In 1932, the Japanese occupied Manchuria, giving them a 3000 mile frontier with the Soviet Union. Between 1931 and 1939 there were many border clashes, the largest in May 1939 at Nomonham. The Japanese eventually engaged two divisions with supporting army units, totalling some 30,000 men. The Soviet counterattack, led by Marshall Zhukov, involved 77,000 troops including two rifle divisions and two tank brigades.
The title 'incident' implies a mere skirmish. However, the Japanese admitted to 17,000 casualties and the Soviets 16,000, as well as 196 tanks and 133 armoured cars. That's a battle at any time in history. Strategically, it encouraged the Japanese to look south for the next stage in their expansion and the Pacific War was the consequence.
For those interested in giving this a go, I have reviewed a couple of books and the Flames of War supplement 'Rising Sun' is excellent. It also covers the Finnish War.
A few photos from my tabletop clash. Waves of Russian tanks and infantry attack both sides of a small village. If it looks unbalanced, that's because the Japanese are all veteran, while the Russians are conscripts. The Russian steamroller won through on this occasion.
The models are from the Battlefront, Peter Pig and Plastic Soldier ranges. You will find a number of reviews of these figures in posts throughout last year.
A late addition was my xmas painting of these two very nice Battlefront Russian 122mm howitzers.
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