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An August Storm: the Soviet-Japan Endgame in the Pacific War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Mark Ealey
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In a postbellum environment, far more war crimes are ultimately left untouched than are ever pursued in tribunals. This is particularly true if the victors commit the crimes against the vanquished. If that victor is a superpower, the difficulties involved in the pursuit of justice increase exponentially. As World War II entered its final stages the belligerent powers committed one heinous act after another: the Japanese military massacred civilians in Manila and murdered allied prisoners of war and slave laborers in an attempt to hide the evidence of their barbaric treatment, not to mention the ongoing acts of brutality in China. On the victors’ side, while the United States and Britain bombed German and Japanese cities and their civilian inhabitants into oblivion to “bring the war to a speedy end,” the Soviet Union was unleashing acts of vengeance on the German population. Fresh from victory over the Nazi regime and emboldened by favorable political developments in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union turned its attention to Japan.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , February 2006 , e17
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2006

References

[1] Soviet Declaration of War Against Japan: http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1945/450808a.html

[2] Statement released after the Cairo Conference: http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1943/431201b.html

[3] Full text of the Atlantic Charter: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/atlantic.htm

[4] The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945: “August Storm” Air & Space Power Journal, Fall, 2004, by Gilles VanNederveen.

[5] In the Treaty of Shimoda in 1855, Sakhalin became a mutual possession of Japan and Russia, and the Kuriles were divided between Uruppu and Etorofu. This was followed in 1875 by the Treaty of St. Petersburg by which Japan gave up all claim to Sakhalin in return for all of the Kurile chain as far as Kamchatka. Japan took control of the southern 40 percent of Sakhalin through the Treaty of Portsmouth after victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The border was set at the 50th parallel. Japan therefore has no claim on Sakhalin but demands the return of what it terms the Northern Territories: the four islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the islets known as Habomai, none of which were ever possessed by Russia or the Soviet Union prior to their being seized by Soviet troops in 1945.

[6] The Gegenmiao Incident is described by survivor, Kawauchi Mitsuo, on: http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/news/2005/sengo60/sengo5/01.html Also see: Fujiwara Sakuya, “Manshu, Shokokumin no senki” (Kyoyo bunko #1561, publ. Shakai Shisosha, 1995). Yano Ichiya and Yan Ye-son, “Manshu Chinkon: Hikiage kara miru senchu/sengo” (Inpakuto Shuppankai, 2001).

[7] Alfred de Zayas, Nemesis at Potsdam (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 2nd edition, 1979); and, Erich Kern (ed.), Verheimlichte Dokumente (Munich: FZ-Verlag, 1988).

[8] Japanese Ministry of Health and Social Welfare records suggest that Japanese 26,000 soldiers and support personnel were killed in Manchuria during August 1945. In addition, more than 30,000 civilians perished and another 30,000 were never accounted for. Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, “Zokuzoku - Hikiage-Engo no Kiroku” 1963, p. 187. See: http://home.s01.itscom.net/i-ioriya/sangeki.html for details of other Japanese works that refer to Gegenmiao and other similar incidents.

[9] Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Racing the Enemy, Harvard University Press, 2005. p 254-257.

[10] For the Russian side of the Battle of Shimushu see: http://www.fegi.ru/prim/flot/flot1_13.htm

[11] Details of the fate of the nine telephonists in Maoka can be found in Kawashima Yasuo's “Kyuunin no Otome - Isshun no Natsu” (transl: Nine Young Women - A Moment in Summer) 2003, publ. by Kyobunsha, Sapporo. Description of the scene in Maoka on August 20, including eyewitness comment, can be found at: http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~t_tajima/nenpyo-5/tizu-2.html For the original quote from one of Itoh Chie : http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~nippon/jogbd_h13/jog203.html

[12] See http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~t_tajima/nenpyo-5/ad1945k.htm for a transcription of diary entries and letters describing of the incident at Arakaizawa, just outside Maoka, in which a group of emissaries led by a Lieutenant Murata of the 25 th Infantry Regiment went forward to discuss surrender only to be fired on by Soviet troops. Only one survived.

[13] Details of the bombing of refugees in the square in front of Toyohara Station can be found at: http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~nippon/jogbd_h13/jog203.html

[14] Most notably the Wilhelm Gustloff, General Steuben and the Goya.

[15] Mainichi Shimbun, 1/10/92. “Shuusen 7- Nichigo no Saharin kara no Hinansen Gekichin wa Sorengun no Kougeki data Sensuikan Gyorai de” (trans: Soviets Sink Refugee-Ships From Sakhalin Sunk Seven Days After End of War - Torpedoes from Submarines) for details of Hata Ikuhiko's research. Mainichi Shimbun, 28/3/96. “Kinkou kaku Sengo Shori - Kyuu- Soren no “Anbu” Akiraka ni - Karufuto Hinansen Gekichin Jiken” (trans: Balance Lacking in Handling of Legacy of The War - Dark Side of Former Soviet Union Revealed - Sinking of Refugee Ships from Karafuto) for the details of the Soviet submarines.

[16] “Saigo no Nihonkai-Kaisen: Showa 20 8 Gatsu 22 Nichi, Hokkaido Rumoi Oki Sansen no Higeki” (transl: The Last Battle in the Japan Sea: August 22, 1945, The Tragedy of Three Ships off Rumoi) http://homepage2.nifty.com/abe-san/sakusaku/6_1.htm

[17] Elena Bondarenko. Exploitation of Japanese POW labor in the USSR. In: Far Eastern Affairs, 1995. No. 1. pp. 72-85.

[18] The Potsdam Proclamation states: (9) The Japanese military forces, after being completely disarmed, shall be permitted to return to their homes with the opportunity to lead peaceful and productive lives.

[19] Dai-Ni Shinko Maru - a Q-Ship - scored a hit on the submarine's conning tower when it surfaced to finish off the Japanese vessel. A large oil slick was reported directly after the submarine submerged. Also, the attached map is from Volume 5 of the History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-1945. (Soviet Ministry of Defense) To the bottom right of the map “Amur River Submarine Squadron combat action” is written in Russian to explain the arrow off the western coast of Hokkaido.