Nuclear secrets of the island of matua. Secrets of Matua: what the bowels of the Kuril Island hide Matua Island September

The other day on tiny desert island The Matua of the Kuril Ridge (an area of about 52 square kilometers) started the work of the second expedition of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. An impressive detachment of warships and vessels arrived to the island from Vladivostok under the command of Vice Admiral Andrey Ryabukhin, Deputy Commander of the Pacific Fleet. As part of the detachment of the large landing craft "Admiral Nevelskoy", the killer KIL-168 and the rescue tug SB-522. There are about a hundred researchers and 30 units of engineering equipment on board to ensure various work.

Exactly a year ago, the first such expedition on the same Admiral Nevelsky already visited Matua. And it was also led by Vice Admiral Ryabukhin. More than 1000 laboratory studies on physical, chemical and biological indicators were carried out by specialists, more than 200 measurements of the external environment were made, and radiation and chemical reconnaissance was carried out. Divers explored both tiny bays of this piece of land - Ainu (maximum depths up to 25 meters) and Yamato (depths up to 9 meters). During the Second World War, it was through them that the supply of the seven thousandth Japanese garrison on Matua was carried out, on which the largest and well-equipped military base of the imperial army was located. Most of its defensive structures were carved into the surrounding rocks and served as a reliable shelter for personnel and ammunition.

But the main thing on the island was not numerous artillery pillboxes and underground tunnels. Of primary importance was the largest military airfield at that time, which allowed the Japanese from these places to control a vast part of the Pacific Ocean from the air and Sea of Okhotsk, as well as most of the islands of the Kuril chain. Three runways (GRP) concreted and heated by thermal underground sources, each 1200 meters long, made the airfield practically all-weather. However, in 1945, the Japanese 41st separate mixed regiment defending here (numbering three thousand soldiers and officers, the rest of the garrison had already been evacuated by that time) surrendered to the Soviet paratroopers without firing a shot.

Despite the fact that after the Second World War the island remained almost deserted and the Soviet authorities almost never used it, as it turned out, that airfield is still in good condition today. In any case, Russian military helicopters have been landing on it since the summer of 2016. Is the island's airfield capable of accommodating planes after minor restoration work? And if so, what types? This was also found out last year by the expedition of Vice Admiral Ryabukhin.

The purpose of such an unprecedented activity of sailors from the Far East is not a secret. For the first time, it was announced in May 2016 at the military council of the Eastern Military District Colonel General Sergei Surovikin: the possibility of locating a new Pacific Fleet base on the island is being studied. Moreover, on June 29, when the work of the first expedition was still in full swing, an unnamed source in the RF Ministry of Defense told RIA Novosti that construction of base facilities on Matua will start at a frantic pace - by the end of 2016. However, contrary to these plans, so far nothing has happened there. Why?

It is known about at least one unexpected problem that the Pacific Fleet command faced: fresh water. When the Japanese garrison was stationed here, there was clearly plenty of water on Matua. This is evidenced by huge concrete reservoirs preserved in the rocks. As well as an extensive network of ceramic pipes, which stretches from them to the defensive structures. While the pipes, of course, are empty. To date, our engineers have not figured out how to refill the ingenious Japanese water supply. According to Vice Admiral Ryabukhin, "we still do not understand exactly what flowed in and where and where it flowed from." In the meantime, this is a secret, construction on Matua cannot be started. Tankers and aquarius ships cannot satisfy her needs for life-giving moisture.

But all this, apparently, is temporary difficulties, and our fleet will someday receive a new base on this island. It seems important to try to understand why we need it? And what kind of base would it be?

What can be said for sure today is that there can only be temporary moorings for warships and auxiliary vessels. The reasons are not only that the Ainu and Yamato bays are too open by nature and not sufficiently protected from ocean winds and storms. Although in the sailing directions they are designated as possible anchorages.

The main problem for creating a full-fledged ship-based point, obviously, is active volcano on Matua Sarychev with a height of 1446 meters. Its strong eruptions over the past century have occurred four times, in 1928, 1930, 1946, 1976, one eruption occurred in 2009. Then two streams of red-hot lava slid into the ocean, solidified and increased the area of the island by one and a half square kilometers at once. Not without reason, in the language of the Ainu people who once lived in these parts, Matua is “a small burning bay”.

But the volcano is not the only problem for Matua. This is an area of high seismic activity. Regular powerful earthquakes cause devastating tsunami. For example, the most powerful earthquake in the history of the modern Kuriles, the Simushir earthquake, which occurred on November 15, 2006, hit the island with a giant wave, in some places reaching a height of 20 meters. Which, apparently, is comparable to the consequences of a close underwater nuclear explosion. What would be left in this case of the moorings and our ships on Matua?

Thus, new item we are unlikely to build a ship-based Pacific Fleet on Matua. Then in the name of what fuss? Restore the military airfield? Given the three wonderful runways built by the Japanese, their return to life, obviously, will not require much effort. But the length of each, as was said, is 1200 meters, the width is 80 meters. This is more than enough to land even a helicopter regiment. For fighters such as Su-27, Su-35 and MiG-29 - too. But, for example, for heavy Tu-22M3 bombers it will not be enough, the stripes will have to be lengthened almost twice. But after all, it is precisely in the landing of the Russian Long-Range Aviation here that the majority of Russian military experts see the main point of the new military base on Matua. Because in this case, the Pacific coast of the United States will be within the reach of our heavy bombers. This means that not only the "strategists" Tu-95MS and Tu-160 will be able to fly out to patrol the "state" lines. The circle of potential threats to the Americans from Russia will be much wider.

Full of optimism about this. former commander in chief Air force RF General of the Army Pyotr Deinekin: “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 air base.”

The only question is, will the terrain allow it? After all, at least one runway for the Tu-22M3 will have to be more than doubled - up to 3-3.5 km. With a maximum island length of 11 kilometers and a width of 6.4 kilometers, this can be a problem. Especially when you consider that a significant part of the territory is occupied by the Sarychev volcano. Surely, the expedition of Vice Admiral Ryabukhin is also struggling to solve this problem today.

Meanwhile, even if it is not possible to “land” Russian Long-Range Aviation on Matua and the matter is limited only to fighters, there will still be great sense in the new island base. Because the boundaries of our capabilities for air cover of the base of strategic nuclear submarine missile cruisers, including the new Boreys, in Vilyuchinsk (Kamchatka) will also decently move apart.

Indeed, today the task of fighter cover for Kamchatka is mainly assigned to the 865th separate air regiment, which flies on MiG-31 interceptors. The regiment is based at the Yelizovo airfield near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. And Matua is about 700 kilometers southwest of the aircraft stands of the 865th separate regiment. Accordingly, in this direction, towards the center of the Pacific Ocean, the far boundary of the potential interception of enemy air attack weapons will be shifted by the same amount. The gain in time and space for us in the event of a surprise attack is more than impressive.

Needless to say, the same thing on Matua will most likely be done with anti-ship winged systems. missiles "Bastion", "Ball", as well as anti-aircraft missile systems S-400 "Triumph". Since last year, such weapons have already been deployed in Kamchatka, which immediately provoked an understandable sharp reaction in the United States and Japan. There they started talking with concern that on the peninsula Russia is creating another “A2 / AD restricted access zone,” as such areas are called in the Pentagon.

Until now, it was believed that we have already created “zones A2 / AD” in Kaliningrad, Crimea, near St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Yerevan and in Syrian Tartus. But all this is in the northwestern, western and southwestern directions. Now it's the turn of the Russian Far East. Overseas strategists have to add Kamchatka to the previous list. However, if we manage to quickly turn the island of Matua into a fortress, even the defense of the base of Russian nuclear missile cruisers will become deeply echeloned. And getting close to the peninsula with impunity will not work.

A detachment of the Pacific Fleet, including the Admiral Nevelskoy large landing ship, the KIL-168 lifeboat and the SB-522 rescue tug, delivered members of the joint expedition of the Russian Defense Ministry and the Russian Geographical Society, as well as more than 30 units of various equipment to the Kuril Island Matua.

Matua Island is located in the middle part of the Kuril chain and is far from populated areas Sakhalin and Kamchatka. The size of the island is 11 kilometers long and 6 and a half wide. It is characterized by an abnormally cold climate with big amount precipitation. One of the most active active volcanoes in the region, the Sarychev volcano, is located on Matua. A powerful layer of historical and cultural heritage has been preserved here, which is divided into Ainu, Japanese and Russian. In addition, Matua is home to the northernmost distribution point of the Corded Ware, the Neolithic Jōmon archaeological culture.

This year the scientific composition of the expedition has expanded significantly. Hydrogeologists, volcanologists, hydrobiologists, landscape scientists, soil scientists, submariners, search engines and archaeologists from Vladivostok and Moscow, Kamchatka and Sakhalin will work on Matua Island. The Expeditionary Center of the Ministry of Defense takes part in the project Russian Federation, Russian Geographical Society and personnel of the Pacific Fleet.

In the course of the work, materials will be collected for the preparation of an atlas-key of marine life in the waters of the island of Matua and neighboring islands, as well as a video survey of the bottom topography in the dive sites for the analysis of hydrographic characteristics.

The activity of the Sarychev Peak volcano over the past 100 thousand years will be reconstructed, and the level of its modern activity will be determined. This is necessary to assess the volcanic hazard of the territory and form a long-term forecast.

In addition, work will continue on the search and study of objects of historical military equipment and fortifications of the period of the Second World War. Will be developed archaeological work to identify and study monuments of history and culture of various eras, including the Ainu.

Based on the results of the expedition in 2017, materials will be prepared on the prospects for further development of the island: maps of natural hazards have been compiled, an analysis of alternative energy sources, the chemical composition of natural waters, and potential soil fertility has been carried out.

In 2016, the Russian Geographical Society, together with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, organized an expedition to Matua for the first time. Its goal was to study the artifacts of the Second World War and draw up a historical and geographical portrait of the island.

The second expedition of the Ministry of Defense of Russia and the Russian Geographical Society to the island of Matua in the Kuril chain landed today in the bays of Aina and Dvoynaya. A detachment of ships of the Pacific Fleet brought here more than 100 servicemen and civilian specialists and 30 pieces of equipment.

Earlier, the Ministry of Defense announced plans to create a base for the ships of the Pacific Fleet on Matua and restore the airfield. Head of the Russian military department Sergei Shoigu pointed out: "We propose to restore, and not only restore, but also actively exploit this island."

From June to September, the Expeditionary Center of the Ministry of Defense, the Russian Geographical Society and naval sailors plan to map the area, explore the Sarychev Peak volcano, hydrography and coastal bottom topography, and compile an atlas of marine life in the adjacent water area. Hydrogeologists, volcanologists, hydrobiologists, soil scientists, submariners, search engines and archaeologists will work on Matua. Specialists will analyze the chemical composition of natural waters and potential soil fertility. This is an area of high seismic activity, and volcanologists intend to reconstruct the activity of the Sarychev Peak volcano over the past 100 thousand years in order to assess the volcanic danger of the territory in the future.

Lost in the ocean, Matua with an area of only 52 square kilometers is not in vain of such keen interest.

strategic importance

The Navy is studying the possibility of creating a ship basing point in the Kuriles. Long-range aviation is also of interest. Two expeditions to Matua are actually a complete cycle of design and survey work that must be completed on the eve of the large-scale construction of a new naval base, more precisely, a logistics center for the Pacific Fleet.

The first expedition explored Matua in May-July 2016. Specialists conducted radiation and chemical reconnaissance, studied fortifications and other historical objects, performed more than a thousand laboratory studies, made hundreds of measurements of the external environment, including hydrography of bays and bays.

Matua is an island of the middle group of the Great Ridge of the Kuril Islands (in a straight line to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - 670 kilometers, to Japanese Hokkaido - 740 kilometers). Administratively. During World War II, it was one of the largest Japanese naval bases. The native inhabitants of the island were hunters - the Ainu, in 1875 they were replaced by Japanese soldiers. In 1945, Soviet border guards settled on the island, and later - air defense units. In 2000, military installations on Matua were mothballed, and the island became uninhabited for 15 years.

The island resembles a fortress in the middle of the ocean. Matua is securely protected by impregnable cliffs and high banks. Not bad are Japanese pillboxes, paved roads, three runways of a military airfield, as well as spacious underground structures of an incomprehensible purpose.

In the southwestern part of Matua, there is a strait that is convenient and relatively safe for basing ships, covered from the winds by the small island of Toporkovy. It was here that the Japanese raid and moorings were located. Since the 1930s, the island has served the Japanese as a springboard for further expansion towards Kamchatka.

In August 1945, Soviet paratroopers found practically unarmed Japanese on Matua: 3,800 surrendered soldiers and officers had only 2,000 rifles, and pilots, sailors and gunners simply disappeared (the garrison consisted of 7.5 thousand military personnel). For comparison: on the island of Shumshu, Soviet troops captured more than 60 Japanese tanks. From the interrogations of the commander of the northern group, General Tsumi Fusaki, it is known that the Matua garrison did not obey him and was controlled directly from the Hokkaido headquarters. The island had special status and to this day keeps many secrets.

New fortress

Russia borders on the sea with 12 countries, and not all of them are friendly. Until recently, our Pacific neighbors - the United States - practiced the military-political "containment" of Russia. And Japan claims four Russian islands - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai. And it seems quite logical to strengthen the Far Eastern borders, where since 2015 a unified coastal defense system has been created, which is necessary to control the strait zones of the Kuril Islands and the Bering Strait, cover fleet deployment routes and increase the combat stability of naval strategic nuclear forces. The Steel Kuril Ridge is a forced but very effective measure.

The Sea of Okhotsk is being formed in the Kuriles Today, the Sea of Okhotsk is almost completely covered by the DBK (it is logical to assume the presence of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems on the Kuriles line). New capabilities of missile weapons make it possible to create specially protected areas of the sea (anti-access / area-denial), the most favorable for combat patrols of SSBNs - four thousand miles from San Francisco and the positions of American land-based strategic forces in the states of Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota.

The Kuriles and Kamchatka must become an invincible naval fortress of Russia. And to achieve this goal small island Matui is of great importance.

Matua is a small island located in the very center of the Kuril chain. During the years of 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.

“On the slopes of the hills and at the foot of the Sarychev volcano, the liberation of potterns (underground corridors for communication between fortifications, fortress forts or strongholds of fortified areas) and warehouses from rubble has begun,” 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 in each fortification, air samples are taken, 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. The island was not given away, but for some reason we don’t use its dungeons ourselves.

During the Second World War, allied aircraft, bombing everything that belonged to Japan in the Pacific, 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. With what small island Matua so attracted the President of America?

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 carved into 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 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.

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.

In the late 1990s, as a result of an accident, the deputy head of the frontier post, who led these searches, died. And when they tried to restore the destroyed communications, a volcano suddenly woke up, located in the center of the island. The eruption occurred 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 Matua Island: “There is an unusual hill on Matua, more than 120 meters high and 500 meters in diameter.

Nature does not like such regular forms. 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. Questions, where did you disappear to? military equipment, which, judging by the underground structures, was literally stuffed with an island-fortress, there was a lot. 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 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. 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 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 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 aircraft brought back 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, 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, addressing Stalin, ask to transfer the island of Matua to the USA?

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 do the Japanese, referring to the secrecy of information, stubbornly refuse to respond to requests from first Soviet and then Russian researchers of the island of Matua?

And how should they act?

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.

The representative of the Eastern Military District recalled that "mobile airfield complexes have already been deployed on the island to ensure the flights of aircraft." The drainage system has been cleared and preparations for the landing of helicopters of any type have been completed.

The personnel of the military-historical expedition continues active work in Dvoynaya Bay in order to “prepare the coastal section of the island for the approach of a large landing ship to the shore using the “on emphasis” method for loading equipment and materiel,” Gordeev said.

As previously reported, 200 members of the expedition of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Russian Geographical Society, the Eastern Military District and the Pacific Fleet, led by Deputy Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Vice Admiral Andrei Ryabukhin, on six ships and vessels left Vladivostok on May 7 and arrived on May 14 on the island of Matua.

The development of the plan for the second expedition to the island of Matua in the Kuril chain has been completed, the researchers will go there in June 2017, said Vladimir Matveev, a representative of the Pacific Fleet.

“At the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet (Pacific Fleet), preparations are underway for a research expedition to the island of Matua, which will take place from June to September 2017. At present, the development of a detailed survey plan for the Kuril Island has been completed, the personnel and the necessary equipment for survey work have been determined,” he said.

Matveev recalled that "an expedition of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Russian Geographical Society (RGO) and the Pacific Fleet in the amount of 200 people led by Vice Admiral Andrei Ryabukhin, Deputy Commander of the Pacific Fleet, conducted large-scale research on the island of Matua in 2016."

“Specialists have conducted more than a thousand laboratory studies on physical, chemical and biological indicators. More than 200 measurements of the external environment were also made. Radiation and chemical reconnaissance of more than 120 kilometers of the route was carried out, all the fortifications of the island and more than 100 historical objects were examined. The divers carried out work on the hydrographic study of the bays and bays of the island,” he specified.

Earlier, the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Sergei Avakyants, noted that scientific expeditions to the island of Matua had not been carried out since 1813.

“The Japanese began to develop Matua from the 1930s and gave it exclusively military significance. The island served as a springboard for further expansion and capture of the Kamchatka Peninsula. A unique system of underground structures was created, connected by a single system of tunnels. Underground facilities are a separate topic that requires deep study,” the commander said.

According to him, "the structures are divided into two types: fortifications and structures of unknown purpose - rectangular, square and round, up to 150 meters long."

“If on all the islands the Japanese garrisons fought fiercely, to the last soldier, then the island of Matua capitulated last, but capitulated without a fight. The garrison numbered 7.5 thousand people and, which is not typical for the Japanese army, did not show any resistance. We concluded that the garrison had fulfilled its main task - to remove all traces and all the facts that could lead to the disclosure of the true nature of the activities on this island," Avakyants said.

He noted that Toporkovy Island also requires further study, which may be connected to Matua by underground tunnels.

“With the permission and at the direction of the President of the Russian Geographical Society (Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu - ed.), in 2017 we are conducting the second expedition with the involvement of a wide range of specialists - the Academy of Sciences, the Russian Geographical Society and Moscow State University. The fauna and flora of this island, volcanic activity, water supply system, underground structures, including underwater ones, require further study. And besides, it is necessary to carry out archaeological research,” the admiral concluded.

The defensive hypostasis of the "mysterious island" of Matua

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 what 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 there were 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 Army General Sergei Shoigu is not only the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, but also the President of the Russian Geographical Society. Agree, this leads to certain thoughts.

“There are a lot of mysteries, a lot of interesting things, a mysterious island,” the President of the Russian Geographical Society and the Minister of Defense said, parting words to the participants of the expedition, noting that there are many fortifications, mines, grottoes, runways, a road leading to the volcano on Matua ... He did not hide the fact that speleologists and researchers were on the expedition 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 pearls 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 of the island of Matua.

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 are 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 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 from thermal springs flowed. So icing runway Japanese pilots were not threatened, and 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 the 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 fortress of Matua is 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.

Why did the small island of Matua attract the President of America so much? 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.

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 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 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 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 in the aforementioned area of the Sea of Japan on the night of August 12-13, an unknown nuclear device exploded!

Assuming that in the underground city on fortress island of Matua Indeed, 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 rusty and useless military equipment is hidden, but 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 the "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 landing and takeoff aircraft at any time, ”the press service of the BBO informed.

"The airfield on the island of Matua in the Kuril ridge will eventually become a full-fledged aviation base of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS)," General of the Army Pyotr Deinekin, former commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force, believes.

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 Kuril ridge, reports the Russian Defense Ministry.

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,” said P. Deinekin.

The Headquarters of the 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 the fortifications of the Second World War.

The primary task is to prepare the coastal section of the island in Dvoinaya Bay for the approach of the large landing ship "Admiral Nevelskoy" to the shore using the "point-blank" method for 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.