The State Duma will return Victory Day, abolished under Yeltsin
On April 1, the State Duma discussed a serious issue: raising the status of our country’s Victory Day in the Second World War, which ended with the defeat of militaristic Japan, an enemy no less dangerous and insidious than Hitler’s Germany. The status of the event, in the event of a positive decision by parliament, should change from a simple memorial date to the Day of Military Glory.
The initiators were Sakhalin voters, supported by a group of deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The head of the Duma Defense Committee, Vladimir Shamanov, brought up a topic of concern to voters for discussion among deputies. The speaker was a deputy from Sakhalin, head of the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption Georgy Karlov.
People's deputies were asked to approve in the first reading the date of the end of World War II as the Day of Military Glory and move it from September 2 to September 3, as was established in the USSR. Karlov reminded people’s deputies that the date September 3, 1945 was minted on the reverse of the bronze medal “For Victory over Japan,” which was awarded to almost two million Soviet soldiers and officers.
During the debate, people's deputies expressed their views on the initiative. Thus, Deputy Shein did not agree with moving the date of Military Glory Day from September 2 to September 3, since it was on September 2, 1945 that the representative of Japan signed the act of unconditional surrender on the American battleship Missouri, and among the winners was and the Soviet official representative - General Kuzma Derevyanko, whose signature was affixed to the historical document.
Deputy Shein, who generally approves of raising the status of the memorial date, called on his colleagues not to move it to September 3, because there is a historical document that contains a phrase about the unconditional surrender of Japan, introduced at the initiative of US President Truman, which does not give the defeated side the right to demand any -or amendments after signing.
Communist Party deputy Pozdnyakov reminded his colleagues that Victory Day over Japan was officially celebrated on September 3 from 1945 to 1995, and was unfairly crossed out by the Yeltsin government as an obstacle to negotiations on a peace agreement with Japan. Pozdnyakov also recalled that the issue of restoring historical justice was raised in the State Duma in 2017, but was never resolved.
Changes for the better occurred on May 25, 2018 as a result of an open appeal to the president by one hundred and twenty-five combatants - to return the holiday date and put an end to injustice.
During the debate, it became clear that a number of deputies do not understand why the date of Victory Day in World War II should be moved to September 3.
Familiar arguments were uttered: “again, we are not like everyone else.” It meant that we celebrate Victory Day over Nazi Germany on May 9, while “the entire civilized world” celebrates it on May 8, explaining this difference by Stalin’s machinations.
As you know, the difference in time zones between Moscow and the Berlin suburb of Karlhorst, where the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany was signed, made its own adjustments. At this moment, it was still May 8th in Berlin, while May 9th had already arrived in Moscow.
The situation between the dates of September 2 and September 3, 1945 is fundamental for our country. In fact, the Soviet representative signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, and this day in the West is officially considered the day the Second World War ended.
But for the USSR, the war did not end on September 2, 1945. Soviet marines who landed on the Kuril Islands continued to suppress the resistance of Japanese soldiers. In fact, our land was finally liberated from the occupiers only on September 3, 1945, 40 years after Russia’s defeat in the Russo-Japanese War.
Even though these Kuril Islands are insignificant pieces of land in the ocean, with their liberation for our country, for our people, this was a principled position.
Soviet marines, liberators of the Kuril Islands
It remains to recall that militaristic Japan, which captured China, Korea, the Philippines, Burma, Guam, and the islands of Micronesia, was a very dangerous enemy that dealt a powerful blow to the prestige of Great Britain after the fall of Singapore, created the threat of a real invasion of Australia, and forced the USSR to keep the Far East under dozens of divisions with a gun in the most difficult time for the country, when the Nazis were rushing to Moscow and Leningrad.
The USSR entered the war with Japan due to its allied obligations. Despite the enormous contribution of the American, British, and Australian troops who fought Japan at sea and won a number of key victories on Guadalcanal and the Battle of Midway, the final point in World War II was still set by the USSR, which defeated the million-strong Kwantung group in Manchuria.
Soviet soldiers with captured Japanese flags
Even the atomic bombing of its cities did not deter Japan. But the entry into the war of the USSR and its legendary Red Army was very frightening. After a radical turning point in the course of the war in 1943 at the Kursk Bulge, the Japanese, through unofficial channels, tried to build bridges with the Soviet government. Researchers claim that Tokyo was ready to take unprecedented measures, such as the return of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, if only the USSR would not enter the war on the side of the United States and Great Britain.
According to American military analysts, the US Army, with the support of its allies, could not count on a quick defeat of the Kwantung Group. According to them, the war with Japan in Manchuria could take at least three years and result in a million human losses, not counting material losses.
Having entered the war with Japan, our country helped its allies, the peoples of China and Korea, gaining enormous authority and recognition for itself. As a result, China and North Korea, liberated from the interventionists, became our allies, which secured the Far Eastern borders of the USSR, which had not known peace for a long time.
From which it follows that the approval in the first reading of the date September 3 as the Day of Victory over Japan and the end of World War II is the restoration of historical justice and recognition of the decisive contribution of our country in establishing long-term peace on the planet.
Soviet soldiers liberate Korea
Soviet liberators in Chinese Dairen
Liberation of Harbin
Paratroopers of the Amur Flotilla liberate Manchuria
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