The Fighting in South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in August 1945 Based on New Materials

Abstract

The article is devoted to the operations of the Soviet army in South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in August 1945. Its relevance is due to the fact that, over the past decade, researchers have made available documents from Russian and Japanese archives which allow to assess in detail the nature of operations of both sides. Preparations for the liberation of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands began well in advance, in the spring of 1945. The Japanese 5th Front had significant forces to defend South Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and Hokkaido, but mistakenly believed that the main attack in the northeastern strategic direction would be inflicted by the American forces. Therefore, all combat training activities were aimed at preparing to repel a possible landing by the US Expeditionary Force. Nevertheless, with the beginning of hostilities, units of the 88th and 91st Japanese infantry divisions offered fierce resistance to the Soviet troops. The author comes to the conclusion that, during the planning of the Kuril amphibious operation, the commanders of the Kamchatka defensive region and the Petropavlovsk naval base made a number of mistakes, which led to high casualties. At the same time, Soviet soldiers heroically fulfilled their military duty and there are grounds for raising the question of posthumously conferring the title of a Hero of the Russian Federation on some of them.

Keywords

• landing
• karafuto
• south sakhalin
• shumshu
• japan
• soviet army