The occurred in late June 1937 on the

Amur River The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's List of longest rivers, tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China, Northeastern China (Inne ...

, at the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

–

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

border.

Background

Kanchazu (also spelled "Kanchatzu" ja, 乾岔子島) Island is an unoccupied island that is located in the center of the

. The island acted as the official border between Manchuko and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Events

On June 19, two Soviet motorboats crossed the center line of the river, unloaded 20 troops, and occupied Kanchazu Island. The next day, 17 Manchuko police and soldiers were sent to investigate the border intrusion. Soviet troops, numbering around 40 men, were now entrenched on Kanchazu Island and building fortifications. The Manchurian patrol was driven back by Soviet soldiers. On 29 June, a planned operation by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

's 1st Division headquarters was approved for a night attack on Kanchazu for the expulsion of Soviet troops from the island. The operation was ultimately delayed and rescheduled for the next day. On the morning of June 30, Japanese soldiers from the 49th Regiment of the 1st Division led by Colonel Mihara Kanae launched a prolonged attack against the Soviets. The attack began with the use of two horse-drawn 37 mm artillery pieces. The Japanese soldiers proceeded to set up hastily-improvised firing sites, and they loaded their guns with both high-explosive and armor-piercing shells. The shelling sank the lead gunboat, killed seven crew members, and crippled the second, and driving off the third. During the confrontation, the Soviets responded with minimal return gunfire, which result in no Japanese casualties. Soviet crewmen of the first sunken gunboat were left stranded and forced to swim to the northern side of the bank into Soviet territory. Many casualties were inflicted when Japanese troops opened fire on the swimming crewmen with a barrage of machine-gun fire. Around 37 Soviet troops were killed in the incident. The island was left abandoned and was later reclaimed by Japanese troops. Coox 1990
p. 107
/ref>

Aftermath

Shigemitsu Mamoru, the Japanese ambassador to the Soviet Union, met with Soviet Commissar of Foreign Affairs

Maxim Litvinov Maxim Maximovich Litvinov (; born Meir Henoch Wallach; 17 July 1876 – 31 December 1951) was a Russian revolutionary and prominent Soviet statesman and diplomat. A strong advocate of diplomatic agreements leading towards disarmament, Litvinov wa ...

on June 29 to discuss the turn of events. The Soviets insisted the Amur Islands belonged to them from an 1860 agreement and their placement on a Soviet map. During negotiations, the Soviets, however, agreed to pull back their forces from the Amur River to defuse the situation. Apparently, the Soviets were more concerned with events unfolding in Northern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

as well as internal strife. In the aftermath, seven Soviet gunboats appeared sometime in July, but the Japanese took no action. Eventually, as part of the agreement, the Soviets were allowed to salvage the sunken gunboat, which was accomplished between October 22 to 29 in the same year.

References

Sources

* {{cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SIAwKiNRmrAC&q=kanchatzu , title=Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939 , publisher=

Stanford University Press Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It was among the presses officially ...

, last1=Coox , first1=Alvin D. , year=1990 , isbn=0804718350 Battles involving Japan Battles involving the Soviet Union Conflicts in 1937 History of Manchuria 1937 in Japan 1937 in the Soviet Union Japan–Soviet Union relations Pacific theatre of World War II Battles involving Manchukuo June 1937 events Soviet–Japanese border conflicts