Above: Japanese infantry fire alongside a destroyed USSR armored vehicle. Photograph in the Public Domain (Click to enlarge). Why was this battle significant? Japan and Manchukuo against the Soviet Union and Mongolia, ended in Soviet victory on 16 September 1939. This influenced the Japanese to end conflict with the Soviet Union, but to turn instead to the Pacific and Allied powers. Thus Japan would not wage war against the Soviet Union despite their proximity to one another. Japan would join the Axis (Germany and Italy) while the Soviet Union joined the Allied Powers.

Above: Minsk, Belarus, today. Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov. Monument to Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union in Minsk garden square. Zhukov was one of the Red Army generals who let the Soviet Union to victory at Battles of Khalkhin Gol. Photograph licensed to WW2 History Network (Click to enlarge).