.

The distance between the two
forces was 3,000 kilometres.

In the path of General
Kravchenko s 6th Guards Tank
Army...

lay the Greater Khingan Range.

Kravchenko s orders stipulated
that he was to cross the
mountains

in no more than 5 days.

Any hold up and the Japanese
could send troops to fortify the
passes...

and then, the entire Soviet
offensive could grind to a halt.

At the Yalta Conference
in February 1945,

Stalin had promised that the
Soviet Union would join the war
against Japan

no more than 90 days
after German s surrender.

He would keep his word... just.

Exactly 90 days after
Germany s surrender,

troops of the Soviet 1st Far
Eastern Front prepared to go
into action.

August in Manchuria
is the rainy season.

The downpour began on 8th
August, the eve of the
offensive.

Some river-levels rose by 2 or 3
metres. The ground was soon
sodden.

The "Manchurian Strategic
Offensive Operation" would begin
in the dark,

in the pouring rain.

There was to be no artillery
preparation: the Japanese were
to have no warning.

The attack would be
led by assault teams

supported by ISU-152
self-propelled guns.

But their main weapon
would be surprise.

The assault teams were built
around hardened veterans of the
fighting in Europe.

For identification, they sewed
patches of white cloth to their
caps and tunics.

The password... was Petrov .

At 1 a.m. on 9th August,

assault troops of the 1st Far
Eastern Front began their
advance.

Scouts led the way, laying
telephone wire for the infantry
to follow.

At the command posts, officers
waited anxiously for news.

If the attack failed, it would
be plan B a 4 hour artillery
barrage.

The Red Army s sudden onslaught
against Manchuria took the
Japanese by surprise.

Some soldiers were caught
still in their barracks.

Those that manned their
defensive positions in time were
soon encircled...

and taken out with explosives...
or flamethrowers.

The assault teams used
infiltration tactics to bypass
enemy strongpoints,

and advance up to 20 kilometres
in the first few hours of the
operation.

The city of Moudanjiang
was next in their sights.

The Soviet advance
was so fast and unexpected,

that it took several hours for
news of the attack to filter
back

to Kwantung Army headquarters...
and from there, to Tokyo.

The Japanese command
had believed that the Soviets

would not be ready to attack
for several more weeks.

General Yamada was so sure of
this, that on the 9th August

he was at a conference, hundreds
of miles from his headquarters.

The Trans-Baikal Front offensive
began at dawn, and met little
resistance.

Kravchenko s 6th Guards Tank
Army led the way, with 75,000
soldiers,

6,000 vehicles,
almost 800 tanks,

and 200 self-propelled guns.

The T-34s and Lendlease Shermans
advanced alongside old BT-5s and
T-26s,

which had been stationed in the
Far East throughout the war.

They overran the weak
Japanese units in their path

and advanced 120 kilometres
on the first day.

A simultaneous supporting attack
was made along the rail-line.

As the first reports of the
Soviet attack reached the
Japanese High Command,

the senior staff did not
initially comprehend its scale.

Yamada received
instructions to maintain

"a staunch defence of areas
occupied by Japanese troops,

and prepare for large-scale
military operations."

But there was more
news that day.

From Hiroshima came a detailed
report on the scale of the
devastation.

Then, a few hours after
the Soviet attack,

news arrived that a second bomb
had been dropped on Nagasaki.

These blows, coming
one after another,

were a profound shock
to the Japanese leadership.

Prime Minister Suzuki told
a meeting of the Supreme Council

that the Soviet Union s entry
into the war made the situation
hopeless.

It was impossible to continue.

The Allied terms offered
at Potsdam must be accepted.

That night, the meeting was
resumed in the presence of
Emperor Hirohito.

It continued into the small
hours of the morning.

Following the Emperor s lead,
the Council finally agreed to
the Allied terms.

But they demanded an assurance
that the Emperor would retain
his position.

This was rejected.

Only unconditional surrender was
acceptable. The war continued...

In eastern Manchuria, the
infantry advanced with
well-practiced assault drills.

The men blasted their way in
through the armoured door.

It became routine to completely
demolish these bunkers.

Otherwise Japanese survivors
would hide and wait for the
first wave to pass,

then rush back to their
positions and resume firing.

Mine clearance experts
who had served in Germany

were struck by the simplicity
of Japanese minefields.

They caused little hold up for
the Soviet tanks and infantry.

The Red Army met more serious
opposition to the north,

around the Hailar fortified
zone. After several days of
heavy fighting,

the Japanese defenders were
encircled. Then the air force
went in...

More than 80 Soviet bombers
dropped 120 tons of bombs on the
Japanese.

Two hours later
they surrendered.

Kravchenko s tank army,
meanwhile, struggled

through the passes of the
Greater Khingan Mountains.

The 26-ton tanks crawled
along the old caravan routes.

Where the track was too narrow,
they widened it with explosives,

or improvised other solutions.

Captain Dmitry Loza led a tank
battalion through the mountains.

Two tank recovery vehicles were
chained together at the top of
the mountain.

One had a winch,
the other acted as the anchor.

A tank was attached to the
winch cable and put into first
gear.

Then it was slowly lowered down
the slope. This is how we got
them down safely.

By the 12th August,
the mountains were behind them.

They were through with
one day to spare.

They left an old BT tank at a
crossing and inscribed on its
turret:

Soviet tanks passed here 1945.

But as the tanks began to cross
the plain, dark specks appeared
on the horizon.

Japanese aircraft arrived to
strafe the Soviet columns with
cannon and bombs.

Some even made suicidal
ramming attacks.

9 kamikaze attacks
were recorded by the tank crews.

But not a single tank was lost.

Tank tracks quickly chewed the
wet, dirt roads into bogs.

So resupply became
a major problem.

Two transport divisions
of the 12th Air Army

were given the job of
flying fuel to the front.

But despite making 160
deliveries per day, it wasn t
enough.

As the Soviet advance
struggled on,

on 14th August news came that
the Japanese government had
agreed to surrender.

A message had been sent to the
governments of Great Britain,
America,

the Soviet Union and China, that
it was Emperor Hirohito s will

that Japan accept all the
Allies conditions set out at
Potsdam.

The war should have been over.

But the order to surrender was
slow to reach the Kwantung Army.

General Yamada s orders only
instructed him to immediately
burn all banners,

imperial portraits and edicts,
and all secret documents.

In western Manchuria,
the increasingly one-sided fight

caused many Japanese troops
to surrender regardless.

In Eastern Manchuria,
the Soviet 1st Far Eastern Front

faced a different situation
suicide attacks by Japanese
infantry.

A special unit of 1,700
soldiers, under an officer named
Kobayashi,

was sent into battle
near Mudanjiang.

General Beloborodov
witnessed their attack.

Soldiers in green uniforms
emerged from camouflaged
foxholes and ran at the tanks.

The paratroopers shot them down.
They were decimated by
machineguns.

But more of them emerged
from foxholes and trenches,

throwing themselves
at the tanks.

On 15th August 1945, as Emperor
Hirohito made a radio address

to the Japanese people
announcing his decision to
surrender,

Soviet tanks of the 5th Army
rolled on towards Mudanjiang.

The next day the Soviet General
Staff issued a bulletin.

The Emperor s statement of 14th
August regarding Japan s
capitulation

was only a general statement
accepting unconditional
surrender.

No order was issued to the
armed forces to cease fire,

and Japanese forces
continue to resist.

Thus, in effect
there has been no capitulation.

The Japanese aircraft
was acting strangely.

It flew slowly, and waggled its
wings as it approached the
Soviet lines.

The anti-aircraft gunners took
a chance, and held their fire.

It was a message
from General Yamada s staff,

informing the Red Army that
he had ordered a cease fire.

It was not news to
Marshal Vasilevsky.

His headquarters had already
received a radio communication
from General Yamada,

stating that he had ordered his
men to lay down their arms.

Some Japanese troops
began to surrender,

including the garrison of the
Hailar fortified area, holding
the rail-line.

But other units did not receive
or chose to ignore the order.

So Vasilevsky sent
Yamada an ultimatum.

I propose that at
noon on 20th August,

you cease all military
operations against Soviet
forces,

lay down your arms
and surrender.

The waterlogged plain meant that
the railway line was the only
way

for Kravchenko s
tanks to advance.

But a two-day march along the
rails was tough on men and
vehicles.

Any breakdown brought the whole
column to a standstill.

Some tanks were simply shoved
off the embankment to make way.

But the long advance
was taking its toll.

One corps was down
from 200 tanks to just 70.

Marshall Vasilevsky now demanded
the immediate capture of
Changchun,

Mukden, Jilin, and Harbin, by
highly mobile taskforces,
supported by airborne landings.

On 19th August, seven Lisunov-2s
carrying 175 officers and men,
left for Jilin.

They were escorted by 4 fighters
and 3 Pe-2 bombers.

The Japanese command had been
officially informed of the
landing.

As the second aircraft came into
land... the Japanese suddenly
opened fire.

The unit s commander
was Colonel Dmitry Krutskikh.

I was standing by the
aircraft s wheel when the
Japanese opened fire.

I received a light facial wound.
I led my soldiers into the
attack,

and we captured 8 Hotchkiss
machine guns and took 40
prisoners.

To tell the truth, we tried not
to take prisoners. We were too
mad.

We d had a deal, and they
started shooting at us!

Airborne units, 200-strong,
were also sent to seize control

of the Japanese airfields at
Harbin, Mukden and Changchun.

As Soviet fighters circled the
landing zones, the transport
planes made their drop.

Within 24 hours, the
paratroopers were relieved by
Soviet tanks.

On 19th August, Japanese troops
began to surrender en-masse.

Most combat operations
came to an end,

but fighting continued
on the island of Sakhalin,

where Soviet infantry carried
out amphibious landings on 20th
August.

Five days later, the Red Army
entered the capital Toyohara,

and accepted the surrender
of 18,000 Japanese troops.

To prevent the destruction of
important industrial and naval
facilities,

detachments of the 6th Guards
Tank Army boarded trains at
Mukden,

and raced south to the large
Japanese naval bases at Port
Arthur and Dalny.

Paratroopers were sent ahead, to
make sure the Americans didn t
get there first.

The two powers were already
positioning themselves

for the Cold War
that was to come.

In one of the most remote
outposts of the Soviet empire,

naval gunners were hard at work.

The coastal battery at Cape
Lopatka was firing at an
island...

barely visible on the horizon.

The target was Shumshu, the
northernmost of the
Japanese-held Kuril Islands.

It was the prelude
to an invasion.

In exchange for joining
the war against Japan,

Stalin was promised certain
Japanese territories,

including the Kuril Islands and
south Sakhalin. He also had his
eyes on Hokkaido.

But the new American President,
Harry Truman, was alarmed by
these concessions.

In his view, too much had
been promised to the Soviets.

He asked his commanders
to look at ways to prevent

the Soviet occupation
of the islands.

So Stalin decided to present the
Allies with a "fait accompli".

A few hours after the Emperor of
Japan announced his nation s
surrender,

Marshall Vasilevsky ordered the
invasion of the Kuril Islands to
proceed.

The operation would be launched
from Soviet bases in the
Kamchatka Peninsula.

Their initial objectives were
the islands of Shumshu,
Paramushir, and Onekotan.

The invasion would be led by
Major General Dyakov s 101st
Rifle Division.

It had been in intensive
training for an opposed
amphibious landing

for more than 6 months.

They would be accompanied by
marines and NKVD border troops.

The landing force would
be 10,000 strong.

The main objective was Shumshu,
the island closest to Kamchatka.

Perpetual cloud prevented any
effective Soviet air
reconnaissance,

but it was known that the
Japanese had constructed a
strong defensive line,

including pill boxes and
anti-tank traps, to protect the
key naval base at Kataoka.

At the island s northern tip
there were several bunkers,

and an anti-aircraft battery
mounted on the Mariupol,

a Soviet tanker
stranded in 1943.

The garrison of 8,500 men was
commanded by Major General
Fusaki.

General Dyakov opted for a
beach-landing in the north.

Dyakov thought that a direct
assault on the port of Kataoka
was too risky.

But his land campaign
carried its own risks.

If the Japanese could bring
in reinforcements

from the neighbouring island of
Paramushir, General Fusaki would
have 23,000 men

including 16 amphibious tanks
at his disposal.

At 4 am on 17th August,

the invasion force of 42 ships
set sail from Kamchatka in thick
fog.

It was a day-long voyage to
Shumshu. Radio silence was
enforced.

Messages were sent only
by signal lamp, or semaphore.

At 2 AM the next morning, the
fleet arrived off the landing
beach.

The assault troops would have to
contend with powerful currents,
and freezing water.

The regular bombardment
from the Cape Lopatka battery

caused the Japanese to miss the
landing of the Soviet advance
guard.

It was detected only an hour
later, by which time they were
more than a mile inland.

The Japanese guns
belatedly opened fire.

Soviet naval guns set fire
to the lighthouse,

which acted as a beacon for the
rest of the landing ships.

The next wave was landed
200 metres from the shore.

Hundreds were carried away
by powerful currents,

but enough men reached
the beach to begin the assault.

Heavy cloud cover meant there
was no air support. They were on
their own.

But the light Japanese tanks
proved vulnerable even to Soviet
antitank rifles.

7 tanks were destroyed
with antitank grenades.

First Sergeant Babich
distinguished himself by
destroying 2 tanks
single-handedly.

It was a massacre.
Only one Japanese tank escaped.

The infantry moved forward to
assault the enemy strongpoints,

supported by artillery, which
had now been landed at the
beach.

Within 24 hours the Japanese
opened negotiations.

General Fusaki announced
a ceasefire the following day,

and on the morning of 22nd
August, the garrison laid down
its arms.

The last battle of
the Second World War

had cost the lives of more than
a thousand soldiers on both
sides.

On 25th August, the garrison
of Onekotan surrendered,

followed by Matsuwa, with its
naval base and airfield.

The rest of the Kuril Islands
soon followed suit.

Soviet forces were planning
to occupy Hokkaido,

the northernmost
of the Japanese home islands.

But the operation was
cancelled by Stalin

in the face of forthright
opposition from the United
States.

But, in line with
the agreement signed at Yalta,

the Soviet Union now
took full possession

of the former Japanese
territories of south Sakhalin,
and the Kuril Islands.

On 2nd September 1945, the
Japanese Instrument of Surrender

was signed aboard
the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

It was signed on behalf of the
Soviet Union by General
Derevianko.

The Soviet Union had earned
its place at the ceremony

by its decisive
action in Manchuria,

which proved a crushing blow to
Japanese hopes of continued
resistance.

But the first hints of coolness
had crept into relations between
the wartime allies.

They had already begun to form
two distinct camps, and 5 years
later,

Soviet and American pilots would
meet over Korea as enemies.

But for now, the Allies
celebrated their victory.

The largest war in
history was at an end.

The fighting had raged across
three continents, and four
oceans.

It had claimed the lives of
an estimated 70 million people.

But now, the soldiers
were coming home.

They believed that this war
was the last. The very last.

How could it be otherwise?