Spoils in the Far East






The Soviet-Japanese War over Mongolia (May - Sept. 1939)



Mongolia was a mere vassal state of the Soviet Union, and a massive reshaping of society was enforced, among others most of the country's Buddhist monasteries closed. Hoping to exploit popular dissatisfaction with the Soviet regime, Japanese forces stationed in Manchuria invaded Eastern Mongolia in May 1939. Soviet and Mongolian forces, commanded by General GEORGI ZHUKOV, were able to inflict heavy losses on the Japanese Fighting ceased on September 16th 1939, when a truce was signed.

A German diplomat stationed in Tokyo, RICHARD SORGE, had access to information about planned Japanese operations in Mongolia which Japanese had given to their German allies. A devoted communist, he passed the information on to the Soviets, enabling Zhukov to be prepared wherever the Japanese were to strike.



EXTERNAL
FILES 		Library of Congress, Country Studies : Mongolia, chapter National Defense 1940-1945
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Stalin's Spy : Richard Sorge and the Tokyo Espionage Ring, by Robert Whymant, 1998


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on November 8th 2004

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