At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Stalin promised Churchill and Roosevelt that the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan within three months of the Allies’ victory in Europe. He kept his word. On August 9, the day after the war was declared, the Red Army’s Manchurian strategic offensive operation began. The fighting took place in northeastern China, which was then under Japanese control. Soviet and allied Mongolian forces significantly outnumbered Japan’s Kwantung Army: in personnel — by 2 times, in artillery, tanks, and self-propelled guns — by 4 times, and in combat aircraft — by nearly 3 times. With powerful strikes, they broke through the enemy’s defenses and, in less than two weeks, advanced up to 800 km into Manchuria. They efficiently divided the Japanese forces into isolated groups, forcing them to surrender. To achieve operational freedom, Red Army units had to cross the waterless Gobi Desert and the difficult, snow-covered high mountain range of the Greater Khingan. T-34 tank driver A.P. Pomeshchikov recalled: “We were climbing such steep slopes that it took our breath away, and we couldn’t believe the tank could make it up there. Our infantry (desant) jumped off the tank and walked — they were afraid of falling into the abyss with the fighting vehicle.” Airborne troops were deployed in Harbin, Mukden, and other key cities in Manchuria, while in northern Korea, southern Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands, the Soviet marines, supported by the Pacific Fleet, acted successfully. In just 23 days, the large Kwantung Army was defeated. Its losses amounted to more than 720,000 soldiers and officers, 650,000 of whom were captured. The Red Army lost about 12,000 men killed. On September 2, 1945, the Empire of the Rising Sun surrendered. That same day, in the Soviet Union, September 3 was declared Victory over Japan Day. In Russia, September 3 is celebrated as a Day of Military Glory.