World War II

   The Soviet regime signed a nonaggression pact with Germany in August 1939, and following Germany’s invasion of Poland, the Soviet Union on 17 September sent troops of the Red Army into eastern Poland. The Soviets also gained territory in Finland and the Baltics. But the Soviets were not drawn into the war against Nazi Germany until the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, which began what is known in Soviet history as the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan in August 1945, and Red Army troops entered Japanese-occupied Manchuria on 9 August. During the course of the war, the Soviet military suffered more than 8 million killed in action or dead of combat wounds, more than 4 million captured or missing, and more than 15 million wounded. Soviet citizen casualties were far greater: estimates put the loss of life between 10 and 15 million.