The Battle of Khalkhin Gol was a series of engagements between the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Japan and Manchukuo in 1939. The Battle is named after the river that passed through the area of engagements. The Soviet Union had around 520 tanks compared the 73 tanks of Japan. In July 1939 Japan made a series of advances, successfully pushing Soviet troops of Baintsagan Hill using all 73 tanks that had crossed Khalkhin river on a pontoon bridge. However Russian General Zhukov retaliated with 450 tanks consisting of BT-5s, BT-7s, and a handful of T-26s. Later on in August the Soviets counterattacked on the 20th of August with the 4th, 6th and 11th Tank Brigades. These were backed by trucks, infantry, artillery and armoured cars. The Soviets surrounded the Japanese almost immediately, attacking them in the rear, and cutting off a large amount of Japanese forces. An attempt was made to liberate the trapped forces but this failed. Zhukov asked for Japanese surrender but they refused. This resulted in an all out attack on the encircled troops. Fighter-Bomber aircraft and artillery rained death for 11 days, and on the 31st the relentless bombardment stopped and all Japanese troops had been utterly annihilated, leaving only remnants of the 23rd Division. The Japanese Lieutenant Sadakaji charged a tank, armed only with his Samurai Sword, in a fruitless and final attempt to break the Soviets blockade. He was himself cut down and was killed. Japan lost 20,000 men in total, and 42 tanks were crippled. Pictured here are Russian BT tanks including the BT-2 and the BT-7s which were included in the fight. The final 3 images are of Japanese Light and Medium tanks including the Ha-Go, I-Go and Chi-Ha. They were far outmatched, outgunned and outranged and these battles taught Japan that they had to modernise their armoured vehicles if they were to compete in the war. #tank #tanks #history #historyfacts #warthunder #worldoftanks #wot #wt #ww2
#tank #tanks #history #historyfacts #warthunder #worldoftanks #wot #wt #ww2
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