Racine landing

The landing in the Korean port of Rasin (now the port of Rajin, part of the Rason special economic zone, the name of which is derived from the names of the key cities of the Rajin and Sonbon zones) was planned by the command of the Pacific Fleet (commander Admiral I. S. Yumashev ) as part of the operation disruption of the evacuation of Japanese troops from Korean ports by sea to Japan. Starting on August 9, the port was subjected to powerful and multiple attacks by aircraft and torpedo boats , several transports were sunk in it. Immediately after occupying the port of Yuki , without waiting for the main forces to concentrate there, an advanced landing detachment was sent to Rasin (2 boats “big hunter” , reconnaissance group of the 140th Pacific Fleet reconnaissance unit of 95 people).

The detachment entered the port at about 9-30 a.m. on August 12, 1945 without any opposition from the Japanese; scouts occupied the port. However, the second group (2 torpedo boats, delivered the second group by a fleet scout of 68 people) and the third group (3 torpedo boats, which delivered a company of machine gunners of the 354th separate marine infantry battalion, up to 100 people), were fired upon by Japanese troops. The Japanese garrison (up to 4,000 people) left the city without a fight (mainly, even before the Soviet landing arrived), leaving a cover detachment. During August 12, this small detachment was driven back from the city. Obviously, in the battle there was a loss of control on the part of the Japanese command, because according to the commander of the airborne advanced detachment, the Japanese acted in small groups, scattered, leaving immediately after the fire, tried to leave the city, did not attempt to counterattack.

On August 13, a detachment of the main forces landed from Zolotoy Rog Bay ( Vladivostok ) - an EK-5 patrol ship , two minesweepers , four patrol boats (2 — the big hunter and 2 the small hunter), 4 border boats. The landing was still strengthened (the 358th separate battalion of the marine corps, 716 people landed), since it was planned to participate in the next stage of the offensive - in the landing in Seishin . But this battalion did not have to participate in the battle. On the same day, a Japanese reconnaissance detachment entered the city and detonated a Japanese ammunition depot left there the day before.

The greatest resistance (until noon on August 14 ) was provided by the garrisons of two coastal fortified points on the islands of Ham (Techchodo) and Masemi at the entrance to the harbor of Rasin, for the destruction of which the bulk of naval artillery was involved. After shelling, the surviving Japanese soldiers showed no resistance and surrendered to the paratroopers landed on the islands. In total, during the Rasinsky landing, the Japanese lost 277 people killed and 292 people were captured (on the Ham and Masemi islands, the loss ratio was different - 120 killed and 30 prisoners). On our side, there were no casualties in the battle on land.

However, upon the arrival of a large number of Soviet ships at the port, it turned out that there were a large number of sea ​​mines previously exposed by US aviation in the port. On August 13 and 14, one border boat was killed on these mines, a torpedo boat, a small hunter boat, a steamboat and two tankers were damaged. Losses in the crews amounted to: seven killed and 37 wounded. There were cases of bombings in the following days.

Not sufficiently coordinated actions of the naval and land command took place - in the afternoon of August 12, advanced units of the 25th Army of the 1st Far Eastern Front approached the city, firing on paratroopers. After clarifying the situation, the army units moved away from the city, where the battle still continued.

Thus, the city and port were occupied in the first hours of the landing operation. The weak resistance of the demoralized enemy was broken, the remaining centers of resistance did not influence further events and were easily suppressed. Even before the end of hostilities in Racine, the fleet command began to conduct the Seisin landing operation.

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• The Great Patriotic War. Day after day. "Marine collection", 1995, No. 8.