"Flesh and Steel" -- In May 1939, recurring incidents on the border between Mongolia and the pro-Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo degenerated. The banks of the Halha River, Khalkin-Gol for the Mongols and Soviets, became a theater of war. On July 1st, Japanese troops of the Kwantung Army attacked. A frontal assault pinned down the defenders while a division crossed the river further north to take them from behind. Faced with the emergency, the Soviet commander, General Zhukov, launched several mechanized brigades against the Japanese infantry. Marching across a bare steppe, they heard the enemy vehicles well before seeing the first BT-5s appear. . .
