Secrets of the Kuril Islands. Matua: the underground "secrets" of an old Korean

The Mystery of Matua Island in the Kuril Islands

The middle and northern Kuriles can be safely called uninhabited. These foggy, volcanic islands are completely deserted. There is not a soul today in Harimkotan, Chirinkotan, Ekarma, Shiashkotan, Matua and Rasshua. And according to the stories of the locals, there is no one further to the south - on the islands of Ushishir, Ketoy and this unique island Simushir. Hundreds of kilometers of the coasts of the Russian islands are completely uninhabited, although we have owned the Kurils since 1945. There are no fishing bases here, so there is no fishing in the adjacent waters.

There is no population here, so there are no hunters, geologists, miners, not even tourists. Even on the air - complete peace. Meanwhile, the Kuril Islands are teeming with animals - both water and land. To scoop and scoop. The Kurils are also rich in history. It can be conditionally divided into 3 stages: early, Japanese and Soviet (Russian).

We more or less know the Soviet and the early ones. But about the Japanese - impossibly little.

Therefore, the most mysterious and unexplored island of the Kuril ridge is still a small island. Matua

Matua Island is relatively small - 11 kilometers long, 6.5 kilometers wide. Height highest point, Sarychev peak (Fuyo volcano), - 1485 meters. The island is located in the central part of the Kuril ridge, therefore, it is significantly removed from the inhabited areas of Sakhalin and Kamchatka. There is no connection with the outside world. Yes, in fact, and there is no need - the island is uninhabited.

The first mention of Matua Island was found by Ivan Kozyrevsky, who was on the northernmost islands of Shumshu and Paramushira in 1711 and 1713 and collected a lot of information about the entire ridge. He called Matua the island of Motogo. Cossack centurion Ivan Cherny, who reached Iturup in 1766-1769, called Matua the island of Mutov.

In his report, he wrote about him:
"Mutova - there is a hill on it, which, according to the announcement of the Kurilians in recent years, burned terribly, and stones were scattered all over the island so that they killed many of the flying birds. The root was all burnt out and covered with stone."

Until the beginning of the 20th century, there was a permanent settlement of the Ainu. On the eve of World War II, the Japanese turned Matua - by the way, the Japanese themselves pronounce its name as Matsua-to - into a powerful fortress, into an unsinkable aircraft carrier that controlled the northwest of the Pacific Ocean. A large airfield with three long runways was located here, allowing aircraft to be lifted in almost any wind direction. The strips were heated by thermal waters, and therefore could be used all year round. There is ample reason to believe that there were some secret Japanese objects on Matua. It is likely that these were laboratories for the development of chemical or bacteriological weapons. Submarines of the Third Reich came here, having made an almost round-the-world voyage. The Americans have repeatedly tried to destroy airfields and island facilities, having lost a dozen aircraft and at least two submarines in battles.

Not only was the island reliably protected by impregnable rocks and high banks, a whole network of various military fortifications was additionally built on it. Both the Japanese themselves and prisoners of war from China had to work hard on their construction. Fearing bombing and shelling from the sea, the Japanese dug deeper and deeper into the ground, and by the summer of 1945 there was no free space on Matua from all kinds of defensive fortifications in the form of ditches, trenches, trenches, dugouts, pillboxes and bunkers, lunettes, underground shelters and whole galleries ... By this time, the island of Matua, like many other Kuril Islands, turned into a real fortress in the middle of the ocean, which was problematic to take. But the Russians were fortunate enough to storm only one island, the northernmost in the Kuril Islands - Shumshu, the rest were taken with less blood, or even without a fight at all. The island-fortress of Matua is in this row. His garrison laid down its arms in front of our troops on August 26-27, 1945. Since then, the island has become Russian, but to this day it continues to keep many Japanese secrets.

The ceremony of surrendering the soldiers of the 41st Independent Infantry Regiment, which was part of the garrison of Matua Island. Japanese Officer - Regiment Commander, Colonel Ueda

After the surrender of Japan on August 14 and before the capture of the island by the Soviet landing force on August 27, 1945, the Japanese had enough time to hide and mothball all the most important and valuable island objects. Surprisingly, judging by the inventory of weapons and equipment captured on the island, the paratroopers did not find a single aircraft, tank or weapon on Matua. For 3811 surrendered Japanese soldiers and officers, only 2127 rifles were available. At the same time, the pilots, sailors and artillerymen disappeared somewhere, and only construction battalions and auxiliary personnel were captured. Compare this with the trophies taken on the Shumshu island, which was suddenly attacked on August 18, where there were more than 60 tanks alone.

Already after the Japanese were evacuated from Matua, and the Soviet military settled in their place, very strange events began to take place on the island: people disappeared, at night light flashed on the slopes of the volcano, and out of nowhere our military got rare trophies. For example, collectible French cognac ...

After the war, the United States really wanted to get Matua for itself, but Truman did not accept Stalin's cunning offer to change him to one of the Aleutian Islands. Why? This will become clear if you find quotes from the correspondence between Stalin and Truman on the surrender of Japan. By prior agreement, the Japanese had to capitulate in the Kuril Islands and the northern part of Hokkaido to the Soviet troops. But Truman "forgot" about this and in his order to General MacArthur stipulated the entire surrender of the Japanese only to American troops. Stalin immediately recalled this, but Truman began to break down and in the end expressed his desire "to have the rights to air bases for land and sea aircraft on one of the Kuril Islands, preferably in the central group." Only Matua was such an island with a ready, beautiful airfield. Stalin, in response, asked for one of the islands of the Aleutian ridge for his base. Since then, there have been no questions of this kind. So, in 1944-45, the Americans surrendered, laid eyes on Matua and, by and large, spared his unique defensive structures.

Little is known about what happened on Matua during the Soviet era. Civilians did not get here and were not allowed, and the military keep their secrets. Apparently, a military unit serving radars was located on the island. Broken-down installations and dumps of electronic equipment from the 60s and 70s are scattered throughout the island.

Until about 2001, a frontier post remained on Matua. Then it burned down, and the border guards who lost their homes were evacuated to the mainland. Now there is no one on the island.

There are no closed bays on Matua. If you look at the island on maps or aerospace photography, it may seem that there is no good shelter for a ship near the island at all. In practice, it is convenient and relatively safe place- this is a strait in the southwestern part of the island, covered from the west by a small island Iwaki (Toporkovy). It was here that the Japanese roadstead was located, the berths were located. The Japanese are reminded of a two-story pillbox on the shore, a beach littered with wreckage of ships and equipment, the remains of a pier and the skeleton of the Royo-maru transport sunk in the strait. Somewhere at the bottom of the strait lie other Japanese transports - Iwaki-maru and Hiburi-maru, torpedoed by the American submarine SS-233 Herring.

Not far from the Kotojärvi parking lot, at low tide, a huge diesel engine appears from the water, overgrown with algae and shells. It is no longer possible to establish the heart of which of the ships that found their end in the strait.

We stayed on Matua for several days, and each trip to the island was accompanied by amazing finds and discoveries. The runways of the airfield are perfectly preserved. The concrete on them is still better than what lies in Sheremetyevo. There are hundreds of rusty fuel barrels around the airfield. Mostly ours, but there are also German ones with the marking Kraftstoff Wehrmaght 200 Ltr. ("Fuel of the Wehrmacht, 200 liters"). On the barrels, the dates from 1939 to 1945 are clearly read. Surprisingly, there are full ones among the German barrels.

Numerous defensive structures are in the public domain: bunkers, pillboxes, caponiers, equipped artillery positions, tens of kilometers of trenches and ditches. The alder thickets are full of iron trash, sometimes the most amazing. You can, for example, stumble upon a cast-iron steam plant that closely resembles a small steam locomotive. Cast-iron and ceramic pipes stick out from the ground in the ditches and on the coastal taluses. What is it? Plumbing, sewerage or parts of the aerodrome heating system?

I walked along the shore - I came across a disguised water station with huge cast-iron mechanisms inside the casemates. Everything is relatively safe. I found a small door in the back wall of another crumbling building. I opened a path behind it, after 200 meters there is a rock in the forest, looked closely - and this is a skillful masonry, behind which there is an entrance to a stone tunnel that goes up the mountain. Unfortunately, it was littered with an explosion at the very beginning. There is a dump nearby. A cast-iron Japanese "potbelly stove" sticks out of the ground, next to it are fragments of ceramics, on which the markings of the Japanese army are read, bottles and bubbles with hieroglyphs, shells, leather shoes ...

Even if you don't try too hard, there are many structures on the island that are not easy to explain. For example, what kind of load could concrete bunkers with meter-long walls, thick steel doors and shutters be like? Barracks, command post, warehouse, bomb shelter? But why then so many windows with a complex system of steel shutters and locks, why a tricky network of air ducts? Maybe laboratories? On the island more than once they found some kind of complex devices with sensors, pressure gauges, centrifuges ... True, these devices were broken and thrown away by the Japanese themselves. Where is the rest? Technique, equipment, outfit, personal belongings of the garrison? What did German submarines bring or take away here? What did the Americans try to destroy or seize, what did ours already find?

Here's what he writes The crew of the catamaran "Kotojärvi" exploring this piece of Kuril sushi for several days:

There are many questions. We were able to get answers to some of them in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, having met with Evgeny Mikhailovich Vereshchaga, the permanent leader of the Kamchatka-Kuril expedition.

We contacted Vereshchaga from Moscow, told about our plans. An experienced Kamchadal looked at the photos of the catamaran and expressed polite bewilderment: Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean is not used. But he did not refuse help - 120 liters of 92nd gasoline were waiting for us on Matua, without which we would have had a hard time. We could also meet at sea. Around the time when "Kotoyarvi" was moving north, the Kamchatka-Kuril expedition with border guards installed Orthodox crosses on the Kuril Islands. At the island of Ushishir, we got in touch with the border whaleboat, but could not approach it because of the stormy sea and thick fog. We met already in Petropavlovsk - in the museum that Evgeny Vereshchaga, Irina Viter and their associates created as a result of the exploration of the Kuril Islands and, first of all, Matua.

- Why Matua, after all, very close to Kamchatka there is Shumshu and Paramushir, larger in size and better famous islands, recaptured from the Japanese in the same 1945?

For a very long time, Matua was completely inaccessible. The opportunity to get there appeared only in 2001, when the outpost burned down and the border guards left. This year we have already had the 14th expedition, but even now the island shows us only one hundredth of its secrets. Although the conclusion is unambiguous: the island was mothballed by the Japanese garrison before surrendering to the Soviet troops.

- Did they have time for this?

On August 18, the Kuril landing operation began. Information about this passed through all the Kurils, naturally, Matua learned about the beginning of hostilities from the USSR. On August 23, the Japanese garrison surrendered in Shumshu and Paramushir. And on August 25, the Matua garrison surrendered, led by the commander, Colonel Ledo. However, from Japanese sources, we know that since February 1945, the Katsu plan has been implemented in Japan, according to which it was necessary to take out from the Kuril Islands everything that is possible, and what cannot be taken out, then mothballed, that is, hidden. Equipment, machinery, raw materials ... The country's leadership took such actions due to the fact that there was a forecast of the imminent surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan's main ally. In February-March 1945, Katsu's plan was put into effect on Matua. Everything that could not be taken out was hidden. And what could not be hidden was destroyed. We found a large amount of burnt equipment, and not just burnt, but burnt and buried 2 meters away. Small parts were burned in barrels at a tremendous temperature. Everything there was caked and melted. They destroyed everything very carefully. But we assume that especially valuable items were well hidden. After all, it is known how in such cases the Japanese acted on the southern islands, in the same Philippines, for example. According to our assumptions, about 10-15 thousand people left the island before the surrender. And those who surrendered were the so-called funeral brigade, which conserved the island and hid everything.

- But in February 1945, and even more so later, it was very difficult for the Japanese to evacuate such a large and complex military facility as Matua Island. Maybe they drowned everything in the ocean?

The divers who participated in the expedition surveyed the shores, including the secret pier. Apart from a few pieces of iron and American shells that fired at the island, there is nothing there.

- Why was this rather small island without a convenient bay so important for the Japanese?

We believe that Matua was built as a powerful reserve base, which was supposed to become a springboard for a possible retreat from northern islands... Shumshu and Paramushir are the edge of the sword aimed at Kamchatka. The structures on these islands are of purely military importance. No exotic, but on Matua we see cobbled roads, curly walls, decorative trim, new technologies ... It can be seen that everything was very comfortable here, the high-quality Japanese lived, there was a rear. As we learn from the interrogations of General Tsumi Fusaki, the commander of the northern group, the Matua garrison did not obey him and was controlled directly from the headquarters in Hokkaido. This speaks of some kind of special status of the island of Matua. Japanese and our mentality are very different; on an island on which it would seem impossible to create naval base, the Japanese built it. Surprise and paradox are their know-how.

- In Germany, work was underway to create a new weapon. In particular, chemical and bacteriological. They probably did the same in Japan. There is a version that secret laboratories were located on Matua. What did your research show?

The Japanese were doing such work. It is known that in Harbin, on the territory of the present-day PRC, Detachment 731 was engaged in the development of chemical and bacteriological weapons. I was there two years ago and saw structures very similar to those on Matua. Of course, we have heard all sorts of scary stories, tales, myths, so we try to observe safety precautions as much as possible. If we find something that can be potentially dangerous, then we never touch it. We mask it so that someone else does not find it, and examine it very carefully.

During the war, the island of Matua and its pilots carried a special, strategic mission to protect the base on the island. Simushir. And if it were not for the surrender of Japan, announced by Emperor Hirohito on August 14 and forcing many Japanese island garrisons to surrender without a fight, it is not known how long our landings would have stormed Matua, how much blood would have been shed on both sides, especially from the attacking side. I think that the use of atomic bombs by the Americans played a significant role in the surrender. Demonstration of overwhelming power, before which even the garrisons of these islands would not have resisted, also did its job.

It seems that the island was a kind of transit, rear base between the islands of the Kuril ridge and Japan. On the island there were reserve supplies of fuel, food, equipment.

- I saw some chemical flasks, other vessels blown out of glass ...

Of course, we also found them. But we did not carry out special excavations. There are safety standards everywhere in the world. If warehouses of hazardous chemicals or bacteria are to be hidden at a depth of 20 meters, it is natural that they are there. In this sense, Matua is safe. Our garrisons were here for 55 years, and nothing bad happened.

- What evidence is there that mothballed objects are hidden inside the island?

We found underground communications, 100-200-300 meters of corridors carved in basalt, finished with wood, inside there are many different rooms, stoves for cooking and heating ... This is the so-called underground city object. And this is only the part of it that we discovered by accident. There was a talus, an entrance was formed, and we were able to get through there. After earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, more and more objects are accidentally discovered. But we only find what was not very disguised.

Take, for example, the island of Iwo Jima, which everyone has probably heard of. Its garrison was 22 thousand people. The Americans stormed it for three months. The operation involved about 200 thousand soldiers, hundreds of ships, it was only bombed for a whole month ... So, Iwo Jima is three times smaller than Matua. And on Matua, when our people arrived there, not a single aircraft, not a single tank, not a single weapon. And the great interest of the United States in this island. All this suggests that the main objects were mothballed by the state resource. I mean Katsu's plan or something similar. Everything was done by specialists, everything was purposefully camouflaged, put into storage, in order to pick it up later, corked up, exploded. It is very difficult to discover with the resource we have that was hidden by the resource of the whole state.

The northern part of Matua Island is mountain range, which is crowned by Sarychev peak (Fuyo volcano). The approaches and slopes are densely overgrown with low-passable alder dwarf trees, fresh slag taluses with a steepness of 60-70 degrees begin above. The volcano is alive: last eruption happened just two years ago.

We continue our conversation with Evgeny Vereshchaga, the leader of the Kamchatka-Kuril expedition, who has been trying to penetrate the secrets of the island for almost 10 years.

What is the uniqueness of the structures on Matua, in particular the airfield? What we have seen is amazing. After 70 years, the coating is absolutely usable. And what was the airfield like under the Japanese?

There were three lanes with asphalt concrete pavement. One - 400 meters, there were four metal hangars on it and taxiing was going on a large strip about 2 kilometers long. Another lane is 1.5 kilometers. The width of the strips is 70 meters, along the edges there are gutters for water flow. Under the cover there are laid pipes. Those who served here say that until 1985 the airfield was heated by thermal waters.

The result is a contradiction: on the one hand, an airfield, and on the other, laboratories. But the very presence of a huge airfield would unmask secret facilities. What is primary after all? Did the aerodrome serve some important infrastructure or were all these structures built to serve the aerodrome?

The Japanese began to explore the island a long time ago. In 1923, the settlement of Matsua-mura was already here. If we imagine that construction began in the 30s, then it was the inner territory of Japan and there was hardly a need to hide the work. And then the war began and the situation changed. In American photographs during the war, the airfield is practically invisible from the air. Everything was covered with camouflage nets. The remains of this disguise have survived to this day. We believe that in addition to the airfield there was some kind of production. Factories, stocks of raw materials ...

It is known that Japanese submarines reached Germany. Barrels of German fuel found on the island may indicate that Germans also came here. After May 1945, many German submarines simply disappeared. Material values, treasures, documents also disappeared. Later, the crew members of these submarines were announced in different parts of the world. You have found underwater quay walls, tunnels. Could the Germans have delivered something to their allies on Matua?

We consider this possibility quite real. Why, for example, was it not possible to take the same Amber Room to one of the distant and inaccessible islands, and even to the allies? A fantastic version, of course. But it has a right to exist. In terms of communication, the island is so developed that you can hide anything on it. There was no information leak at all. Any cargo that was brought in was kept here in complete secrecy, the information could not leave. The Japanese are still silent. The head of the garrison, Colonel Ledo, died in 1985 without leaving any memoirs. Until 2000, the Matua Veteran Society officially existed in Japan. On the island of Iwo Jima, only 200 people were taken prisoner from the 20-thousandth garrison, and even those were wounded. Japanese society does not accept them, considers them outcasts, because they surrendered instead of perishing for the emperor. And on Matua 3811 people surrendered, and society excuses them. Why? So this was their mission.

After Russia removed its outpost from Matua, the island was left unattended. Could, say, the same Japanese have been here at that time to pick up something from the island? Is it possible in principle?

If the Japanese were faced with such a task, then there were opportunities for this. At least Japanese planes in the Matua area have been seized more than once.

Almost all ground-based military facilities have a single connecting underground gallery. Almost everywhere along the upper line of defense there is a narrow-gauge railway, along which trolleys for the centralized supply of ammunition went. Also on the island there are anti-tank ditches, the coastal strip along the entire length - in trenches and anti-personnel obstacles.

All pillboxes are placed in a specific sequence to effectively use crossfire. All pillboxes are in excellent condition, with glass in the armored doors and perfectly preserved decoration on the walls and ceiling (something like fiberboard, only made from a mixture of seaweed and cement).

There are a lot of secrets here, and one of them is the possible work of the Japanese in the Kuril Islands on chemical and bacteriological weapons. Submarines and raiders of the Wehrmacht came to the Kuril Islands, which can be indirectly confirmed even by empty German barrels of those years that are found on Matua.

The airfield is located in such a way that the winds that prevail on Matua (east or south-west) could not interfere with the takeoff or landing of aircraft. If the wind suddenly changes, there is a third strip extending from the first at 145 degrees. Two parallel strips 1570 meters long and 35 meters wide are concreted. Moreover, the quality of concrete is still impressive today: there are practically no cracks on it. It should be noted one very interesting detail that immediately catches the eye: the take-off fields were heated by local thermal water. It was brought along a special concreted ditch (trough) from the deposit, which was located, apparently, somewhere on the slope of the Sarychev volcano. The groove runs between two parallel runways, and pipes are laid under each of these runways - water circulated through them. And so - for the entire length, after which the water went under the third strip, and then unfolded into the return line. Thus, in winter, the Japanese had no problems with snow removal on the runways - they were always clean.

From the foundations of the barracks, preserved near the airfield, one can judge that officers lived here. Each has its own little room, a narrow corridor. Above the foundation there is a preserved chimney and the stove itself, with which the bath was heated. The Japanese bath is a communal pool with stone seats on the sides. We went into it, sat down and rinsed for our pleasure.

The airfield was the real pride of the commander of the island garrison, Colonel Ueda, and all senior officers, although it was he who, being strategic for the Kuriles, like flies, attracted American bombers. They barely bombed other targets on Matua, but the runways were plowed so thoroughly that repairing them took a long time.

This can be seen in the photo from the numerous patches in the concrete. But what the quality of the patches! (Barrels are from our time.)

The Kuril Islands were bombed by pilots of 28 long-range bombers, which were stationed in Alaska. This happened from April 1944 to August 1945, until the USSR declared war on Japan. Mainly B-24 and B-25 aircraft were used. The main purpose of the bombing was to divert part of the Japanese forces, including aviation, from the main attacks of the Americans. I must say that the Americans succeeded: if in 1943 Japan kept a total of 262 aircraft in Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands, then in the summer of 1944 there were already about 500. True, by the spring of 1945, the Japanese had taken almost all aviation from the Kuril Islands, leaving only 18 fighters at Paramushir and 12 naval bombers at Shumshu.

It's the same with people. If before 1943 there were a total of 14-15 thousand people on the Kurils, then at the end of the year there were already 41 thousand, and in 1945 there were 27 thousand left. During the raids on the Kuriles, including the island of Matua, the Americans risked a lot because of the long range. There are different opinions about their use of "bounce" bases, but that's not what I'm talking about. Over Matua alone, 50 American aircraft with crews of several people were shot down. This suggests that the Japanese fought very skillfully and were ready to defend themselves. Yet the Americans bombed the island selectively. Bombs fell mainly on runways and objects such as fuels and lubricants, while other structures were spared.

But since then, the island is full of the remains of rare military equipment, which, fortunately, turned out to be inaccessible to lovers of ferrous metals.

The commandant on the island also had another pride - it was a huge hill with regular rounded outlines, towering above the surroundings and second only to the owner - the Fuyo volcano. But Ueda preferred not to talk about this object, being proud of it silently, silently, because in the hill there was a whole underground city with warehouses, housing, a hospital, and a headquarters. This is a height of 124.8 meters, according to preliminary information, artificially created by the hands of the Japanese - in other words, bulk. Now all the entrances to the hill have been blown up, and only roads and careful stone finishing suggests that there was important object... Moreover, the stones are hewn and carefully fitted to each other. The cement between them glittered like glass.

Interestingly.

3,795 Japanese soldiers and officers surrendered on the island. Trophies totaled 2,127 rifles, 81 light machine guns, 464 heavy machine guns and 98 grenade launchers. Strange, but among the listed trophies taken on Matua, there were no artillery pieces. Why? In general, there are many questions in the history of the landing of our paratroopers on Matua.

Have Japanese garrison on the island of Matua, after the announcement of the surrender of Japan, there was plenty of time to resolve all issues either with the destruction of all the military equipment available there, or very professionally hide it just in case. The only thing that the Japanese could do was to drown the technique and secret equipment in the sea, or hide it underground, blowing up the paths of the approaches to the underground warehouses. Until now, on the island there are disguised units and assemblies of military equipment, strange numbered rods with threads, the purpose of which can only be guessed at. While exploring the island, you can find many things and items belonging to Japanese soldiers.

Imperial Vase Soldier Token

Moteta Hirohito in 10 sen Razor rinse

... In the late 1970s, three border guards disappeared here. Out of curiosity, the sergeant and two privates descended into the Japanese facilities, and no one else saw them. Then they calculated that they were descending into one of the ventilation shafts of the round hill. Then an order was issued strictly forbidding any climbing on Japanese workings. By the way, because of this ban, many border guards who were on urgent duty on the islands did not leave the location of the unit during their entire service.

Laz in which the border guards disappeared

Also on Matua there are bays artificially cut by the Japanese to shelter boats and mini-submarines. Above some of the bays, there are underground shelters in the form of adits. Crews of ships could go there in case of alarm. The ships themselves were in coves under camouflage nets.

After the withdrawal of the Japanese army, a lot of ammunition remained on the island. They were taken to the airfield area, piled up and blown up.

This pillbox is the most famous in Matua. They say that this is the only pillbox not connected by an underground passage to the general underground system of the island. He has no underground exit at all. Therefore, our border guards called it "the death row pillbox."

The solution to the island of Matua is waiting for its explorers. The fact that everything has been preserved there, as the Japanese have left, is a rarity. But, again, the situation with the protection of Russia's maritime borders under Yeltsin's rule was such that foreigners could easily enter and live illegally on the islands for years, and no one could find them. And when found, it was impossible to get them - our ships did not have fuel, on which in those years a handful of rogues made their fabulous fortunes, and the ships could not go to sea. The border guards only gritted their teeth from impotence. In those shameful, damned years, everything could be taken out of the foggy Kuriles, everything. Or maybe they took it out. Who knows…

Matua (Japanese 松輪島, Matsua) is an island in the middle group of the Great ridge of the Kuril Islands. Administratively, it is part of the Severo-Kurilskiy urban district of the Sakhalin region.

Area - 52 km², length from north-west to south-east about 11 km, width 6.4 km. Non-residential settlements of Sarychevo and Gubanovka are located on the island. Have east coast, at a distance of 1.3 km, Toporkovy Island is located (area about 1 km², maximum height 70 m).
The island is active volcano Sarychev, 1446 m high, a small stream Hesupo with potable water. Anchorage in Dvoinaya Bay.
Covered with bushes and elfin trees. In the hollows there are thickets of bush alder. Foxes and small rodents are found. Sea lion rookery. The ringed seal is found in the vicinity. Guillemots, cormorants, gulls nest.
It is separated by the Golovnin Strait from the Raikoke Island located 18 km to the north; the Strait of Hope - from the Rasshua Island, located 28 km south-west.

The mysterious island of Matua.

The middle and northern Kuriles can be safely called uninhabited. These foggy, volcanic islands are completely deserted. There is not a soul today in Harimkotan, Chirinkotan, Ekarma, Shiashkotan, Matua and Rasshua. And according to the stories of the locals, there is no one further to the south - on the islands of Ushishir, Ketoy and this unique island of Simushir. Hundreds of kilometers of the coasts of the Russian islands are completely uninhabited, although we have owned the Kurils since 1945. There are no fishing bases here, so there is no fishing in the adjacent waters.

We more or less know the Soviet and the early ones. But about the Japanese - impossibly little.

Therefore, the most mysterious and unexplored island of the Kuril ridge is still a small island. Matua

Matua Island is relatively small - 11 kilometers long, 6.5 kilometers wide. The height of the highest point, Sarychev Peak (Fuyo Volcano), is 1485 meters. The island is located in the central part of the Kuril ridge, therefore, it is significantly removed from the inhabited areas of Sakhalin and Kamchatka. There is no connection with the outside world. Yes, in fact, and there is no need - the island is uninhabited.

In his report, he wrote about him:
"Mutova - there is a hill on it, which, according to the announcement of the Kuril people, was burning terribly in recent years, and stones were scattered all over the island so that many of the flying birds were killed. The root was all burnt out and covered with stone."

On the eve of World War II, the Japanese turned Matua - by the way, the Japanese themselves pronounce its name as Matsua-to - into a powerful fortress, into an unsinkable aircraft carrier that controlled the northwest of the Pacific Ocean. A large airfield with three long runways was located here, allowing aircraft to be lifted in almost any wind direction. The strips were heated by thermal waters, and therefore could be used all year round. There is ample reason to believe that there were some secret Japanese objects on Matua. It is likely that these were laboratories for the development of chemical or bacteriological weapons. Submarines of the Third Reich came here, having made an almost round-the-world voyage. The Americans have repeatedly tried to destroy airfields and island facilities, having lost a dozen aircraft and at least two submarines in battles.

(This pillbox is the most famous in Matua. They say it is the only pillbox that is not connected by an underground passage to the general underground system of the island. It has no underground exit at all. Therefore, our border guards called it a suicide bunker.)

Not only was the island reliably protected by impregnable rocks and high shores, a whole network of various military fortifications was additionally built on it. Both the Japanese themselves and prisoners of war from China had to work hard on their construction. Fearing bombing and shelling from the sea, the Japanese dug deeper and deeper into the ground, and by the summer of 1945 there was no free space on Matua from all kinds of defensive fortifications in the form of ditches, trenches, trenches, dugouts, pillboxes and bunkers, lunettes, underground shelters and whole galleries ... By this time, the island of Matua, like many other Kuril Islands, turned into a real fortress in the middle of the ocean, which was problematic to take. But the Russians were lucky enough to storm only one island, the northernmost in the Kuril Islands - Shumshu, the rest were taken with less blood, or even without a fight at all. The island-fortress of Matua is in this row. His garrison laid down its arms in front of our troops on August 26-27, 1945. Since then, the island has become Russian, but to this day it continues to keep many Japanese secrets.

(The ceremony of surrendering the soldiers of the 41st Independent Infantry Regiment, which was part of the garrison of Matua Island. Japanese officer - regiment commander, Colonel Ueda.)

Little is known about what happened on Matua during the Soviet era. Civilians did not get here and were not allowed, and the military keep their secrets. Apparently, a military unit serving radars was located on the island. Broken down installations and dumps of electronic equipment from the 60s and 70s are scattered throughout the island.

Until about 2001, a frontier post remained on Matua. Then it burned down, and the border guards who lost their homes were evacuated to the mainland. Now there is no one on the island.

There are no closed bays on Matua. If you look at the island on maps or aerospace photography, it may seem that there is no good shelter for a ship near the island at all. In practice, a convenient and relatively safe place is a strait in the southwestern part of the island, covered from the west by a small island Iwaki (Toporkovy). It was here that the Japanese roadstead was located, the berths were located. The Japanese are reminded of a two-story pillbox on the shore, a beach littered with wreckage of ships and equipment, the remains of a pier and the skeleton of the Royo-maru transport sunk in the strait. Somewhere at the bottom of the strait lie other Japanese transports - Iwaki-maru and Hiburi-maru, torpedoed by the American submarine SS-233 Herring.

This is what the team of the catamaran "Kotoyarvi" writes for several days exploring this piece of Kuril land

We contacted Vereshchaga from Moscow, told about our plans. An experienced Kamchadal looked at the photos of the catamaran and expressed a polite bewilderment: they do not go on this in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean. But he did not refuse help - 120 liters of 92nd gasoline were waiting for us on Matua, without which we would have had a hard time. We could also meet at sea. Around the time when "Kotoyarvi" was moving north, the Kamchatka-Kuril expedition with border guards installed Orthodox crosses on the Kuril Islands. At the island of Ushishir, we got in touch with the border whaleboat, but could not approach it because of the stormy sea and thick fog. We met already in Petropavlovsk - in the museum that Evgeny Vereshchaga, Irina Viter and their associates created as a result of the exploration of the Kuril Islands and, first of all, Matua.

- Why Matua, because very close to Kamchatka there are Shumshu and Paramushir, larger and better known islands, recaptured from the Japanese in the same 1945?

- For a very long time, Matua was completely inaccessible. The opportunity to get there appeared only in 2001, when the outpost burned down and the border guards left. This year we have already had the 14th expedition, but even now the island shows us only one hundredth of its secrets. Although the conclusion is unambiguous: the island was mothballed by the Japanese garrison before surrendering to the Soviet troops.

- Did they have time for this?

- On August 18, the Kuril landing operation began. Information about this passed through all the Kurils, naturally, Matua learned about the beginning of hostilities from the USSR. On August 23, the Japanese garrison surrendered in Shumshu and Paramushir. And on August 25, the Matua garrison surrendered, led by the commander, Colonel Ledo. However, from Japanese sources, we know that since February 1945, the Katsu plan has been implemented in Japan, according to which it was necessary to take out from the Kuril Islands everything that is possible, and what cannot be taken out, then mothballed, that is, hidden. Equipment, machinery, raw materials ... The country's leadership took such actions due to the fact that there was a forecast of the imminent surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan's main ally. In February-March 1945, Katsu's plan was put into effect on Matua. Everything that could not be taken out was hidden. And what could not be hidden was destroyed. We found a large amount of burnt equipment, and not just burnt, but burnt and buried 2 meters away. Small parts were burned in barrels at a tremendous temperature. Everything there was caked and melted. They destroyed everything very carefully. But we assume that especially valuable items were well hidden. After all, it is known how in such cases the Japanese acted on the southern islands, in the same Philippines, for example. According to our assumptions, about 10-15 thousand people left the island before the surrender. And those who surrendered were the so-called funeral brigade, which conserved the island and hid everything.

- The divers who participated in the expedition surveyed the shores, including the secret pier. Apart from a few pieces of iron and American shells that fired at the island, there is nothing there.

- Why was this rather small island without a convenient bay so important for the Japanese?

- We believe that Matua was built as a powerful reserve base, which was supposed to become a springboard for a possible retreat from the northern islands. Shumshu and Paramushir are the edge of the sword aimed at Kamchatka. The structures on these islands are of purely military importance. No exotic, but on Matua we see cobbled roads, curly walls, decorative trim, new technologies ... It can be seen that everything was very comfortable here, the high-quality Japanese lived, there was a rear. As we learn from the interrogations of General Tsumi Fusaki, the commander of the northern group, the Matua garrison did not obey him and was controlled directly from the headquarters in Hokkaido. This speaks of some kind of special status of the island of Matua. Japanese and our mentality are very different; on an island on which it would seem impossible to create a naval base, the Japanese built it. Surprise and paradox are their know-how.

- The Japanese were doing such work. It is known that in Harbin, on the territory of the present-day PRC, Detachment 731 was engaged in the development of chemical and bacteriological weapons. I was there two years ago and saw structures very similar to those on Matua. Of course, we have heard all sorts of scary stories, tales, myths, so we try to observe safety precautions as much as possible. If we find something that can be potentially dangerous, then we never touch it. We mask it so that someone else does not find it, and examine it very carefully.

- I saw some chemical flasks, other vessels blown out of glass ...

- Of course, we found them too. But we did not carry out special excavations. There are safety standards everywhere in the world. If warehouses of hazardous chemicals or bacteria are to be hidden at a depth of 20 meters, it is natural that they are there. In this sense, Matua is safe. Our garrisons were here for 55 years, and nothing bad happened.

- What evidence is there that mothballed objects are hidden inside the island?

“We found underground utilities, 100–200–300 meters of corridors carved in basalt, finished with wood, inside there are many different rooms, stoves for cooking and heating ... This is the so-called underground city object. And this is only the part of it that we discovered by accident. There was a talus, an entrance was formed, and we were able to get through there. After earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, more and more objects are accidentally discovered. But we only find what was not very disguised.

The northern part of Matua Island is occupied by a mountain range, which is crowned by Sarychev Peak (Fuyo volcano). The approaches and slopes are densely overgrown with low-passable alder dwarf trees, fresh slag taluses with a steepness of 60-70 degrees begin above. The volcano is alive: the last eruption took place just two years ago.

We continue our conversation with Evgeny Vereshchaga, the leader of the Kamchatka-Kuril expedition, who has been trying to penetrate the secrets of the island for almost 10 years.

- What is the uniqueness of the structures on Matua, in particular the airfield? What we have seen is amazing. After 70 years, the coating is absolutely usable. And what was the airfield like under the Japanese?

- There were three lanes with asphalt concrete pavement. One - 400 meters, there were four metal hangars on it and taxiing was going on a large strip about 2 kilometers long. Another lane is 1.5 kilometers. The width of the strips is 70 meters, along the edges there are gutters for water flow. Under the cover there are laid pipes. Those who served here say that until 1985 the airfield was heated by thermal waters.

- It turns out a contradiction: on the one hand, an airfield, and on the other, laboratories. But the very presence of a huge airfield would unmask secret facilities. What is primary after all? Did the aerodrome serve some important infrastructure or were all these structures built to serve the aerodrome?

- The Japanese began to explore the island a long time ago. In 1923, the settlement of Matsua-mura was already here. If we imagine that construction began in the 30s, then it was the inner territory of Japan and there was hardly a need to hide the work. And then the war began and the situation changed. In American photographs during the war, the airfield is practically invisible from the air. Everything was covered with camouflage nets. The remains of this disguise have survived to this day. We believe that in addition to the airfield there was some kind of production. Factories, stocks of raw materials ...

- It is known that Japanese submarines reached Germany. Barrels of German fuel found on the island may indicate that Germans also came here. After May 1945, many German submarines simply disappeared. Material values, treasures, documents also disappeared. Later, the crew members of these submarines were announced in different parts of the world. You have found underwater quay walls, tunnels. Could the Germans have delivered something to their allies on Matua?

- We consider this possibility quite real. Why, for example, was it not possible to take the same Amber Room to one of the distant and inaccessible islands, and even to the allies? A fantastic version, of course. But it has a right to exist. In terms of communication, the island is so developed that you can hide anything on it. There was no information leak at all. Any cargo that was brought in was kept here in complete secrecy, the information could not leave. The Japanese are still silent. The head of the garrison, Colonel Ledo, died in 1985 without leaving any memoirs. Until 2000, the Matua Veteran Society officially existed in Japan. On the island of Iwo Jima, only 200 people were taken prisoner from the 20-thousandth garrison, and even those were wounded. Japanese society does not accept them, considers them outcasts, because they surrendered instead of perishing for the emperor. And on Matua 3811 people surrendered, and society excuses them. Why? So this was their mission.

- After Russia removed its outpost from Matua, the island was left unattended. Could, say, the same Japanese have been here at that time to pick up something from the island? Is it possible in principle?

- If the Japanese were faced with such a task, then there were opportunities for this. At least Japanese planes in the Matua area have been seized more than once.

(Barrels are from our time.)

Interestingly.

The Japanese garrison on the island of Matua, after the announcement of the surrender of Japan, had enough time to resolve all issues either with the destruction of all the military equipment available there, or very professionally hide it just in case. The only thing that the Japanese could do was to drown the technique and secret equipment in the sea, or hide it underground, blowing up the paths of the approaches to the underground warehouses. To this day, there are disguised units and assemblies of military equipment on the island, strange number rods with carvings, the purpose of which can only be guessed at. Exploring the island, you can find many things and objects belonging to Japanese soldiers.

After the withdrawal of the Japanese army, a lot of ammunition remained on the island. They were taken to the airfield area, piled up and blown up.

The solution to the island of Matua is waiting for its explorers. The fact that everything has been preserved there, as the Japanese have left, is a rarity. But, again, the situation with the protection of Russia's maritime borders under Yeltsin's rule was such that foreigners could easily enter and live illegally on the islands for years, and no one could find them. And upon discovery, it was impossible to get them - our ships did not have fuel, on which in those years a handful of rogues made their fabulous fortunes, and the ships could not go to sea. The border guards only gritted their teeth from impotence. In those shameful, damned years, everything could be taken out of the foggy Kuriles, everything. Or maybe they took it out. Who knows…

Matua is one of the few uninhabited islands included in the Great Ridge of the Kuriles. But it is he, this small piece of land, that conceals so many secrets that they would be enough for all the Kuril Islands. According to one of the versions, translated from the Ainu language, Matua means "hell's mouth".

A little more than half a century ago, life was raging here, and not only on the ground, but also underground. Today the island of Matua is completely deserted. There are no hunters, geologists, miners, no tourists, and even there is complete silence on the air. At the mouth of the only river Khesupo on the island, the Ainu tribe in the amount of two hundred people once lived.

In 1885, the Japanese resettled all the Ainu from the Kuriles to the island of Shikotan. Today, nothing reminds of the aborigines, but every piece of land informs about the Japanese occupying the island. Having evicted the Ainu, the inhabitants of the Country rising sun placed a guard post, a meteorological station, a station for the protection of seals, a fishing station, and a polar fox receiver on Matua. And that was just the beginning.

Over time, the descendants of the samurai decided to transfer the 41st separate regiment of the Japanese army to Matua. Despite the fact that the island was reliably protected by impregnable rocks and high shores, the new owners erected a whole network of fortifications on the island. As work force used either Chinese prisoners of war, or Koreans, or both.

There is not a single burial site on the island. The question arises: did not people die? The climate there is harsh, and the Japanese hardly stood on ceremony with the prisoners. Maybe the bodies were taken away from here and buried in another place or thrown into the sea? The latest version looks the most plausible. Whatever it was, but the Japanese still do not betray this secret, as, indeed, the rest.

By the end of the war, Matua turned into an impregnable fortress in the middle of the ocean, which was problematic to take. It looked like an anthill - it was so dug by underground passages, galleries, trenches, dugouts, anti-tank and anti-personnel trenches, artillery and machine-gun pillboxes.

These underground corridors, sometimes two- and even three-story, constantly twisted, forming dead ends and labyrinths. Above-ground structures, no less winding, were interconnected by a single underground gallery. That is, being at one end of the island, one could quite safely get to the other via an underground passage.

However, there is only one pillbox on Matua that is not connected by an underground passage to the general underground system of the island. He has no underground exit at all. That is why our border guards called it “the death row pillbox”.

Almost everywhere along the upper line of defense there was a narrow-gauge railway, along which trolleys for the centralized supply of ammunition went. All pillboxes were positioned in a specific sequence to effectively use the crossfire.

Until now, the pillboxes are in excellent condition, despite the fact that the Japanese have not been observed here since 1945. Needless to say, military engineers did not receive their yen for their pretty eyes.

Of particular interest is the way the Japanese arranged their life on the island. Each officer in a separate barracks was assigned his own small room with a narrow corridor. The rooms were heated by stoves, and several stoves heated the bathhouse. The steam room had a small pool with stone seats on the sides, the water in which, apparently, was constantly heated.

Another attraction of Matua is a huge hill, artificially created by the hands of the Japanese, with regular rounded outlines, almost 125 meters high, towering above the surroundings and second only to the owner of the island - Fuyo volcano, or Sarychev peak.

A whole complex of structures was located in the hill: barracks for soldiers, a hospital, headquarters, warehouses, and so on. And here the builders showed what they were capable of: all the stones were carefully hewn and perfectly fitted to each other.

However, the buildings cannot be compared with the airfield. This is just a masterpiece of military engineering art, it is not for nothing that the Japanese were so proud of it. Two parallel strips, 1,570 meters long and 35 meters wide, were covered with excellent concrete.

The quality of concrete can be judged at least by the fact that it has been preserved in its best form to this day and there are practically no cracks on it. The airfield is located in such a way that the winds that prevail on Matua could not interfere with the takeoff or landing of aircraft.

But the most striking thing is that the take-off field is heated. Water was supplied to the strips from local thermal springs, gushing on the slope of the volcano, through a special concreted ditch, which has the same high fever all year round.

The gutters ran between two parallel runways, and pipes were laid under each of them. According to them hot water and circulated the entire length of the strips, after which it went into the third strip, then turned around and walked back.

As a result, the airfield was in full combat readiness all year round, even in the most severe frosts and snowstorms. It did not need to be cleaned of any ice or snow. The Americans have repeatedly tried to destroy the airfield and island facilities, having lost a dozen aircraft and at least two submarines in battles.

There is ample reason to believe that there were some secret Japanese objects on Matua. It is likely that these were laboratories for the development of chemical or bacteriological weapons.

Submarines of the Third Reich came here, having made an almost round-the-world voyage, which is indirectly confirmed by empty German barrels of those years with the marking Kraftstoff Wehrmaght 200 Ltr. ("Fuel of the Wehrmacht, 200 liters").

In August 1945, after the surrender of Japan, power in Matua changed once again. The Japanese made sure to hide their secrets from the Russians. There was plenty of time to destroy all the military property available there or scrupulously hide it until better times.

Not a single aircraft, tank or gun was found on the island. For 3,811 surrendered Japanese soldiers and officers, only 2,127 rifles were available. At the same time, the pilots, sailors and artillerymen disappeared somewhere, and only construction battalions and auxiliary personnel were captured. Perhaps it was the so-called funeral brigade that conserved the island and hid everything.

It is believed that the Japanese drowned equipment and secret equipment in the sea, or hid it underground, blowing up the paths of approaches to underground warehouses. Until now, on the island there are disguised units and assemblies of military equipment, strange numbered rods with threads, the purpose of which can only be guessed at.

In 1946, the island was already under the Soviet flag. There was a border outpost and a military unit, apparently serving the radars. Broken down installations and dumps of electronic equipment from the 1960s and 70s are scattered throughout the island.

In the southeastern part of the island there were two settlements- Sarychevo and Gubanovka. In 1952, sixteen border guards were killed by an avalanche during an earthquake on Matua.

In the late 1970s, three border guards disappeared there. The sergeant and two ordinary soldiers, out of curiosity, went down into one of the ventilation shafts of the round hill, and no one else saw them.

In 2000, the border post burned down, and the border guards left the island forever. Since then, it has remained abandoned, and only birds and animals rule this piece of land. It seems that the spirit of Matua, about which the Ainu kept repeating, does not allow anyone to take root on this island.

Matua is a small island located in the very center of the Kuril ridge. During the Great Patriotic War, the Japanese turned it into an impregnable fortress, planning to use it as a springboard in case of war with the USSR.

The Russian Defense Ministry is taking unprecedented measures to develop military infrastructure in Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. An expedition of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Russian Geographical Society (RGO) has begun engineering work on the study of fortifications on the Kuril island of Matua. This was announced by the head of the press service of the Eastern Military District, Colonel Alexander Gordeev. "On the slopes of the hills and at the foot of the Sarychev volcano, the liberation of porches (underground corridors for communication between fortifications, fortress forts or strongholds of fortified areas) and warehouses from rubble has begun," - Gordeev said. -Five groups of search engines "carry out earthworks using a bulldozer, excavator and other special equipment."
According to the participants of the military-historical expedition, conducting scientific research will help to find answers to many questions and “dispel the aura of the mystery of Matua Island”. Before the start of work, air samples are taken in each fortification, which are carefully analyzed in the laboratory for the presence of toxic substances. Until the end of World War II, Japan was actively exploring these islands, including the mysterious island of Matua, located in the center of the Kuril ridge. On this island, Japan mined some valuable minerals. After the end of World War II, Truman even turned to Stalin with a request to transfer the island of Matua to the United States. The island was not given away, but we ourselves do not use its dungeons for some reason. During the Second World War, the allied aviation, bombing everything that belonged to Japan in the Pacific Ocean, bypassed Magua. And when the war ended, President Truman turned to Stalin with an unexpected request to provide the United States with only one of the islands in the center of the Kuril Islands occupied by Soviet troops. With what small island ok Matua attracted the president of America so much? Matua is a small island located in the very center of the Kuril ridge. During the Great Patriotic War, the Japanese turned it into an impregnable fortress, planning to use it as a springboard in case of war with the USSR. The war really began, but in 1945 3811 Japanese soldiers and officers “valiantly” surrendered to 40 Soviet border guards.
The island, which went to the USSR, was dug up and down with ditches, trenches and artificial caves. Numerous pillboxes and hangars were built conscientiously. The entire coast of Matua along the perimeter was surrounded by a dense ring of pillboxes, laid out of stone or hollowed out in the rock. They were made so soundly that members of amateur expeditions, who have been studying the island for many years, argue that even today the pillboxes could be used for their intended purpose. Moreover, their device was not limited only to preparing a point for firing. Each such position had an extensive network underground passages, also carved into the rock. The airfield of the island was even more carefully constructed. It is located so well and is made so technically competent that aircraft could take off and land in winds of any strength and direction. Japanese engineers have provided for an "anti-snow" design. Pipes were laid under the concrete pavement, which received hot water from thermal springs. So icing runway Japanese pilots were not threatened, and planes could take off and land in winter and summer. In one of the coastal rocks, the hardworking Japanese cut down a huge cave where a submarine could easily hide. Nearby was the underground headquarters of the garrison command, disguised in one of the surrounding hills. Its walls were neatly lined with stone, there is a swimming pool and an underground bath nearby.
One of the secrets of the island is the disappearance of all military equipment without a trace. Despite careful searches that have been going on since 1945, nothing has been found on the island. Moreover, there is an amazing, downright mystical pattern - people who tried to search, died in fires, which often happened on the island, fell into avalanches. In the late 1990s, as a result of an accident, the deputy head of the border post, who led these searches, died. ... And when they tried to restore the destroyed communications, the volcano in the center of the island suddenly woke up. The eruption took place with such force that huge blocks flying out of the vent knocked down birds that soared hundreds of meters from the crater! Here is an opinion about unsolved mysteries the island of Matua, researcher and enthusiast Yevgeny Vereshchagi: “There is an extraordinary hill on Matua with a height of more than 120 meters and 500 meters in diameter. Nature does not like such regular forms. This involuntarily suggests that this whole hulk was made by human hands. This is an artificial hill that served as a disguised hangar for aircraft. A very wide man-made depression overgrown with trees and bushes stands out on its slope. Probably, there was a hangar gate, which was first blown up and then covered with the ash of an erupting volcano. In addition, hundreds of rusty fuel barrels are scattered on the island - mostly German, and absolutely intact and with fuel from the times of the Nazi Third Reich. In translation, the marking on them reads "Fuel of the Wehrmacht, 200 liters." And the dates - 1939, 1943 - up to the victorious 1945. Earth, Hitler's allied submarines moored at Matua and delivered cargo !?
By the way, about the volcano. Questions where has disappeared military equipment, which, judging by the underground structures, was literally stuffed with the island-fortress, there were many. One of the members of the amateur expeditions made a seemingly incredible assumption: “Perhaps the Japanese threw all their ammunition into the mouth of the volcano, and then blew it up, causing a powerful eruption. This version, at first glance, sounds like science fiction. But a road was laid up the cone of the volcano, where, even after decades, traces of tracked vehicles can be discerned. We can only guess what the Japanese drove along it. "

But all these striking grandiose structures are only the outer, visible part of the Japanese secret underground fortress. More than half a century has passed since the end of World War II, but no one has succeeded in unraveling the secrets of the dungeons. Japanese, referring to the secrecy of this information, stubbornly refused to answer the requests of first Soviet and then Russian researchers of Matua Island. It was also not possible to understand the strange interest in the island of the American president. What is hidden in the depths of the Kuril island? But what if the death of the island's military explorers, the untimely awakened volcano, and the American president's interest in Matua, and the Japanese refusal to provide materials are not an accidental chain of events? Perhaps, in the secret, not yet found dungeons of the island-fortress, there is not rusted military equipment that is not needed by anyone today, but secret laboratories that developed secret weapons that were never used during the war? At dawn on August 12, 1945, three days before Japan's declaration of surrender, a deafening explosion sounded in the Sea of Japan, not far from the Korean Peninsula. A fireball with a diameter of about 1000 meters rose into the sky. A giant mushroom cloud appeared after him. According to the American expert Charles Stone, the first and last atomic bomb in Japan was detonated here, and the power of the explosion was about the same as that of the American bombs detonated a few days earlier over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Ch. Stone's statement that during the Second World War Japan worked on the atomic bomb and achieved success was greeted with great doubts by many US scientists. The military historian John Dower was more cautious about this information. According to this famous scientist, it is impossible to completely exclude the possibility that at dawn on August 12, 1945, the first and last atomic bomb of Japan was detonated in the Sea of Japan off the coast of Korea. This is evidenced by the huge secret military Hinnam complex, located on the territory of the modern DPRK. It was powerful enough and equipped with everything necessary for the production of an atomic bomb. The plausibility of Charles Stone's unexpected hypothesis is confirmed by the research of the former American intelligence officer Theodore McNally. At the end of World War II, he served in the analytical intelligence of the headquarters of the Allied commander in Pacific General MacArthur.
In his article, McNally writes that American intelligence had reliable information about a large Japanese nuclear center in the Korean city of Heungnam, but kept information about this object a secret from the USSR. Moreover, on the morning of August 14, 1945, American aircraft brought air samples taken over the Sea of Japan near east coast Korean Peninsula. The processing of the received samples gave stunning results. She testified that in the aforementioned area Sea of Japan an unknown nuclear device exploded on the night of August 12-13! underground city On the island-fortress, the development of the most terrible weapon of the 20th century - nuclear, was really going on, this gives an answer to many questions that baffle the organizers of amateur research expeditions: Why did President Truman, referring to Stalin, ask to transfer Matua Island to the United States? World War II, the Americans began to prepare for an armed conflict with the USSR. After the declassification of materials about the Second World War, a folder was found in the British archives with the inscription "Unthinkable Operation". Indeed, no one could have thought of such an operation! The date on the document is May 22, 1945. Consequently, the development of the operation was started even before the end of the war. The document described in the most detailed way a plan ... for a massive strike on Soviet troops!
The main bargaining chip in a military confrontation could be nuclear weapons, available only to the United States. Soviet tank divisions that passed the Second world war, were located in the center of Europe. If Stalin had received, in addition to his superiority in the ground forces, nuclear weapons created by Japanese scientists, then in the event of a military clash the outcome of the war would have been a foregone conclusion and Europe would have become completely socialist. Soviet and then Russian explorers of Matua Island, but what should they do?
If an underground secret center was discovered on the island of Matua, in which nuclear weapons were developed, and not only was developed, but also the technology for their manufacture was brought to practical implementation, then this would lead to a reassessment of the events of World War II. The atomic bombing of Japanese cities would have been justified: American pilots were simply ahead of the future atomic raids of the Japanese. Demands for the return of the Southern Kuriles could be seen as a desire to continue work on the creation of secret weapons, which stopped as a result of the defeat of Japan. mysterious island, Pacific fleet Russia launched an unprecedented survey.