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Spineynorman67 t1_jbzemx9 wrote

Reply to comment by 33-88-99 in Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator

Japan was infinitely more scared of a communist Soviet invasion than a US invasion. They were fanatically anti-communist. The end of the war in Europe meant Stalin was able to send troops eastwards and their invasion was very immanent. Their declaration of war on the day of the atomic bomb was perfectly timed.

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Doctor_Impossible_ t1_jc44xw8 wrote

> and their invasion was very immanent.

The Soviets were completely unprepared to invade Japan. Preliminary battles showed the Japanese could fight the Soviets to a standstill, and Japanese resistance, always stiff, was expected to be extreme. The Soviets had a massive shortage of ships necessary for amphibious invasion, and their previous efforts had been shockingly bad in terms of communication (no ship to shore radio contact, for instance) and cohesion.

>They were fanatically anti-communist.

The Japanese were also rabidly anti-American.

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Spineynorman67 t1_jc6toke wrote

On 9th August the USSR invaded Manchuko with 1.6 million men, 5500 tanks & 5300 aircraft, killing tens of thousands of Japanese and capturing over 600,000 within days. The rapid collapse of their huge army there convinced many in Japan's government to declare unconditional surrender.

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