8.37 Artillery fire in the Far East

Zhanggu Peak is located on the east bank of more than 20 kilometers upstream of the Tumen River estuary, and is a highland with an altitude of only about 150 meters. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info standing on the top of the hill, you can clearly see the Soviet plain of Poshet. On a clear day, you can also see the vicinity of Vladivostok in the distance.

Shacao Peak is a raised mountain located more than two kilometers north of Zhanggu Peak, and its height is slightly lower than that of Zhanggu Peak.

According to the map of the Soviet side, Zhanggu Peak is the Заозёрная Heights, and Shacao Peak is the Безименная Heights. Заозёрная highland is, of course, an inherent noun that means the highland across the lake. The lake here refers to Lake Hassan (Long Pond), which is located on the east side of the two highlands. The Soviet Union called the Zhanggufeng incident "the battle near Lake Hassan" after this lake. And Безименная highland, which means a nameless highland, that is, a nameless highland.

The Japanese have always considered Zhanggufeng and Shacaofeng to be their own territory, and included them in the border of Hunchun County, and their main bases are as follows:

1. According to the Hunchun boundary agreement in 1886, the border line passes through the foothills on the east side of Zhanggu Peak.

2. According to the map drawn by the border affairs officer of You Hunchun and the Chinese army stationed in Yangguanping in 1909, the boundary line passes through the area east of Changchi (Hassan Lake) on the east side of Zhanggu Peak, and the direction is from south to north.

3. The map surveyed and drawn up by the Russian General Staff in 1911 is 1/84,000 in size, and the border line is the same as the border line in the above "2".

4. In the maps issued by the Army Survey Bureau of the three eastern provinces from 1915 --- 1920, the border line passed through a place slightly easterly than the border line in the above "1".

However, the Soviet side did not mention the map drawn up by the Russian General Staff, but advocated passing through the western side of Lake Hassan according to the border line stipulated in the Hunchun Boundary Treaty, and considered the Заозёрная Heights (Zhanggufeng) to belong to Soviet territory. Finally, the Manchukuo side claimed that the border line was on the east side of Zhanggufeng, so Zhanggufeng belonged to Manchukuo territory, while the Soviet side insisted that the border line passed through the summit of Zhanggufeng.

The Japanese army authorities entrusted the Korean army with the task of defending Hunchun County in Manchukuo. This is due to the geographical proximity of the county to North Korea. However, since March 1936, the Korean Military Command has adopted the policy of "not sending troops to areas with unclear borders" and has not sent a single soldier to the areas of Jang Gu Peak and Sha Cho Peak.

Judging from the results of the DPRK's long-term monitoring of the movements of the Soviet troops, the Soviet troops did not send troops to the top of Janggufeng.

On July 7, 1938, the special intelligence agency of the Kwantung Army learned that the newly appointed commander of the 59th Frontier Garrison had sent a telegram to his superiors in Khabarovsk, suggesting that troops must be deployed to the high ground on the west side of Xiangsandong.

The Kwantung Army believed that the above-mentioned opinions put forward in the telegram were a precursor to the readjustment of the Soviet side's deployment after Ryushikov fled. Therefore, the Kwantung Army informed the Korean Army, the Hunchun garrison, and the Hunchun secret service, and these departments jointly monitored the activities of the Soviet troops in the Zhanggufeng area.

As the Japanese expected, on July 9, more than a dozen Soviet soldiers appeared on the top of Zhanggu Peak, and they began to build positions on the slope of the west side of the mountain, that is, on the Manchukuo side. By the afternoon of July 11, the number had reached about 40.

On July 15, the Japanese Chargé d'Affaires in the Soviet Union sent a note to the Acting People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, demanding the speedy withdrawal of Soviet troops from Zhanggufeng. The Soviet side replied that the above-mentioned activities of the Soviet troops were carried out on the territory of the Soviet Union, and thus rejected the Japanese side's request. Then, on 20 July, the Japanese ambassador to the Soviet Union, Shigemitsu, again requested the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the USSR to restore the status quo ante, otherwise the Soviet side would be responsible for all the consequences. But the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the USSR replied: no threat can frighten Moscow.

As a result, the War Department of the Base Camp held that the Soviet occupation of Jang Khubong was an illegal crossing, and on July 16 ordered the commander of the Korean Army, Lieutenant General Kotaro Nakamura, to "concentrate the troops of the Korean Army near the border according to the needs of the situation, but the exercise of force must be based on a separate order."

The commander of the DPRK Army immediately ordered Lieutenant General Otaka Kamezo, commander of the 19th Division, to be ready to urgently dispatch troops at any time, and the mobilized troops consisted of roughly four squadrons, two mountain artillery brigades, and one field heavy artillery brigade to further guard the border areas.

The next day, on 17 July, the commander of the Korean Army issued another order to the commander of the 19th Division to concentrate the troops that were ready to be dispatched in the area on the west bank of the Tumen River, and strictly ordered that if they advanced and exercised force in the area on the east bank of the Tumen River (on the side of Janggufeng and Shacaofeng), they must follow a separate order and not act without authorization. The 19th Division dispatched troops to concentrate near Xingqing and Awudi before dawn on July 19.

On 20 July, the Chief of Staff, Prince Zaihito Miyaji, prepared to ask the Emperor for permission to use force. However, when he realized that it was unlikely that he would be allowed to use force, he cancelled the plan. The War Department, the base camp of the Army, which believed that it would be allowed to use force as a basis for preparation, decided to stop using force and issued this decision to the Korean Military Command. The troops of the 19th Division, which had been assembled on the west bank of the Tumen River, decided to return to their original positions on July 28 by order of the Korean Army Command.

As a result, the whole Pochet region became busy

Prior to this, since July 20, there has been a sharp increase in the number of trucks coming and going on the Poshet-Novokievskoye and Novokievskoye-Khansi-Greche highways on the territory of the USSR. At the same time, a group of more than 30 transport ships was seen sailing into the Gulf of Pochette. At that time, the Kwantung Army believed that this might be a reaction of the Soviet side to the completion of the assembly of troops dispatched by the 19th Division on July 19.

At that time, the Soviet Union had not yet laid a branch railway from the Trans-Siberian Railway to the Poshet region, and there was only one asphalt road from Razdrino to Novokievskoye. Therefore, they transported ammunition, food and other supplies from Vvodvostok by sea. The appearance of a group of transport ships in the Gulf of Pochette seems to indicate that the sea route was the main supply line for the Soviet Union.

At around 9:30 a.m. on July 29, about ten Soviet soldiers were found to have set up positions at Shacaofeng. This happened 20 days after the Soviet army marched into Zhang Gufeng. The Soviet Union sent troops this time, however, deeper into Manchuria than it advocated for the demarcation of the border line according to the Hunchun Boundary Treaty. As mentioned earlier, the commander of the 19th Division could only carry out the "advance to the east bank of the Tumen River and exercise force" after receiving a separate order. However, the commander of the 19th Division believed that the illegal act of the Soviet Union's advance into Shacaofeng was a pure unreasonable provocation and that it must be dealt with as an independent issue that had nothing to do with the Soviet Union's advance into Zhang Gufeng. So he decided to immediately repel the Soviet troops who had entered Shacaofeng, and he was responsible for the consequences, so he gave the order to attack part of the team. At the same time, corresponding measures were taken to order the non-return of troops to their positions and to recall those who were in the process of returning.

The 19th Division attacked and repulsed the Soviets at 3 p.m. on the same day. After that, the troops withdrew to the area west of Shacaofeng for surveillance. By about 4:30 p.m., about 80 Soviet troops had crossed the border for another 500 meters. As a result, the armies of the two sides faced off until nightfall.

The first battle report of the 19th Division was delivered to the Korean Army Headquarters in Beijing at 5:30 p.m. Although the commander of the DPRK military felt that this fait accompli was contrary to his own intentions. However, he still temporarily affirmed the division commander's opinion that this incident should be handled differently from the last time the Soviet troops entered Zhanggufeng, and once again instructed the division commander to adhere to the policy of not expanding the situation no matter what. (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )