This read was very well written but also academic and dry in places. It is very detailed about a little-discussed arena of WW2 and I did like the new information I learned from it.

Stalin's War on Japan is an informative, albeit a bit dry, read discussing the few days leading up to Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945 with a marked focus on the Soviet Union's geopolitical strategy and the consequential maneuvers it made throughout the waning hours of WWII. Illustrating with excruciating detail the Soviet Union's invasion of Manchuria as part of the grand Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation, Stephenson throws into question the dominant narrative that credits Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the defining events that put an end to the war.

What could've been a compelling argument was somewhat overshadowed by an elongated description of individual battles, logistical struggles, and the shining leadership of Soviet officers that moved with shocking efficiency and speed. Perhaps an emphasis on the alarming success with which the Soviets were able to penetrate Manchuria, all the way down to northern Korea, was meant to supply evidence to the thesis that Stalin's invasion expedited Japan's surrender. I'm not sure, but I wish more of the book's real estate was dedicated to buttressing this main argument with more detailed and meaty references to Japanese sources (or at least the extensive literature around this debate that the author alludes to in the last chapter).

Given that the title mentions Stalin, I expected there to be a lot more exposition on his logic, thought process, and ambition and how that translated into each of his decisions that deeply impacted the destiny of many Far Eastern countries. The first and last few chapters contain interesting discussions on the high-political fronts, including America's initial belief that the Soviet's involvement was crucial to ending the war and its bitter regrets fueled with hindsight when it realized the true consequences of befriending and enabling an enemy of an enemy.

All in all, Stalin's War on Japan provides a refreshing angle of the final acts of WWII particularly because so much of the existing narrative focuses on America + Europe's role. I would recommend it if you're into military history and enjoy reading about the smaller details of what went on, but not so much if you're looking for a deeper interpretation of the politics and diplomacy that affected it.

I have recently finished reading an ARC of Charles Stephenson's marvelous study of the Soviet attack on Japan in the closing months of World II entitled "Stalin's War On Japan", due to be published shortly by Pen and Sword. I am pleased to report that the volume is both well written and quite illuminating in its discussion of the Soviet actions which occurred in compliance with their treat obligations to the Western Allies. Among other things, the text includes a fairly detailed study of Soviet deployments and planning in the period leading up to hostilities. What is more, and perhaps most tellingly, it demonstrates how far the Soviet forces in the Far East had come since the collapse of Nazi Germany and its European satellites and allies in the West. The carefully coordinated and overwhelming forces Stalin assembled for his attack on the Kwantung Army as well as the superb leadership, training and equipment that marked the massive assault force demonstrated how far the Soviet military had come since they had first engaged Hitler's Wehrmacht. Just as important, the much vaunted Kwantung Army, once an elite and highly feared armed force instrumental in supporting and prolonging Japan's adventure in China and the war in Asia was revealed as nothing more than a paper tiger, long drained of its elite units and populated, in the end, by whatever the Japanese could throw into the line, with weak air support and practically no armored support against a Soviet force constructed on the model of the massive armored armies employed against the Nazis. It is a fascinating and little understood feature of the Pacific War, and should be read with an eye towards the US employment of nuclear weapons as well as the fear engendered among Western leaders by Japan's apparent determination to fight to the death. I urge anyone interested in the decision to deploy nuclear weapons as well as the early post war foreign machinations of the the former Allied states to examine this work, It is well worth our examination.