Editing Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact (section)

==Soviet denunciation==
On April 5, 1945, the Soviet Union denounced the pact with Japan by informing the Japanese government that "in accordance with Article Three of the above mentioned pact, which envisaged the right of denunciation one year before the lapse of the five-year period of operation of the pact, the Soviet Government hereby makes known to the Government of Japan its wish to denounce the pact of April 13, 1941."<ref name=denunciation>[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s3.asp Denunciation of the neutrality pact] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520092519/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s3.asp |date=2011-05-20 }} April 5, 1945. ([[Avalon Project]] at [[Yale University]])</ref> The wording of the denunciation suggested that the Soviet Union wished to see the treaty go out of effect immediately, and ''Time'' magazine reported that the Soviet Foreign Commissar's tone indicated that the Soviet Union might soon go to war against Japan.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070310233003/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,775556,00.html "So Sorry, Mr. Sato"] in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, April 16, 1945</ref>

The text of the treaty had stated that the pact remained "valid for five years" (''i.e.'', until April 13, 1946). When Japanese Ambassador [[Naotake Sato]] pressed him, Molotov assured him that the treaty would remain in force until April 1946.<ref>Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan, Harvard University Press, 2005, pp. 46-7.</ref> The treaty also stated, "In case neither of the Contracting Parties denounces the Pact one year before the expiration of the term, it will be considered automatically prolonged for the next five years" (April 13, 1946 - April 13, 1951). The denunciation came on April 5, 1945, which under those terms meant that the treaty would not renew on April 13, 1946.

On May 8 or 9, 1945, the date depending on the time zone, Nazi Germany surrendered, which ended the war in Europe and started the secret three-month countdown for the Soviets to start hostilities against Japan. On August 9, 1945, just after midnight in Manchuria, the Soviets [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchuria]]. The declaration of war against Japan followed nearly six hours later. Because of the time zone difference of 7 hours,<ref>{{cite web|title=Large detailed Time Zones map of the USSR - 1982|url=https://www.mapsland.com/europe/ussr/large-detailed-time-zones-map-of-the-ussr-1982|website=Mapsland.com|access-date=29 April 2018|archive-date=21 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230421212312/https://www.mapsland.com/europe/ussr/large-detailed-time-zones-map-of-the-ussr-1982|url-status=live}}</ref> the declaration of war could be still dated August 8, 1945, and was presented to the Japanese ambassador in Moscow at 11 p.m. Moscow time.<ref>{{cite book|pages=182|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G8cJUkAHFm0C&pg=PA182|title=The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945: August Storm|isbn=9780714652795|last1=Glantz|first1=David M|year=2003| publisher=Frank Cass }}</ref>

During the Soviet invasion, Japanese forces on the Asian mainland were unprepared to resist and were overrun relatively quickly. In the last campaign of the war, Soviet territorial gains in Asia were Manchukuo, [[Mengjiang]] (Inner Mongolia) and northern [[Korea]].