Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939

by Alvin D. Coox

Release Date: November, 1990

Edition: Paperback

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Especially recommended for China scholars

The definitive account in English of the near war on the Manchuria/Mongolia frontier in 1939. The account is drawn primarily from Japanese sources and thus provides a full view of the chaos of battle from that perspective. The Soviet side is made to seem perhaps too orderly and well controlled by the very lack of detailed information. The strength of the Soviet command, particularly Marshall Zhukov, is also somewhat glossed over. These are, however, minor objections to what is an excellently organized presentation of a very complex set of events.

Why should anyone care? The aims and methods of the Kwantung Army are extensively documented, a matter of major importance for any study of China. The policies of both the Guomindang and the Gongchandang are much easier to understand after reading this book.

Exhaustive, but hamstrung due to lack of Soviet resources.

This book is the authoritative work on the Nomonhan, or Khalkin-Gol battles of 1939. The book is well-written, with excellent battlefield maps. Coox was a Japanese scholar, so it is not surprising that his material leans heavily on Japanese sources. This is a problem in the sense that at the time of publication, there was very little material available from the Soviet side of the conflict, other than Marshal Zhukov's memoirs and a few other similiarly suspect works.

However, if you are interested in this little-known but extremely important series of border engagements (the Japanese defeat here strengthened the Navy's 'go south' policy, with disasterous consequences for the European colonial powers) then there is no better reference work than Coox.