“The Japanese came here in 1905 in order to quickly export timber, furs, coal, fish, gold from South Sakhalin for forty years in a row. They did not feel like the masters of this land. They were in a hurry, anticipating their short Sakhalin century. Nikolay Cherkashin. (Military historian).
Everyone has heard of the so-called "Russian America", but few people know that it included not only Alaska with the Aleutian Islands, but also almost the entire western coast of the present United States, and the Hawaiian Islands. And very few people know that Malaysia, and even part of modern Japan, were Russians. I'll start with the most important milestones in the history of the development of the Kuriles by the Russian Empire:
- 1697. The Russians began the development of the northern part of the Kuril ridge (expedition of V. V. Atlasov).
- 1705 The Russians began to impose yasak on the population of the Northern Kuriles.
- 1712 The central and southern parts of the Kuril ridge up to about. Iturup inclusive (I. Kozyrevsky's expedition).
- 1734 The taxation of yasak on the population of the Northern Kuriles (up to the island of Shikotan) has been completed.
- 1738-39gg. Completed exploration of all Kuril Islands (expedition M. P. Shpanberg).
- 1742 The expedition under the command of A. E. Shelting, the eastern coast of Sakhalin Island was surveyed.
Promotional video:
- 1749 The first school for teaching children of the local Ainu population was opened on the Shumshu island. Looking ahead, I will note that the Japanese, having come to the Kuril Islands, did not heal or teach the Ainu. It took them only 47 years to completely exterminate the indigenous population of the islands.
- 1756 The first church of St. Nicholas in the Kuril Islands was built on the Shumshu island.
- 1765 Establishment of trade relations by the Russians with the inhabitants of the South Kuriles.
- 1768 The taxation of yasak on the population of the Central Kuriles (up to Urup Island) has been completed.
- 1775-79gg. An expedition led by Antipin and Shabalin examined the Southern Kuriles and the northern coast of Fr. Hokkaido.
- 1778. The taxation of yasak on the population of the Southern Kuriles has been completed; Hokkaido.
Of course, the official chronology is followed here. Be that as it may, even modern Japanese historians admit that: - "Ezo (that was the name of all the" northern territories ", including the northern half of Hokkaido) in the 18th century and even in the first half of the 19th was not considered an integral part of the Japanese Empire.
Those. in black and white: "Yes, even northern Hokkaido was not Japanese."
December 22, 1786 By the decree of Catherine II the Kuril Islands were declared an integral part of the Russian Empire. This decree secured for Russia extensive possessions in North America (Alaska, Aleutian Islands) and in Asia, including the Kuril Islands:
“According to the generally accepted rule, those peoples who made the first discovery of them have a right to unknown lands, as in former times and after finding America it was usually done that any European people, having found an unknown land, put their mark on it, and the Roman confessions to the sovereigns, the popes generously gave their bulls to their greater assertion, in which all the proof of the right to seizure consisted, then, as a result of this, Russia must indisputably belong: … the ridge of the Kuril Islands, concerning Japan, opened by Captain Shpanberg … about this, the courts of all European powers”.
And in the "Extensive Land Description of the Russian State …" of 1787, there is a list of the Kuril Islands belonging to Russia, the southernmost of which is called … "Matushma", i.e. one of the two northern peninsulas in Hokkaido.
Fragment of the General Map of the Republic of Ingushetia according to the atlas of 1745.
See the whole map …
How did it happen that the modern Japanese have long had no doubt that Russia is an aggressor country and demand the return of "their northern territories"? To understand the essence of what is happening, it would be nice for the Japanese to recall other milestones in history:
- On January 26, 1855, the so-called. The Shimoda Treaty, according to which it was established between the islands of Urup and Iturup - that is, all four islands, which Japan claims today, were recognized as the possession of Japan. That is why on this day the Japanese celebrate the "Day of the Northern Territories."
- On May 7, 1875, according to the Petersburg Treaty, Russia ceded to Japan the rights to the central and northern part of the Kuril ridge, in exchange for Japan's renunciation of its claims to South Sakhalin.
- 1885 The Japanese carried out a total "sweep" of the Kuril Islands. Ainu from all over the archipelago were brought to the reservation on the island. Shikotan. Naturally, the resources of the small island and the adjacent water area could not feed everyone. Most of the Ainu starved to death.
Ayna.
- January 27, 1904 Japanese attack on the Russian squadron in Port Arthur. The Russo-Japanese War began.
- June 24, 1905 Japanese troops landed on South Sakhalin (Aniva Bay).
- July 10, 1905 Japanese troops landed on Northern Sakhalin (in the Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky area).
- July 18, 1905 Capitulation of Russian troops on Sakhalin.
- August 23, 1905 According to the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, Russia cedes to Japan the southern part of Fr. Sakhalin, the border is set along the 50th parallel.
- January 14, 1920 Successful Bolshevik mutiny in Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky, Kolchak's power in Northern Sakhalin is overthrown.
- April 21, 1920 Japanese troops occupy Northern Sakhalin.
Agree, it is suggestive. A very complex and ambiguous history of our relationship with Japan. However, it is obvious who is actually the "aggressor" among us. But the most important thing … If it were not for the pressure of the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition on Stalin, the Kuril Islands could have remained Japanese to this day. What happened? Nothing new. Everything is as it was three hundred years ago, as it is today.
Against the background of the convincing successes of the Red Army, the question arose about the post-war structure of the world. So, according to the terms of the Yalta Conference of 1945, the USSR pledged to enter the war against Japan, and South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands retreated to the Soviet Union.
Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin in Yalta. February 1945
That is, the American "heroes" decided to crush Japan by the hands of the Russians in exchange for the islands, which they planned to later return to Japan (and in fact to themselves) by means of chicanery in the Peace Treaty between Japan and the USSR drawn up by them. They drafted it in such a way that the transfer of Sakhalin and the Kuriles could be legally contested, and then the Kurils would become a chain of US military bases that would turn our Pacific Fleet into a flotilla sailing in the inner Sea of Okhotsk.
Of course, Soviet diplomats did not succumb to this trick, and in this form they refused to sign the Treaty. That is why we are still legally at war with Japan.
But at that moment, when the Americans and the British were de jure allies, and had not only rights, but also responsibilities, we were forced to continue the war in the east, ending it in the west, in Berlin.
And on August 10, 1945, the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Forces in the Far East, Marshal of the Soviet Union A. M. Vasilevsky, ordered the 16th Army and the Northern Pacific Flotilla to begin the South Sakhalin offensive operation in the morning of the next day and capture South Sakhalin by August 25.
The 16th Army included the 56th Rifle Corps, stationed in Northern Sakhalin, and the 113th Rifle Brigade, which defended the Sovetskaya Gavan area.
The 56th Rifle Corps consisted of the 79th Rifle Division, two separate rifle brigades (2nd and 5th), the 214th tank brigade, two separate machine gun regiments, the howitzer and cannon artillery regiments of the RGK, and a separate machine gun company.
Soviet troops on the streets of the town of Maoka (now the town of Kholmsk) August 1945.
Combat forces of the Northern Pacific Flotilla (STOF) operated jointly with the 16th Army; patrol ship "Zarnitsa", 17 submarines, 9 minesweepers, 49 torpedo boats, 24 patrol boats, two battalions of marines. The flotilla was supported by an aviation division with 106 mixed aircraft.
The defense of South Sakhalin was held by the Japanese 88th Infantry Division, headquartered in Toyohara. The main forces of the enemy were located in the valley of the Poronai River, near the state border. Contrary to the terms of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, which prohibited the construction of any fortifications on the island, the Japanese erected the most powerful engineering structures - the Cotonese fortified area near the state border, 12 km long along the front and up to 30 km deep, consisting of a foreground and two defense lines. The assault on the Koton fortification was a decisive event for the outcome of the entire Yuzhno-Sakhalin operation.
Early in the morning of August 11, Soviet troops crossed the state border at the 50th parallel.
The battle on the heights went on for a week. Assault groups, tanks and artillery smashed the Japanese bunkers and bunkers one after another. Only in the evening of August 19, the remnants of the Japanese garrison (more than 3 thousand soldiers and officers), having laid down their arms, began to surrender.
Amphibious assault forces in the ports of Southern Sakhalin secured the western flank of the 56th Rifle Corps, which was advancing on Toyohara, and prevented the evacuation of Japanese troops to Hokkaido and the removal of material assets. The main role in this was assigned to the ships and units of the marines of the Northern Pacific Flotilla, based in the port of Sovetskaya Gavan.
The landing barge is unloading artillery. 1945 year.
On August 16, the first landing party, numbering up to one and a half thousand people, landed in the port of Toro (Shakhtersk). The battles in the Toro area and in the vicinity of the neighboring town of Esutora (Uglegorsk) continued for almost two days, so stubborn was the resistance of the units of local reservists. On August 18, the small landing operation in Esutora was completed.
On August 20, the second landing of the unit of the 113th separate rifle brigade landed in the port of Maoka (Kholmsk), breaking the desperate resistance of the Japanese. In the next two days, there were battles at Kamyshovy Pass and for railway stations on the Toyohara-Maoka line. An airborne assault was launched at the Konotoro airfield (Kostromskoye). On August 24, Soviet ships with a landing party on board entered the port of Honto (Nevelsk), whose residents greeted them with white flags. The next evening the paratroopers were already in the port of Otomari (Korsakov). A group of Japanese led by the mayor came out to meet them and announced the surrender of the garrison.
In the evening of August 24, 1945, the advance detachment of paratroopers of the 113th separate rifle brigade under the command of Lieutenant Colonel M. N. Tetyushkin entered the city of Toyohara from the Kamyshovy Pass. At this time, the combat units of the 56th Rifle Corps, overcoming the resistance of the Japanese troops defending the Coton fortified area, advanced from the north of the 50th parallel. On August 25, the forward units of the corps entered the administrative center of South Sakhalin - the city of Toyohara. The Yuzhno-Sakhalin operation, carried out by the troops of the 2nd Far Eastern Front and the formations of the ships of the Pacific Fleet, ended. Source…
Apparently, they do not tell us something about the Sakhalin offensive operation. How else to explain the fact that the loss data on both sides is still classified? Why are there so few photographs and film documents about this war? And those that are exhibited in museums are of very low quality. Therefore, we have no choice but to take historians at their word. At least, the timing of the operation unambiguously speaks of its brilliant organization and the unparalleled courage of Soviet soldiers and officers.
The situation on the islands was somewhat different: -
From an article by N. Starikov: “On August 25, a detachment of paratroopers landed on Matua - here they were awaited by the 41st separate mixed regiment, which surrendered in full force - 3795 people. Aside from the topic, I would like to note that recently a landing was again landed on Matua - this time the Russian military came there to build a military base from which in the future it will be possible to control almost all the islands of the Kuril ridge and the straits between them.
Echoes of the war on the Kuril Islands.
On August 28, the landing party landed on Urup, where it accepted the surrender of the Japanese 129th Infantry Brigade. On the same day, 13,500 people from the 89th Infantry Division surrendered on Iturup. On September 1, Kunashir was occupied - from it it was planned to develop an offensive on other islands, including Hokkaido - 1250 people surrendered here. On the same day, the garrison of Shikotan Island surrendered - the 4th Infantry Brigade in the amount of 4,800 people surrendered. By September 4, all the islands of the Kuril ridge were occupied.
Echoes of the war on the Kuril Islands After the battles in Shumshu, the Pacific Fleet suffered no combat losses in the Kuril Islands. In total, 50 442 Japanese soldiers and officers, including 4 generals, were disarmed and captured on the Kuril Islands. The landing on Hokkaido did not take place on the personal order of Joseph Stalin."
Shushmu Island.
So that's it. The Russian soldier once again showed the whole world how to effectively fight against superior enemy forces. It is noteworthy that Stalin stopped the offensive and did not allow the landing on Hokkaido, which means that it was originally planned. It is not known what exactly motivated this decision. After all, then the Matushma Peninsula in the north of Hokkaido would again become Russian, and it would be one huge Soviet military base on Japanese territory.
Echoes of the war on the Kuril Islands.
Judging by the fact that now there are only American military bases in Japan, of which there are no less than a hundred, according to various sources, we can assume that ours did not land on Hokkaido only thanks to the Yankees. Whether they bargained for this, or they had a "lever" to put pressure on the Soviet leadership, we will no longer know. But the fact remains: - We did not go to Japan. And this, too, would be nice to remember the supporters of the "return of Japan, the occupied territories."
Author: kadykchanskiy