Time Slip Reiwa Japan

A.D.1934 - 025 - Cold Summer in Siberia

The Soviet Union, which was growing in strength as a result of the Five-Year Plan, began to think about recovering its initiatives in Siberia and the Primorsky Krai from Japan and the United States. The Soviet Union's growing heavy industry, aided by Germany, was now able to consume mineral resources on its own, although the mining period for the reparations provided for in the Soviet-Japanese War Termination Agreement had not ended.

The Soviet Union demanded Japan to abolish special mining rights and special treatment in business activities in Primorsky Krai, and to grant the Soviet Union free ownership of the facilities and surrounding infrastructure that Japan and the US had developed in order to conduct economic activities such as mining in an amicable manner. Japan of course refused the Soviet Union's demand, which could be described as outrageous.

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Soviet Union

The reason why the Soviet Union was able to negotiate forcefully with Japan in the negotiations for the recovery of its interests in Primorsky Krai was the confusion in Japan's military power. The USSR's upper echelons recognized and judged that Japan had consumed too much of its national power through successive wars. This decision was also influenced by the fact that all of the SDF and the Federal Armed Forces had been reorganized since the Shanghai Incident, and exercises and other activities had become inactive. The presence of Japan's 35.000-ton battleships, scheduled for completion in the next few years, was also a major factor.

At the moment, the Soviet Union was losing its maritime superiority not only in the Sea of Okhotsk but even in the Sea of Japan, and the Soviet Navy reported that it would be impossible to resist Japan if a new battleship appeared under such circumstances. The Baron Ewald, a merchant raider purchased from Germany, had been completed the previous year and was expected to become a major asset, but it had just been shipped to the Soviet Union and was still in the process of fitting out, making it difficult to deploy it halfway around the world to Vladivostok. That is why the Soviet Union chose this time to negotiate with Japan.

The Soviet Union did not expect that all of its interests in Primorsky Krai would be returned from Japan. On the contrary, Stalin thought that Japan would return very little. That is how much of a difference in national power there was between Japan and the Soviet Union. Therefore, even a small recovery of the Soviet Union's lost interests would be a score. They were determined to add to the breakthrough of the Five-Year Plan by healing the wounds of defeat from Japan in the Soviet-Japanese War, even if only a little.

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Japan

Japanese public opinion was outraged by the sudden demand from the Soviet Union for the return of its concession interests. More than five years had passed since the Soviet-Japanese War, and the development of Primorsky Krai had been profitable for both Japan and the Soviet Union, which was a major factor in the friendly relations that had been established. Even in business circles, there was widespread recognition that the sudden loss of resources produced at low cost in Primorsky Krai was an unacceptable outrage. The Japanese government understood the Soviet Union's actions as a challenge to Japan.

Five years had passed since the Soviet-Japanese War, and the Soviet Union, with its growing national strength, was perceived to have turned to expansionism. The historical information and actions of the Soviet Union blinded Japan. There was also an analysis that the Soviet Union was taking advantage of the gap between the SDF and the Federal Armed Forces, which were currently being reorganized due to the Shanghai Incident. *1

Therefore, the National Security Council voted to deter war by making a show of force against the Soviet Union. As a first response, Japan decided to rent a large training ground in Manchuria to the Frontier Republic – the United States. The 7th Armored Division and the 2nd Mechanized Division, the trump card of JGSDF, were sent to Manchuria to conduct a large-scale exercise right under the nose of the Soviet Union. This was to be widely advertised as the Manchurian Grand Maneuvers and made public to the mass media of the Soviet Union and other countries.