May 22, 2006 May 22, 2006
While the planning of the Manchurian operation Marshal Meretskov, appointed the Commander of the 1st Far Eastern Front asked to give him some officers of the 2nd Byelorussian Front who had the experience of the actions in forests and mountains. I was in that group. In the April of 1945 we went to Far East. For camouflage we “lost” our awards and our “ranks” colonel generals had become colonels, lieutenant colonels had become senior lieutenants, and Marshal Meretskov had become “General Maksimov”.
Of course, it was a pity that Berlin would be captured without our participation. But the war in the West was finishing and nobody had doubts in it. A new war – the war against Japan – was ahead. It had to be my third war (I fought also in Finnish Campaign in 1939-40). And when we arrived in Ussuriisk we immediately began to plan Manchurian operation in the conditions of the highest secrecy.
We were working in June, 24th when there was Victory Parade in Moscow. We heard the report about the parade by a radio without going out from our headquarters. I remember that I was thinking in that moment: “They celebrate the Victory there but a new war would begin here soon.” But in any case it was necessary to beat the Samurais. They recalled about the neutrality only in the end of Great Patriotic War when they have understood that Germany is doomed to lose.
Being the Chief of Intelligence Department of the Headquarters of Engineer Troops of the 1st far Eastern Front I was responsible for the preparing of the special assault and airborne detachments that were assigned to capture railroads tunnels in the region Grodekovo-Pogranichnaia and to land in deep Japanese rears. It was still at the spring when Marshal Meretskov had set a task “to capture tunnels of KVZhD railroad, main bridges through the rivers and the road junctions in Mudantsian direction with detachments of sappers-assault soldiers.” From the May special groups of experienced sappers got special day and night training in mountain and sharp cross-country, similar to the area of the future operations. In July they got parachute training and a special training course of the capturing of hydroelectric power stations, bridges, airfields and so on. The personnel of those detachments was from the 20th Assault Engineer Brigade of Reserve of Main Command which contained 3 sapper battalions and a company of special mine laying.
The the August, 5th all the units have occupied the initial positions. In the night of August, 9th when the order to advance had been got there was a large thunderstorm with a downpour over the border. It helped to the actions of our recon groups which got an order to destroy the Japanese wire communications and railroad in the rears of the Hutou Fortified Region.
At the same time we had to prevent the Japanese from the destruction of railroad tunnels in the region of Grodekovo. If they did it our advance could be slowed down because our troops had to go a roundabout way, through almost impassable hill region, losing time, rate and element of surprise, and to drive all the supplies with trucks on the distance about 200 km through lack of roads mountain region.
So the capturing of those tunnels - they had lengths 253, 108 and 87 meters – was our main task and we accomplished it successfully. It was not in vain that we spent so much time for the planning and preparation of that operation. We explored in details air photo schemes, counted different variants of our actions, played our actions some dozen times on models and then in the real terrain (we had a similar tunnel in our territory on which we trained the schemes of the capturing, mine clearing and keeping of the objects).
The operation was done with two engineer-sapper battalion reinforced with a company of pack flamethrowers and some sub-machine gunners, an artillery group and an armoured train. Our guides were frontier guards who knew the local terrain very well. And our scout groups have eliminated in silence the Japanese sentinels nearly the tunnels and barracks still before the arriving of the sappers. Also our scouts have mined the railroad behind the tunnel #3 to prevent the incoming of Japanese reinforcements and armored trains. Then according a common sign our battalions attacked all the objects and captured them after short violent combats. Especially stubborn resistance was shown by Japanese fire points disposed on the hills covering the tunnels. The entrances to those fire points were protected with reinforced concrete fortifications and the terrain nearly them was mined. But my sappers overcame the minefields, outflanked the fortifications, approached to them from rear direction and exploded the 5 most powerful pillboxes. Furthermore a Japanese frontier post Tsinhutai disposed on the hill 524.4 was encircled and practically completely eliminated. Fortunately, the tunnels were not mined although shafts and explosives were ready to the mining but we had began our advance before the Japanese expected it and took them by surprise.
After that our assault group moved further cleaning way of our troops to the Pogranichnenskii Fortified Region which was captured by our troops to the end of August, 10th. I remember that in that day I met some two-wheeled carts carrying wounded to our rears. One of the had very heavy wound. He was wounded in his left shoulder-blade and most probably his wound was mortal. But he was only 18 years old guy. I asked him: "Does it hurt?" And he answered: "It hurts, commander, but I'll still fight more!" I remember his voice and his eyes even now, 60 years after those events...
So that war was not easy like some suppose now. Even after we had broke the Samurais' defense and moved quickly inside of Manchuria they tried to counter attack some times and continued to resist in their fortified regions which stayed ion our rears. We had to use troops from the second echelons and even from the first echelons of our battle order to eliminate those fortified regions. The combats were exclusively desperate and the casualties were very high especially from the Japanese side.
So in the August of 1845 Japan was forced to surrender not with Atomic weapon (about which the Japanese Command practically didn't know anything in that time) but with rash movement of Soviet troops inside of Manchuria. It was already to August, 15th when main forces of Quantung Army had appeared under the threat of complete encirclement after the destruction of Japanese border troops group. But in the spite of the fact that the Japanese government decided to surrender it didn't give any order to the troops about it and the Japanese troops continued to fight at that the combats were very desperate. When in August, 17th General Yamada, the Commander of Quantung Army, addressed at last to the Soviet Command with the offer to stop military actions that doffer had no any word that Quantung Army is ready to lay down arms. The Samurais obviously played along trying to take away their troops inside of Manchuria. To hasten the surrender and to prevent the meaningless bloodshed, the destruction of the plants and factories, the taking away and the destruction of wealth it was decided to land by air groups of our soldiers in the largest cities and key points of enemy disposition.
Of course, the enterprise was bold and risky. Relatively small Soviets detachments had to land in deep enemy rears in the face of superior enemy forces. Though the Japanese Army was demoralized some of its units refused to surrender and continued to show resistance. There was no a guarantee that some fanatics afflicted with a Samurai's spirit, wouldn't use weapon against those detachments.
In my case it really happened.
I commanded the air landing in Girin. According the first plan we had to be air dropped at night in August, 16th. But Marshal Meretskov canceled the night drop and ordered to make an ordinary landing in August, 18th. To that moment we already had a preliminary agreement with the Japanese about their surrender.
At the morning of that day General Khrenov took me the plan of Girin with the marked objects that had to be captured by us. The general said that we had to reduce the amount of the first echelon because the command could give us only 7 Li-2 planes. Then the general said that the Colonel Lebedev, the Deputy of the Chief of the Operational Department, would be the representative of the stuff of the Front.
Major Chetverikov, the commander of the 281st Air Transport Regiment, and I calculated the amount of the first echelon of our landing group. We decided that we were able to take only 30 men of the stuff personnel and specialists and 145 men of field troops including 88 men of a separate company of pack flamethrowers, a scout platoon (26 men), two platoons of sappers (32 men), 5 officers of the headquarters, 6 radio operators with 3 radio sets from Intelligence Department of the Stuff of the Front, 5 specialists – sappers-electricians who also were drivers, 2 mortar specialists, 5 artillerymen, 2 interpreters from Japanese and Chinese. The second echelon had to contain field troops, specialists in weapon, medics, finance specialists, specialists of hydroelectric power stations, river shipping and airfield service.
But we didn't fly in the 18th because the situation was difficult in that region – the Japanese troops continued to resist. We had flown only in the next day, in 12 AM. We were covered with 4 fighters and 3 bombers.
The first plane still hadn't stopped but our soldiers already jumped out and run to the preliminary planned positions around the airfield. Soon a Japanese soldier and two gendarmes were brought to me. During the interrogation they said about an enemy ambush on a hill covered with kaoliang. We heard some single shots from the hill direction. Colonel Lebedev decided to send the captured Japanese to carry a short letter to the chief of the local garrison: "I offer you to arrive in the airfield and to bring the representatives of local military and civil administrations." Here the second plane landed, then the third one landed but the Japanese didn't come. They obviously played along. Our patrols which were sent to capture wheeled transport also didn't return. At last, a bus with a few representatives of the Japanese command approached. The Japanese officers had white bandages on their hands, they were armed with sabers but had no other weapon. The first of the Japanese bowed his head before Colonel Lebedev. After a short talking the Japanese returned in the Japanese headquarters to report about our ultimatum. Meanwhile Lieutenant Bakhitov's scout platoon captured and disarmed the guard of the airfield – their weapon was placed in some bags and the disarmed Japanese were sent in their barracks in Girin.
The Samurais continued to play along, it is obviously that they were waiting something. The intensity increased. And now one of the previously captured Japanese – the officer who informed us about the ambush, - took from his pocket a handkerchief and waved with it. Immediately we were under Japanese machine gun fire from the kaoliang hill. We were forced to lay right nearly the plane. Here already four our guys were wounded and splinters of concrete hit my face. The Japanese officer is silent on my demands to stop the fire. And I ordered to my soldiers to attack. The Japanese forces were about a company. After a short desperate fight we captured 8 machine guns, captured four officers and more than 40 soldiers! And the more Japanese were killed... We were very angry! We had got an agreement but they shot! During the interrogation the company's commander lied that he had not known about the surrender and it was the reason of the opening of the fire.
The planes which flew to the second echelon took our wounded. I remember how Major Chetverikov and I embraced and wished good luck to each other. I didn't know in that time that I would never see him more. Major Chetverikov died during the second flight – his plane collided with a hill because of a fog and the major burnt alive... But it would happen in the next morning.
At the evening of August, 19th we left a small team to guard and to maintain airfield and we with 3 platoons went in Girin on a few commandeered trucks to disarm the remaining Japanese and Manchurian units. At first we rushed into the Japanese headquarters, neutralized the resistance of a few single soldiers and officers and captured 3 generals. Firstly the generals declared that they had no any orders about the surrender from their command. But then Colonel Lebedev declared them an ultimatum (to the point, he introduced me as "the commander of an airborne division") and threatened them with "toughening of corresponding actions effluent from the situation and the laws of a war". After that Lieutenant General Kuan ordered to his troops to lay down arms and showed to us the disposition of his garrison's units on a map.
For the night of August, 20th my soldiers rushed in the city like the wind. They captured important objects, disarmed whole battalions of the Japanese and guarded their barracks. In some places some groups of Samurais tried to resist or to run away. For example, in the railroad department they changed their clothes on civilian ones and wanted to steak away. When they were found they began to shoot from rifles but they were immediately suppressed with sub-machine gun fire in response.
Accepting the surrender of Japanese soldiers (to the morning their amount was already 12,000) we widely used Russian emigrants mainly youth as interpreters (there were 3,500 Russians in Girin). For the night we captured and organized the guard 18 important objects – the bridges across the Sungari, the barracks, the railroad station, the military hospital, the banks, the store of military equipment, the military school, the gendarme and police stations, the post office, the prisons.
At the same night the operation to capture the hydroelectric power station on the Sungari was made. The station was in about 35 km from Girin. It was guarded with a sapper battalion and a separate chemical company. The height of the dam was 96 meters, the head of water was 76 meters so if the Japanese exploded it all we sank. Everything was ready to explode it but we didn't let them to do it. We used the element of surprise. We moved from two directions and attacked suddenly the sentinels and the barracks. The Japanese didn't expect our attack and didn't show any serious resistance in the spite of the fact that our forces were only two platoons. Our amount was so little that we were not able to guard the object and the captured Japanese simultaneously. So we only disarmed the Japanese and ordered them to go in the town in their barracks. Later I got an Order of Kutuzov for that operation.
In the spite of the fact that there were 100 Japanese on every soldier of my landing detachment the Japanese were very quiet POWs. They were afraid to go out in the streets as the hatred of the Chinese to them was very large. It was some times when large crowds of the Chinese came to our commandant's office and asked us to deliver them up the Japanese for immediate savage punishment but we didn't let them to make a lynch law.
Already at the evening of August, 19th the local radio informed about the large Soviet landing in Girin and about the finishing of Japanese rule there. The local population was asked to organize people institutions of local governing in coordination with People Revolutionary Army of China and now to carry out the orders of the Soviet commandant.
Spontaneous meetings began in the city, red banners flew everywhere. The People Committees that were organized soon offered us their help. For example, they patrolled on important objects,
guarded the barracks with Japanese POWs and the prisons. The Chinese everywhere began to speak with our soldiers and soon we understood the words "Chiso" and "Shango" ("Good", "Russians"). For some reasons they called every of us a Captain ("Captain Rus!"). They asked a lot of questions about the life in USSR and what would be their life and rule now. Many old Chinese knew Russian and operated like interpreters. It was necessary to keep from our new friends the red stars from our sided caps, epaulets and stars from epaulets. Any Soviet things were like hot cakes, especially newspapers, books, spoons, mess kits. The local population offered their service and presents to our soldiers – fruits and vegetables, red paper lanterns, birds which were considered symbols of friendship and love.
In August, 23rd the Stuff of the Front ordered me to pass the Japanese arsenals, captured in 6 large stores (weapon, explosives and other military equipment) to our Chinese comrades. It later was one of the reasons of the victory of revolutionary forces. At that I was ordered to have no any meeting with the representatives of Chinese People Army but only to remove the stores' guard in 1.00 AM and to look myself secretly what would happen later. I did like I was ordered to do.
The removal of the weapon was made in high rate, at a run and in a silence, with a lot of lamps. The boxes with weapon the Chinese carried with hands and especially heavy cargo was taken away with trucks. When my soldiers and I returned in the stores it was clean there (the Chinese even swept the floor) and absolutely empty – the Chinese took away even all the shelves.
