Although the Soviet plan was called the “Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation,” it included auxiliary operations to occupy northern Korea, the southern half of Sakhalin Island, and the Kurile Islands. An amphibious landing in the Kuriles would commence one day after Japan’s surrender on August 15, and Red Army forces would quickly seize the rest of the chain, with offensive operations continuing even after Soviet representatives had accepted the Japanese instrument of surrender aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. Stalin had also directed that contingency plans
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