The thirties of the XX century turned out to be extremely difficult for the whole world. This applies both to the internal situation in many states of the world and to the international situation. After all, global contradictions were developing more and more on the world stage during this period. One of them was the Soviet-Japanese conflict at the end of the decade.
Background of the battles for Lake Hassan
1938. The leadership of the Soviet Union is literally obsessed with internal (counter-revolutionary) and external threats. And this idea is largely justified. The threat of Nazi Germany in the West is clearly unfolding. In the east, in the mid-1930s, China is occupied by the armies of Japan, which is already casting predatory glances at Soviet lands. So, in the first half of 1938, a powerful anti-Soviet propaganda was unfolding in this country, calling for a "war against communism" and for an outright seizure of territories. Such aggression of the Japanese is facilitated by their newly acquired coalition partner - Germany. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the Western states, England and France, are in every possible way delaying the signing of someor an agreement with the USSR on mutual defense, hoping thereby to provoke the mutual destruction of their natural enemies: Stalin and Hitler. This provocation is spreading quite widely
and on Soviet-Japanese relations. In the early summer of 1938, the Japanese government began to talk more and more about fictitious "disputed territories." In early July, Lake Khasan, located in the border zone, becomes the center of events. Here, formations of the Kwantung Army begin to concentrate more and more densely. The Japanese side justified these actions by the fact that the border zones of the USSR, located near this lake, are the territories of Manchuria. The last region, in general, was not historically Japanese in any way, it belonged to China. But China in previous years had itself been occupied by the imperial army. On July 15, 1938, Japan demanded the withdrawal of Soviet border formations from this territory, arguing that they belonged to China. However, the USSR Foreign Ministry reacted harshly to such a statement, providing copies of the agreement between Russia and the Celestial Empire dated 1886, which included the relevant maps proving the correctness of the Soviet side.
Start of the battles for Lake Khasan
However, Japan had no intention of backing down. The inability to substantiate her claims to Lake Khasan did not stop her. Of course, Soviet defenses were strengthened in this area as well. The first attack followed on July 29, when a company of the Kwantung Army crossed the state border and attacked one ofheights. At the cost of significant losses, the Japanese managed to capture this height. However, already on the morning of July 30, more significant forces came to the aid of the Soviet border guards. The Japanese unsuccessfully attacked the opponents' defenses for several days, daily losing a significant amount of equipment and manpower. The Battle of Lake Hassan was completed on 11 August. On this day, a truce was declared between the troops. By mutual agreement of the parties, it was decided that the interstate border should be established in accordance with the agreement between Russia and China of 1886, since no later agreement on this matter existed at that time. Thus, Lake Khasan became a silent reminder of such an inglorious campaign of the Kwantung Army for new territories.
