South Sakhalin Offensive
| Invasion of South Sakhalin | |||||||||
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| Part of the Soviet–Japanese War of World War II | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Soviet Union
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 Japan
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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M.A. Purkayev L.G. Cheremisov Anatoly Petrakovsky Ivan Baturov Ivan Yumashev V.A. Andreev
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Kiichiro Higuchi Saburo Hagi Junichiro Mineki
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| Units involved | |||||||||
 16th Army.svg){kind=small} Pacific Fleet
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 Fifth Area Army
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| Strength | |||||||||
| 100,000 men | 19,000 men (excluding 10,000 reservists) | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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56th Rifle Corps: At least 1,191 killed |
Northern Army: 700-2,000 killed 18,202 PoW |
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| 3,500-3,700 Japanese civilian casualties | |||||||||
56th Rifle Corps:
527+ killed
845+ wounded
Pacific Fleet:
89+ killed
The Invasion of South Sakhalin, also called the Battle of Sakhalin (Russian: Южно-Сахалинская операция, Japanese: 樺太の戦い), was the Soviet invasion of the Japanese territorial portion of Sakhalin island known as Karafuto Prefecture. The invasion was part of the Soviet–Japanese War.
In the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905, control of the island was split, with the Russian Empire controlling the northern half and the Japanese controlling the southern portion under the 50 parallel north. It was known in Japan as Karafuto Prefecture and the Northern District.
During the Yalta Conference of 1945, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin pledged to enter the fight against the Empire of Japan "in two or three months after Germany has surrendered and the war in Europe is terminated." This would create another strategic front against Japan necessary to end the war. As a result of their participation the Soviets would be awarded South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands among other concessions. The United States would aid the Soviet Army in Project Hula in preparation for the invasion.
On 9 August, the Soviet Union repudiated the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact and launched a full-scale invasion of Manchuria in the Soviet–Japanese War of 1945. It should be noted that this invasion occurred 2 days after the United States atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This included the planned invasion of Japanese territory in Sakhalin. The main purpose of the invasion was to clear Japanese resistance and then — within 10 to 14 days — be prepared to invade Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's home islands.
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Wikipedia