When is Battle of Khalkhiin Gol Day?
The Mongolian Government has agreed to mark September 3rd 2019 year as a public holiday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Khalkhiin Gol Battle.
As Tuesday September 3rd will be observed as a non-workday, Saturday September 7th is changed to a working day.
History of the Battle of Khalkhiin Gol
The Battle of Khalkhiin Gol (named after a nearby river) in August 1939 was the largest ever armoured battle in the world at that time.
The victory by the Soviet forces stopped Japanese Imperialist ambitions in Eastern Asia in its tracks. As mentioned in the movie Princess Bride - "never get involved in a land war in Asia."
The battle also had much wider implications, as Japan turned its gaze away from mainland Asia and towards controlling the Pacific, which would lead them all the way to Pearl Harbour and bring America into the second world war.
If the Japanese had won this battle and continued west into Asia, then Soviet forces may have been depleted and been less able to repel the Nazi assault on Russia.
Overshadowed by events taking place at this time in western Europe, it is interesting that this public holiday highlights how this relatively obscure conflict that took place on the steppes of Central Asia likely changed the course of the second world war only two days after it started.
