The most mysterious island of the Kuril ridge. Underground Japanese city at the end of the world: what other secrets hide in the hills of the island of Matua (12 photos)
Recently, the mention of the small island of Matua in the Kuril chain has become frequent not only in Russian, but also in foreign media. So why is this "mysterious island" so famous?
"Matua" in translation from the Ainu language means "Little burning bays." This island is located in the middle part of the Kuril chain between the islands of Raikoke and Rasshua.
Recall that in early May, a scientific expedition left for the most little-studied Kuril island of Matua, which included six (!!!) warships of the Pacific Fleet, on board of which more than two hundred people - scientists and specialists equipped with heavy equipment, underground search tools, various materials and equipment.
The expedition was not organized by social activists or semi-underground treasure seekers, which happened more than once, but for the first time jointly by the Russian Geographical Society (RGO) and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation itself. We also recall that General of the Army Sergei Shoigu is not only the Minister of Defense Russian Federation, but plus the president of the Russian Geographical Society. Agree, this leads to certain thoughts.
“There are a lot of mysteries, a lot of interesting things, the island is mysterious,” the President of the Russian Geographical Society and the Minister of Defense said in parting words to the expedition participants, noting that there are many fortifications, mines, grottoes, runways, a road leading to the volcano on Matua ... He did not hide that the expedition - speleologists, researchers underwater worlds, military experts.
“And there are many different mysteries in the military part. To this day, no one can answer where the huge amount of equipment and ammunition that were prepared to repel the Soviet troops went. And where did two-thirds of the garrison that was on this island disappear, ”Sergey Kuzhugetovich recalled.
Such a degree of awareness of the highest official of the Russian military department indicates that the situation has been studied and the decision to reconnoiter has been made.
Yes, and the expedition is headed by the Deputy Commander of the Pacific Fleet (Pacific Fleet), Vice Admiral Andrey Ryabukhin. And this is a direct target designation for "reconnaissance in combat terrain."
The commander of the Eastern Military District (VVO), Colonel General Sergei Surovikin, completely opened the curtain of secrecy: “The Russian military is considering the possibility of basing the forces of the Pacific Fleet (Pacific Fleet) on the island of Matua in the Kuril ridge,” he said.
1. Matua Island is one of the geological and historical gems of the Kuril chain. The island is elongated meridionally in the form of an oval, convex to the east, slightly concave to the west. Length from northwest to southeast about 11 km, width 6.4 km, area 52 km2.
Most of the island is occupied by conical active volcano Fuyo (Sarychev Peak) 1485 m high, constantly smoking and at times ejecting lava flows flowing down from the crater along the northeastern slope.
The volcano got its name in honor of the honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy, Admiral G.A. Sarychev. This polar explorer was the first to most accurately establish the position Matua islands.
Towards the shore they take the form of hills and, descending more and more, pass into a flat sandy coast with two capes; the continuation of the latter are underwater reefs up to 1.8 km long.
The slopes of Mount Fuyo are dissected by hollows, but for the most part they are covered with stone placers, especially thick at the sole.
Approximately one third of the foot of the volcano is occupied by undersized shrubs. Their dwarf growth, no more than a meter, they obviously compensate for their extraordinary density. The thickets are so thick that you can't get through.
In the highlands, a strip of alpine meadows begins. And even higher - unstable slag and stones. At the top, hydrosolfators plentifully throw jets of water vapor into the air.
The crater, from which sulfurous gases hiss and roar, is filled to the brim with lava. On the southeastern side, its walls rise 40 m above its boiling interior. On the eastern side, they almost disappear, and in the west they are almost equal to the level of the volcanic funnel.
There is a version that on this side part of the crater was specially blown up by the Japanese so that during the eruption the lava would flow into the Sea of Okhotsk. Since 1760, at least a dozen volcanic eruptions have been known.
Thus, in 1946, volcanic bombs were thrown out by an explosive wave of terrifying force through the Dvoynaya Strait (1.6 km) onto Toporkovy Island. The ash from the eruption reached as far as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky itself. Hot avalanches that year flowed into the bays, forming three new capes.
On the other side of the island, a giant tsunami wave that penetrated deep into the gentle coast of Ainu Bay brought and piled up huge tree trunks, washed away a layer of soil and opened the entrances to old half-flooded adits. Similar structures are pierced in the rocks throughout the island.
Most southern cape Matua Island is called Yurlov after the skipper, who was part of the Second Kamchatka Expedition and wintered on the island in 1756-1757. True, a typo crept into the maps, and now this place is often called Cape Orlov.
There are no completely closed bays on Matua. If you look at the island on maps or aerial 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 There is. This is the strait in the southwestern part of the island, covered from the west by the small island of Ivaki (Toporkovy). It was here that the Japanese raid was located, the berths were located.
Approaches to the islands from the sea are safe everywhere up to 0.18 km from the coast. Anchorages - in two bays.
Ainu Bay (Ainu, Ainuwan) is located in the southwest of the island and serves as a refuge for a few ships in calm and easterly winds. Depth 14-25 m; sandy soil. Landing is convenient on the sandy shore near the mouth of the Khesupo River.
Yamato Bay (Yamoto). Located between the islands of Matsuwa and Iwaki. The best of all the bays of the ridge. It is divided into two parts by a bridge connecting the islands. You can go from one bay to another along a hollow near about. Iwaki, 9 m deep.
The soil in both parts of the bay is sandy. Depending on the winds, you can use the northern or southern parts of the bay
Despite the proximity of a very restless and formidable volcanic "neighbor", the Ainu from time immemorial equipped their dwellings on Matua, which were located on the banks of the only fresh stream. The last Ainu families were resettled by the Japanese in Shikotan at the beginning of the 20th century.
After the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, according to the Treaty of Portsum, the Kuril Islands and half of Sakhalin were ceded to Japan. The Japanese have long laid eyes on the island of Matua because of its successful middle - geographical location, not a foggy climate and the convenience of anchoring ships of various types.
They equipped fishing camps, a fur farm and a marine reserve on Matua. Then a guard post, a weather station, a Shinto shrine were built here.
Fortification surprises, military secrets and political mysteries of the island of Matua
During the years of the Great Patriotic War The Japanese turned Matua into a naval fortress - a miracle of fortification art.
The entire coast of the island along the perimeter was cordoned off by a dense ring of pillboxes made 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, claim that 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 of underground passages, also carved into the rock.
In one of the coastal cliffs, numerous Chinese and Korean prisoners of war cut down a huge cave where a submarine could easily hide. Nearby was the underground residence of the garrison command, disguised in one of the surrounding hills. Its walls were carefully lined with stone, nearby there is a pool and an underground bathhouse.
The island's airfield was built even more carefully.
It is located so well and made so technically competently that aircraft could take off and land in wind of any strength and direction along three (!!!) runways (runways) up to 85 meters wide and up to 1850 m long.
Japanese engineers also provided for an "anti-icing" design. Pipes were laid under the concrete pavement, into which hot water flowed from thermal springs. So the icing of the runway did not threaten the Japanese pilots, and the planes could take off and land both in winter and in summer.
Most of the fortification works are carefully disguised and still are. Here is a private opinion of enthusiastic researcher Yevgeny Vereshchaga: “There is an unusual hill on Matua, more than 120 meters high and 500 meters in diameter. Nature does not like such regular shapes. This involuntarily suggests that all this whopper was made by human hands.
This is an artificial hill that served as a camouflaged aircraft hangar. A very wide man-made depression, overgrown with trees and shrubs, clearly stands out on its slope. Probably, here was the gate to the hangar, which was first blown up, and then covered with ash from an erupting volcano.
But even these conspicuous or disguised grandiose structures are only the external, visible part of the Japanese secret underground fortress. More than 70 years have passed since the end of World War II, but no one has managed to unravel the secrets of the dungeons.
The Japanese, referring to the secrecy of this information, stubbornly did not respond to requests from first Soviet and then Russian researchers of the island of Matua.
According to its fortification data, the naval Matua fortress theoretically and practically impregnable. Take the word of the author - a fortification officer by military education.
However, on August 26, 1945, 3,795 Japanese soldiers and officers "valiantly" surrendered to 40 Soviet border guards.
But the trophies amounted to only 2127 rifles, 81 light machine guns, 464 heavy machine guns and 98 grenade launchers, which is clearly "not a lot". In addition, among the listed trophies taken on Matua, there were no artillery pieces, anti-aircraft guns and tanks.
Why? Where are the food, stocks of uniforms and means of communication of the garrison. And where did about 10,000 Chinese and Korean prisoners of war disappear to?
In fact, there are many questions in the history of the landing of Soviet troops on Matua. One of the participants in amateur expeditions made a seemingly incredible assumption: "Perhaps the Japanese threw all their ammunition and prisoners into the mouth of the volcano, and then blew it up, causing a powerful eruption."
This version, at first glance, sounds like a fantasy. But a road has been laid up the cone of the volcano, where traces of caterpillar vehicles can be discerned even decades later. One can only guess what the Japanese carried along it.
And is there more. At the Potsdam Conference in 1945, US President Harry Truman, out of nowhere, turned to Stalin with an unexpected request to provide the United States with only one of the islands in the center of the Kuriles, which should be occupied by Soviet troops - Matua.
“For friends, nothing is a pity!” - answered the generallisimo. But as an "allaverda" he asked for one of the Aleutian Islands.
With what small island Matua so attracted the President of America? The answer to this, perhaps, should be sought in the secrets of the development and mastery of nuclear weapons by the United States, the USSR, Germany and Japan. Yes, and Japan.
At dawn on August 12, 1945, three days before Japan announced its 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. It was followed by a giant mushroom cloud.
According to the American expert Charles Stone, Japan's first and last atomic bomb was detonated here, and the explosion power was about the same as that of the American bombs detonated a few days earlier over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The plausibility of Ch. 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 commander of the Allied forces on pacific ocean General MacArthur.
In his article, McNally writes that American intelligence had reliable data on the development of nuclear weapons by the Japanese on one of the islands of the Kuril chain (Matua?) and on a large Japanese nuclear center in the Korean city of Hynam, but kept information about these objects secret from the USSR.
Moreover, on the morning of August 14, 1945, American aircraft brought to their airfields air samples taken over the Sea of Japan near the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. The processing of the obtained samples gave stunning results. She testified that in the aforementioned area Sea of Japan on the night of August 12-13, an unknown nuclear device exploded!
If we assume that in underground city on the island-fortress of Matua, 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.
Maybe the interest of the American president in Matua, and the volcano that woke up at the wrong time, and the refusal of the Japanese to provide materials are not a random chain of events? And maybe, in the secret, not yet found dungeons of the island-fortress, not only a rusted and useless military equipment, and secret laboratories that developed secret weapons that were never used during the war?
Say - fiction. Then I ask you to pay attention to the latest facts. The aforementioned expedition had no time to set off for the Great Kuril Ridge, when the Prime Minister of Japan suddenly hurried to set off ...
Not to Washington at all, but to Sochi, to Russian President Vladimir Putin, ignoring the insistent recommendations of his "big brother" - the President of the United States - to refrain from such a step. The details of this high meeting remained "a mystery with seven seals." I do not think that this is a coincidence of facts and events. Other than that, time will tell.
Better late than never
The answer to the surprises, mysteries and mysteries of the island of Matua still waited for their researchers. Ships of the Pacific Fleet are taking part in today's expedition - the large landing ship "Admiral Nevelskoy" and the killer ship KIL-168.
On board are representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Eastern Military District and the Pacific Fleet, as well as the Russian Geographical Society, Moscow experts in the field of soil science, geomorphology, paleogeography and other sciences.
“The Japanese created an impressive number of antiamphibious defense facilities on Matua, erected numerous long-term firing points,” said Igor Samarin, one of the expedition members. - Our task is to find them, describe them, put them on a map. I have been to Matua twice already, doing this work. But there are still so many unexplored objects, not enough for one such expedition.
In addition to scientific tasks, the military leadership is considering the possibility of promising deployment of the Pacific Fleet forces there. In the meantime, all the infrastructure necessary to ensure the life of the expedition members has been deployed on the island.
A field camp has already been equipped by the military forces of the Air Defense Forces on Matua, water and electricity supplies have been organized, a communications center and a logistics center have been created. One of the tasks that was announced was the assessment of the state of the local airfield.
The expedition settles on about. Matua, May 2016...
The headquarters of the Eastern Military District (VVO) note that the runways of the airfield are well preserved. “Their favorable location, taking into account the wind rose and the local climate in those years, ensured the landing and take-off of aircraft at any time,” the press service of the BVO informed.
"In time, the airfield on the island of Matua in the Kuril chain will become a full-fledged aviation base of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS)," said General of the Army Pyotr Deinekin, ex-commander of the Russian Air Force.
P. Deinekin noted that one of the important criteria for assessing the air power of the state is the ground infrastructure. “In military affairs, there is such a thing as operational basing density. When a large number of aviation equipment is located at one airfield, it can be put out of action in one missile strike or an enemy air raid. And in order not to repeat the air pogrom of 1941, our airfield network is expanding.
The scientific and survey expedition of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Russian Geographical Society (RGO) has begun engineering work to restore the airfield on the island of Matua in the center of the Kuril ridge, the Russian Defense Ministry reports.
The runway (RWY) was surveyed, mobile airfield complexes and equipment for flight support were prepared for operation, the airfield drainage system was cleared, and the landing site for helicopters of any type was completed.
The airfield has three runways with a length of more than 1200 m and a width of 85 m with concrete and asphalt pavement.
“As for the airfield on Matua, it is currently too small to support heavy aircraft flights. But in the future, everything will be done to turn this airfield into an aviation base,” P. Deinekin said.
The Headquarters of the Pacific Fleet (Pacific Fleet) informs that the expedition of the Ministry of Defense and the Russian Geographical Society has begun engineering work on the island of Matua to restore the mooring facilities of the island of Matua, and is also exploring fortifications from the Second World War.
The primary task is to prepare the coastal section of the island in Dvoynaya Bay for the approach of a large landing ship"Admiral Nevelskoy" to the shore using the "point-blank" method for carrying out full-fledged loading and unloading operations.
In addition, experts have already begun to examine the previously discovered underground fortifications.
There is also an active search for entry points to underground utilities and transitions between structures.
Conclusion
Naturally, this is only part of the information collected by the expedition that is open to the public.
Even after more than 70 years since the liberation of Matua, more questions arise on the island than there are answers to them.
Boris Skupov
Long haul
- Guys, pack your things, tomorrow, according to the plan - a flight to Matua, - they called us from the press service of the Eastern Military District.
We took this call without much enthusiasm - it was already the seventh day of waiting for favorable weather for the flight on Iturup Island. And hope to get on Mysterious Island melted with each lingering milky mist in the morning. How long non-flying weather will last - no one knew. And those who know "consoled", they say, you can sit here for a month. Even here, to Iturup, the road was not easy. Traveling by "airlines of the Ministry of Defense" from Moscow to Khabarovsk via Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Ulan-Ude and Chita - "the plane flies with all stops." Flight to the Sakhalin airfield "Sokol". From it - a dash to the Iturup "Petrel" ...
Up to this point, everything went military-style clearly and without delay. But in the Kuriles, nature intervened in our strict schedule. When the weather was with us, it was not on Matua, which is about three hours away by helicopter. When the sun appeared over Matua, it disappeared from us, covering Iturup with gloomy clouds. When it was good both there and there, the pilots did not have enough time for a successful flight - the ubiquitous cyclones could intercept the "turntable" on the way.
May this year desert island Matua suddenly acquired the status of a strategic point, a “zone special attention". The Ministry of Defense sent a powerful expedition to him, with equipment, professional search engines, doctors, biologists ... Officially, there are two goals. The first is to understand how suitable the island is as one of the places for the possible deployment of parts of the Pacific Fleet. The second is a study of the legacy left by the previous owners. 70 years ago, Matua was also a strategic point - Japan. Between the lines, of course, one can also read the third goal of Russia - to designate its presence on the Pacific borders.
Before the trip, we read almost all the reports about the few post-war expeditions to this island. And, as you understand, on the way to Matua, we had enough time for analysis. There were many questions. What did the Japanese do on this small volcanic island, where two runways were equipped at once? Why did they surrender it to the Soviet troops without a fight? Where did all the weapons and equipment go?
Motogo, Mutovo, Matsuwa and Matua!
The island has four names from different eras, and, as it seemed to KP correspondents, the current one does not suit him either. For the Russian ear. To whom you can’t say: “I’m going to Matua,” everyone sighs enviously, instantly imagining the coral paradise of the atolls southern seas. We write these lines in a tent that is torn by the wind and giggle. On the street - an unthinkable combination for central Russia - wind of 13 meters per second and fog, visibility of twenty meters. Moreover, the wind should disperse the fog, but instead it pulls more and more waves of water aerosols.
The island with a strange, unsuitable name seemed to us nice and cozy yesterday. The pilot affably opened the cockpit door so that we could see how the majestic Sarychev volcano floats onto the helicopter, covered in smudges of sugar snow, like an Easter cake in glaze. The island turned out to be small - only 11 kilometers long and 6.5 wide. Under the stubby helicopter wings, a rocky beach flashed, on which a couple of sea lions frolicked, then zigzags of trenches in full profile, caponiers of coastal batteries and, finally, the gray concrete of a Japanese airfield take-off. At the edge of the field there was a "motor league" meeting us, purring with a diesel engine. A soldier was sitting on the turret without a machine gun. When he saw us, he shouted joyfully:
− Bald! Here! and took off his uniform cap. The sun reflected for a second on the shiny, glossy scalp of his head, like a flashing beacon at the entrance to a safe haven. It was the expedition commander, Vice Admiral Andrey Ryabukhin.
The armored car roared, and we slowly rattled iron around the island. What seemed like lovely greenery from above, in reality turned out to be a crooked northern alder, low - in human height, and absolutely impassable for a pedestrian. One of the discoverers of Mutov Island, the Cossack centurion Ivan Cherny, called it “roots”. And, judging by his notes, the island did not strike him with anything and did not interest him.
There were no sources of fresh water on Matua - only streams with melt water, because of their insignificance, the fish did not come here to spawn. Mice and foxes - all animal world. The Ainu tribe eked out a miserable existence on the island, teetering on the brink of extinction, but in the late 30s, the Japanese military drew attention to Matsua. The island was not of interest to the imperial fleet - it had no bays, so they decided to turn Matsua into a fortress. Active construction work around the clock went on for about three years. Northern part Matsua, occupied by a volcano-height of 1485 meters, defended itself with the most difficult relief. Everything else Japanese engineering services literally turned inside out.
- I was shown American aerial photographs of the 43rd year - Andrey Vladimirovich tells us. - The shooting was done in winter, there is a fairly high snow cover here - the alder hides almost to the tops. And I noticed that all the white snow is in black dots. These are pipes from stoves in dugouts, the holes have melted!
There was no commercial timber on the island, so Japanese engineers dug trenches and burrows, hollowed out terraces in the hills, cast the caps of pillboxes and buildings from concrete.
On Matua, you can turn off the road anywhere and immediately stumble upon a winding trench, which in ten meters will intersect with another trench, then dugout towns, caponiers, firing points will go - always double, in case one of the machine guns is suppressed by the attackers ... Such a volume fortification works shocked military historians of the 21st century. Behind the obsessed industriousness of the Japanese, they saw some kind of super-goal, super-task or secret.
The capitulation of the island without resistance, only let in the fog, which is already enough here. In the last days of August 45, the Matua garrison surrendered to the Soviet paratroopers without a fight. Why did the island, which does not have a key strategic importance, report directly to the imperial headquarters in Hokkaido? It is not yet known, but the Japanese are silent. By the way, the commander of the Matua garrison died without leaving any memoirs, unlike his colleagues...
Two years after the war, the island survived the eruption of the Sarychev volcano. Even now it noticeably puffs with hydrogen sulfide haze, and the camp of our expedition was set up based on a possible lava eruption or tsunami.
In the middle of the 20th century, an air defense unit stood on Matua, then there was a frontier post - it was removed in 2001 and the island again became uninhabited for as long as 15 years. But the history, if not the mysterious, then the strange island of Matua, has not yet been written to the end. It is on these days that "blank spots" are filled with new data, and fantasies are refuted or given a logical explanation.
Two boring riddles
The whole expedition is divided into several groups. Geologists, for example, have already finished their work and are packing samples and samples into boxes. Explosions roar in the hills, machinery roars. We leave our backpacks at the camp and go down to the coast - there are several groups working there at once. At low tide, there is an opportunity to view the found remains of the Japanese port. Initially, it was believed that Matua was supplied with the help of landing "Daihatsu", which approached the beaches of the island and dropped cargo along the ramps. When they began to study the coastline seriously, it turned out that the Japanese had a full-fledged port here with mooring walls, to which a serpentine road descended from a high, sheer coast. The leader of the expedition tells us that the bridges on this road were built from a special "stone" tree - round logs were sawn off for a few hours - the saw did not catch the wood with its teeth. The coast is fortified with walls made of processed stones, but the Japanese simply blew up the piers themselves. They knew well how important the port was for the island, on which there is “no weather” for aviation for almost half the days of the year. We wander along the stones along the coast to where several dozen fighters bite into the fat coastal land. Using brute force, the expedition is trying to find answers to two important questions: how did the Matua garrison get fuel and water? The dominance of barrels on the island is a legacy of the Soviet period. There are also German barrels with the inscription "Wehrmacht".
On the basis of these barrels, some researchers built dizzying theories about the cooperation of the Third Reich and Japan, plunging deeper and deeper into violent fantasies - to the very centrifuges, which enriched uranium in the dungeons of the island of Matua. In fact, several millions of high-quality German barrels for fuel remained after the war - they were used in the national economy of the USSR everywhere until they served their time. The Japanese garrison was most likely supplied with fuel by pumping it from tankers. Pumping stations and reservoirs were blown up, but the pipeline network remained. There are also parts of the pumps. Second the secret of Matua hides here - in Dvoinoy Bay. There are no sources of fresh water on the island - and for a garrison of many thousands, it needs a lot. Concrete reservoirs and a network of ceramic (and therefore eternal) pipes, valves, and pumps have been preserved near the coastline. On each unit - Japanese markings in hieroglyphs. But, as the Vice Admiral put it:
- We still do not understand exactly what flowed in and where, and where it flowed from.
It sounds prosaic and boring, but for the development of the island, water is more important than trophies and treasures hidden in the bowels of the Kruglyaya hill. The Japanese successfully solved this problem, but how?
Ghost of Unit 731
A medical laboratory based on ZIL-131 with a trailer stands on the outskirts of the camp - out of harm's way. It is in it that experts conduct research on water, soil and finds of search engines. Biologists confirm that there is a problem with water supply. And there is no solution yet.
“On the island, we found only three suitable sources,” Vadim Simakov, head of the sanitary and epidemiological group, told us. - Moreover, two have already been exhausted. The water is generally clean, but needs additional mineralization. Basically - flood, due to melted snow, precipitation. Even according to the system of the Japanese army, it accumulates in various bunkers. But the buildings are already dilapidated, the system is not fully functional, so the tanks are more like swamps. If we talk about the finds, then in test tubes, bottles, mostly solvents, alcohols were found, there were no biological agents. Information about this place was scarce, and unconfirmed information about the presence of bacteriological weapons was especially alarming. Given the fact that 70 years have passed, it could be assumed that only anthrax spores could survive here. We studied both mice, and air, and soil, in bunkers, next to them. Traces of anthrax, as well as other dangerous viruses, we did not find.
“The presence of some kind of chemical laboratories here could be judged from the words - prisoners of war, illiterate Japanese soldiers,” confirms Igor Volkov, a bacteriologist at the main center for sanitary and epidemiological supervision of the Ministry of Defense. - There were prerequisites. Japan during the war actively worked with biological weapons, but on the territory of Manchuria. The famous Detachment 731, numbering about 4,000 employees, was testing it on Soviet and Chinese prisoners of war. The detachment had six branches. The main direction is the plague. It was explained simply - Europe was afraid of the plague. Although they used many pathogens in Manchuria, they did not achieve much success. They tested people with plague, and anthrax, and cholera, and even dysentery. But it's not just about breeding a combat strain. Means of delivery are needed, the pathogen must be preserved during the explosion. And the Japanese spent a lot of time on these researches. It was not enough for them to fully use it. By the way, the Americans intercepted the leader of Detachment 731, and he was still working in the USA for a long time. On Matua, according to legend, there was either a warehouse of this detachment, or some kind of small laboratory. But so far no traces of either have been found. There must be signs - test tubes, flasks, certain long tables, pieces of equipment, autoclaves that cannot be confused with anything. For example, "bacteriological loop".
The doctor shows us a wire - on the one hand a pen, on the other - a loop-ring. Shows with precise movements how, with the help of this primitive device, you can “infect” a dozen test tubes at once.
- Wire, usually made of platinum, could not rot in the ground. We have not found anything of the kind here. Biological munitions are also specific. They are small, no more than five liters. But the main thing is that they were made of clay and porcelain. This is also not.
However, a complete survey of the island is still far away. Almost in front of our eyes, an excavator and a bulldozer cut off the slope of the hill next to the field camp. Above, on satellite images, it looks perfectly round, which has already given rise to legends about its man-made origin. On the Internet, you can find a lot of "evidence" that 54 floors of secret communications are hidden inside the hill. But this is from the realm of folk myths. Although, a powerful power cable leads uphill, which means that there is still something inside. The bucket scoops up cubic meters of earth until a crevice is shown on the surface. It is immediately clear from the wooden spacers that the hole in the rock is the work of human hands. The entrance was blown up by the Japanese, through a narrow gap, a flashlight snatches out a long corridor carved into the mountain in human height. The first group of army scouts to go inside ... Although, "leave" is a big word. Rather, they crawl like snakes.
To be continued...
67 years ago, on September 2, 1945, the Japanese surrender was signed on the USS Missouri. It is believed that the Second World War ended on this day. Her last volleys sounded not far from the coast of Kamchatka. Quite a lot is known about how the Red Army stormed Shumshu Island. Almost nothing is known about what happened on the other Kuril Islands...
Gone and didn't come back
Matua is rightly called the most mysterious of the islands of the Kuril chain. A small, picturesque piece of land (about 6 by 12 kilometers) is located in the very center of the archipelago. But the island is interesting mainly not for its protected nature, but for the huge number of military installations built by the Japanese on the eve of World War II. Despite the fact that many of these objects are perfectly preserved, no one really studied them. Although there was a Soviet frontier post on Matua. The border guards began to inspect the Japanese fortifications, penetrate into the dungeons. But after several fighters from traveling around the island did not return (they simply disappeared to no one knows where), the commanders forbade walks outside the outpost. And in 2000, the outpost burned down. The border guards were taken to the mainland - the island became uninhabited ...
Ruins. Photo: AiF / Vladimir Khitrov
The real exploration of Matua began only in 2003. A group landed on its shore Kamchatka travelers headed by Evgeny Vereshchaga (now the head of the representative office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky). What they saw amazed them so much that they subsequently returned to the mysterious island again and again, organized 15 expeditions, the last of which ended this summer.
Deep explorers. Photo: AiF / Vladimir Khitrov
Fortress and Museum
- Why did Matua attract your attention so much, - I asked Yevgeny Vereshchaga?
First of all, monumental structures, the existence of which we did not even suspect. On the island, for example, there is a bulk hill - 130 meters high and half a kilometer in diameter. Once it was a natural hill, but the Japanese ennobled it and adapted it to their needs. We believe that hangars or storage facilities are equipped inside the hill, but we cannot get there - all entrances and exits are covered with a multi-meter layer of soil. A narrow-gauge truck crashes into the hill Railway, along which, apparently, various cargoes were delivered to the dungeon.
Military installations violate the harmony of nature. Photo: AiF / Vladimir Khitrov
The island has a chic airfield, built with the wind rose in mind. Planes can take off and land on it in any wind direction. Veteran border guards say runways used to be heated thermal water- that is, they did not freeze even in winter.
Runway. Photo: AiF / Vladimir Khitrov
Already during the first expedition, we discovered a lot of interesting objects: roads, communications, anti-tank ditches 10-15 meters deep, six-meter pillboxes. According to our estimates, Matua was much better protected than Shumshu Island, where active hostilities took place.
- But, as far as I know, the Japanese capitulated on Matua almost without a fight ...It really is. Moreover, when they surrendered, they handed over only machine guns, machine guns and cartridges. It turned out that there were no heavy weapons on the island.
Although, for example, I do not believe that in such a powerful fortress as Matua was, heavy guns were not provided. Why, in this case, were they digging anti-tank ditches there? The imperial garrison did not intend to fight off the tanks with machine guns. If there were guns, the question arises: where did they go? Apparently, they were either taken out or mothballed. I'm more inclined towards the second version. Because there are a lot of underground facilities on the island. But the entrances to most of them are blown up ...
During the war years, Matua was an impregnable fortress, and now it is a unique museum under open sky.
Open-air museum. Photo: AiF / Vladimir Khitrov
Difficult but possible
At one time, the journalist of AIF-Kamchatka also had a chance to visit Matua. I can say that the abundance of military buildings in a relatively small space is really impressive. The island is pitted up and down with ditches and trenches. The pillboxes are well preserved here, and the airfield, perhaps, can be used today. In one of the rocks, the industrious Japanese cut down a cave where a submarine could easily hide. The researchers believe that the residence of the garrison command is disguised in the hill. Its walls are gracefully lined with stone, nearby there is a swimming pool and an underground bath…
It is surprising why all this "wealth" did not arouse the interest of scientists for decades?
Luke. with inscriptions in German Photo: AiF / Vladimir Khitrov
- What new things have you learned about Matua over the past 9 years?I asked Yevgeny Vereshchaga.
Frankly, not much. We still have far more questions than answers. However, now we can say with a high degree of probability that some kind of serious military production. We found here containers that look like autoclaves that can withstand high pressure. They say "secret item" in Japanese.
We can also say that conservation of the island began long before August 1945. Therefore, it is difficult to find anything of value here. But you can. I don't doubt it. If there was nothing left in the underground bunkers, why would the Japanese have walled them up so carefully?
Commentators on the Internet speculate that here, either they made an atomic bomb, or they hid the gold of the Japanese emperor ...
I have read about it, of course. But I don’t take such versions too seriously ... Events took place on the island after the war, which are difficult to explain. Maybe that's why stories like this happen.
- What events do you mean?
We are in correspondence with the border guards, who in different time served on Matua. They write that the Japanese were noticed on the island back in the 60s of the last century. But these are, so to speak, words that we cannot verify ... However, some interesting stories are backed up by facts. In 1989, from the slope of the Sarychev Peak volcano, which is located in the center of the island, a green beam of light hit like a searchlight. The frontier post was alerted, the incident was reported to Petropavlovsk. A group of border guards was sent to the volcano. They did not find the searchlight, neither did they find people... What happened there is still not known.
Disc with hieroglyphs. Photo: AiF / Vladimir Khitrov
Stalin to Truman
Alexander Smyshlyaev, a Kamchatka writer and historian, author of the book “To the Secrets of the Foggy Kuriles”, is sure that the island of Matua is fraught with many mysteries.
I think that there are some storage facilities on the island,” he says. - It is known that after the war, one ensign constantly brought imported alcohol to the frontier post: sake or whiskey. Where he took them, no one found out ... Even veterans say that the most common animals on the island were rats. They literally did not give people life. This also indirectly confirms that somewhere underground there were storage facilities with food... By the way, a warehouse with rice stocks was found quite recently on Paramushir Island. And, it all happened by accident. The bulldozer dug out some kind of hillock, and under it, as it turned out, there was a warehouse.
Kamchatka researchers of the Kuriles have repeatedly tried to establish contact with Japanese scientists in order to get at least some information about Matua. But each time they ran into a wall of misunderstanding. All their inquiries went unanswered...
There are many passages and tunnels on the island. Photo: AiF / Vladimir Khitrov
It is interesting that at one time the Americans laid eyes on Matua. This is evidenced by Stalin's correspondence with Harry Truman. The US President 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." Apparently, it was about Matua, because there are no airfields on other islands of the “central group”. Stalin, in principle, did not refuse Truman. But in a response letter, he asked him in return for one of the islands of the Aleutian ridge in order to place a Soviet military base on it. The topic was closed after that. But questions, as they say, remain. And it's not easy to answer them. At a minimum, for this it is necessary to organize a large scientific expedition to Matua and thoroughly work in the Moscow archives. Kamchatka researchers have neither the strength nor the means for this. And besides them, the secrets of the island of Matua in our country seem to be of little interest to anyone ...
The beauty of Matua is mesmerizing. Photo: AiF / Vladimir Khitrov
You can visit the island of Matua right now with the help of .
A respected person in the city who organizes trips to the Kuril Islands with sponsorship money (who are they?) and with the participation of the military and the Russian Orthodox Church (where could they be without them) and then exhibiting in local institutions what they managed to steal from the islands, but failed drive. The result of his "expedition" to Matua was a film with his participation, shot by the miracle masters of our famous Ren-TV channel (well, maybe not the channel itself, but shown on Ren-TV). For those 100% of readers who do not want to get acquainted with the masterpiece of domestic television journalism, I will briefly outline the essence of the program ...
This is how the fortifications of the island and the airfield look from space:
According to the authors and Mr. V., Matua Island is an impregnable Japanese super-fortress, where the secret palace of Emperor Hirohito himself is located, warehouses of Japanese atomic bombs (here in the film we are shown a Japanese army device for purifying drinking water with a hieroglyph, which V. interprets as " secret"), biological superweapon of Japan (detachment 731, where would it be without it!), a super-powerful submarine fleet in an underwater bay carved into the rock of the island, etc. Also, Mr. V. assures that Hitler himself personally arrived on this island on a submarine for a secret meeting with the Emperor of Japan (this conclusion is made on the basis of a simple logical chain, understandable from the photo below):
But this pimple on the right with air defense antennas, Mr. V. attributes to the Japanese engineering and construction genius. Seriously, he says in the film that it was poured by the poor Japanese and their Koreans and Chinese prisoners of war. Not otherwise under it is the palace of the emperor and the warehouses of nuclear bombs.
This nonsense in the film with smart faces is carried by Mr. V. himself, a certain military man - ex-beginning. outposts on Matua, as it appears (when you look at it, one gets the feeling that professionally unsuitable, mentally unhealthy military men were exiled to the islands), as well as some "scientists" - members of the expeditions of Mr.
Mr. V., who, as it turns out, in addition to the selfless study of the Kuriles, is also the general director of the Kuril Tour and, in order to establish tourism, he bought (or rented?) This island from the military, which sheds light on such results of his " research":
"Commander of the North-Eastern Border Directorate of the Coast Guard of the FSB of Russia
Lieutenant General Valery Putov signed an agreement on the transfer of the island of Matua in the center
Kuril ridge travel company"Kurils-Tour".
A frontier post burned down on the island a few years ago, and those who visited here in the summer
with an inspection trip on the Vorovsky patrol ship, the commander took
decision on the inexpediency of its restoration.
Meanwhile, there were attacks on the previous commander, Lieutenant General V. Prokhoda
both from the media and from counterintelligence for the removal from the territory of the Northern
He smoked rare aircraft equipment left here from the time of the war. The keynote of these
performances was that you need to show rarities, and not sell them "quietly"
on the side, using the status of a closed border zone."
(- by the way, there is an intersting portal about our hero Vereshchaga)
Such is the link between business and science in a purely "Russian way".
The results of the work of the friend mentioned above: 
Well, now, having laughed sadly, as they say, let's listen to the correct answer. Matua Island is an airfield. Yes, yes, the usual jump airfield for Japanese aviation, which supplied the main defensive forces of the Japanese on the island of Shumshu, which covered Japan from the invasion of the Americans, who could use the Kuriles as a springboard for attacks from the north, moving through the ridge of the Aleutian Islands. The kilometer-long concrete airfield is the main and main value of the island.
Someone started a rumor that the airfield is heated by thermal waters and it even entered Wikipedia. What gave rise to such assumptions is a mystery to me, because there are no outlets of thermal springs on the island, and ordinary drainage channels along the edges of the strip, even theoretically, could not thaw the strip, even pass boiling water through them. If someone thinks that pipes are laid under the strip like modern stadium heating, then he will still be wrong - there is nothing like that there.
However, this airfield obviously did not represent super-value for Japan - yes, it is well located almost in the middle of the Kuril ridge and allowed aviation to control all the islands, but the practical value of this was lost when it became clear that the Americans would attack Japan from south. This is clearly visible from the entire infrastructure: open, completely unprotected aircraft parking, a minimum of protected bunkers for storing supplies and shelters for personnel. Yes, the island has underground shelters and warehouses, a network of tunnels, but what island, defended by the Japanese, does not have this? Remember, for example, films about the landing on Iwo Jima: "Iwo Jima" and "Letters from Iwo Jima".
As on any large island Kuriles, bays, convenient for landing troops, are minimally covered by light coastal fortifications - machine-gun and gun pillboxes. On Matua, one can still observe some redundancy of defensive structures, which can be easily explained by the fact that the defense of the island was created in the years when the principles of defense of the islands changed. Initially, it was planned to destroy landing ships on the way, and for this powerful anti-ship gun bunkers were built. However, practice quickly showed the ineffectiveness of such defense, because such points were easily detected and suppressed by naval artillery and aircraft. At that time, the doctrine of fighting directly with the landing troops was adopted, for which, first of all, flanking machine-gun points (such as in the photo below) and light gun points were built. Naturally, the already built anti-ship pillboxes remained, the guns were simply dismantled from them.
In addition, as in all the armies of the world, when the interests of different branches of the armed forces converge on one patch (and here it is the land and navy), leapfrog and confusion arises in the planning of fortifications. Here is the interrogation of the commander of the 91st Infantry Division Tsutsumi Fusaki:
"
Q. What is the significance of the island in the Kuril Islands system? Matua?
A. Matua Island is located in the center of the Kuril chain and is an intermediate
air base, as well as a base for parking ships. With the capture of this island,
be created good base for action against Hokkaido and cut
communication with northern islands. The Americans were interested in this island,
therefore, we kept a lot of forces on the island and built a good defense.
B. How was the interaction with the neighbor - the 41st separate infantry detachment
Matua islands?
O.41st Infantry Detachment reported directly to the headquarters of the 5th Front, there was no connection with me
had, so there was no interaction." 
Another important point: the island does not have a bay suitable for anchorage.
Here is also one of the examples of a machine gun point:
There is a network of carved tunnels on the island, some of which were blown up by the Japanese after the surrender of the garrison. By the way, during the Kuril landing operation on August 25, 1945, the garrison of the island (3811 soldiers and officers) capitulated to forty Soviet border guards without a fight. Long before this, the Japanese had removed almost all heavy weapons, tanks and most of the personnel from the island to defend the central Japanese islands, since the Americans decided to attack Japan from the south and the strategic importance of the Kuril Islands did not disappear.
They say that it was Matua that Truman had in mind when he offered Stalin to cede one of the islands of the ridge for the US naval base. After a response request to allocate one of the Aleutian Islands for the Soviet base, the issue was no longer raised.
Now, traces of the presence of our valiant air defense warriors are visible all over the island: air defense stations and MOUNTAINS, MOUNTAINS, MOUNTAINS of barrels with diesel fuel are now broken:
And this is a view of the Sarychev volcano (1446 m), which actually forms the island. Volcanic eruptions were in 1760, 1878-1879, 1923, 1928 (strong), 1930 (strong), 1946 (strong), 1954, 1960, 1965, 1976 (strong) and 2009 (strong). The nature of the eruptions is both calm effusion and explosive processes. During the strong eruption of the Sarychev volcano in 1946, pyroclastic flows reached the sea.
Here is a map of the tunnels made "miracle researchers". Does it bother anyone that they are drawn passing through such an active volcano?
Super-fortifications of the Japanese.
One of the fortified warehouses.
Matua is a small island located in the very center of the Kuril chain. During the Great Patriotic War, the Japanese turned it into impregnable fortress, planning to use it as a springboard in case of war with the USSR.
The Russian Ministry of Defense is taking unprecedented measures to develop military infrastructure on Sakhalin and the Kuriles. The expedition of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) has begun engineering work to study 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. Gordeev said. -Five groups of searchers "carry out earthworks using a bulldozer, excavator and other special equipment."
According to the participants of the military-historical expedition, scientific research will help to find answers to many questions and “dispel the halo of mystery of the island of Matua”. Before starting 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 actively explored these islands, including the mysterious island of Matua, located in the center of the Kuril chain. 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. They didn’t give up the island, but for some reason we don’t use its dungeons either. During the Second World War, allied aviation, which bombed 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 Kuriles occupied by Soviet troops. Why did the small island of Matua attract the president of America so much? Matua is a small island located in the very center of the Kuril chain. 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 pitted up and down with ditches, trenches and artificial caves. Numerous pillboxes and hangars were built to last. The entire coast of Matua along the perimeter was cordoned off by a dense ring of pillboxes made 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, claim that 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 of underground passages, also hollowed out in the rock. The island's airfield was built even more carefully. It is located so well and made so technically competently that the planes could take off and land in the wind of any strength and direction. Japanese engineers also provided for an "anti-snow" design. Pipes were laid under the concrete pavement, into which hot water from thermal springs flowed. So icing runway the Japanese pilots were not threatened, and the planes could take off and land both in winter and in summer. In one of the coastal cliffs, the industrious Japanese cut down a huge cave where a submarine could easily hide. Nearby was the underground residence of the garrison command, disguised in one of the surrounding hills. Its walls were carefully lined with stone, nearby there is a pool and an underground bathhouse.
One of the secrets of the island is the disappearance of all military equipment without a trace. Despite extensive searches 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. . And when they tried to restore the destroyed communications, a volcano suddenly woke up, located in the center of the island. 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 Evgeny Vereshchaga, a researcher-enthusiast on the island of Matua: “There is an unusual hill on Matua, more than 120 meters high and 500 meters in diameter. Nature does not like such regular shapes. This involuntarily suggests that all this whopper is made by human hands. This is an artificial hill that served as a camouflaged aircraft hangar. A very wide man-made depression, overgrown with trees and shrubs, clearly stands out on its slope. Probably, the gate to the hangar was located here, which were first blown up and then covered with ash from 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 fascist Third Reich. In translation, the markings on them read "Fuel Wehrmacht, 200 liters." And the dates - 1939, 1943 - up to the victorious 1945. So, having circled the globe, Hitler's allied submarines moored at Matua and delivered cargo !?
By the way, about the volcano. There were many questions about where the military equipment disappeared, which, judging by the underground structures, was literally stuffed with the island-fortress. One of the participants in 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 a fantasy. But a road has been laid up the cone of the volcano, where traces of caterpillar vehicles can be discerned even decades later. One can only guess what the Japanese carried along it.”
But all these conspicuous grandiose structures are only the external, 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 been able to unravel the secrets of the dungeons. The Japanese, referring to the secrecy of this information, stubbornly did not respond to requests from first Soviet and then Russian researchers of the island of Matua. It was also not possible to understand the strange interest in the island of the American president. What does the Kuril Island hide in its depths? But what if the death of the military researchers of the island, and the volcano that woke up at the wrong time, and the interest of the American president in Matua, and the refusal of the Japanese to provide materials are not a random chain of events? Perhaps, in the secret, not yet found dungeons of the island-fortress, there is not rusted and no one needs military equipment 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 announced its 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. It was followed by a giant mushroom cloud. According to the American expert Charles Stone, Japan's first and last atomic bomb was detonated here, and the explosion power was about the same as that of the American bombs detonated a few days earlier over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
C. Stone's statement that during the Second World War, Japan was working on the creation of an atomic bomb and achieved success, was met with great doubt 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, Japan's first and last atomic bomb was detonated in the Sea of Japan off the coast of Korea. Evidence of this can serve as a huge secret military Khinnam complex, located on the territory of modern North Korea. It was powerful enough and equipped with everything necessary for the production of an atomic bomb. The plausibility of Ch. 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 headquarters of the commander of the Allied forces in the Pacific, General MacArthur.
In his article, McNally writes that American intelligence had reliable data on a large Japanese nuclear center in the Korean city of Heungnam, but kept information about this facility secret from the USSR. Moreover, on the morning of August 14, 1945 american planes brought to their airfields air samples taken over the Sea of Japan near the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. The processing of the obtained samples gave stunning results. She showed that an unknown nuclear device exploded in the aforementioned area of the Sea of Japan on the night of August 12-13! questions that baffle the organizers of amateur research expeditions. Why did President Truman, turning to Stalin, ask to transfer the island of Matua to the United States? Even before the end of World War II, the Americans began to prepare for an armed clash with the USSR. After the declassification of materials about the Second World War, a folder with the inscription "Unthinkable operation" was found in the British archives. Indeed, no one could think 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 plan was described in the most detailed way ... a massive strike on Soviet troops!
The main trump card in a military clash could be nuclear weapons, available only to the United States. Soviet tank divisions that went through the Second World War were located in the center of Europe. If Stalin, in addition to his superiority in ground forces, also received nuclear weapons created by Japanese scientists, then in the event of a military clash, the outcome of the war would be a foregone conclusion and Europe would become completely socialist. Why the Japanese, referring to the secrecy of information, stubbornly do not respond to requests at first Soviet and then Russian explorers of the island of Matua? But what should they do?
If an underground secret center were discovered on the island of Matua, in which nuclear weapons were developed, and not only developed, but also the technology for their manufacture was brought to practical implementation, this would lead to a reassessment of the events of World War II. The atomic bombing of Japanese cities would have been justified: the American pilots simply outstripped the future Japanese atomic raids. Demands for the return of the South 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. And on this mysterious island, the Russian Pacific Fleet launched an unprecedented survey.