Nomonhan – The Unknown Victory
Did a battle fought on the borders of Mongolia in September 1939 between Russia and Japan on behalf of their client states decisively affect the outcome of the Second World War and save, among others, Britain from defeat? Philip Snow looks at the background to the battle and the significance of its result.
On September 3rd, 1939, the people of Britain braced themselves for a second war with Germany, magnificently unaware that a battle with a decisive bearing on the outcome of that conflict had just taken place in the Mongolian borderlands. The battle was fought between Japan and the Soviet Union on behalf of their respective clients, Japan's puppet empire of Manchukuo (Manchuria), and the Mongolian People's Republic, otherwise known as Outer Mongolia, the world's second Communist state. The Japanese call the episode the Battle of Nomonhan: Russians and Mongolians remember it as the Battle of the Khalkha River, or Khalkhin Gol.
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