Kantokuen
관특연
Kantokuen is the abbreviation of Kantōgun Tokushu Enshū, the Imperial Japanese Army’s Kwantung Army Special Maneuvers and an operational plan for invading the Soviet Far East after the German attack on the USSR in 1941. Japan reinforced its forces in Manchuria while keeping open the possibility of war with the Soviet Union, but abandoned the plan amid the competing demands of southward expansion and the war in China.
In depth
Name and concept
Kantokuen, written 関特演 in Japanese, abbreviates 関東軍特種演習, romanized Kantōgun Tokushu Enshū. The name matters because the exercise label accompanied a concentration of forces and operational preparations for a possible attack on the Soviet Far East.
The 1941 decision
After Germany invaded the Soviet Union, advocates of a northward advance again pressed for intervention. The plan envisaged defeating Soviet forces in a short campaign, but Japan’s leadership had to balance the proposed southern advance and the continuing war in China, and did not launch the attack in autumn 1941. Kantokuen therefore shows that the Neutrality Pact did not end Japanese military preparations directed at the USSR.
Historical significance
The Kwantung Army build-up helped compel the Soviet Union to retain substantial forces in Siberia and the Far East. Kantokuen should nevertheless be distinguished from an invasion that actually occurred: it was a plan and mobilization for a possible war.
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) (defines Kantokuen as the Kwantung Army Special Maneuvers operational plan, its 1941 invasion objective, partial approval, and abandonment)
- ibiblio.org (U.S. Army historical monograph documenting the Kwantung Army build-up and its mid-1941 special maneuvers)