ABSTRACT
After the liberation of Prague brought the war in the west against Nazi Germany to an end, as a result of agreement confirmed at the February 1945 inter-Allied Yalta conference, Soviet forces were to be committed to the war in the Far East against Japan within three months of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Whilst the possibility remained for Soviet participation in an assault on the Japanese home islands, in the first instance Soviet troops would be committed to operations in Manchuria, on Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands.
