35044 KHALKHIN-GOL 1939

Formally, the Empire of Japan entered World War II with the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, but from 1937, Japan carried out large-scale military operations in China. At the end of 1941, the Japanese army consisted of 51 divisions, which, together with numerous separated units, had a strength of approximately 1.7 million people. More than half of these forces (27 divisions) were stationed in China. The basic type of armed force in the Japanese army was, of course, infantry. Interestingly, in 1938, Japanese infantry divisions underwent an organization, as a result of which most of them (but not all!) Consisted of 3 infantry regiments, and each regiment consisted of 3 infantry battalions. At the division level, the infantry regiments were also joined by staff subunits, an artillery regiment, a cavalry battalion, an engineer battalion as well as transport, communication and medical units. In total, the Japanese infantry division (the so-called B-type) had about 19,800 full-time employees. It is worth adding that it had relatively weak anti-tank and anti-aircraft armament, and its supporting artillery was usually 70 or 75 mm caliber. Artillery units with more than 100 mm caliber artillery were rare. It should also be said that Japanese infantry units were characterized by a very high morale, almost fanatic, with iron discipline, but also (especially after 1942) they were clearly inferior tactically or in firepower to their Allied opponents. It should also not be forgotten that Japanese infantry units have committed a great many war crimes, bearing the hallmarks of crimes against humanity, with the macabre Nanking Massacre at the turn of 1937 and 1938 at the forefront.In the 1920s and - especially - in the 1930s, the Red Army underwent a rapid development in terms of increasing its posts, as well as increasing saturation with technical weapons, primarily armored weapons. Still, the infantry was the primary and numerically largest element of the Red Army. The intensive quantitative development of this type of weapon began at the turn of 1929/1930. In 1939, even before the aggression against Poland, the Soviet infantry was formed into 173 divisions (so-called rifle divisions), most of which were grouped in 43 corps. It is worth adding that after the September campaign in 1939, this number increased even more. The Soviet rifle division in 1941 consisted of three rifle regiments (three battalions each), an artillery regiment, after an anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery division, as well as reconnaissance and communication battalions. In total, it numbered about 14,500 people. However, by 1945 this position underwent significant changes, leading to a division of approximately 11,500-12,000 people, consisting of three infantry regiments, an artillery brigade consisting of three regiments, a self-propelled artillery squadron and many support units, including anti-tank, anti-aircraft weapons or communications. The saturation of infantry units with machine weapons has also increased significantly - for example with the submachine guns APsZ 41, and later APsZ 43.