Soviet Amphibious Operations against Japan in August 1945: Korea, Sakhalin and the Kurils

By Charles Stephenson

Message from the Editor

By the Editor – A fascinating investigation of the amphibious operations of the Soviet Army against the Japanese in August 1945. The author provides important details demonstrating the virtue of operational learning and the imperative of cultivating amphibious capability for any maritime state. Readers will appreciate the fluid nature of the operations, some of which took place after the unconditional Japanese surrender.

A 50 minute read.

During the course of its Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany, Soviet forces carried out some 114 amphibious operations of one kind or another1Donald K Cliff, ‘Soviet Naval Infantry: A New Capability’ in Naval War College Review, Volume 23, No. 10, June p. 92. Hereafter cited as ‘Cliff.’ By definition, given the overwhelmingly terrestrial nature of that war, most of these were brown, rather than green, water operations (Soviet doctrine classified river crossings as ‘amphibious’) though there were exceptions relating to the Black Sea.2See, for example, the operations in November 1943 as det…

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