Stepnaya Burya

DATE: 04/01/2026

TIME (GMT): 19:00

ERA: World War 2

MAP(S): Lubyanka

TYPE: COOP

TEAMSPEAK: ts1.biaarma.com

GAME: Arma 3

EVENT: Official

AUTHOR(S): Sclembi for Brothers in Arms

SLOTS: 79 / 84

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RATING: not rated yet! (0)

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The Battle of Khalkhin Gol was an armed conflict between Soviet-Mongolian troops and the Japanese Armed Forces that lasted from spring to autumn 1939 near the Khalkhin Gol River in Mongolia (approximately 900 km east of Ulaanbaatar) near the border between Manchukuo and the Mongolian People's Republic. The final battle took place at the end of August and ended in the complete defeat of the 23rd Infantry Division of Japan's 6th Independent Army. The armistice between the USSR and Japan was signed on September 15, 1939.

In 1939, after the change of the Japanese government in January, tensions on the border intensified. The slogan of expanding the Japanese empire “all the way to Lake Baikal” began to be promoted. Attacks by Japanese troops on Mongolian border guards became more frequent. At the same time, Japan accused Mongolia of deliberately violating the borders of Manchuria. On January 17, at the height of Nomonhan-Burd-Obo, 13 Japanese soldiers attacked a detachment of three MPR border guards, capturing the commander of the outpost and wounding one soldier. On January 29 and 30, Japanese and Bargut cavalrymen made new attempts to capture MPR border guard patrols. And in February and March, the Japanese and Barguts attacked MPR border guards about 30 times. Between May 22 and 28, significant forces were concentrated in the conflict zone. The Soviet-Mongolian troops had 668 bayonets, 260 sabers, 58 machine guns, 20 artillery pieces, and 39 armored vehicles. The Japanese forces under the command of Colonel Yamagata consisted of 1,680 bayonets, 900 sabers, 75 machine guns, 18 guns, 6-8 armored vehicles, and one tank.

Although there were no clashes on the ground in June, an air war had been raging in the skies since May 22. The first clashes showed the superiority of Japanese aviators. Thus, in two days of fighting, the Soviet fighter regiment lost 15 fighters, while the Japanese side lost only one aircraft (the superiority of the latest Japanese Ki-27 fighters, which Soviet pilots initially mistook for outdated models, came as a complete surprise). The Soviet command took radical measures. On May 29, a group of 42 ace pilots led by Deputy Chief of the Red Army Air Force Y. V. Smushkevich flew from Moscow to the combat zone. Seventeen of the pilots were Heroes of the Soviet Union, and many had combat experience from wars in Spain and China. They began training pilots and reorganized and strengthened the air surveillance, warning, and communications systems.

In early June, Feklenko was recalled to Moscow, and G. K. Zhukov was appointed to replace him at the suggestion of the head of the General Staff's Operations Department, M. V. Zakharov. The corps chief of staff became M. A. Bogdanov, who had arrived with Zhukov. Shortly after arriving in the war zone in June, the chief of staff of the Soviet command proposed a new plan of action: to conduct active defense on the bridgehead behind Khalkhin Gol and prepare a strong counterattack against the opposing group of the Japanese Kwantung Army. The People's Commissariat of Defense and the General Staff of the Red Army agreed with Bogdanov's proposals. The necessary forces began to converge on the combat zone: troops were transported along the Trans-Siberian Railway to Ulan-Ude, and then, through Mongolia, they marched 1,300-1,400 km.

Throughout June, the Soviet side was busy setting up defenses on the eastern shore of Khalkhin Gol and planning a decisive counteroffensive. To ensure air superiority, new Soviet modernized I-16 and Chaika fighters were transferred here, which were the first in the world to use air-to-air unguided missiles, later used to create multiple launch rocket systems. As a result of the battle on June 22, which became widely known in Japan (in this battle, the famous Japanese ace pilot Takeo Fukuda, who became famous during the war in China, was shot down and taken prisoner; according to other sources, this happened on July 29; according to a third version, ace pilot Takeo is a myth), the Soviet Air Force secured superiority over the Japanese Air Force and gained air supremacy. In air battles from June 22 to 28, the Japanese air force lost between 13 and 90 aircraft; losses on the Soviet side were much lower, ranging from 38 to 49 aircraft.

By the end of June, the Kwantung Army headquarters had developed a plan for a new border operation called “The Second Phase of the Nomonhan Incident.” In general terms, it was identical to the May operation by Japanese troops, but this time, in addition to the task of encircling and destroying Soviet troops on the eastern bank of the Khalkhin Gol River, Japanese troops were tasked with forcing the Khalkhin Gol River and breaking through the Red Army's defenses on the operational section of the front. The implementation of this plan resulted in the Battle of Bain Tsagan.

On July 2, the Japanese pincer group on the eastern bank launched an offensive. On the night of July 2-3, Major General Kobayashi's strike force crossed the Khalkhin Gol River and, after a fierce battle, captured Mount Bain-Tsagan on its western bank, located 40 kilometers from the Manchurian border. Immediately after that, the Japanese concentrated their main forces there and began to rapidly build fortifications and erect echeloned defenses. The plan was to use Mount Bain-Tsagan, which dominated the area, to strike at the rear of the Soviet troops defending the eastern bank of the Khalkhin Gol River, cut them off, and then destroy them.

Throughout the mission BT tank company will engage into a daring raid to destroy the Japanese operational rear, while the infantry will resist the incoming Japanese attacks against Soviet positions. Later on the elements will regroup and push through the Japanese lines.