On June 22, 1941, the outbreak of the Soviet-German war began, a battle that would determine the fate of the world. If the Soviet Union wins, Germany, as the main force of the Axis powers, will suffer a heavy blow and the fascist camp will face collapse, however, if Germany wins, they will annex the powerful Soviet Union, and the fascist forces will be unprecedentedly strong, and the Axis powers may lay the foundation for the victory of the fascist war.
In order to win this war, Germany repeatedly asked to join forces with Japan, and as long as Japan and Germany flanked the Soviet Union in the east and west, victory was within reach. However, the Japanese remained indifferent to this until 1945, when instead of attacking the Soviet Union, they turned to fight the American army, triggering the Pacific War, which hastened their path to downfall.
Why did Japan choose to stand by when Germany asked for a joint operation? Why did Japan choose to attack the United States instead of the Soviet Union? If Japan had accepted Germany's invitation at that time, how would the situation have developed?
In June 1941, Hitler launched the Barbarossa Plan, sending 5 million German troops from the European theater to attack the Soviet Union. The Germans, in the form of a blitzkrieg, defeated millions of Soviet troops in just a few months, and seeing that victory was in sight, Germany made a request to Japan for joint operations.
In Hitler's view, Japan's entry into the war was almost certain, because as early as 1905, the war broke out between Japan and Russia, and the Japanese army in the Baltic Sea wiped out 100,000 Russian troops, and the two countries have been at odds since then.
During the First World War, the October Revolution took place, Japan tried to intervene but was expelled, and the contradictions escalated further. Coupled with the Battle of Nomenkan in 1939, the Soviet Union inflicted huge losses on Japan, and Hitler therefore believed that Japan would never give up the opportunity to retaliate.
However, Japan categorically rejected this plan. Despite the controversy in Japan, the Kwantung Army finally received the "Outline of Imperial National Policy in the Changing Times" and was ordered to hold a "special large-scale exercise of the Kwantung Army".
The Japanese top brass has long decided not to participate in the Soviet-German war, and the so-called exercises are only superficial. Despite the 101 and 102 mobilizations, the 103 mobilization for the invasion was never issued, resulting in the Kwantung Army being stationed on the border of the Soviet Union, as if it had been sentenced to a "penalty station".
For not participating in the Soviet-German war, the Japanese side gave three reasons, the first of which was that it had suffered a backstab from Germany, which was revenge and a wise choice.
In 1936, Germany and Japan signed the German-Japanese Agreement to jointly fight against the Soviet Union. This agreement led to the outbreak of the Battle of Nomenkan between Japan and the Soviet Union in 1939.
However, when the two sides were tied and Japan was ready to increase its forces, the news of the signing of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the USSR became public. Since Germany had not communicated with Japan before this, Japan felt betrayed, and the Hiranuma Cabinet, which advocated a coalition with the United States to resist the Soviet Union, was therefore **.
Hideki Tojo was given the opportunity to form a cabinet with him at his core once again. After being betrayed by Germany, Japan prepared to make peace with the Soviet Union and signed the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, agreeing on mutual non-aggression.
No one could have foreseen that just two weeks after the treaty was signed, Germany would clean up the European theater of war, and then another conflict would break out with the Soviet Union, which would put Japan in an embarrassing position.
Therefore, it is possible that Japan, in order to retaliate against Germany, ignored Germany's request for joint operations and chose to stab in the back. In addition, the great strength of the Soviet Union was also the reason for Japan's reluctance to expend its strength on the Soviet-German battlefield.
In the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, Japan won a remarkable victory, so before the outbreak of the Battle of Nomenkan in 1939, the Japanese army did not have the slightest fear of the Soviet army, and even openly claimed: "One Japanese soldier is worth three Soviet soldiers".
The Soviet troops under the command of Zhukov taught a lesson to the proud Japanese Kwantung Army. The tank divisions of the Kwantung Army were as vulnerable as papier-mâché in the face of the Soviet mechanized corps.
In the first battle, the 23rd Division was completely annihilated, and more than 18,000 Japanese soldiers were killed. was forced to admit that "one Soviet soldier can fight one Japanese soldier". Despite the fact that the Japanese Kwantung Army was inferior to the USSR in army equipment, with the help of the terrain they were able to reach a draw with the USSR.
However, when they saw the strength of the Soviet army, they were even more reluctant to meddle in the Soviet-German battlefield. After all, even if the main forces of the Soviet army were confronting the German army, there were more than one million troops left to defend the Japanese army, which made the Japanese army very jealous and did not dare to easily throw themselves into the Kwantung Army.
When a third country enters the war, not only does it not get enough benefits, but domestic resources cannot support the war. In terms of scale, the USSR and third countries could not be compared.
Even the famous Battle of Suzhino Gate, with only a few thousand men on both sides, was a huge loss for the Japanese, as only 2 million of their soldiers died in the entire Second World War.
However, for the Soviet Union, a few thousand people** were insignificant, and the Soviet death toll in the entire Second World War was as high as 22 million to 27 million, of which the regular army died as high as 8.7 million.
Did Japan really have the strength to confront the USSR? Even if Japan does not enter the main battlefield, but only "fish in troubled waters" on the sidelines, what can it gain in the end?
Most of the rich land and valuable resources in the territory of the Soviet Union were occupied by Germany, and even if Japan entered the war and won the war, it would not be able to gain any substantial benefits, only a barren Siberian plain.
In view of this, Japan finally decided to leave the Kwantung Army on the Sino-Soviet border to wait and see how the situation changed, while it turned its attention to the Pacific theater, Southeast Asia, Britain and the United States.
In fact, as early as the 3rd day of the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, the American ** Roosevelt assured the USSR that "we will help in every possible way." A month later, the United States announced a total embargo on Japan, halting oil, ore and rubber between the United States and Japan, which dealt a devastating blow to Japan.
Japan is heavily dependent on imports of military raw materials, and the embargoes imposed by Britain and the United States pose a huge threat to it. As a result, Japan is trying to find new resources**, and the abundant oil and rubber resources of Southeast Asia become its target.
At the same time, Japan's navy is powerful and has the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, which makes it dare to challenge the United States and other major powers. At the end of 1941, Japan divided its forces into two routes, with 400,000 troops attacking Southeast Asia and the navy attacking Pearl Harbor in an attempt to occupy the U.S. military base.
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor sparked strong indignation in the United States, and the Pacific War broke out. In this war, the Japanese navy was shattered by the United States, which gave the Soviet Union a respite, and was able to draw troops on the border to fight the Germans, and finally defeated the German army, and the fascist alliance was declared a complete defeat.
There are many reasons for Japan's failure, but one of them cannot be overlooked. Although Japan was considered an industrial country at the time, it had only a preliminary industrial system compared to developed countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States.
In this environment of small territory and scarce resources, if Japan wants to win the Pacific War and vainly attempt to occupy world hegemony, it can only bring about its own destruction.
If Japan had chosen to join forces with Germany in World War II to attack the Soviet Union instead of attacking Pearl Harbor, the situation in the Pacific theater could have changed significantly. Allegedly, when the Soviet Union was fighting against the Japanese Kwantung Army, which was 700,000 strong, was practically unable to withstand the German attack and was almost captured by the Germans.
However, when the dispute between Japan and the United States escalated and it was unable to participate in the Soviet-German war, the Soviet Union was able to withdraw some troops from there and successfully defeated the German army. It can be seen from this that the non-participation of the Japanese army actually helped the USSR to a certain extent.
In other words, without Pearl Harbor, the United States might not have immediately entered the war, choosing instead to remain neutral. Stalin once pointed out that the United States contained 30% of the German forces on the battlefield, and the outcome of the Soviet-German war could not be determined without the participation of the United States.
Even if the USSR finally won, the end of WWII could be postponed, but the result would not change, because the war between the USSR and Germany was aggressive in nature and against the will of the peoples of the world.
This is amply evidenced by the fact that the United States had severed its ties with Japan before entering the war.
The Japanese army did not attack Britain and the United States because they wanted to abandon the Soviet Union, but because Britain and the United States and other countries imposed an embargo on it, which led to the cutting off of their oil.
In addition, China pinned down 50% of the Japanese army on frontal battlefields, preventing them from participating in the Soviet-German war.