 The national broadcasting company and its affiliated stations present The Pacific Story. This is the story of the Pacific and the millions of people who live around this greatest sea. The drama of the people whose destiny is at stake in the Pacific War. This is the background to the war in the Pacific and its meaning to us and to the generations to come. Tonight's Pacific Story, first broadcasts some months ago. This evening comes to you from Hollywood in Detroit as another public service with drama The Past and Present and commentary by Andrei Lubanov-Rostovsky, historian and authority on Russian affairs. The Red Banner Far Eastern Armies. This is it. We've seen Russia coming into the war out here in the Far East for a long time. It's the payoff of more than 2,300 border clashes between the Red Army and the Japanese. This Russian force I'm with driving into Manchuria knows how to fight the Japanese. They learned in those two undeclared wars in 1938 and 1939 and in the clashes before that and since. And what their generals learned in those wars, Zhukov, Boronov and the others, they used against the Nazis. Now, with this additional experience, they're back here with us using it against the Japanese. Today, Soviet Russia has more than a million well-trained, well-fed, battle-tested men in the Red Banner Far Eastern Armies. And that does not include the European Russian armies that are now being deployed out here. No, can't you. Now they're generals. You can expect to see Rakhosovsky and Tlbukhin, Konyov and Baklamyan out here anytime. But these are the troops that know the Japanese, Louis. These men of the Red Banner Armies. Behind these crack-far Eastern troops, Soviet Asia has all it's needed to wage a devastating war against the Japanese. We have heavy industry, vast premises, mines, steel mills and factories. They are on a night and day. We have air bases, training fields, cadets schools, airplates, tactical and scientific laboratories. We have shipyards, naval bases, submarines, torpedo boats, gun boats, destroyers. The Soviet Pacific fleet is stronger than ever before. We have a planned agriculture to produce food enough to supply all of Soviet Asia and a full army into the field without help from European Russia. And this Red Banner Army I'm with here in Manchuria is one of the most powerful in the world. All through the war in Europe, it had remained intact out here in the Far East. It was built from the ground up to do a job out here and that's what it's doing. Marshal Blucher laid the groundwork for it a quarter of a century ago. That is Vasily Blucher right there. I saw the mysterious Blucher in Vladivostok in 1920. He was one of the startist fighters in the revolution. He was a leader of partisans and they smashed the White Russians in the Urals. He's been sent out here to throw the Japanese out of Siberia? The Japanese have been here unlawfully for more than two years. I'd like to know how he's going to do it. So would we. I talked with Blucher many times. He was a brilliant soldier, a clever and cunning diplomat. Soviet Russia must have a strong military force here in the Far East. And soon we saw it taking form. Blucher is organizing the partisans, the guerrillas and the communist forces into a Far Eastern army. After almost three years of bitter fighting, the White forces were thrown out and the Japanese troops were forced to withdraw. For its own defense, Soviet Asia must become a fortress area. No one saw this more clearly than Blucher. Soviet Asia must first think in military terms. Blucher studied the terrain of Soviet Asia from the Urals to the Pacific. He came to know all its varying conditions and its problems. Blucher has one eye on Japan. It was during these days that I met the Russian reporter Mikhail Kantchev. Look for an independent Soviet force out here, Louis. A complete independent army? Not only one, probably several. And probably each will have its own air force. And in addition, there will be the Pacific fleet. As time went on, I saw the development of this unique military force. I traveled back and forth across Soviet Asia from the industrial centers of the Urals to the military establishments in the hinterland of the Pacific shore. And yet, all of this was just preliminary. I remember it was on August 7, 1929 that an official order came out crystallizing the whole thing. By order of the Revolutionary War Council of the USSR, the special far eastern army will be established in Soviet Asia. Do you know why this order was issued at this time, Louis? Could it be related to what's been happening in Manchuria? The Chinese Eastern Railway has been seized by the Japanese, and a railroad is a weapon of war. The special far eastern army had officially come into being. And it was obvious that this was only the beginning. By the time the Japanese took Manchuria in the fall and winter of 1931, the Russians had a well-organized army on the border. The face of Soviet Asia was changing. Russia had thought to develop its great wilderness with a minimum of manpower. But a great army, an independent army, well, an independent army implied industries to supply it, agriculture to feed it. It implied men to work the industries and farms, men to build the communications, the highways, the railroads. In 1931, Soviet Russia planned eight new industrial bases, and six of these were to be in Siberia. Kuznetsk and Daren at Magnitogorsk. We ship some of our coal to Magnitogorsk, and Magnitogorsk ships some of its iron to us. So we smell Daren at both places. We are putting to work the great water power of the Angara tributary to the Yenisei river for the generation of electric power. This power will supply a great part of the industries of the Lake Baikal district, and even those farther east. The military men were cagey about the organization of the army in Soviet Asia. Yes, Siberia has been divided into a number of military districts. No one knew exactly how many. I can tell you this much. There is a military council in each military district. It transpired that there were three members in each of these councils. One of them was a ranking military officer, so by the time the border incidents began to flare up, the Soviets were ready to deal with them wherever they were. Here, look through this field glasses, Louis. Gantsepp was covering the fighting along the Manchurian border, as I was. Can you see? The power of this artillery is tremendous. Not only the power, also the accuracy. Yes. They're pulverizing the tops of those rocky hills. Can you see how they are knocking off the peel boxes? Yes. Yes, they're smashing them to pieces. Oh, look. Look, that is Voronov. Nikolai Nikolayvich Voronov, a great artillery expert, had walked up to observe the effects of his bombardment. That's men, Louis, is one of the greatest artillery men of this day. I watch Voronov as he scans the hills with his field glasses. He's commander of the artillery of the radar. This was the man who was to become marshal of artillery. And he was to smash the Nazis at Stalingrad and at Kursk and at Gomel and so many other places. He stood there, a blind giant of a man. It was in the Far East against the Japanese that he tried out his theories of using artillery. While Japanese tactics can spend against his tanninating, Louis... Voronov proved his theories and reported back to Moscow. Not long after this, an official announcement was made. In recognition of its victories on the borders of Soviet Asia, the Far Eastern Army is awarded the title of Red Banner. Effective at once, the Red Banner Far Eastern Army will be divided into two armies, the first and the second. Even we who were in Soviet Asia had a little idea of the size and the disposition of the Far Eastern forces. But little by little, we learned. You see, the Red Banner First Army and the Red Banner Second Army together are called the Far Eastern Front. And Army General Joseph Apansenko is the overall commander. Apansenko in 1943 was to be killed before course. The headquarters of the Far Eastern Front are at Khabarovsk. Khabarovsk is on the Manchurian border about 200 miles from the Sea of Japan. But we were to learn that in addition to the two Red Banner Armies in the Far Eastern Front, there was another command, Father Inland. This one is called the Transbekhal Front. And its headquarters are at Chita. And the Transbekhal Front, like the Far Eastern Front, has its own air force. As the tension grew along the border, the development of the Soviet Far Eastern forces quickened. I talked to some of the young Russians who come out to Soviet Asia to join the Red Banner Armies. I will settle down here when my army service is over. You were a farmer before you joined the army, hm? Yes, the government has moved my family and my stock out here. I should think it would be very hard for you to make a new start out here. The government is already helping my family with credits and subsidies. And then you'll have a farm to go to when your service is over, hm? Yes, and those of us who are not farmers will settle here and work in the industry. Well, that'll go a long way towards settling this country. Of course, we will be in reserve in case we should be needed. And from time to time we will come back for more training. You see, the object in coming out here is to be ready. Soviet Russia knew what she faced. She had signed a non-aggression pact with China. She extended credit to China, sent ammunition, military advice, engineers. She helped China build railways for the transporters' supplies. Stalin made his position clear. We stand for the support of nations that are the victims of aggression and are fighting for the independence of their country. Japan replied with violence. Do you think, Kanchev, these hundreds of border clashes are related to Russia's help to China? Certainly. Besides knowing that Japan considers Russia a most important enemy in Asia, Stalin knows that the Japanese, by these border clashes, are trying to involve Russia in so much trouble that she will stop helping China. But this will not deter Russia. Rather, it will accelerate the building up of Soviet strength here in the Far East. Kanchev was right. Stalin indirectly issued a warning to Japan in his report to the Communist Party Congress in 1939. We stand for peaceful, close and friendly relations with all the neighboring countries which have common frontiers with the USSR. We shall adhere to this position as long as these countries maintain like relations with the Soviet Union and as long as they do not precipice on the frontiers of the Soviet state. To underscore this statement, Stalin sent Zhukov to the frontier between Manchuria and outer Mongolia. Outbreaks continued to flare along the Siberian border. Year before this, I'd seen the bloody fighting at Chiangku Feng, not far below Vladivostok. Now the very presence of Zhukov on the outer Mongolian frontier meant that the Russians were expecting more trouble with the Japanese. Zhukov was then Soviet Vice-Commissar of Defense. I headed for Nomanhan, 750 miles inland from the Sea of Japan. The enemy is massing large-darmoured units for the attack, sir. I know the Japanese 6th Army well. Reconnaissance reports the enemy is bringing up strong air support. Anything else? I marveled at his coolness. This is the way you always behaved. Kanchev and I looked on. Keep me informed. I'll be in my quarters. He walked out. The next few days I saw the Soviet armor. More tanks and armored cars than I'd ever seen at one time. The airplanes, it keeps out of fight. Ah, the Japanese are starting with their artillery. Yes. Here come the planes. Those are Soviet planes. I've never seen that type. Neither has anyone else. Good heavens, look at them pass up there. A couple of hundred. Way till Zhukov strikes through this tank. The Japanese swept in with full power. And Zhukov's tanks came out in swarms like great roaring monsters. Visit Nomanhan on the frontier between Manchurian and Ottoman Gaulia has already reached a pitch never before seen on the continent of Asia and perhaps never before seen on it. The Japanese have driven into Ottoman Gaulia, General Zhukov is now. Looks to me as if the Japanese 6th Army is driving right through Zhukov's line. Zhukov knows what he's doing, Mr. Lewis. Zhukov has surrounded the 6th Japanese Army and is now in the process of cutting it to pieces. Tanks and infantry and airplanes were used in this far eastern battle in a way in which more than 1,000 airplanes and 800 tanks took part in the battle and the Japanese force was destroyed. What do you figure the Japanese losses were, Mikhail? They have admitted losing 18,000 kills. So perhaps there were many more. 18,000. The Japanese will never forget Zhukov or the Red Banner armies. We were attacked by the Mongols of outer Mongolia. This was the Japanese excuse for the battle. Japanese excuse is ridiculous and absurd. This was the Russian reply. Japan had better realize that the USSR is now grown in strength and we will no longer tolerate such provocations. The battle at Neman Han took place in August 1939 while the attention of the world was focused on the impending war in Europe. Few people realized its importance, but the Russians did and while Zhukov's tanks roared and Voronov's cannon thundered behind the front, the new Soviet Asia hummed with industry. By this time, the Great Trans-Siberian Railroad was double tracked. New railroads and highways were built and over them were moving supplies by the millions of tons. Where is this train going? It is headed westwards, is it not? War correspondents flocked into Soviet Asia. Night and day, all I've seen since I've been here are trains running westward. Hitler has attacked Russia. But what about this stuff of European Russia sending everything out here to build up Siberia? That stage has passed. The Russian troops are going to fight the Nazis. Where do they come from? Night and day, the trains rumble. Trains bringing whole industries from European Russia and the same trains taking men in material of war too, European Russia. By fall, 1941, war correspondents were sending vivid reports to the outside world of what they'd seen in Soviet Asia. Russia has at least 40 superbly trained and superbly equipped infantry divisions in the vicinity of Cheetah, the trans-bicali areas on 1200 miles inland from the Sea of Japan. The Soviet also has concentrated in Soviet Asia a powerful armored force and perhaps some 3,500 war planes. The frontier between Siberia and Manchuria bristles with more than 4,000 Soviet blockhouses. While the Soviets faced the Nazi drive in the west, they faced the Japanese thrust in the east. They saw division after division of Siberian troops moving westward but saw no Red Banner troops moved. They are earmarked for the Japanese. The Red Banner army was poised for any possible Japanese move and across the border the Japanese moved up a mighty concentration of arms. We could see the Japanese across the border and they could see us. From this point, 5 forts are in sight. This was the written account of a captured Japanese. The barracks for the troops are about 400 meters from the river. They are half hidden in the snow. To the right there is one barracks for officers and to the left five for the men. A strong garrison is stationed here. Further to the left there is a military storehouse and still further a small house with a red roof and grey walls. Over this are two radio antennas and above the door is the emblem of the Soviet army. The frontier was overrun with spies from both sides. Russians knew that the Japanese had at least 700,000 troops on the border. We have more. Kanchev was usually right. The Japanese are waiting to see what happens before Moscow. We want the reports come in from the western front. The Nazi Panzer divisions are driving into the outskirts of Moscow but fighting them with a fury perhaps never before equaled are the troops of the Siberian Far East. If Moscow falls we can expect anything here. But the Nazis were smashed at Moscow. Zhukov and Voronov are there. And Zhukov and Voronov and the others who had tested their battle theories in the Far East were at Stalingrad. Forty Siberian divisions, rugged troops from Soviet Asia have played a dominant role in the fierce fighting in this sector. The tide has been turned at Stalingrad. During those desperate days at Stalingrad we sat tight in the Far East. We kept our eyes on the Japanese across the Manchurian border. After Stalingrad we breathed easier for a while but not for long. The Japanese know now that they should have attacked us here while we were in our greatest trouble on the European front. This was the opinion of the Soviets in the Far East. But now we can expect them to attack anytime. The Red Banner armies were still intact. Still facing the Japanese across the frontier. Still waiting. As the war in Europe went into its last desperate stages there was an increased activity on the Manchurian side of the border. Those are Japanese reconnaissance planes, Louis. Yes. But you see those back there behind us? Our Red Banner planes. We knew the Japanese installations by heart. They knew ours. Our tanks were deployed. Our rocket throwers, our armored units, flame throwers, our men. If they are going to strike they must strike before the Nazis are destroyed. The atmosphere was tense. As we watched the Japanese, we watched the reports from the European front. The Allied armies are closing in on Berlin in a mighty final drive. The Americans are driving it from the west and the Russians from the east. The Russian forces out in the Marshalls Yukoff are broken into Berlin and are now fighting in the streets and some of the fiercest fighting in the war. Nazi Germany has fallen. As soon as the war ended in Europe Russian troops began pouring across the 8,000 miles to the Far East. Have you seen Yukoff over and over any of the other generals, Lewis? Not yet, can't you? They'll be here. Russia has not forgotten about 1994-1995. Yes. With these troops, we have distinguished themselves against the Nazis. And the Red Banner army is here. Soviet Asia is stronger than at any time in history. The Red Banner armies and the European armies redeployed along the Manchurian border. Our strategic position is improving daily. We have forces to the east, to the west, and to the north of Manchuria. We waited and listened to the Japanese radio. Soviet Russia is wisely attending to the reconstruction of its domestic affairs rather than becoming involved in the war in the Pacific. We salute the unshakable friendship of the Soviet Union toward Japan. But it was too late. Now it was Soviet Russia's turn. The Red Banner Far Eastern armies born in the days of Russia's greatest trial a quarter of a century ago had gone into action against Russia's greatest enemy. The Red Banner Far Eastern armies today stand on the soil of Manchuria which for years the Japanese have illegally occupied. To tell the significance of this power in the Pacific, the national broadcasting company presents Andrei Lobanov Rostovsky, historian, authority on Russian affairs and professor of history. The next voice you hear will be that of Mr. Lobanov Rostovsky. We take you now to Detroit. Forty years ago, Russia defeated in the Russo-Japanese War signed at Portsmouth the most humiliating piece of a history, and Japan emerged as the great power of Eastern Asia. In that war, Russia did not score a single victory. Facing as she did a revolution at home and her armies hopelessly handicapped by the problem of bringing up supplies over the Trans-Siberian Railway then single-tracked and 5,400 miles long. Moreover, Russia faced the united opposition of the public opinion of the world in what was deemed to be her imperialistic drive into Manchuria. How different the situation today. Today, the Russian nation, flushed by its tremendous victories over the Germans, is standing solidly behind its leaders. The Red Army has shown itself the mightiest fighting force of Europe and Asia. It is more than adequately equipped and mechanized, and it has a system of industrial combines erected in Eastern Siberia in its immediate rear to draw its supplies from, thus making it independent from the centers of industries in European Russia. The Trans-Siberian Railway has been double-tracked. A new major trunk line parallels its several hundred miles to the north from Lake Baikal to the Pacific. And a network of branch lines, strategic highways, and air bases provide for its transportation needs. The way the transportation problem over the vast expanse of Russia, the greatest single handicap the Russians have always faced has been solved in their war against Germany, has been a source of amazement for military experts the world over. And the way the problem was solved of shifting Russia's military weight from the western front to the Pacific in the short span of spring and summer months will also be a cause for study in the future by historians. The brilliant staff work revealed by the Red Army and the leadership of the Far Eastern Army by such men as Merezkov, who won his fame in Ukraine, is to be further contrasted with the inefficient leadership of General Korot-Patkin in 1904. But perhaps most important of all, Russia is now allied to the two greatest powers of the western world in their common struggle for the establishment of a new era of peace in the world. That the Japanese fully realize what was awaiting them from the combined impact of the American, Russian, British, Chinese armies is obvious by the events of these past days. As far as Russia goes, there is a forewarning in the numerous engagements fought with the Red Army on the Manchurian border after 1931. At Chiangku-Fen in 1938 and Nomon-Han in 1939, real battles were fought and the Japanese were heavily defeated by superior Russian artillery and mechanized power with a loss of some 20,000 men. They further knew that the Siberian-like infantry or rifle divisions have always been used in the first and the second world wars in particularly critical places on the front. They combine their solid bravery and the toughness of the Russian infantry with a dash and a spirit of initiative coming from their pioneer stock. With the collapse of Japan and Germany, Russia is now in the fortunate position of having no more enemies on her border menacing her with invasion. She has solved all her historical problems and the urge towards an open sea, which probably she now will be able to fulfill by securing an outlet in Manchuria. But this as well as the other problems arising on the Russia-Chinese border will require some delicate negotiations with China and have probably been discussed in the recent conferences in Moscow. With these problems settled, let us hope the opportunity will come to Russia to achieve unhindered the greatest conquest of all, a peaceful development of her own great empire in Asia. Thank you, Andrei Lubanov-Grostovsky. You have been listening to The Pacific Story, presented by the national broadcasting company and its affiliated independent stations as a public service to clarify events in the Pacific and to make understandable across currents of life in the Pacific Basin. For a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send ten cents in stamps or coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. May I repeat, for a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send ten cents in stamps or coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. The Pacific Story is written and directed by Arnold Marquis. The original musical score was composed and conducted by Thomas Paluso. Your principal voice was that of Ian Keith. Programs in this series of particular interest to service men and women are broadcast overseas to the worldwide facilities of the Armed Forces Radio Service. This program came to you from Detroit and Hollywood. This is the national broadcasting...