Battle of Shumshu
| Battle of Shumshu | |||||||||
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| Part of the Invasion of the Kuril Islands, World War II | |||||||||
 Location of Shumshu in the Kuril Islands. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Soviet Union
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 Empire of Japan
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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A. R. Gnechko |
Tsutsumi Fusaki |
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| Units involved | |||||||||
| 2 Rifle Divisions Marine Battalion |
91st Infantry Division | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 8,821 troops 64 ships and craft |
8,500 troops 77 tanks |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 516 killed 1,051 wounded or missing Five landing ships destroyed |
256 killed 762 wounded 20 tanks destroyed |
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The Battle of Shumshu, the Soviet invasion of Shumshu in the Kuril Islands, was the first stage of the Soviet invasion of the Kuril Islands in August–September 1945 during World War II. It took place from 18 to 23 August 1945, and was the only major battle of the Soviet campaign in the Kuril Islands and one of the last battles of the war.
The Soviet Union and Japan maintained a fairly scrupulous neutrality toward each other after signing the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact on 13 April 1941, although the two countries were allied with one another's World War II enemies from 1941 until the conclusion of the war in 1945. The Soviet Union turned down requests by the United States to base American aircraft on Soviet territory for operations against Japan and ignored Allied requests for any actions which might provoke Japan. Josef Stalin said that the Soviet entry into the war against Japan would not be possible until after a three-month period following Germany's defeat, per an assurance he offered to the United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union, W. Averell Harriman, at an October 1944 meeting. Stalin further stipulated as part of the agreement that it would include the Allies providing substantial assistance to the Soviet Union in building up its armed forces and military supplies in East Asia and the Pacific in advance of any Soviet operations against Japan. The United States soon began the work of meeting the Soviet requirements outside of and in addition to annual Lend-Lease allotments of aid to the Soviets, including the transfer of a dozen types of ships and aircraft from the United States to the Soviet armed forces. In the spring and summer of 1945, the United States secretly transferred 149 ships and craft – mostly escort vessels, landing craft, and minesweepers – to the Soviet Navy at Cold Bay in the Territory of Alaska in Project Hula. Even so, cooperation between the Soviets and Americans was minimal and in August 1945 the Soviets did not have the capability to mount a major sea-borne invasion of Japanese-held territory.
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