Russia's FSB Unveils Evidence Of Japan Preparing For War With USSR Back In 1938

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th August, 2021) Russia's Federal Security Service has declassified documents bearing evidence that the Japanese military was preparing for a war with the Soviet Union back in 1938.

Among the archival materials, including trophy ones, seen by Sputnik, there is the order No. 70 to units of the Japanese 3rd Division dated August 9, 1938, which was issued during the Soviet-Japanese military conflict in July-August 1938 near Lake Khasan.

It instructs the division to "increase readiness for war against the Soviet Union."

Another evidence is the inquiry of the last commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, Otozo Yamada, conducted in December 1949 as part of the preparation for the Khabarovsk trial over Japanese war criminals. According to the protocol, Yamada admitted that back in January 1938, he "ordered the units of the 3rd Division to bring them to combat readiness in the event of hostilities with the Soviet Union."