The Soviet Union had fought with Japan on the border with Manchuria. A period of uneasy truce had existed since September 1939 when, in 1941, both nations realized that the war in Europe would mean they would have to protect their interests in a region. At that time, both the Soviet Union and Japan had a significant number of troops in North China in order to be prepared for a mutual attack.
When the Germans were on the outskirts of Moscow in the winter of 1941, Stalin's spies in Tokyo were urged to report the fact of an attack on the border between Russia and Manchuria is being prepared by the Japanese before the troops stationed in Siberia were sent to West for an offensive to invading troops.
The Soviets and Japanese Americans interned when they landed in Soviet-controlled territory. When Stalin declared neutrality, it also appeared to be interested in entering the Pacific war as Hitler was defeated. The massive losses in the west prevented him from doing so by the year 1945.
Two days after the release of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Stalin invades Manchuria. The army once mighty Kwantung was put aside as the main areas lost in the war between Russia and Japan have resumed. Soviet forces also occupied the island of Sakhalin north of Japan
Korea was split into two when the Soviet and Allied forces agreed in September 1945 using the 38th parallel as the demarcation line. This would lead to a war in 1950 between Korean governments, sponsored by their respective opponents in the war.
The Soviet Union suffered a huge number of victims during the Second World War, which they called the Great Patriotic War. Although the exact number of victims is unknown, it is estimated that 20 million soldiers and civilians died in all war fronts.
The english version of this article will be available soon. In the meanwhile, the text above was the result of a Google translation from portuguese version to english.
