On May 12, 1939, Lieutenant General Michitaro Komatsubara, commander of the 23rd Division of the Japanese Kwantung Army, confidently led a group of cavalry to the area of Nomenkan. Komatsubara was full of confidence at this time, and he was very arrogant on horseback, and he didn't take the Soviet-Mongolian army in his eyes at all.
A source of arrogance
Where does Komatsubara's confidence come from? Mainly from three aspects.
First, the main military purpose of the Japanese army's trip was to test the strength of the Soviet and Mongolian armies, which seemed quite mysterious at the time, and the Mongol troops knew nothing about it. In the case of being in the shadows, there are various ways to fight, and sneak attacks will naturally become the best choice, which will greatly increase the victory rate.
Second, Komatsubara's command had cavalry, tanks, and armored vehicles, with a total strength of about 1,000 people. The cavalry is a cavalry wing led by Dong Yabaizang, which is a well-trained cavalry team, even among the Japanese cavalry, it is definitely the existence of elite cavalry, and its combat effectiveness has been tested on the battlefield.
At the same time, the cavalry was followed by armored troops, and as long as any army was entangled by the cavalry wing, it would be difficult to escape the impact of the follow-up armored forces, and it was almost impossible to win. As a result, Higashi-Yamokuzo's arrogance at that time was similar to that of Komatsubara, and before he could fight any army, he proudly threatened to "fill the horseback with the heads of the enemy."
Third, the Soviet army experienced a "great purge" at that time, and Komatsubara believed that the combat effectiveness of the Soviet army would decline as a result. Moreover, the morale of the Japanese army was high at that time, and according to the questionnaire released by the Japanese military psychological organization, it was found that more than 90% of the Japanese soldiers who were eager to fight the Soviet army were as high as 90%, which made Komatsubara's confidence even more valuable.
Based on these three reasons, it was very easy for Komatsubara's troops to march into Nomenkan this time. When Komatsubara approached the vicinity of Xilin Tauragai, he encountered the first unit to fight, the 24th Border Guard of the Mongolian Army.
The sneak attack succeeded
The combat capability of this army was average, and it was not expected that the Japanese cavalry would raid in the early morning, and when the cavalry wing led by Dong 800 Zang repeatedly rushed and killed in the Mongolian position, there were even Mongolian troops who did not wake up in their sleep. With this successful sneak attack, the cavalry wing of the East Eight Hundred Tibets was like entering a no-man's land, cutting off the heads of dozens of people and loading them on horseback, and then returned to Hailar with satisfaction.
The sneak attack of the East 800 Tibet was successful, and after returning home, he was praised by the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, Masanobu Tsuji, as if he had been beaten with chicken blood, and returned to the front line with full enthusiasm. Komatsubara was also honored and decided to continue to march towards Nomenkan, and he was more confident in his future prospects.
In order to fight this battle well, Komatsubara also specially sent an additional infantry wing to the eastern 800 Tibet, increasing the strength of the eastern 800 Tibet from more than 1,000 to more than 2,400. But what they didn't know was that after the Mongolian army suffered the defeat of this sneak attack, it not only immediately built new fortifications in the area of Nomenkan, but also passed the news to the Soviet army as soon as possible, and asked the other side for help.
At this time, the Soviet army had already known the movements of the Japanese army, and had already taken precautions against the Japanese army's sneak attack tactics. For this reason, the Soviet army also quietly transferred more than 3,000 troops, and even brought heavy weapons such as tanks and artillery, just to deal with the Japanese cavalry and armored vehicle units.
In order to act covertly, the Soviet army was not exposed before the battle, and always arranged more than 1,000 troops of the Mongolian army to build fortifications on the surface, the purpose of which was to make the Japanese army light the enemy. At this time, Komatsubara and Higashi-Yahyaekzo were both proud and complacent because of their easy victory, completely unaware that the Soviet army had arrived on the battlefield and was ready for battle.
From the point of view of troops, the strength of the Japanese army is obviously not particularly large, although it achieved a victory by sneak attack, but this has a lot to do with the weak combat effectiveness of the Mongolian army, why did the Soviet army attach so much importance to the Japanese army and invest so many troops and firepower? Because behind the Japanese army's attack on Nomenkan, there is a bigger conspiracy, and once it is not handled well, the world pattern may really change again.
At that time, the War of Resistance Against Japan had entered a phase of stalemate, and the Japanese army had to find the next breakthrough as soon as possible. And the Japanese army did not have many options at that time, or only two general directions. One was to march north from the army to the Soviet Union, and the other was to attack Britain and the United States from the south by the navy, which also caused a fierce confrontation between the Japanese army and navy.
Therefore, the success or failure of the Battle of Nomenkan is related to the direction of the Japanese Army and the change of the world pattern. If the Battle of Nomenkan is successfully won, the Japanese army will launch an attack on the Soviet Union and seize Siberia, which is an important reason why Komatsubara and Higashi-Yamokuzo are so arrogant.
The nightmare begins
It's just that Komatsubara still underestimated the Soviet army, and just when they were ready to launch an attack on Nomenkan, they found that behind the Mongolian army were already standing powerful Soviet tanks and artillery. Although the Japanese army also had tanks, the Japanese tanks were too small compared to the Soviet tanks, and the toughness of the armor could not be compared, and the 12 tanks of the Japanese army were wiped out in just one shot.
As for the cavalry wing of Nomenkandong 800 Tibet, although they maintained a consistent charging speed, their swords were useless against the tanks, and many cavalry had been smashed by Soviet artillery fire before they could even charge in front of the Soviet army.
The Japanese cavalry almost fell into madness when they saw this scene, and some cavalry even tried to cut the Soviet Spitfire tanks with knives, and the final result can be imagined, the Soviet tanks were unscathed, and the Japanese cavalry was immediately scorched. In order to escape, he let the Japanese soldiers die with explosives bags and tanks, so as to buy him time to escape.
This kind of suicidal attack really had an effect, and several tanks of the Soviet army were caught off guard and were destroyed by the Japanese suicidal attack, resulting in several tanks being paralyzed in place one after another. Seeing this, Dong 800 Zang hurriedly ordered the cavalry to dismount and join the infantry to build fortifications on the sand dunes, trying to hold the sand dunes and wait for support.
Dong Babaizang took advantage of this gap and escaped with a dozen of his own soldiers, and got into a bush while everyone was not looking, after all, there was really no suitable place to hide in the local area. Unfortunately, although the abacus of the East Eight Hundred Treasures was well played, it was not realized in the end, because the hill he intended to defend was bulldozed by the torrent of steel of the Soviet army not long after.
As for the East Eight Hundred Tibet, which was hiding in the bushes, it was soon discovered by the Mongolian army who searched for it. So many soldiers of the Mongolian army were brutally killed by the Japanese invaders, and Dong Babaizang even cut off the heads of dozens of people and hung them on their horses to humiliate, and the head of the Mongolian cavalry, Dandar, was eager to eat his flesh raw, so he naturally would not let him go easily, and after discovering Dong Babaizang, he was directly shot and killed.
Soviet adviser Vasilyev personally experienced the first phase of the campaign at that time, taking the most realistic pictures of the time with the camera he carried with him. These photographs capture the scene of fierce fighting between the two sides, and almost record the entire process of the destruction of the Japanese cavalry wing, which is applauding.
The Japanese army did not intend to stop there, and soon gathered tens of thousands of troops to pounce again, preparing to take the Nomenkan in one fell swoop. But what they didn't expect was that an even bigger nightmare awaited them, which also led to the complete failure of the "north-south" strategy, and finally they had to send the navy to attack Pearl Harbor.