kingnovel Chapter 793 The Far East is Important
Chapter 793 The Far East is Important
However, when the negotiations were interrupted by the Potsdam Conference, there were still six unresolved issues between the Soviet government and the Chinese government, including the demarcation of the Sino-Mongolian border, the management of Dalian, the demarcation of the scope of the Lushun naval base and the management of Lushun Port, the use of the Northeast Railway and military cooperation in the Northeast.
However, when the Chinese government delegation returned to Moscow, the Soviet Union to continue negotiations on August 7, 1945, the situation in the Far East had undergone tremendous changes. On August 6, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. On August 8, the day when the Soviet government and the Chinese government resumed negotiations, the Soviet government officially declared war on Japan.
When the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, the situation in the Far East developed to the point where if the Soviet government did not send troops to the Japanese Kwantung Army, it would lose its advantageous position to pursue rights and interests in the Far East. Therefore, although the Soviet government had not yet been fully prepared militarily, it still hastily ordered the army to begin a massive march into China's northeast region.
This also created a problem. When the Soviet government and the Chinese government were still discussing the terms of the Soviet Union's declaration of war on Japan at the negotiating table, the Soviet army had already launched an attack on the Japanese Kwantung Army, and the Japanese government had already begged the Allies for surrender.
As a result, a situation of cause and effect being reversed occurred, that is, the Soviet government's dispatch of troops to Japan's Kwantung Army was originally based on the premise that the Chinese government agreed to the Soviet government's conditions for dispatching troops, but in the end it became the motive for forcing the Chinese government to accept the conditions proposed by the Soviet government.
In fact, before the Soviet army crossed the border between the Soviet Union and China and launched a massive attack on the Japanese Kwantung Army, Japan's defeat and surrender had already become a foregone conclusion. At this time, the Japanese Kwantung Army that occupied Northeast China and faced the Soviet army had also lost its former prestige and arrogance.
The Soviet Far East Army, which was on the offensive, had absolute advantages in manpower, equipment and weapons. On August 15, the Japanese Emperor read out Japan's surrender edict through the radio. Before receiving the official armistice order from the Japanese military headquarters at midnight on August 16, the Japanese Kwantung Army had decided to "comply with the imperial edict and cease fire immediately" and formally proposed armistice negotiations to the Soviet Far East Army on August 17. However, the Soviet army had other purposes and delayed the armistice of the Japanese Kwantung Army.
Marshal Vasilevsky, commander-in-chief of the Soviet Far East Army, responded to the Japanese Kwantung Army's request for a ceasefire: "The Japanese Kwantung Army should stop fighting after 12:00 on August 20."
The Soviet army's abnormal behavior of not demanding the Japanese Kwantung Army to immediately cease fire and surrender clearly showed that the Soviet army was still not satisfied with the current progress and results of the battle. Once it was announced that the Japanese Kwantung Army had surrendered, it would likely lead to the intervention of the Chinese government and the United States to accept the surrender.
The Soviet army hoped to use the period before the armistice agreement was reached to accelerate the expansion of its occupied areas in Manchuria and other places in Northeast China.
Therefore, in just two or three days from August 18 to August 20, the Soviet army, relying on air transport troops and ground rapid advance troops, successively seized Harbin, Jiamusi, Qiqihar, Changchun, Shenyang, Chengde, Lushun, Dalian in Northeast China and Pyongyang in North Korea. In this way, the Soviet army achieved the most brilliant results at the lowest cost and occupied the entire Northeast China region.
The Soviet Union's victory was not only reflected on the battlefield. When the Soviet army urgently dispatched troops to the Northeast region and quickly expanded its victory, it also had a very critical impact on the outcome of the negotiations between the Soviet government and the Chinese government ongoing in Moscow, Soviet Union.
During the Potsdam Conference, the United States' attitude toward the Soviet Union began to toughen due to the successful explosion of the atomic bomb developed at the Alamogor Test Site. However, compared with the deterrent power of the United States' atomic bomb, the rapid advance of the Soviet army into China's northeast region made the Soviet leaders' advantage at the negotiating table more realistic.
At this time, the Chinese government delegation was most worried about the fact that, as the Soviet army had already begun to advance into China's northeast region in large numbers, if the treaty was not signed immediately to restrict the actions of the Soviet army, then once the Soviet army occupied the entire northeast China region, the consequences might be even worse.
Obviously, the Soviet leaders also grasped the weak point of the Chinese government. Faced with the rapid advance of more than 1.5 million Soviet troops in China's northeast region, the Chinese government delegation had no choice at the negotiating table.
The most successful diplomacy is to achieve the greatest results at the lowest cost. By sending troops to China's northeast region, the Soviet government also achieved its political goals in the Far East. As a result, after the Japanese government announced its surrender, the power and interests gained by the Soviet government in the Far East not only restored the rights and interests lost by Tsarist Russia forty years ago, but also exceeded the relevant provisions of the Yalta Secret Agreement and the Soviet-China Treaty.
After winning the Battle of Western Hunan, the Chinese government army took advantage of the victory to launch an attack on the Japanese Chinese Expeditionary Force. On May 27, 1945, it successfully recovered Nanning, Guangxi Province, and on June 29, it successfully recovered Liuzhou, Guangxi Province.
On July 7, 1945, the Military Commission of the Chinese government announced the results of the War of Resistance against Japan and officially declared that the situation in the war had turned from defense to offense.
On July 12, the Chinese government's paratrooper unit participated in the battle against the Japanese army for the first time. One hundred and eighty officers and soldiers of the Chinese government's paratrooper unit airdropped into Kaiping County, Guangdong Province, and launched an attack on the Japanese army there.
On July 14, the Chinese government's Army General Headquarters formulated a comprehensive counterattack plan with Guilin, Leizhou Peninsula, Hengyang, Qujiang, Yangcheng, and Hong Kong Island as combat targets.
On July 24, the 20th and 29th Armies of the Chinese government and other units quickly attacked toward Guilin along the Hunan-Guangxi Railway and both sides of the railway in three routes, and successively recovered the Zhongdu, Huangmian, Yangshuo and Baisha areas occupied by the Japanese army. Then, after fierce fighting, the offensive forces of the Chinese government occupied Yongfu, the southern gate of Guilin.
On July 25, the Chinese Air Force and the American Air Force cooperated and dispatched 305 fighter planes to launch a fierce air raid on the Japanese Air Force base in Shanghai.
On July 26, the Allies issued an ultimatum to the Japanese government, the Potsdam Declaration, demanding that the Japanese government surrender unconditionally and severely punish war criminals.