RUSSIAN FORCES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 200, 24 August 1945, Page 5

RUSSIAN FORCES

MANCHURIA OCCUPIED Soviet Airborne Landings At Port Arthur N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, Aug. 23. Generalissimo Stalin, in an Order of the Day, announced that the Red Army has occupied the whole of Manchuria. The Kwantung Army has ceased resistance.

The Japanese garrisons of Port Arthur and Dairen were disarmed after they failed to oppose the Russian airborne landing. Red Army troops secured Shumushu, the most northerly of the Kurile Islands.

Huge supply dumps have fallen into Russian hands in Manchuria, says Reuter's Moscow correspondent. It appears that the Japanese had stores for millions of soldiers for 10 years. The Soviet Military Government is restoring order. It is receiving wholehearted assistance from the Chinese, who are streaming back to their homes from the hills and forests. Most Japanese commanders are thoroughly tame and are complying with all Russian demands. Islands in Kuriles Taken Generalissimo Stalin's Order of the Day, addressed to the commander in the Far East, Marshal Vassilevsky, said that since the opening of the offensive in Manchuria, Red Army forces had advanced distances ranging from 310 to 560 miles. They now occupied the whole of Manchuria, besides the entire south of Sakhalin (which the Japanese named Karafuto), also the islands of Shumushu and Paramushi, in the Kurile chain of islands., The Kwantung Army had ceased resistance. Twentyfour salvoes from 324 guns saluted the feat in Moscow. The Order concluded with the words: "Let the victorious Red Army and Red Fleet live and prosper." A Russian communique states that the Red Army yesterday took 35,000 Japanese prisoners, including 15 generals. Troops of the TransBaikal Command in South Manchuria entered Port Arthur and linked up with the c.irborne troops. Russjan troops at the Mukden aerodrome captured and interned the Emperor Kangteh, the Japanese-sponsored ruler of the puppet state of Manchuria, and his suite.