Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945 (The Pacific War Trilogy Book 3)

by Ian W. Toll

The western attack on the Transbaikal Front would require Red Army forces under Marshal R. Y. Malinovsky to cross arduous desert and mountain terrain, the Gobi Desert and the Altai Mountains, and to penetrate quickly into the heart of Manchuria to seize Mukden (now Shenyang). From the east, the First Far Eastern Front, commanded by Marshal K. A. Meretskov, would cross the Lesser Khingan mountain range and seize the city of Changchun, and then pour into northern Korea. The Second Far Eastern Front would provide support to the two wings while advancing into Manchuria from the north. The total number of Red Army troops involved in the operation was about 1.5 million, more than double the number of Japanese troops in the region—and the Soviet troops were mechanized. The Red Army, bloodied and victorious on the Eastern Front, was at its peak strength and efficiency—manned by veterans at all ranks, lavishly equipped, and superbly led. As one American military analyst has written: “Soviet plans were as innovative as any in the war. Superb execution of those plans produced victory in only two weeks of combat.”