I am taking a history of Nazi Germany this semester, and several weeks ago, during a lecture regarding the early and pre-stages of WWII; my teacher was trying to remember the details of the second conflict between Russia and Japan. I raised my hand and explained the battle is known as the Nomonhan Incident, to which he gave me a funny look. I clarified that it is also known as Battle of Khalkin Gol, which jogged his memory. A fellow student asked when the battle took place and the teacher, again uncertain suggested 1938; I replied the battle took place in the spring and summer of 39.

Two weeks ago, the teacher asked if I would handle the course evaluations. This past Monday, the professor checked to make sure the evals went smoothly and handed me a copy of Stuart Goldman's "Nomonhan, 1939," (It's a brand new title, apparently) as a small thanks and for having knowledge on a relatively obscure event.



It's always encouraging when such random knowledge pays off,

M.


It's good to have a friend here at my shoulder with a little time to spend, til I find love again -F. C. Collins W. C. Bickhardt

Nice to see your arcane knowledge pay off, as it were.
Please post a review/eval of the book, once you've gotten into it.

It has been somewhat of a grueling semester, so a small victory such as this is appreciated. I will definitely give a heads up when I get into it. For now, I just need a break.

M.

It's good to have a friend here at my shoulder with a little time to spend, til I find love again -F. C. Collins W. C. Bickhardt

My pet theory (that virtually no one agrees with) is the following: the Japanese feared the Russians more than the U.S., and the Soviet invasion prompted the surrender of Japan, not necessarily the atomic bombs. U.S. occupation would mean an cultural invasion of Americans and the presence of the American military; occupation of Russians meant the total loss of all freedom, cultural identity, economic freedom, and otherwise, plus isolation from the world. (See N. Korea, Manchuria). The Nomonhan incident was more that an incident, but a precurser to the events of August 1945.

In hindsight, does make a very possible point!

And not unreasonable either. Six years into it, the echoes of Nomonhan were still ringing out.

M.

It's good to have a friend here at my shoulder with a little time to spend, til I find love again -F. C. Collins W. C. Bickhardt

I'm reading "Racing the Enemy" right now, about the search for a way to end the Japanese war. It makes it sound like the Japanese, like others, still hoped that Russia (that is, its government) would perform in the good old fashioned way that nations expected of each other, even in time of war. Granted they wouldn't want to be taken over by Russia, but that's a bit different. Remember that the Cold War perception of Russia was a (mostly) postwar development.

I read it, so far, that until very late in the game Russia's neutrality was their last straw to clutch at, and they even made some fumbling attempts to get Russia to be an intermediary to negotiate a peace with the Allies. Once they saw that Russia was intending to join its allies against Japan (and I haven't gotten to that point in the book) it was essentially impossible to continue to hold illusions that they (Japan) were still in the fight.

bob

p.s. If you're not familiar with the book, and you find the behind the scenes thinking of the individuals within governments interesting, I highly recommend it.

Reminds me of the hoo-ha about that Curtiss wreck in the desert. Aside from us few zanies who hang out here, no one cares.

Nomonhan incident was more or less the real reason why Japan went south (and attacking the US and Allies) instead of invading Siberia. Japan was crucially short of raw materials and either going into Siberia or the South Pacific was the one of two options they had.

After getting their asses handed to them at Nomonhan, they went with the southern plan and WW2 happened as we know it.

Also keep in mind that Japan just had the bomb dropped on them and the Russians attacked in China...leaving then completely hopeless.

They also defeated an invasion of the kuril island after war ended by the Russians...





Peter Griffin: Any problem caused by a tank can be solved by a tank.