At the request of its Western Allies, on 9 August 1945 a force of over 1.5 million Red Army soldiers, supported by over 5500 tanks, and 27,000 artillery pieces, unleashed a massive offensive against the vaunted Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria. Employing extensive and imaginative maneuver to overcome terrain thought to be impenetrable, within two weeks, the attacking forces overcame formidable Japanese defenses along a front of more than 2700 miles spanning the most formidable terrain an army has ever faced, utterly demolished the Japanese defenders, and forced them to surrender. The Red Army's spectacular military victory in Manchuria has provided military theorists with an ideal model for the conduct of modern maneuver in war.
Volume I covers in detail the background, strategic regrouping, and strategic planning and conduct of the offensive.