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00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,200
April 1945. As the war
 in Europe draws to a close,

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00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:40,200
Stalin agrees to join
 the war against Japan.

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00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:41,480
Soviet troops prepare
 to move to the Far East.

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00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,560
Originally produced
 for Russian television in 2011,

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00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:49,640
this is the story
 of Russia s Great Patriotic War

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00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:52,080
and the Red Army s long road
 from defeat to victory.

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00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:10,640
The Soviet assault team advanced
 through the ruins of Koenigsberg

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00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:14,040
with the confidence of veterans.

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00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,320
They used the cover
 of the smoke and buildings,

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00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:22,040
and cleared the way with short
 bursts of submachine gun fire.

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00:01:41,960 --> 00:01:46,080
It was April 1945,
 and the Red Army was clearing

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00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,360
the last German stronghold
 in East Prussia.

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00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:16,840
At the headquarters
 of the 3rd Byelorussian Front,

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00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:20,760
Marshal Vasilevsky followed
 events with satisfaction.

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00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:23,880
He was generous with his praise.

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00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,400
But many of his commanders knew
 he was mentally selecting the
 men

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00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:31,040
to take with him on
 his next assignment.

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00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:35,560
He had already been
 told what to expect.

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00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,680
In the summer of 1944 I learnt
 that after the Byelorussian
 Operation,

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00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:44,040
I would have to go
 to the Far East.

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00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,160
Stalin told me that I would be
 given command of the army there
  

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00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:50,680
for the war against Japan.

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00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:01,120
Stalin had promised the Allies
 that he would join the war
 against Japan

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00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:03,040
within 90 days of
 Germany s surrender.

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00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,400
In turn, he had been assured
 that certain Soviet territorial
 demands

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00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:11,280
in the Far East would be met.

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00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,600
As the fighting continued in the
 East Prussian capital of
Koenigsberg,

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00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:25,040
the Soviet Union denounced its
 1941 Neutrality Pact with Japan.

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00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:32,200
It had done little to ease
 tension between the two powers.

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00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:36,720
Stalin had kept almost
 40 divisions stationed

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00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:38,720
in the Far East
 throughout the war.

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00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:02,480
The Soviet denunciation
 of the Neutrality Pact

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00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:04,480
was a clear warning of
 Stalin s intentions.

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00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:10,480
Now the Red Army began to build
 up its forces in the Far East.

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00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:24,120
The new arrivals included the
 53rd Army and 6th Guards Tank
 Army

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00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:26,960
redeployed from Czechoslovakia.

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00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:32,840
Their experience of fighting in
 the mountains of Romania and
 Austria

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00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,360
would prove extremely
 valuable in the Far East.

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00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,560
Some of the soldiers thought
 they were going home after the
 defeat of Nazi Germany.

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00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,240
But their war wasn t over yet.

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00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,680
Japan had attacked Manchuria
 in northeast China in 1931,

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00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:06,040
before Hitler even
 came to power.

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00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:10,400
It led to border clashes with
 the Soviets at Lake Khasan in
 1938,

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00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:13,760
and at Khalkhin-Gol in 1939.

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00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:20,160
Japan had embarked on a policy
of ruthless imperial expansion,

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00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,880
which brought war with China,
 America and the British Empire.

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00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,640
After Germany s defeat, the
 Allies met for a conference at
 Potsdam, near Berlin.

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00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:41,360
There, the US, the UK and China
 issued a stark threat to Japan

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00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:46,200
surrender, or face
 "prompt and utter destruction".

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00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:53,560
The Japanese response
 was predictable.

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00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:59,840
Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki
 stated that the Japanese
 government

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00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:03,920
would ignore the declaration,
 and "move forward to
successfully conclude the war".

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00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:11,200
The response condemned the
 country to a terrible,
 unprecedented fate.

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00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:20,000
In the New Mexico desert, the
 Americans had just tested the
 first atomic bomb.

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00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:30,000
On 26th July 1945, the USS
 Indianapolis delivered the
 "Little Boy" bomb

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00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:32,800
to the US base on Tinian island.

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00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,480
Two days later General Marshall,
 the US Chief of Staff,

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confirmed the order authorising
 its use against Japan.

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00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:48,600
The primary target
 was the city of Hiroshima.

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00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,440
Alternative targets
were Kokura and Nagasaki.

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00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:57,320
Many civilians had been
 evacuated from Hiroshima

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00:06:58,440 --> 00:06:59,440
because of the
 threat of air raids.

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00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:05,880
But at the time of the attack,
 there were still 350,000 people
 living in the city.

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00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:16,160
On 6th August, at 8.15 AM, the
 bomb was dropped from a height
 of 9 kilometres.

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00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,360
43 seconds later,
 600 metres above the city,

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00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:27,120
the bomb exploded with the
 force of 13,000 tons of TNT.

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00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:34,480
70,000 people were
 killed almost instantly.

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00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:39,640
It s estimated
 that the effects of radiation

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00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,040
killed the same number
 again within 6 months.

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00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:48,360
Within 5 years, total fatalities
 had reached 200,000.

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00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,000
Three days later, the Americans
 dropped a plutonium bomb,

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00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:07,360
with an explosive force
 equivalent to 21 kilotons of
 TNT, on Nagasaki.

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00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:12,040
According to a report
 of the Nagasaki Prefecture,

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00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:16,080
everyone within a 1 kilometre
 radius was killed instantly.

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00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:20,400
Within 2 kilometres almost
 all houses were destroyed,

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00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,360
and within 3 kilometres all
 flammable material was set on
 fire.

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00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:33,000
By the end of 1945, total deaths
 in Nagasaki had reached 80,000.

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00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,400
In the years that followed,
 thousands more died from
 leukaemia and cancers,

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caused by the effects
 of radiation.

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00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:22,720
The two nuclear blows against
 Japan did not immediately break

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00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:24,880
the country s will to fight on.

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00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:29,320
Few outside the affected areas
 knew anything about the
 bombings.

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00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:34,280
Members of Japan s
 Supreme Council

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00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:36,520
still believed they could
 negotiate an end to the war.

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00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:44,240
But a third catastrophic
blow was materialising.

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00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:50,520
The Japanese had detected heavy
 troop movements along the
 trans-Siberian railway.

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00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:54,080
It could mean only one thing...

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00:09:59,560 --> 00:10:02,760
US forces had just completed a
 brutal struggle for the island
 of Okinawa,

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00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:06,480
300 miles south of the
 Japanese mainland.

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00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:12,200
The experience taught them that
 an invasion of the Japanese
 homeland

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00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:14,000
would be a long and
 bloody affair.

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00:10:15,560 --> 00:10:17,760
The war might drag on
 for at least another year.

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00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:26,920
But a blow from the seasoned
 Red Army could prove decisive.

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00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:31,440
Particularly if it was struck
 against a strategically vital
 part

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00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:33,600
of the Japanese empire.

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00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,560
Manchuria, in northeast China,
 was such a place.

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00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:43,000
With Korea to the south, it was
 indispensable to Japan s
 economy.

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00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,600
Its industries produced coal,
 iron, steel, electricity,

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00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,440
and more than half
 of Japan s synthetic fuel.

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00:10:56,680 --> 00:11:00,280
Factories had been moved here
 from Japan to be out of range of
 US bombers.

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00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,800
The loss of Manchuria would make
 it impossible for Japan to fight
 on.

102
00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:28,840
The sheer size of the theatre of
 operations was daunting enough.

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00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:34,520
Manchuria is as big as Germany
 and Italy combined.

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00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:41,560
Its central plain is like a
 fortress, surrounded by a ring
 of mountains.

105
00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,440
And the remoteness of its
 frontiers was another important
 factor.

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00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,680
Between the Far East
 and the Russian interior,

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00:11:54,680 --> 00:11:59,320
the roads and railways simply
 did not exist to move or supply
 a big army.

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00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:09,120
Japanese forces in Manchuria,
 centred on the "Kwantung Army",

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00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:11,960
had been greatly weakened
to reinforce the Pacific,

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00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:14,440
but still contained 700,000 men.

111
00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:22,160
The commander of the Kwantung
 Army, General Yamada,

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00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:24,680
knew it was impossible to defend
 the whole length of the
 frontier.

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00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:29,200
So he placed only light
 screening forces along the
 border.

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00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:36,160
His reserves were located in the
 interior. They were stationed
 close to railway hubs,

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00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,040
ready for rapid deployment when
 the enemy s intentions became
 clear.

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00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,880
The Soviet High Command
 planned nothing less

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00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:51,360
than a double envelopment
of the whole of Manchuria.

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00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:57,000
One pincer would attack from
 Mongolia, the other from
 Vladivostok.

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00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,400
The attack from the West would
 be made by Marshal Malinovsky s
 Trans-Baikal Front;

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00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:07,080
from the East by Marshal
 Meretskov s 1st Far Eastern
 Front.

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00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,840
The distance between the two
 forces was 3,000 kilometres.

122
00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:24,400
In the path of General
 Kravchenko s 6th Guards Tank
 Army...

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00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:27,440
lay the Greater Khingan Range.

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00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,360
Kravchenko s orders stipulated
 that he was to cross the
 mountains

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00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:36,240
in no more than 5 days.

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00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:43,360
Any hold up and the Japanese
 could send troops to fortify the
 passes...

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00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:48,400
and then, the entire Soviet
 offensive could grind to a halt.

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00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:56,280
At the Yalta Conference
 in February 1945,

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00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:00,840
Stalin had promised that the
 Soviet Union would join the war
 against Japan

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00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:04,680
no more than 90 days
 after German s surrender.

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00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:08,320
He would keep his word... just.

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00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:15,040
Exactly 90 days after
 Germany s surrender,

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00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:20,520
troops of the Soviet 1st Far
 Eastern Front prepared to go
 into action.

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00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:27,920
August in Manchuria
 is the rainy season.

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00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:32,600
The downpour began on 8th
 August, the eve of the
 offensive.

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00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:39,960
Some river-levels rose by 2 or 3
 metres. The ground was soon
 sodden.

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00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:49,040
The "Manchurian Strategic
 Offensive Operation" would begin
 in the dark,

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00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:51,280
in the pouring rain.

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00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:58,920
There was to be no artillery
 preparation: the Japanese were
 to have no warning.

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00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:21,080
The attack would be
 led by assault teams

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00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:24,440
supported by ISU-152
 self-propelled guns.

142
00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:28,520
But their main weapon
would be surprise.

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00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,800
The assault teams were built
 around hardened veterans of the
 fighting in Europe.

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00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,600
For identification, they sewed
 patches of white cloth to their
 caps and tunics.

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00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:48,360
The password... was Petrov .

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00:15:56,400 --> 00:16:00,080
At 1 a.m. on 9th August,

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00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,560
assault troops of the 1st Far
 Eastern Front began their
 advance.

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00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:12,160
Scouts led the way, laying
 telephone wire for the infantry
 to follow.

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00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:26,040
At the command posts, officers
 waited anxiously for news.

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00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:41,960
If the attack failed, it would
be plan B a 4 hour artillery
 barrage.

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00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:19,840
The Red Army s sudden onslaught
 against Manchuria took the
 Japanese by surprise.

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00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:22,000
Some soldiers were caught
 still in their barracks.

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00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,800
Those that manned their
 defensive positions in time were
 soon encircled...

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00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,840
and taken out with explosives...
 or flamethrowers.

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00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:41,640
The assault teams used
 infiltration tactics to bypass
 enemy strongpoints,

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00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,800
and advance up to 20 kilometres
 in the first few hours of the
 operation.

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00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:51,040
The city of Moudanjiang
was next in their sights.

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00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:57,160
The Soviet advance
 was so fast and unexpected,

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00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:00,360
that it took several hours for
 news of the attack to filter
 back

160
00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:03,200
to Kwantung Army headquarters...
 and from there, to Tokyo.

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00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:12,760
The Japanese command
 had believed that the Soviets

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00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:15,160
would not be ready to attack
 for several more weeks.

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00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:21,600
General Yamada was so sure of
 this, that on the 9th August

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00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:24,480
he was at a conference, hundreds
 of miles from his headquarters.

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00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:34,160
The Trans-Baikal Front offensive
began at dawn, and met little
 resistance.

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00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:43,720
Kravchenko s 6th Guards Tank
 Army led the way, with 75,000
 soldiers,

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00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:47,640
6,000 vehicles,
 almost 800 tanks,

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00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:50,240
and 200 self-propelled guns.

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00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:14,360
The T-34s and Lendlease Shermans
 advanced alongside old BT-5s and
 T-26s,

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00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:18,560
which had been stationed in the
 Far East throughout the war.

171
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:23,520
They overran the weak
 Japanese units in their path

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00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,440
and advanced 120 kilometres
 on the first day.

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00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:30,760
A simultaneous supporting attack
 was made along the rail-line.

174
00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:37,040
As the first reports of the
 Soviet attack reached the
 Japanese High Command,

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00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,320
the senior staff did not
 initially comprehend its scale.

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00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:47,240
Yamada received
 instructions to maintain

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00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,760
"a staunch defence of areas
 occupied by Japanese troops,

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00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:53,200
and prepare for large-scale
 military operations."

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00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:56,200
But there was more
 news that day.

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00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:01,520
From Hiroshima came a detailed
 report on the scale of the
 devastation.

181
00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:05,160
Then, a few hours after
 the Soviet attack,

182
00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,600
news arrived that a second bomb
had been dropped on Nagasaki.

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00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:19,600
These blows, coming
 one after another,

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00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,720
were a profound shock
 to the Japanese leadership.

185
00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,600
Prime Minister Suzuki told
 a meeting of the Supreme Council

186
00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,760
that the Soviet Union s entry
 into the war made the situation
 hopeless.

187
00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:36,560
It was impossible to continue.

188
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:40,960
The Allied terms offered
 at Potsdam must be accepted.

189
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,760
That night, the meeting was
 resumed in the presence of
 Emperor Hirohito.

190
00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:52,400
It continued into the small
 hours of the morning.

191
00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:58,560
Following the Emperor s lead,
 the Council finally agreed to
 the Allied terms.

192
00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:03,760
But they demanded an assurance
 that the Emperor would retain
 his position.

193
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:06,000
This was rejected.

194
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:12,360
Only unconditional surrender was
 acceptable. The war continued...

195
00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:24,520
In eastern Manchuria, the
 infantry advanced with
 well-practiced assault drills.

196
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,360
The men blasted their way in
 through the armoured door.

197
00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,800
It became routine to completely
 demolish these bunkers.

198
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:09,320
Otherwise Japanese survivors
would hide and wait for the
 first wave to pass,

199
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,320
then rush back to their
 positions and resume firing.

200
00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:19,720
Mine clearance experts
 who had served in Germany

201
00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:23,720
were struck by the simplicity
 of Japanese minefields.

202
00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,480
They caused little hold up for
 the Soviet tanks and infantry.

203
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,080
The Red Army met more serious
 opposition to the north,

204
00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:41,520
around the Hailar fortified
 zone. After several days of
 heavy fighting,

205
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:47,320
the Japanese defenders were
 encircled. Then the air force
 went in...

206
00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,920
More than 80 Soviet bombers
 dropped 120 tons of bombs on the
 Japanese.

207
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:10,920
Two hours later
 they surrendered.

208
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,320
Kravchenko s tank army,
 meanwhile, struggled

209
00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:20,480
through the passes of the
 Greater Khingan Mountains.

210
00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:26,400
The 26-ton tanks crawled
 along the old caravan routes.

211
00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:31,560
Where the track was too narrow,
 they widened it with explosives,

212
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:34,280
or improvised other solutions.

213
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,960
Captain Dmitry Loza led a tank
 battalion through the mountains.

214
00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:45,760
Two tank recovery vehicles were
chained together at the top of
 the mountain.

215
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,600
One had a winch,
 the other acted as the anchor.

216
00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,280
A tank was attached to the
 winch cable and put into first
 gear.

217
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,400
Then it was slowly lowered down
 the slope. This is how we got
 them down safely.

218
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:10,480
By the 12th August,
 the mountains were behind them.

219
00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:14,000
They were through with
 one day to spare.

220
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:20,320
They left an old BT tank at a
 crossing and inscribed on its
 turret:

221
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:24,600
Soviet tanks passed here 1945.

222
00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:35,480
But as the tanks began to cross
the plain, dark specks appeared
 on the horizon.

223
00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:43,000
Japanese aircraft arrived to
 strafe the Soviet columns with
 cannon and bombs.

224
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:48,400
Some even made suicidal
 ramming attacks.

225
00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:59,120
9 kamikaze attacks
 were recorded by the tank crews.

226
00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:02,000
But not a single tank was lost.

227
00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:08,440
Tank tracks quickly chewed the
 wet, dirt roads into bogs.

228
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:11,560
So resupply became
 a major problem.

229
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:21,400
Two transport divisions
 of the 12th Air Army

230
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:23,040
were given the job of
 flying fuel to the front.

231
00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:29,240
But despite making 160
deliveries per day, it wasn t
 enough.

232
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,960
As the Soviet advance
 struggled on,

233
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:48,440
on 14th August news came that
 the Japanese government had
 agreed to surrender.

234
00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:56,200
A message had been sent to the
 governments of Great Britain,
 America,

235
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,520
the Soviet Union and China, that
 it was Emperor Hirohito s will

236
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:04,480
that Japan accept all the
 Allies conditions set out at
 Potsdam.

237
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:10,880
The war should have been over.

238
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:14,040
But the order to surrender was
 slow to reach the Kwantung Army.

239
00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:22,040
General Yamada s orders only
 instructed him to immediately
 burn all banners,

240
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:25,320
imperial portraits and edicts,
 and all secret documents.

241
00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:30,320
In western Manchuria,
 the increasingly one-sided fight

242
00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:34,360
caused many Japanese troops
 to surrender regardless.

243
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,400
In Eastern Manchuria,
 the Soviet 1st Far Eastern Front

244
00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:46,920
faced a different situation
 suicide attacks by Japanese
 infantry.

245
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,600
A special unit of 1,700
 soldiers, under an officer named
 Kobayashi,

246
00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:58,760
was sent into battle
 near Mudanjiang.

247
00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,120
General Beloborodov
 witnessed their attack.

248
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:10,960
Soldiers in green uniforms
 emerged from camouflaged
 foxholes and ran at the tanks.

249
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:18,480
The paratroopers shot them down.
 They were decimated by
 machineguns.

250
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:24,160
But more of them emerged
 from foxholes and trenches,

251
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:26,920
throwing themselves
 at the tanks.

252
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:43,160
On 15th August 1945, as Emperor
 Hirohito made a radio address

253
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,600
to the Japanese people
 announcing his decision to
 surrender,

254
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:51,080
Soviet tanks of the 5th Army
 rolled on towards Mudanjiang.

255
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,200
The next day the Soviet General
 Staff issued a bulletin.

256
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:11,080
The Emperor s statement of 14th
 August regarding Japan s
 capitulation

257
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,800
was only a general statement
 accepting unconditional
 surrender.

258
00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:18,960
No order was issued to the
 armed forces to cease fire,

259
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:21,960
and Japanese forces
 continue to resist.

260
00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:26,200
Thus, in effect
 there has been no capitulation.

261
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:33,640
The Japanese aircraft
 was acting strangely.

262
00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:39,760
It flew slowly, and waggled its
 wings as it approached the
 Soviet lines.

263
00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:46,120
The anti-aircraft gunners took
 a chance, and held their fire.

264
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:11,160
It was a message
 from General Yamada s staff,

265
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:13,400
informing the Red Army that
 he had ordered a cease fire.

266
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:17,040
It was not news to
 Marshal Vasilevsky.

267
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:22,400
His headquarters had already
 received a radio communication
 from General Yamada,

268
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,080
stating that he had ordered his
 men to lay down their arms.

269
00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:36,840
Some Japanese troops
 began to surrender,

270
00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:40,000
including the garrison of the
 Hailar fortified area, holding
 the rail-line.

271
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,600
But other units did not receive
 or chose to ignore the order.

272
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,440
So Vasilevsky sent
 Yamada an ultimatum.

273
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,840
I propose that at
 noon on 20th August,

274
00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:59,360
you cease all military
 operations against Soviet
 forces,

275
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:02,440
lay down your arms
 and surrender.

276
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:14,080
The waterlogged plain meant that
 the railway line was the only
 way

277
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:15,800
for Kravchenko s
 tanks to advance.

278
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:21,200
But a two-day march along the
 rails was tough on men and
 vehicles.

279
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:25,960
Any breakdown brought the whole
 column to a standstill.

280
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,240
Some tanks were simply shoved
 off the embankment to make way.

281
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:49,440
But the long advance
 was taking its toll.

282
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:54,520
One corps was down
 from 200 tanks to just 70.

283
00:31:56,520 --> 00:32:01,120
Marshall Vasilevsky now demanded
 the immediate capture of
 Changchun,

284
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:05,880
Mukden, Jilin, and Harbin, by
 highly mobile taskforces,
 supported by airborne landings.

285
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:21,840
On 19th August, seven Lisunov-2s
 carrying 175 officers and men,
 left for Jilin.

286
00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:29,440
They were escorted by 4 fighters
 and 3 Pe-2 bombers.

287
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:37,960
The Japanese command had been
officially informed of the
 landing.

288
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:48,320
As the second aircraft came into
 land... the Japanese suddenly
 opened fire.

289
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:53,880
The unit s commander
 was Colonel Dmitry Krutskikh.

290
00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:58,640
I was standing by the
 aircraft s wheel when the
 Japanese opened fire.

291
00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:05,160
I received a light facial wound.
 I led my soldiers into the
 attack,

292
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:07,840
and we captured 8 Hotchkiss
 machine guns and took 40
 prisoners.

293
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:12,360
To tell the truth, we tried not
 to take prisoners. We were too
 mad.

294
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:15,520
We d had a deal, and they
started shooting at us!

295
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:22,360
Airborne units, 200-strong,
 were also sent to seize control

296
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,480
of the Japanese airfields at
 Harbin, Mukden and Changchun.

297
00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:33,720
As Soviet fighters circled the
 landing zones, the transport
 planes made their drop.

298
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:40,640
Within 24 hours, the
 paratroopers were relieved by
 Soviet tanks.

299
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:48,040
On 19th August, Japanese troops
 began to surrender en-masse.

300
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:52,600
Most combat operations
 came to an end,

301
00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:55,760
but fighting continued
 on the island of Sakhalin,

302
00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:01,000
where Soviet infantry carried
 out amphibious landings on 20th
 August.

303
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,720
Five days later, the Red Army
 entered the capital Toyohara,

304
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:09,800
and accepted the surrender
 of 18,000 Japanese troops.

305
00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:16,000
To prevent the destruction of
 important industrial and naval
 facilities,

306
00:34:17,720 --> 00:34:20,640
detachments of the 6th Guards
 Tank Army boarded trains at
 Mukden,

307
00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:26,360
and raced south to the large
 Japanese naval bases at Port
 Arthur and Dalny.

308
00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:32,320
Paratroopers were sent ahead, to
 make sure the Americans didn t
get there first.

309
00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:37,000
The two powers were already
 positioning themselves

310
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,000
for the Cold War
 that was to come.

311
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:49,000
In one of the most remote
 outposts of the Soviet empire,

312
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:51,640
naval gunners were hard at work.

313
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:59,200
The coastal battery at Cape
 Lopatka was firing at an
 island...

314
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:01,960
barely visible on the horizon.

315
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:09,720
The target was Shumshu, the
 northernmost of the
 Japanese-held Kuril Islands.

316
00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:15,480
It was the prelude
 to an invasion.

317
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:23,600
In exchange for joining
 the war against Japan,

318
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:25,440
Stalin was promised certain
 Japanese territories,

319
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:32,280
including the Kuril Islands and
 south Sakhalin. He also had his
 eyes on Hokkaido.

320
00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:38,840
But the new American President,
 Harry Truman, was alarmed by
 these concessions.

321
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:43,480
In his view, too much had
 been promised to the Soviets.

322
00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:47,720
He asked his commanders
 to look at ways to prevent

323
00:35:47,720 --> 00:35:48,960
the Soviet occupation
 of the islands.

324
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:55,320
So Stalin decided to present the
 Allies with a "fait accompli".

325
00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,160
A few hours after the Emperor of
Japan announced his nation s
 surrender,

326
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:05,880
Marshall Vasilevsky ordered the
 invasion of the Kuril Islands to
 proceed.

327
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:10,680
The operation would be launched
 from Soviet bases in the
 Kamchatka Peninsula.

328
00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:16,400
Their initial objectives were
 the islands of Shumshu,
 Paramushir, and Onekotan.

329
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:26,400
The invasion would be led by
 Major General Dyakov s 101st
 Rifle Division.

330
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:31,200
It had been in intensive
 training for an opposed
 amphibious landing

331
00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:33,440
for more than 6 months.

332
00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:39,680
They would be accompanied by
marines and NKVD border troops.

333
00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:45,560
The landing force would
 be 10,000 strong.

334
00:36:56,040 --> 00:37:01,160
The main objective was Shumshu,
 the island closest to Kamchatka.

335
00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:04,000
Perpetual cloud prevented any
 effective Soviet air
 reconnaissance,

336
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:10,480
but it was known that the
 Japanese had constructed a
 strong defensive line,

337
00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:15,520
including pill boxes and
 anti-tank traps, to protect the
 key naval base at Kataoka.

338
00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:21,320
At the island s northern tip
 there were several bunkers,

339
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:25,200
and an anti-aircraft battery
mounted on the Mariupol,

340
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:29,160
a Soviet tanker
 stranded in 1943.

341
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:37,040
The garrison of 8,500 men was
 commanded by Major General
 Fusaki.

342
00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:41,280
General Dyakov opted for a
 beach-landing in the north.

343
00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:51,200
Dyakov thought that a direct
 assault on the port of Kataoka
 was too risky.

344
00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:54,800
But his land campaign
 carried its own risks.

345
00:37:56,520 --> 00:37:58,000
If the Japanese could bring
 in reinforcements

346
00:37:59,880 --> 00:38:03,520
from the neighbouring island of
 Paramushir, General Fusaki would
 have 23,000 men

347
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:08,040
including 16 amphibious tanks
at his disposal.

348
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:19,560
At 4 am on 17th August,

349
00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:23,960
the invasion force of 42 ships
 set sail from Kamchatka in thick
 fog.

350
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:30,360
It was a day-long voyage to
 Shumshu. Radio silence was
 enforced.

351
00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:35,040
Messages were sent only
 by signal lamp, or semaphore.

352
00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:46,480
At 2 AM the next morning, the
 fleet arrived off the landing
 beach.

353
00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:54,400
The assault troops would have to
 contend with powerful currents,
 and freezing water.

354
00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:01,320
The regular bombardment
 from the Cape Lopatka battery

355
00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:05,840
caused the Japanese to miss the
landing of the Soviet advance
 guard.

356
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:13,600
It was detected only an hour
 later, by which time they were
 more than a mile inland.

357
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:20,240
The Japanese guns
 belatedly opened fire.

358
00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:25,280
Soviet naval guns set fire
 to the lighthouse,

359
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:27,360
which acted as a beacon for the
 rest of the landing ships.

360
00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:33,000
The next wave was landed
 200 metres from the shore.

361
00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:36,240
Hundreds were carried away
 by powerful currents,

362
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:40,360
but enough men reached
 the beach to begin the assault.

363
00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:47,960
Heavy cloud cover meant there
was no air support. They were on
 their own.

364
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:57,000
But the light Japanese tanks
 proved vulnerable even to Soviet
 antitank rifles.

365
00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:10,440
7 tanks were destroyed
 with antitank grenades.

366
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:17,040
First Sergeant Babich
 distinguished himself by
 destroying 2 tanks
 single-handedly.

367
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:23,240
It was a massacre.
 Only one Japanese tank escaped.

368
00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:33,800
The infantry moved forward to
 assault the enemy strongpoints,

369
00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:36,400
supported by artillery, which
 had now been landed at the
 beach.

370
00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:45,200
Within 24 hours the Japanese
opened negotiations.

371
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:50,000
General Fusaki announced
 a ceasefire the following day,

372
00:40:51,880 --> 00:40:55,320
and on the morning of 22nd
 August, the garrison laid down
 its arms.

373
00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:00,160
The last battle of
 the Second World War

374
00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:03,360
had cost the lives of more than
 a thousand soldiers on both
 sides.

375
00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:09,240
On 25th August, the garrison
 of Onekotan surrendered,

376
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,120
followed by Matsuwa, with its
 naval base and airfield.

377
00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:17,640
The rest of the Kuril Islands
 soon followed suit.

378
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:23,880
Soviet forces were planning
 to occupy Hokkaido,

379
00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:27,000
the northernmost
 of the Japanese home islands.

380
00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:30,000
But the operation was
 cancelled by Stalin

381
00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:34,200
in the face of forthright
 opposition from the United
 States.

382
00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:38,000
But, in line with
 the agreement signed at Yalta,

383
00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:42,680
the Soviet Union now
 took full possession

384
00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:45,520
of the former Japanese
 territories of south Sakhalin,
 and the Kuril Islands.

385
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:54,440
On 2nd September 1945, the
 Japanese Instrument of Surrender

386
00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:57,480
was signed aboard
 the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

387
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:04,160
It was signed on behalf of the
Soviet Union by General
 Derevianko.

388
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:10,640
The Soviet Union had earned
 its place at the ceremony

389
00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:12,360
by its decisive
 action in Manchuria,

390
00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:17,640
which proved a crushing blow to
 Japanese hopes of continued
 resistance.

391
00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:25,040
But the first hints of coolness
 had crept into relations between
 the wartime allies.

392
00:42:27,240 --> 00:42:32,280
They had already begun to form
 two distinct camps, and 5 years
 later,

393
00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:35,920
Soviet and American pilots would
 meet over Korea as enemies.

394
00:42:40,720 --> 00:42:42,960
But for now, the Allies
 celebrated their victory.

395
00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:47,360
The largest war in
 history was at an end.

396
00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:56,320
The fighting had raged across
 three continents, and four
 oceans.

397
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:01,720
It had claimed the lives of
 an estimated 70 million people.

398
00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:05,720
But now, the soldiers
 were coming home.

399
00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:14,280
They believed that this war
 was the last. The very last.

400
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:17,480
How could it be otherwise?