Khalkin Gol/Nomonhan - Japanese Forces

 The Japanese forces were as expected, largely infantry based with their standard knee mortars in their 4 rifle company battalions. They also had a large number of tanks but these were largely Ha-Go or I-Go tanks and struggled against the Soviet Armoured Cars, which mounted an effective 45mm gun.

Most of the figures are Early War Miniatures, with a variety of manufacturers for the vehicles including IBG, 172scale.com, BPM. The mules are Raventhorpe with additional 'bits' to tell them apart from each other.

64th Infantry Regiment HQ:

RHQ

Gun battery - 75mm Mountain Gun

Anti-tank battery - 37mm A/T Gun

Infantry Battalions

1st Battalion and 2nd Battalions, 64th Infantry Regiment and 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment.

HQ with A/T rifle

4 x Companies including knee mortars

Heavy Weapons Company - 2 x MMG and 70mm gun

2nd Field Artillery Battalion

 2 x 75mm Field Gun Batteries

1 x 120mm Howitzer Battery

Yasuoka Detachment

HQ, AA Platoon (20mm), 3 sniper teams

3rd Tank Regiment

1st Company - Type 97 Chi-Ha, 2 x Type 89 Otsu

2nd Company - 3 x Type 89 Otsu

3rd Company - Typy 97 Te-Ke, 2 x Type 94 TK

4th Tank Regiment

1st Company - 3 x Type 95 Ha-Go

2nd Company - 3 x Type 95 Ha-Go

3rd Company - Type 95 Ha-Go, 2 x Type 89 Otsu

Air Support

1 x Ki-27 'Nate' fighter

1 x Ki-15 'Babs' bomber

A bit of fluff:

A couple of stands to show Banzai charges:

Finally, a team photo:

Khalkin Gol/Nomonhan - Soviet forces

 I've been collecting Soviet forces for some time, as you will see from my Rostov project. I've used many of those figures for my Khalkin Gol Russian contingent, but with other figures added as well.

The main unit represented in the scenario is the 149th Motor Rifle Regiment:

149th Motor Rifle Regiment

Regiment HQ:

Three Battalions of infantry: HQ with Anti-Tank Rifle, 3 Rifle companies, a Heavy Weapons company with a Maxim MMG and a 81mm mortar, and an M1927 76mm Infantry Gun:

Artillery Company:76.2mm M1902/30 Field Gun, and Anti-Tank Company with a short-barrelled 45mm:

Heavy Weapon Platoon with a 12.5mm DShK HMG and a sniper team:

1st Battalion, 175th Artillery Regiment

2 x 122mm M1910/30 Howitzers plus OPs:

9th Mechanised Brigade

HQ (car); GAZ AA truck; Recon Platoon of a BA20 Armoured Car:

241st Armoured Car Battalion

HQ - BA20

3 Armoured Car Companies, each of 2 x BA6 or BA10:

240th Recon Battalion

HQ - BA20

Light A/C Coy - 2 x BA20

Medium A/C Coy - 2 x BA6

Motorcycle Coy - 3 x motorcycle combos

2nd Battalion, 11th Tan Brigade

3 x BT-5

Air Support

1 x R-5 light bomber (shown by a Po-2 at present)

1 x I-153 Chaika fighter

Finally, a team photo!

Khalkin Gol project

 It's been a while - nearly two years - since last posting. Life has been busy as always, even in the pandemic (key worker!) but I have been modelling and painting still, albeit not much wargaming recently.

My main project over the past couple of years has  been Khalkin Gol, the Japanese/Soviet border dispute of summer 1939. However, the forces could also be used for Lake Khasan in 1938. I'll get a few Chinese troops at some point for a small Sino-Japanese wargame.

Why Khalkin Gol - or Nomonhan, as the incident was known in Japan? I'd recommend this book by Stuart D Goldman. In short, the conflict 'cast a long shadow', and affected the timing of the Soviet invasion of Poland, and the ongoing tension between Japan and the Soviets also had an influence on the timing of the Soviet counterattack relieving Moscow in 1941. There are also rumours that Japan would invade the Eastern portion of the USSR if Stalingrad fell hence the terrible battle there. Goldman also argues that the events at Khalkin Gol influenced the decision by Japan to attack Pearl Harbour and 'go South'.

It is worth remembering that the USSR was the only major nation in the war to avoid a two-front conflict. The events at Nomonhan/Khalkin Gol were a key factor in that outcome.

I've found an old scenario for Rapid Fire written by Brad Smith - alas since disappeared into the ether - but I will try and post my scenario files up on the blog for folks to use. I've adapted it and plan to run it as a 'mini campaign' if I can.

In short, it covers the days in early July 1939 when the Soviets tried to consolidate their beachhead over the Khalkin Gol River, and the Japanese launched an attempted pincer move to cut them off. The Soviets launched a large counter attack under the command of someone named Zhukov (!) and the Japanese faultered.

Tons of EW tanks and armoured cars, what's not to like?