This a very rare photo 1945 Photo Japanese firing on Russian troops in pre-war WWII. Dimensions 9" x 7". At the Tehran Conference in November 1943, Stalin agreed that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan once Nazi Germany was defeated. At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Stalin agreed to Allied pleas to enter World War II's Pacific Theater within three months of the end of the war in Europe. On July 26, the US, UK and China made the Potsdam Declaration, an ultimatum calling for the Japanese surrender which if ignored would lead to their "prompt and utter destruction". The invasion began on August 8, 1945, precisely three months after the German surrender on May 8 (May 9, 0:43 Moscow time).The commencement of the invasion fell between the atomic bombings of Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9. Although Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had not been told much detail of the Western Allies' atomic bomb program by Allied governments, he was nonetheless well aware of its existence and purpose by means of Soviet intelligence sources.[citation needed] However, by virtue of the timing of the agreements at Tehran and Yalta, and the long term buildup of Soviet forces in the Far East since Tehran, it is clear that news of the attacks on the two cities played no major role in the timing of the Soviet invasion; the date of the invasion was foreshadowed by the Yalta agreement, the date of the German surrender, and the fact that on August 3, Marshal Vasilevsky reported to Stalin that, if necessary, he could attack on the morning of August 5. Furthermore, while Stalin could reasonably have concluded that an atomic bombing of Japan was imminent, it does not appear he was overly impressed with the atomic bomb's potential, certainly not so much so as to think it might compel a nation as averse to surrender as Japan into an earlier capitulation.At 11pm Trans-Baikal time on August 8, 1945, Soviet foreign minister Molotov informed Japanese ambassador Satō that the Soviet Union had declared war on the Empire of Japan, and that from August 9 the Soviet Government would consider itself to be at war with Japan.[8] At one minute past midnight Trans-Baikal time on August 9, 1945, the Soviets commenced their invasion simultaneously on three fronts to the east, west and north of Manchuria. The operation was subdivided into smaller operational and tactical parts:Khingan-Mukden Offensive Operation (August 9, 1945 September 2, 1945)Harbin-Kirin Offensive Operation (August 9, 1945 September 2, 1945)Sungari Offensive Operation (August 9, 1945 September 2, 1945)and subsequentlySouth Sakhalin Army Group Offensive Operation (August 11, 1945 August 25, 1945)Seisin Landing Operation (August 13, 1945 August 16, 1945)Kuril Landing Operation (August 18, 1945 September 1, 1945)Though the battle extended beyond the borders traditionally known as Manchuria that is, the traditional lands of the Manchus the coordinated and integrated invasions of Japan's northern territories has also been called the Battle of Manchuria.[9] Since 1983, the operation has sometimes been called Operation August Storm, after American Army historian LTC David Glantz used this title for a paper on the subject.[1] It has also been referred to by its Soviet name, the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation, however this name refers more to the Soviet invasion of Manchuria (1945) than to the whole war.This offensive should not be confused with the Soviet-Japanese Border Wars, (particularly the Battle of Khalkhin Gol/Nomonhan Incident of MaySeptember 1939), that ended in Japan's defeat in 1939, and led to the SovietJapanese Neutrality Pact.[10]