Southern Sakhalin Operation of 1945

an offensive operation, carried out by Soviet troops between August 11 and August 25, during World War II for the purpose of liberating southern Sakhalin. It was carried out by the forces of the LVI Rifle Corps of the Sixteenth Army of the Second Far East Front, under the command of General of the Army M. A. Purkaev, in cooperation with ships and naval infantry units of the North Pacific Flotilla of the Pacific Fleet, under the command of Admiral I. S. Iumashev. Southern Sakhalin was defended by the Japanese 88th Infantry Division, by units of the border troops, and by detachments of reservists. Permanent defense fortifications had been built on the island. The defense was centered in the Koton Fortified Region.

The offensive was launched on August 11, supported by two air divisions. By the end of August 18, Soviet troops had captured all the fortified strong points in the border zone. On August 16, amphibious assault forces landed in the vicinity of Toro (now Shakhtersk) on the western coast. Between August 19 and 25, amphibious assault forces landed in the ports of Maoka (now Kholmsk) and Otomari (now Korsakov); airborne troops also landed in Otomari. The administrative center of southern Sakhalin, the city of Toyohara (now luzhno-Sakhalinsk), was captured on August 25. A total of 18,320 Japanese soldiers and officers surrendered. Southern Sakhalin, which had been lost by Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, was returned to the USSR.