ABSTRACT
The forces of Marshal Meretskov’s 1st Far Eastern Front confronted significantly different conditions from those faced by their counterparts in Malinovsky’s Trans-Baikal Front. First, Meretskov’s operational sector, which extended from the town of Iman on the Ussuri River north of Lake Khanka to the northern Korean border where the Tumen River flowed into the Sea of Japan, was shorter than Malinovsky’s sector. Second, and even more important, the Japanese border districts in eastern Manchuria were more heavily fortified than those located in western Manchuria. Many of the fortified regions in eastern Manchuria were large defensive complexes made up of sophisticated reinforced concrete structures and firing positions. Although the Japanese manned these defenses with relatively light covering forces such as border guards and fortification units, the fortified regions were formidable obstacles that protected virtually every trafficable axis of advance and communications route from the Soviet border into eastern Manchuria.
