The Battle of Lahasusu was a riverine clash fought during the Sino-Soviet conflict of 1929 around the mouth of the Songhua River.
Battle The battle begun when the Soviet Amur Military Flotilla attacked the garrisoned city of Lahasusu from the river (Lahasusu is a Nanai toponym for Tongjiang, Heilongjiang).
The Soviet Shkval-class river monitors Lenin, Sverdlov, Sun Yat-Sen, and Krasny Vostok (originally classified as armoured turret river gunboats), and other minor units faced a Chinese flotilla of 11 vessels. The Chinese armed steamer Chiang Tai suffered a direct hit, while the monitor Lenin fire to the other armed steamer, Chiang Ping.
The river gunboat Li Chi managed to score hits on the Soviet monitor Sun Yat-Sen and the Kalmyk-class armoured river gunboat Proletariy but was itself hit by Krasny Vostok, although it eventually managed to escape upriver.
Older sources report different transliterations of the Chinese vessels, stating that the armed steamers Chiang Tai and Chiang An were sunk, followed by Chiang Ping and the river gunboat Li Chien (ex-German vessel), while the floating battery Tung Yi was abandoned and taken in tow by the Soviets. Four transport barges and two motorboats were also captured. While the Soviet side suffered casualties (five killed and 24 wounded), they lost no ships.
Aftermath With the river battle still ongoing, other Soviet vessels successfully landed troops close to Lahasusu and defeated the local garrison. As was common practice for the Soviets during this conflict, Soviet troops opened the grain stores of the city to distribute grain to the population to win their support.
It was a heavy defeat for the Chinese, who were forced to gather their defense at Fujin: there the rest of their naval force was destroyed on October 31 and November 1, 1929.
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