8.8. 1945 Soviet Union declared war on Japan

In Europe the war ended with the surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945, on the Asian continent on 2 September 1945 with the surrender of Japan. The Soviet Union took control of all the territories that had belonged to Tsarist Russia before 1904, with relatively few losses.

The Red Army entered the last year of the war - 1945 - with an arsenal of 35,000 tanks and self-propelled guns, of which only 8,300 were used by the frontline troops. Heavy losses of 8,700 tanks and 5,000 self-propelled guns, however, necessitated reinforcements of virtually the same amount.

At the beginning of 1945, the RKKA tank forces were organized into six such armies, 24 tank and 13 mechanized corps, into two divisions tank and motorized, 67 separate tank and five mechanized brigades, 63 tank regiments and only five battalions, seven brigades and 136 regiments of self-propelled guns.

At the time of the end of the war in Europe in May, 5,787 tanks and 3,527 cars were registered, while nearly 20,000 more tanks and 7,000 self-propelled guns lingered in reserve. "One more operation awaited the RKKA tank force after the end of World War II, when the Soviet Union on 8. On August 8, 1945, the RKK declared war on Japan and more than 5,000 Soviet tanks and self-propelled guns"The Soviet Tank Empire," writes Vladimir Frantsev in his book Soviet Tank Empire.

The so-called Manchurian Offensive between August 9 and August 2. September 1945, thanks to clear Soviet numerical superiority and weak Japanese anti-tank defenses, resulted in the irreparable loss of only 78 armored men. Several hundred more pre-war T-26 and BT light tanks went into battle, remaining in the Zabaikalsky and Far Eastern Military District throughout the war.

The Soviet-Japanese War finally ended on 2 September with the unconditional surrender of Japan. The Soviet Union took control of all the territories that had belonged to Tsarist Russia before 1904, with relatively few losses. By controlling Manchuria and the north of the Korean peninsula, it also fundamentally changed the political geography of the area. In fact, it helped the Chinese Communists win the civil war.

"In Europe, the war ended with the surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945. On the Asian continent, it did not end until 2 September 1945 with the surrender of Japan. There were about 2.5 billion people in the world. The war caused enormous losses. Fifty million people died on the Allied side, including over fourteen million soldiers, and six million Jews were tortured by the Nazis in concentration camps. The alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan, which was called the Axis, and their allied countries lost over twelve million people, including eight million soldiers," Karel Pacner recalls in his book Fateful Moments of the 20th century.

Sources:
Vladimir Frantsev, Soviet Tank Empire
Karel Pacner, Fateful Moments of XX. Century
www.wikipedia.org
www.histclo.com