Strelbishchenskaya St., Penza, Penza Oblast, Russia
There are three versions of the origin of the name of the Manchuria district. All of them are in one way or another related to the historical region in the northeast of modern China.
According to Professor Vladimir Pervushkin, the name Manchuria appeared during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 because Penza conscripts were gathered in this place. At that time, the district was not part of the city limits.
The second version was proposed by amateur local historian Anatoly Razinov. In the 1930s-40s, there was an airfield here. In 1938 and 1939, armed clashes between Soviet and Japanese troops occurred near Lake Khasan and on the Khalkhin Gol River. A. Razinov believes that the remoteness of the combat actions from Penza and the airfield from the city gave this place such an unusual name.
The third version is also connected with the airfield and the Soviet-Japanese conflict and was heard from longtime residents. The fact is that after the victory over Germany in 1945, the Soviet Union began transferring troops to the border with Japan. One of the transit airfields was the airfield near Penza. Everything that left from there was going to Manchuria. Thus, for brevity, the district came to be called by that name.
