The concise encyclopedia of world war II 2 volumes (greenwood encyclopedias of modern world wars) ( PDFDrive ) 944

Norden Bombsight one of the few foreign intelligence services to correctly gauge the strength of the Red Army It noted the invulnerability of Soviet heavy tanks to Japanese anti-tank weapons and the ruthless aggressiveness of Soviet assault tactics and commanders The Japanese were also stunned at the appearance of Soviet flame-throwing tanks and found their artillery outranged by its Soviet counterpart All that changed the Japanese view of tanks as merely infantry support firepower But it took until 1943 for the Japanese Army to ready its first true armored division The Japanese were deeply impressed by the fighting prowess of the Red Army, once freed of political controls and commanded by able generals, as it would be after its catastrophic defeats of 1941 and 1942 Memory of the undeclared border war along the Khalka river in July–August 1939, was a critical factor in persuading Imperial General Headquarters to turn away from military confrontation with the Soviet Union Tokyo abjured the “hokushin” or “northern advance” to instead contemplate an oceanic war against the United States and Great Britain, the “nanshin” or “southern advance.” A formal policy shift was adopted by Tokyo on December 28, 1939, in favor of seeking a nonaggression pact with Moscow As only the Japanese could phrase such a strategic conclusion, the decision was made “to wait until the persimmon ripened and fell” before attacking the Soviet Union, which remained a long-term goal In the end, the Soviet persimmon never fell Instead, it was the Red Army that waited years to attack, then overwhelmed overripe Japanese forces in Manchuria during a brief but violent Manchurian offensive operation in August 1945 See also Choibalsan, Khorlogin; FALL WEISS; Hitler, Adolf; second front Suggested Reading: Alvin Coox, Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939 (1985) NONAGGRESSION TREATIES A number of nonaggression pacts were signed in this period A pact for 10 years between Germany and Poland was signed on January 26, 1934, as a means of eliminating a Polish threat to Germany while Adolf Hitler consolidated power It was renounced by Hitler on April 28, 1939 Denmark was the only Scandinavian country to sign a nonaggression pact with Hitler, in 1939 It was invaded anyway the next year The three most important nonaggression pacts of the period were the Pact of Steel (May 22, 1939), the Nazi–Soviet Pact (August 23, 1939), and a Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact signed on April 13, 1941 NONBELLIGERENCE A unique, quasi-legal status claimed by Benito Mussolini for Italy upon the outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939 It went beyond even “tilted neutrality,” in which Italy would not take up arms but clearly favored Nazi Germany rather than maintaining strict neutrality It was essentially a declaration of prebelligerence The model was followed by Spain and several other minor states within the German orbit However, Spain did not follow Italy into actual belligerence NORDEN BOMBSIGHT A USAAF prewar bombsight and aiming computer American bombardiers and planners believed in the Norden bombsight to the 791