It was the biggest tank battle the world had ever seen up till then and an event which would change the history of the world – Khalkin Gol is being remembered 80 years on as the time Mongolian and Red Army soldiers stopped Imperial Japan from invading the Soviet Union and occupying Eastern Siberia.

The Central Bank of Mongolia or Mongol Bank has issued a commemorative coin to mark the 80^th anniversary of the Battle of Khalkin Gol. Entitled ‘80^th years since Khalkhin Gol’, the coin is made of 999 fine silver and is being sold for MNT 300,000. The coin weighs 31.1 gram and is 39 mm in diameter.

In August 1939, just weeks before Hitler and Stalin invaded Poland, the Soviet Union and Japan fought a massive tank battle at Khalkhin-Gol on the Mongolian border. It was the largest armoured battle in the world up to that point. Khalkhin-Gol, which was a series of engagements, dramatically changed the course of WW II – and modern history. The main significance was that it made the Imperial Japanese Command totally reconsiders its northern expansion plans into Eurasia – these had begun with the virtual annexation of Manchuria – and to develop a new policy leading to the occupation of South East Asia and the attack on Pearl Harbour. It was also the first large-scale victory for General Zhukov, who was later to become the decisive commander in the Soviet Victory against Nazi Germany.

Mongolia will hold military exercise in Dornod Province this month, on the anniversary of the victory in the 1939 Battle of Khalkhin Gol.

The Kremlin, has still to confirm whether President Putin will be attending the joint celebration.