Japan's ally in the Far East. Period of Japanese intervention

On April 5, 1918, Japanese troops landed in Vladivostok. Japanese intervention covered the Primorsky, Amur, Trans-Baikal regions and Northern Sakhalin. The intervention lasted from 1918 to 1925 and caused serious damage to the country's economy.

Treacherous Takeover

As you know, at that time Russia was weakened due to civil war. Taking advantage of this, Japan launched a military intervention, violating international law, as well as the peace treaty between Russia and Japan of 1905 (Portsmouth Treaty).

More than 70 thousand Japanese soldiers and officers participated in the intervention of 1918-1925 - this is several times greater than the number of troops of other participants in the intervention (England, USA, France, Italy and Canada).

During the Japanese intervention, there were constant provocations, murders of Soviet citizens, and a regime of colonial administration was introduced in the occupied territories.

Japanese troops in Vladivostok

Start of the invasion

The reason for the invasion of Russia was the murder of two Japanese employees of a commercial company on April 4, 1918.

The secret telegram of the Commissar of the Provisional Government for the Far East, sent to Petrograd on October 16, 1917, testified that the murder was committed with a clearly provocative purpose. The telegram said: “Rumors are circulating here that Japan intends to send a military detachment to Vladivostok, for which it is preparing to provoke a terrorist action. These rumors are confirmed by information from quite authoritative sources.

On April 5, without waiting for the investigation of the case, the Japanese landed troops in Vladivostok under the pretext of protecting Japanese citizens. After the Japanese, the British also came to the city.

Simultaneously with the landing of Japanese and British troops in Vladivostok, Ataman Semyonov, the bitterest opponent of Soviet power, resumed his activities. As early as the end of March 1918, he announced the mobilization of Cossacks in the villages along the Argun and Onon rivers bordering Manchuria, sent out recruiters and attracted the prosperous part of the Cossacks in the border regions. He managed to form three new regiments with a total strength of 900 sabers.

The Japanese gave Semenov serious support, providing him with several hundred of their soldiers, 15 heavy guns with servants and a few staff officers. By April 1918, Semenov had a total of up to 3 thousand people and 15 guns.

Grigory Semyonov (sitting on the left), Major General William Sidney Graves

Lenin's telegram

On April 7, the leader of the Soviet state, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, sent a telegram to the Vladivostok Soviet, in which he gave a correct forecast further developments on the Far East:

“We consider the situation very serious and warn comrades in the most categorical manner. Have no illusions: the Japanese will probably advance. It's unavoidable. They will probably be helped by all allies without exception. Therefore, we must begin to prepare without the slightest delay and prepare seriously, prepare with all our might. Most of all attention should be paid to the correct withdrawal, retreat, removal of supplies and railroad. materials. Don't set unrealistic goals. Prepare undermining and explosion of rails, withdrawal of wagons and locomotives, prepare minefields near Irkutsk or in Transbaikalia. Notify us twice a week exactly how many locomotives and wagons have been removed, and how many are left. Without this, we do not believe and will not believe anything. We don’t have banknotes now, but from the second half of April there will be a lot, but we will condition our help on your practical success in removing wagons and steam locomotives from Vladivostok, in preparing to blow up bridges, and so on.

Japanese propaganda lithograph

The overthrow of the Soviet government

June 29, 1918 with the help of the rebellious Czechoslovak Corps (Czechoslovak Corps was formed as part of Russian army mainly from captive Czechs and Slovaks who expressed a desire to participate in the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary), the Soviet government was overthrown in Vladivostok.

On July 2, 1918, the Supreme Military Council of the Entente decided to expand the scope of intervention in Siberia. By October 1918, the number of Japanese troops in Russia reached 72 thousand people, while the Americans were about 10 thousand people, and the troops of other countries - about 28 thousand people. These military forces occupied Primorye, Amur and Transbaikalia.

The Japanese were going to tear away the Far Eastern territories from Russia, in connection with this they decided to create a buffer state there under the protectorate of Japan. In 1919, the Japanese began negotiations with Ataman Semyonov, they offered him to head such a state. At the same time, the Japanese began to buy land plots, factories, etc. from Russian owners. Japanese businesses have taken over the best fishing grounds on the Pacific coast.

Czechoslovak Corps in Vladivostok

Expelling the invaders

Soviet citizens resisted the Japanese, only in the Amur region in the spring of 1919 there were 20 partisan detachments, they consisted of about 25 thousand fighters.

In late 1919 - early 1920, the forces of Admiral Kolchak were defeated. In this regard, the United States, and then other countries began to withdraw troops from the Far East. This process was completed by April 1920.

At the same time, the number of Japanese troops there continued to increase. Japan occupied Northern Sakhalin and declared that its troops would remain there until the formation of a "generally recognized government in Russia."

To prevent a direct military clash with Japan, in 1920 the Soviet government proposed the creation of a separate buffer state. Japan agreed, hoping to eventually turn this state into its own protectorate. On April 6, 1920, the Far Eastern Republic (FER) was proclaimed, it included Western Transbaikalia and some other territories.

In May 1920, the Japanese began negotiations with the FER. The FER delegation demanded the evacuation of the Japanese from the territory of the RFE, the refusal of the Japanese to support Ataman Semyonov, and a truce on all fronts, including partisan ones.

However, the Japanese refused to evacuate troops, citing the threat to Korea and Manchuria, and demanded that Semyonov be recognized as an equal party in the negotiations. At the beginning of June 1920, negotiations broke down.

Soviet troops continued to smash the white troops, and on July 3 the Japanese command was forced to begin evacuating its troops from Transbaikalia. By October 15, Japanese troops left the territory of Transbaikalia.

On January 20, 1925, the Soviet-Japanese Convention on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations was signed in Beijing. Japan pledged to withdraw troops from Northern Sakhalin by May 15, 1925. With this, the attempt to occupy the Far East was completed.

On August 23 (September 5, New Style), 1905, a peace treaty was signed in Portsmouth (USA). Russia recognized Korea as a sphere of influence of Japan, conceded to it southern part Sakhalin, the rights to the Liaondong Peninsula with Port Arthur and the Far East, the South Manchurian Railway. Thus ended. But the confrontation didn't end there.

Japan was simply waiting for a favorable moment to wrest the Far East from Russia. Although for a short time in Russian-Japanese relations, there seemed to be some "thaw": during the First World War of 1914-1918. Russia and Japan became formal allies. However, Japan entered the war on the side of the Entente with the sole purpose of profiting from the German sphere of influence in China and the colonies on the islands. Pacific Ocean.

After their capture in the fall of 1914, during which the Japanese lost 2,000 people, Japan's active participation in the world war ended. To appeals from the Western allies with a request to send a Japanese expeditionary force to Europe, the Japanese government replied that "its climate is not suitable for Japanese soldiers."

On July 3, 1916, Russia concluded a secret agreement with Japan on the division of spheres of influence in China, where there was a clause declaring a military alliance between the two countries: “If a third power declares war on one of the contracting parties, the other side, at the first request of its an ally must come to the rescue." At the same time, the Japanese hinted that they were ready to go for more if Northern Sakhalin was ceded to them, but the Russian government refused to even discuss such an option.

As for the mood in Russian army, then there the attitude towards the new “ally” was quite definite: the events of the Russo-Japanese war were still fresh in memory, and everyone understood that Japan would have to fight in the not too distant future. This is how R.Ya. described the dispatch of the Russian Expeditionary Force to France through the port of Daolian. Malinovsky: “Russian troops lined up on the pier. There are two orchestras here - ours and the Japanese one. First they sang the Japanese anthem, and then "God Save the Tsar." On the high deck dress uniform the commander of the 1st Special Regiment, Colonel Nichvolodov, appeared. Around him is a group of Japanese and generals. Everywhere epaulettes sparkled with gold and orders shone. - Brothers! Russian soldiers, heroes of the Russian land! Colonel Nichvolodov began his speech. - You should know that the city of Dalniy was built by Russian people, they brought here, to the Asian shores, the Russian spirit, Russian temper, humanity and culture, which, by the way, cannot be said about the newly-minted "natives" of this land. ... The Japanese generals, obviously, did not understand the meaning of the words of the Russian colonel and grinned patronizingly.

And he continued: - We are now leaving these shores. We have a long way ahead of us, but we will never forget that here every stone was laid by the hands of the Russian people, and sooner or later the invaders will get out of here. Long live our victory! Hooray, brothers! A loud "Hurrah" boomed, rolling over the crowd of Russian soldiers huddled on the pier, on the decks and stern of the ship. Everyone shouted “Hurrah” with all their might, thus approving the short speech of the Russian colonel. Orchestras performed "God Save the Tsar". Gentlemen, the generals and Japanese officers stretched out to attention and held it under the visor, and the Japanese soldiers froze at the command "Attention" and kept "on guard". Many of the Japanese, not understanding what was happening, shouted “banzai” on command, repeating this cry three times ... One could imagine the anger of the Japanese generals and when they received the translation of the speech of the Russian colonel.

The temporary and "unnatural" nature of the union between Russia and Japan was obvious to the Russian public consciousness, especially since the Japanese did not hide their territorial claims and were preparing to realize them at the first opportunity. A favorable moment for Japanese expansionist plans with respect to Russia came in connection with the coup d'état in Petrograd in October 1917. An agreement was immediately concluded between the United States and Japan "on the problems" of the Far Eastern possessions of the former Russian Empire. The Land of the Rising Sun enthusiastically accepted the idea of ​​the United States and the Entente to dismember Russia and create puppet regimes on its outskirts to use them as semi-colonies.

Japanese newspapers wrote with cynical frankness that "the independence of Siberia would be of particular interest to Japan" and outlined the boundaries of the future puppet state - to the east of Lake Baikal with its capital in Blagoveshchensk or Khabarovsk36. The pretext for the landing of Japanese troops from warships that arrived in Vladivostok back in January 1918 was an incident when, on the night of April 5, 1918, "unknown intruders" made an armed attack with the aim of robbing the Vladivostok branch of the Japanese trading office "Isido", during which two Japanese citizens were killed. Immediately, the Entente squadron moved from the outer roadstead of Vladivostok to the berths of its inner harbor - the Golden Horn Bay. On April 5, under the cover of naval guns aimed at city blocks, two companies of Japanese infantry and half a company of British marines landed, which occupied important objects in the port and city. On April 6, a detachment of 250 Japanese sailors landed, capturing Russky Island with coastal fortifications, artillery batteries, military depots and barracks. Admiral Hiroharu Kato addressed the population with an appeal in which he informed that Japan was taking upon itself "the protection of public order in order to ensure the personal safety of foreign citizens", primarily subjects of the Japanese emperor.

Six months later, Japanese subjects in the Russian Far East were already "protected" by more than 70 thousand Japanese soldiers and. During the Civil War and intervention in 1918-1922. the Japanese occupied the Amur region, Primorye, Transbaikalia and Northern Sakhalin, occupied Vladivostok. More than half of the troops available to Japan at that time, that is, 11 divisions out of 21, were concentrated in these areas. The number of Japanese interventionists far outnumbered the forces of the Western powers that landed in the Far East. From August 1918 to October 1919 alone, Japan brought 120 thousand people into the territory of the Far Eastern Territory, while total strength interventions in this region at the beginning of 1919 amounted to 150 thousand. This was explained by the determination of the Japanese government "to make any sacrifice, just not to be late for the division of the territory of Russia, which will occur after the intervention of the United States, England and France" 40 . It was the Japanese who became the striking force of the interventionists in the Far East. And if the Anglo-American and other forces of the Entente, together with Japan, participated in the intervention from 1918 to March 1920, after which they were withdrawn from Soviet territories, then Japan itself maintained its presence there for the longest time - until the autumn of 1922.

Thus, the period from April 1920 to October 1922 was a completely independent Japanese stage of intervention41. As I.V. Stalin later recalled this fact, “Japan, taking advantage of the then hostile attitude towards the Soviet country of England, France, the United States of America and relying on them, again attacked our country ... and for four years tormented our people, robbed the Soviet Far East" 42 . The Japanese supported the White movement in the Far East and Siberia, while trying to maintain a favorable balance of power for them: they actively helped the ataman of Zabaikalsky Cossack army G.M. Semenov and even provoked his conflict with Admiral A.V. Kolchak, believing that the activities of the latter as the Supreme Ruler of Russia could damage the Far Eastern interests of the Land of the Rising Sun.

In this regard, Kolchak's own opinion about the interventionists is interesting. On October 14, 1919, General Boldyrev wrote in his diary about a meeting with the admiral: “Among the many visitors was Admiral Kolchak, who had just arrived from the Far East, which, by the way, he considers lost, if not forever, then at least very for a long time. According to the admiral, there are two coalitions in the Far East: the Anglo-French - benevolent and the Japanese-American - hostile, moreover, America's claims are very large, and Japan does not disdain anything. In a word, the economic conquest of the Far East is proceeding at full speed. During their reign in the Far East, the Japanese took out a lot of furs, wood, fish, valuables captured in the warehouses of the port of Vladivostok and other cities. They also profited from the gold reserves of Russia, captured in Kazan by the rebellious Czechoslovak Corps, and then found themselves at the disposal of the Kolchak government, which paid them off with the Entente countries for the supply of weapons and equipment. Thus, Japan accounted for 2672 poods of gold.

The presence of the Japanese Expeditionary Force fueled the intensity of the Civil War and the rise partisan movement in the Far East. The unceremonious and impudent behavior of the invaders aroused the hatred and bitterness of the local population. Red partisans of the Amur region and Primorye ambushed and attacked enemy garrisons. Thrust resistance local residents The interventionists led to cruel punitive actions by the Japanese troops, who tried to assert their dominance in the occupied territory by such measures: the burning of entire villages for "disobedience" and demonstrative mass executions of the recalcitrant in order to intimidate the local population became widespread practice. For example, in January 1919, Japanese soldiers burned the village of Sokhatino to the ground, and in February the village of Ivanovka.

Here is how Yamauchi, a reporter for the Japanese newspaper Urajio Nippo, described this action: “The village of Ivanovka was surrounded. 60-70 households, of which it consisted, were completely burned, and its inhabitants, including women and children (a total of 300 people), were captured. Some tried to hide in their homes. And then these houses were set on fire along with the people who were in them. The fact that the Japanese acted with particular cruelty was noted even by their American allies. So, in the report of one American officer, the execution of the arrested local residents, captured by the Japanese detachment on July 27, 1919, at the Sviagino railway station, guarded by the Americans, is described: “Five Russians were brought to the graves dug in the vicinity of the railway station; they were blindfolded and ordered to kneel at the edge of the grave with their hands tied back. Two Japanese officers, taking off their outer clothing and drawing sabers, began to cut the victims, directing blows from behind the neck, and while each of the victims fell into the grave, from three to five Japanese soldiers finished it off with bayonets, emitting cries of joy.

Two were immediately beheaded by sabers; the rest were apparently alive, as the earth thrown over them moved. In February-March 1920, all interventionist troops, except for the Japanese, left Vladivostok, transferring "representation and protection of the interests of the allies" in the Russian Far East and Transbaikalia to the Land of the Rising Sun. At the same time, Japan formally declared its "neutrality". However, in early April, the Japanese began punitive actions against the population of Vladivostok and other cities, attacked the revolutionary troops and organizations of Primorye. The so-called Nikolaev incident in March 1920 was used as a pretext, during which in the city of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur partisans under the command of the anarchist Ya.I. and civilians46. Taking advantage of this, on March 31, 1920, the Japanese government refused to evacuate its troops, which on April 4–5 suddenly violated40 the armistice agreement and embarked on an “action of retaliation”, as a result of which, in a few days, they destroyed in Vladivostok, Spassk, Nikolsk Ussuriysky and the surrounding villages of about 7 thousand people.

Photographs of the Japanese invaders have been preserved, “posing with smiles next to the severed heads and tortured bodies of the Russian people” 48 . In continuation of the "action" and under the pretext of protecting employees of the Japanese oil company Hokushinkai, Japanese troops occupied Northern Sakhalin in June 1920. On July 3, a declaration was published in which Japan stated that its troops would not leave it as long as Russia did not recognize its full responsibility for the death of the Japanese in Nikolaevsk and did not make an official apology. By the way, later this episode - in the appropriate propaganda package - appeared as "irrefutable proof of the aggressiveness of the Russians" at many international conferences, influencing the formation both in Japan itself and in other countries of the image of the enemy - Soviet Russia. After the Red Army captured Irkutsk in early 1920, favorable conditions developed for the further advance of Soviet troops to the East.

However, Soviet Russia was not ready to wage war with Japan50. In this situation, on the instructions of V.I. Lenin, the offensive was suspended, and a buffer state was formed on the territory of the Far East - the Far Eastern Republic (FER), which had a regular People's Revolutionary Army51. Meanwhile, throughout 1920, the escalation of the Japanese in the region was growing: from Japanese islands more and more new armed forces arrived on the continent. However, after the successful offensive of the People's Revolutionary Army of the DRV and partisan detachments and their liberation of Chita in October 1920, the Japanese were forced to leave Transbaikalia and Khabarovsk. During their retreat, they hijacked, sank or rendered useless most of the ships of the Amur flotilla, destroyed the railway line from Khabarovsk to the base of the flotilla, looted its workshops, barracks, destroyed the water supply and heating system, etc., in total causing damage to 11.5 million gold rubles.

Leaving Transbaikalia, Japanese troops concentrated in Primorye. fighting continued for two more years. Finally, the military successes of the People's Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic and the partisans, on the one hand, and the deterioration of the internal and international position Japan, on the other hand, nevertheless forced the Japanese interventionists at the end of October 1922 to leave Vladivostok on the ships of their squadron, which marked the end of the Civil War in this region. But although October 25, 1922 is considered the official date for the liberation of Vladivostok and Primorye from the White Guards and interventionists, only seven months after the establishment of Soviet power in Vladivostok, on June 2, 1923, at 11 o’clock in the morning, the Golden Horn anchored and left last ship interventionists - the Japanese battleship Nissin.

But even after the withdrawal of troops, Japan did not abandon its aggressive plans: in 1923, the General Staff of the Japanese army developed a new war plan against the USSR, which provided for “to defeat the enemy in the Far East and occupy important areas east of Lake Baikal. Inflict the main blow on Northern Manchuria. Advance on the Primorsky region, Northern Sakhalin and the coast of the continent. Occupy Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky as well, depending on the situation.”

Senyavskaya E.S. Opponents of Russia in the wars of the 20th century: Evolution of the "back of the enemy" in the minds of the army and society. - M.: "Russian Political Encyclopedia" (ROSSPEN), 2006. 288 p., illus.

INTERVENTION OF JAPANESE IN SIBERIA AND THE FAR EAST 1918-1922

At the end of 1917, Japan turned to the Entente countries with a proposal to send Japanese troops to Siberia "to protect the interests of the powers." The British and French were ready to go for it, but the US government, which had a deep distrust of Japan and itself sought to lead the intervention, insisted on a joint invasion.

On January 12, 1918, the Japanese battleship Iwami appeared on the roadstead of Vladivostok. Two days later, the Japanese cruiser Asahi and the English cruiser Suffolk entered the Golden Horn Bay.

The Japanese consul in Vladivostok hastened to assure the local authorities that the warships had arrived to protect the Japanese subjects living there. The need for such protection was proved fairly quickly. On April 4, in Vladivostok, two Japanese were killed by unknown persons - employees of the local branch of one of the Japanese firms. The very next morning, Japanese troops landed in Vladivostok. Thus began an open military intervention in the Far East of Soviet Russia.

However, at the first stage, military operations were carried out by detachments of White Guards under the leadership of atamans Semenov, Kalmykov and Gamow, armed with money from Japan and the United States. The uprising of the Czechoslovak legionnaires, who captured a number of cities in Siberia and the Far East along the Trans-Siberian Railway, also played into the hands of the interventionists. On August 2, 1918, the Japanese government announced that it would send troops to Vladivostok to assist the Czechoslovak corps. On the same day, the Japanese landing captured Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, where there were no Czech legionnaires. Soon, American, British and French troops began to land in Vladivostok. The Joint Expeditionary Force of the interventionists was led by the Japanese General Otani.

By the beginning of October 1918, the number of Japanese troops in the Russian Far East had reached 70 thousand people. They took over railways, ships of the Amur flotilla, gradually expanding the zone of occupation.

Meanwhile, the situation in Japan itself was very alarming. In August 1918, "rice riots" broke out in the country. By this time, the contrast between the speculators who had profited during the years of the war and the poor of the city and village, who had lost the opportunity to make ends meet, had become especially striking. But government officials continued to rake out the remnants of grain from the peasant barns for the needs of the army. In addition, it took a considerable number of recruits to be sent to Russia. The anger of the masses has reached its limit.

In the ranks of the Japanese expeditionary corps, cases of disobedience of soldiers to officers became more frequent, there were soldier riots, there were cases of Japanese military personnel going over to the side of the Red Army and partisans. Anti-war propaganda among the troops was carried out by Japanese socialists and communists.

In February-May 1920, events took place in Nikolaevsk-on-Amur that were used to justify the intervention and its expansion. The city, occupied by Japanese troops, was besieged by a red partisan detachment. On February 28, as a result of negotiations, an agreement was concluded "On Peace and Friendship between the Japanese and Russians", according to which the partisans peacefully entered the city. However, on March 12, an armed conflict began. As a result, the Japanese were defeated, some of them were captured. A month later, a large Japanese contingent was sent to Nikolaevsk. Commander partisan detachment during the retreat, he ordered to shoot all the prisoners (including the Japanese), as well as all the inhabitants who refused to leave the city with him.

Japanese troops occupied Northern Sakhalin, justifying this by the need to "pay for the blood" of Japanese soldiers who died during the intervention.

A brutal civil war in European Russia tied the hands of the government in Moscow. Unable to openly oppose intervention in the Far East, it proposed in April 1920 to create a democratic Far Eastern Republic (FER) as a buffer state between the RSFSR and Japan. The FER united the entire Russian territory from Vladivostok to Baikal. The Japanese refused to recognize the government of the Far East and continued to provide assistance to Ataman Semyonov, who kept Chita under his control.

But the Japanese troops failed to hold out in Transbaikalia. Under the blows of the People's Revolutionary Army, they were forced to retreat to Khabarovsk. In August 1920, the Japanese government sent an order to the headquarters of its expeditionary force in Siberia, which stated: “The general situation in Europe, victories Soviet armies on the Polish front, increasing danger from the Soviet government, perceived antipathy from the United States and China<…>force us to abandon for some time the occupation plans in Siberia, remaining, however, in those places where our troops are located.

The occupied zone of the Far East continued to shrink steadily. In October 1920, the Japanese left Khabarovsk. Together with the White Guards, they organized armed coups in a number of cities in Primorye, trying to wrest power from the hands of the government of the Far East. In Vladivostok, the pro-Japanese government of the Merkulov brothers was formed. At the same time, attempts were made with the help of the White Guard formations of Ataman Semenov, General Sychev, Baron Ungern to return to the Amur Region and Transbaikalia again. These plans could not be realized, and Japan was forced to enter into peace negotiations with the government of the Far East. In August 1921, in Dairen, the Japanese presented a draft treaty to representatives of the FER, which in its nature resembled the ultimatum “21 demands” to China in 1915. Among other clauses in the treaty were demands to grant Japanese subjects the right to own land, develop mining and forestry and complete freedom trade, as well as the freedom of navigation of Japanese ships on the Amur and in coastal waters, turn Vladivostok into a "free port" under foreign control. Finally, Japan demanded, as compensation for the losses incurred during the intervention, to lease the northern part of Sakhalin Island for 80 years.

These demands were resolutely rebuffed by the government of the Far Eastern Republic, and in April 1922 the Dairen Conference, which had dragged on for nine months, was interrupted. The Japanese, with the help of the White Guards, again occupied Khabarovsk. The People's Revolutionary Army, together with the partisans, went on the offensive. After a decisive battle on February 12 near Volochaevka, the Whites retreated south under the protection of Japanese bayonets. The government of the Merkulov brothers resigned. The "ruler" was the former Kolchak general Diterikhs. But this could no longer change the course of events. On August 15, 1922, the Japanese military command announced the forthcoming evacuation from Primorye.

In September 1922, a new peace conference opened in Changchun, China, to regulate relations between the FER and Japan. The Japanese again offered the Russians a slightly modernized, but absolutely unacceptable version of the Dairen project, refusing at the same time to document the timing of the withdrawal of their troops from Northern Sakhalin. After three weeks of fruitless debate, the conference ended without results.

In October, the People's Revolutionary Army of the Far East Republic resumed its offensive against the White Guards, defeated the detachments of Diterichs, and, having stormed the fortifications of Spassk, approached Vladivostok. It was impossible to wait further, and the Japanese command announced the withdrawal of its troops from Primorye on October 25, 1922. On this day, the partisans occupied Vladivostok, and already on November 15, 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee announced the FER integral part RSFSR. The intervention ended in complete failure. But the Japanese remained in Northern Sakhalin, from where they left only in 1925, after the establishment of diplomatic relations with the USSR.

In the intervention of the Russian Far East, Transbaikalia and Siberia in 1918-1922. on the sly, while the new Soviet government was not up to the Far Eastern outskirts Russian Empire, a group of foreign states participated: Japan, the USA, Great Britain, France, Italy, the rebellious Czechoslovaks (who turned overnight from prisoners of war into invaders), Hungarians, Canadians and even the Chinese.

American troops in Vladivostok

From newspapers:
“In early July, while driving along Svetlanskaya Street in a cab, four drunken american soldiers, swaggering, insulted passers-by. Voytsekhovsky, Sanarsky and other persons passing by (i.e. deputy. - Approx. Aut.) of the city duma, outraged by their behavior, stopped the cab. Drunken soldiers approached Woitsekhovsky and shouted at him in Russian: “Why are you whistling, Russian pig? Don't you know that today is an American holiday?" One of the soldiers pointed a revolver at Woitsekhovsky, and the other began to strike him in the face with a revolver.

Parade commemorating the transfer of authority in the city from the Americans to the Czechoslovak units.


Review of Czechoslovak troops in Vladivostok.

The Far Eastern Review cited the following fact: “In Vladivostok, on Svetlanskaya Street, an American patrol, chuckling, looked at the beating of sailor Kupriyanov by Japanese soldiers. When indignant passers-by rushed to the rescue, an American patrol took him "under protection." Soon it became known that the American "benefactors" shot Kupriyanov allegedly for resisting the patrol.

Another American patrol attacked Ivan Bogdashevsky, “took away his money, stripped him naked, beat him and threw him into a pit. He died two days later." On May 1, 1919, two drunken American soldiers attacked S. Komarovsky with the aim of robbery, but he managed to escape from the robbers.

On Sedanka, a group of American soldiers brutally raped a 23-year-old citizen K. The facts of violence against women and girls by stallions in the form of the US Army were repeatedly recorded in other parts of Vladivostok and Primorye. Obviously, girls of easy virtue, who then, as now, were not few, the American warriors were already fed up. By the way, one of the “priestesses of love”, who “awarded” several American “cowboys” with a bad disease, was somehow found killed on Prudovaya Street (where the Komsomolets cinema now stands) “with five revolver bullets in her body.”

POWs of the Red Army guarded by US troops in Arkhangelsk, 1918.
Cavalry (American troops). The building on the right currently houses the House of the Book. Photographs by William Jones

American style restaurant in Vladivostok.

From Vechernyaya Gazeta, November 18, 1921. Five American sailors serving the radio station on Russky Island, which the invaders had seized as early as 1918, arrived at the dance evening at the Radkevich Hall, at the foot of the river. Having fairly taken "on the chest", they began to "behave defiantly." And when the performance began, “they sat in the second row, and put their feet on the backs of the chairs in the first row” (where Russian spectators sat). At the same time, the sailors said that they “spit on everything Russian, including Russian laws,” and then they began to rowdy.”

Everything is democratic, in a truly American spirit. The press writes, they spit on it.

Military transport "Warren".
The strategic reserves of the front are 27 thousand railway wheelsets.

Ships in the Golden Horn Bay. Source: dkphoto.livejournal.com

fighting the Bolsheviks

Captured Red Army soldiers before execution ... and after

In between the killings of Russians, the Americans watched movies. Yes, not just anywhere, but in the "Freedom Theater" specially built for this purpose.

The Americans caught the Bolsheviks in Arkhangelsk

General Ironside inspects the White Guards, Murmansk

Here it is closer this Ironside

General Maynard inspects the Amer. troops, Arkhangelsk

graves of invaders in Siberia

Russia was unlucky in the Far East. Fate sent her an extremely quarrelsome and aggressive neighbor on the Pacific coast - Japan, whose ruling circles over the course of a number of past decades have continually encroached on Russian national interests. Examples of this were the attack on Russia in January 1904, which led to Russo-Japanese War and exclusion from our country of South Sakhalin. To an even greater extent, the aggressive aspirations of the Japanese ruling circles manifested themselves during the years of Japan's large-scale armed invasion of Russia, which lasted from 1918 to 1925. The same predatory encroachments manifested themselves in repeated unceremonious violations of Soviet territorial waters Japanese warships and fishing fleets in the 1920s and 1930s. And what was the cost of the armed provocations of the Japanese military against our country in the area of ​​​​Lake Khasan and near the Khalkingol River, which ended ingloriously only because they met a decisive rebuff from the Soviet armed forces. The defeat of Japanese militarism in 1945 did not benefit some politicians either. After all, so far in political world Japan has many influential advocates of territorial claims against Russia, some of which will covet the four southern islands of the Kuril archipelago, others - the entire archipelago, and still others, and South Sakhalin.

In enumerating all these aggressive acts and thoughts of the ruling circles of Japan against our country, it should, however, be remembered that the same aggressiveness of Japan was also manifested in relation to other neighboring countries. In 1910, the Japanese annexed Korea, brutally suppressing the resistance of its people with armed force. In 1931-1945, the Japanese armies captured almost most of the Chinese territory.

In 1941, the Pacific possessions of the United States and England, as well as all the countries of Southeast Asia, became the object of Japanese attacks and seizures. Yes, even today, centers of territorial disputes between Japan and the Republic of Korea over the Tokdo (Takeshima) islands and with the PRC over the Senkaku Islands continue to smolder. Apparently, the greedy desire to profit at the expense of neighboring countries is so deeply rooted in the minds of some Japanese statesmen that even 50 years that have passed since the military defeat of militaristic Japan have not been able to completely get rid of such thoughts, which, of course, does not contribute to the strengthening of peace in the Pacific Ocean.

Among the aggressive actions of Japan undertaken in the past against our country, the least coverage, both in domestic and Japanese literature, has received in recent years the armed intervention of Japan in Siberia, Transbaikalia, the Amur region, Primorye and Northern Sakhalin, which continued in total over seven years. It is difficult to say why domestic historians and Japanese scholars do not pay due attention to this topic: most likely because of their misunderstood desire not to stir up the past in the name of improving current ties with Japan. After all, some of our historians and journalists even now think that by closing their eyes to the darkest pages in the history of relations between the two countries, they are doing some service to the cause of strengthening Russian-Japanese good neighborliness.

As for the coverage of Japanese intervention in Russia in the books of Japanese historians, with rare exceptions, the authors of these books are alien to objectivity, which is explained primarily by their concern for the “good reputation” of their country and the related desire to leave the public in the dark about those crimes that perpetrated by the Japanese military in the Russian territories it occupied. Only a very few Japanese scientists have shown scientific honesty in this matter and have found the courage to recognize the predatory, aggressive nature of the Japanese intervention in Russia and give in their writings a true description of everything that the Japanese army did during its Siberian time-limited “expedition” , undertaken with the noble goal of fulfilling a certain “allied duty” to the countries of Atlanta, as well as to protect Japanese citizens living in Vladivostok and some other cities, who in reality were not threatened at that time. It is noteworthy that the authors of Japanese school history textbooks, as a rule, prefer to remain silent about Japan's aggression against Soviet Russia, although this aggression lasted almost seven years. That is why today the overwhelming majority of Japanese citizens, and especially the people young age there is no true idea of ​​what tasks were set by the leaders of the "peacekeeping expedition" of Japan in Siberia and other regions of the Russian Far East and what the Japanese military was doing in those days on the territory of our country. Even the Japanese scientific community knows too little about this.

In reality, the armed intervention of Japan in the Russian Far East was nothing more than an undeclared war of conquest unleashed with the aim of seizing Primorye, Transbaikalia, the Amur Region and Eastern Siberia, with the aim of turning all these vast territories into a Japanese colony. Unfortunately, most historians and publicists do not want to admit this. But there are still supporters of truthful assessments of history in Japan. "AT recent times, especially among young scientists, - writes Osamu Takahashi - the author of the book "Diary of the Siberian Expedition", - there were people advocating changing the words "Siberian expedition" to "Siberian war". I also fully agree with this. However, the number of such scientists in Japan is still very small.”

Japan's war in Russia was started in accordance with the secret plan of the Japanese Ministry of War, developed as early as the beginning of 1918 by a specially created committee headed by the Minister of War, General Giichi Tanaka.

This war was of a wide scale: a total of 11 Japanese divisions took part in it, the contingent of which included more than 70 thousand officers and soldiers. During the intervention, the Japanese invaders committed an uncountable number of crimes on Russian territory. Few of our compatriots, let alone the Japanese, know how many hundreds, how many thousands of Russian people were shot by Japanese officers and soldiers who illegally invaded our land and committed cruel reprisals against the local population there. Examples of this are given in the works of Russian historians. Honest Japanese scientists also write about this. Thus, in the Japanese historical literature, the mass bloody massacre perpetrated by the interventionists in the Amur region in the villages of Mazhanovo and Sokhatino against the inhabitants of these villages, who did not want to continue to endure the atrocities of the Japanese military and rebelled against their oppressors, received detailed coverage. Arriving in these villages on January 11, 1919, the punitive detachment, on the orders of its commander, Captain Maeda, shot all the inhabitants of these villages, including women and children, and the villages themselves were burned to the ground. Subsequently, without any hesitation, this fact was recognized by the very command of the Japanese army. The “History of the Expedition in Siberia in 1917-1922,” compiled by the General Staff of the Japanese Army, wrote that “as a punishment, the houses of the inhabitants of these villages who maintained contact with the Bolsheviks were burned.”

And this was not an isolated case. In March 1919, the commander of the 12th brigade of the Japanese occupying army in the Amur region, Major General Shiro Yamada, issued an order to destroy all those villages and villages whose inhabitants were in contact with the partisans. In pursuance of this order, as confirmed by Japanese historians, in March 1919 the following villages and villages of the Amur region were subjected to “purge”: Krugloye, Razlivka, Chernovskaya, Krasny Yar, Pavlovka, Andreevka, Vasilievka, Ivanovka and Rozhdestvenskaya.

What the Japanese occupiers did in these villages and villages during the purge can be judged from the information below about the atrocities of Japanese punishers in the village of Ivanovka. This village, as reported in Japanese sources, was unexpectedly surrounded by Japanese punishers on March 22, 1919 for its inhabitants. First, the Japanese artillery brought down heavy fire on the village, as a result of which fires started in a number of houses. Then, Japanese soldiers burst into the streets, where women and children rushed about crying and screaming. At first, the punishers looked for men and shot them on the streets or stabbed them with bayonets. And then the survivors were locked in several barns and sheds and burned alive. Subsequent investigations showed that after this massacre, 216 villagers were identified and buried in the graves, but apart from this, a large number of corpses charred in the fire remained unidentified. A total of 130 houses were burned to the ground. Referring to the “History of the Expedition in Siberia in 1917-1922” published under the editorship of the General Staff of Japan, the Japanese researcher Teruyuki Hara wrote the following on the same occasion: “of all cases“ complete elimination villages” the largest in scale and most cruel was the burning of the village of Ivanovka. AT official history about this burning, it is written that it was the exact execution of the order of the brigade commander Yamada, which sounded like this: “I order the most consistent punishment of this village.” And about how this punishment looked in reality, it was said in a deliberately vague form: “After some time, fires broke out in all parts of the village.”

The brutal reprisals against the inhabitants of Ivanovka, as well as other villages, were, according to the plan of the Japanese interventionists, to sow fear among the population of the regions of Soviet Russia occupied by them and thus force the Russian people to stop all resistance to uninvited guests from the “Land of the Rising Sun”. In a statement published the next day in the local press, Major General Yamada bluntly wrote that all "enemies of Japan" from among the local population "will suffer the same fate as the inhabitants of Idanovka."

However, even in Japanese historical literature, there are many publications that recognize the failure of the punitive operations of the Japanese army in Siberia and Transbaikalia, which gave rise to massive anti-Japanese sentiments among the Russian population of these regions and even greater resistance to the arbitrariness of the interventionists.

As noted in the "History of the Civil War in the USSR" (Vol. 4, p. 6), the Japanese interventionists plundered a total of 5,775 peasant farms and burned 16,717 buildings to the ground.

By the way, the Japanese army itself also suffered significant losses in this criminal war. According to Japanese historians, more than 3,000 Japanese soldiers and officers died in battles with the defenders of our country's independence during the days of the Japanese intervention.

But that's not all. During the occupation Eastern Siberia and a number of regions of the Russian Far East, the Japanese invaders were engaged in shameless robbery of natural resources, as well as property belonging to the local population. On warships and civilian ships, a wide variety of material values that came across to the interventionists at hand, be private or state Russian property. So during the years of intervention from the continental regions of Russia to Japan, more than 650 thousand cubic meters of timber were exported, more than 2 thousand railway cars and more than 300 sea and river vessels were stolen to Manchuria. In those years, virtually the entire salmon catch and up to 75 percent of the herring catch were exported from Primorye and Sakhalin to Japan, which caused Russia huge losses in the amount of 4.5 million rubles in gold. And this is not a complete list of Russian wealth misappropriated by the Japanese occupiers during the years of intervention in Russia.

Criminal assistance to the Japanese occupiers was rendered in the plunder of Russian wealth by some of the White Guard generals and officers, who hoped with the help of Japan to keep certain territories in their hands. Some of them were guided by purely selfish aspirations, others - by deliberately erroneous political calculations. But all of them, as the course of events showed, wittingly or unwittingly caused serious damage to the national interests of Russia.

One of the largest attacks on the national property of our country was in the years Japanese occupation the theft by the interventionists, with the assistance of their White Guard accomplices, of a significant part of the state gold reserves of Russia - theft, the circumstances and traces of which have so far been hidden and hushed up by the Japanese side.