Battles of Khalkhin Gol

Battles of Khalkhin Gol
Part of the Soviet–Japanese border conflicts and World War II

Japanese infantrymen near wrecked Soviet armored vehicles, July 1939
Date11 May – 16 September 1939
(4 months and 5 days)
Location
Khalkha River, Mongolian People's Republic
47°43′49″N 118°35′24″E / 47.73028°N 118.59000°E / 47.73028; 118.59000
Result Soviet–Mongolian victory
Territorial
changes
Status quo ante bellum;
enforcement of border claims in accordance with the Soviet and Mongolian interpretation.
Belligerents
Soviet Union
Mongolia
 Japan
Manchukuo
Commanders and leaders
  • Grigory Shtern
  • Georgy Zhukov
  • Yakov Smushkevich
  • Khorloogiin Choibalsan
  • Michitarō Komatsubara
  • Masaomi Yasuoka
  • Kōtoku Satō
  • Urzhin Garmaev
Strength
57,000 (late August)[1][nb 1]
498–550 tanks
385–450 armored cars[5][6]
900 aircraft (total),[7] peak strength 623[8]
546 artillery pieces (156 100mm+)[8]
4,000 trucks[9]
1,921 horses and camels (Mongol only)[10]

25,000 (late August)[11][12][13]
73 tanks[14]
19 tankettes

  • Tanks withdrawn after July action
400 aircraft (total),[7] peak strength 255[8]
277 artillery pieces (50 100mm+)[8]
2,000 trucks (20 August)[15]
2,708 horses[16]
Casualties and losses
Manpower:
Total: 26,211–28,169 casualties[nb 2]

24,903 combat
752–2,276 noncombat
556[19]–990[3]
Equipment:
250 aircraft lost[20]
253 tanks destroyed or crippled[21]
133 armored cars destroyed
96 mortars and artillery
49 tractors and prime movers
652 trucks and other motor vehicles[17][19]
significant animal casualties[22]
Manpower:
Total: ~20,000–23,000 casualties[23][nb 3]

See § Casualties.
17,364–17,716 combat
2,350 noncombat
2,895 (Soviet claim)
Equipment:
162 aircraft lost[20]
29 tanks destroyed or crippled[14]
7 tankettes destroyed
72 artillery pieces (field guns only)[25]
2,330 horses killed, injured, or sick[16]
significant motor vehicle losses[26]
Khalkhin Gol/Nomonhan
Location within Mongolia
Khalkhin Gol/Nomonhan
Khalkhin Gol/Nomonhan (Inner Mongolia)

The Battles of Khalkhin Gol (Russian: Бои на Халхин-Голе; Mongolian: Халхын голын байлдаан) were the decisive engagements of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese border conflicts involving the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Japan and Manchukuo in 1939. The conflict was named after the river Khalkhin Gol, which passes through the battlefield. In Japan, the decisive battle of the conflict is known as the Nomonhan Incident (Japanese: ノモンハン事件, Hepburn: Nomonhan jiken) after Nomonhan Burd Obo, an obo,[27] a cairn set as a border marker in the Yongzheng period of the Qing dynasty. The battles resulted in the defeat of the Japanese Sixth Army.

  1. ^ AMVAS, citing Kondratiev (2002), "Boi u reki Khalkhin-Gol." Retrieved 4 December 2024
  2. ^ Kotelnikov 2010, p. 109.
  3. ^ a b "Khalkhin Gol Battle: the Revision of Statistics". Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  4. ^ Krivosheyev 1993, pp. 71–2.
  5. ^ Suvorov, Viktor (2008). The Chief Culprit (hardcover ed.). Naval Institute Press. p. 119. ISBN 9781591148388.
  6. ^ Zaloga 2007a, p. 13.
  7. ^ a b V. Kondratiev, "Khalkhin Gol: War in the Air" retrieved 3 January 2016
  8. ^ a b c d Hata (2013)
  9. ^ Coox 1985, p. 580.
  10. ^ "The Khalkhin Gol Battle, 1939" Retrieved 3 January 2016
  11. ^ Hata (2013), "Summary of the Battle of Nomonhan" Table 3 (Japanese). Retrieved 4 December 2024
  12. ^ Bellamy, Christopher D.; Lahnstein, Joseph S. (1990). "The New Soviet Defensive Policy: Khalkhin Gol 1939 as Case Study". Parameters. 20 (1): 24. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  13. ^ Коллектив авторов. Россия и СССР в войнах XX века: Потери Вооружённых Сил / Под общ. ред. Г. Ф. Кривошеева. – М.: ОЛМА-ПРЕСС, 2001. – С. 177. – (Архив). – 5000 экз. – ISBN 5-224-01515-4.
  14. ^ a b Zaloga 2007a, p. 14.
  15. ^ Hata (2013). Per Coox Coox1985, p. 563 the Japanese had 1,000 trucks in July (25% inoperable); by early September this had increased to 3,000
  16. ^ a b Coox 1985, p. 1168.
  17. ^ a b M. Kolomiets "Boi u reki Khalkhin-Gol" Frontovaya Illyustratsia (2002)
  18. ^ Sokolov, Boris (9 February 2015). "Халхин-Гол". slavic-europe.eu (in Russian). Archived from the original on 7 February 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  19. ^ a b "Soviet Losses in the Khalkhin Gol Battle". RKKA in World War II – Russian Project. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  20. ^ a b Кондратьев В. Халхин-Гол: Война в воздухе. – М.: Библиотека журнала "Техники – Молодежи". Серия "Авиация", 2002. – 64 с. Тираж 1000 экз.ISBN 5-88573-009-1.
  21. ^ According to "Soviet Losses in the Khalkhin Gol Battle", these losses break down as: 30 BT-7s, 27 BT-7RTs,2 BT-7As, 127 BT-5s, 30 BT-5RTs, 8 T-26s, 10 KhT-26S, 2 KhT-130S, and 17 T-37s. This does not include tanks that only sustained light to moderate damage, or ones lost due to mechanical failure.
  22. ^ Coox 1985, p. 576. During one Japanese counterattack alone on the 12/13 August the MPR 8th cavalry division lost 100 horses captured.
  23. ^ Coox p. 915
  24. ^ Glantz, David M.; House, Jonathan (1995). When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. Lawrence KS: University Press of Kansas. p. 14. ISBN 0-7006-0899-0.
  25. ^ Coox 1985, p. 987, includes 28 120mm–150mm guns and 44 75mm guns.
  26. ^ There are multiple accounts of Japanese trucks being knocked out by Soviet artillery and aviation, as well as losses due to mechanical failures or environmental hazards. Coox 1985.
  27. ^ The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, Volume 16 Nomonhan-Burd+Obo, File:NDL10269238 Court Record of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East 1948-01-30 (pp. 38,549-38,617).pdf
    Quote: "Nomonhan is an obo. It is called Nomonhan-Burd Obo. There are two obos and the border line ruins between these two obos. <...> Nomonhan-Burd Obo itself is situated on top of a hill which is near the Hailastin-Gol River."


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