The second joint expedition of the Ministry of Defense and the Russian Geographical Society to the island of Matua has ended. Its participants - historians, archaeologists, ecologists and hydrographers - spoke at the next meeting of the Russian Geographical Society about their amazing finds discovered on this small but very mysterious island of the Kuril ridge, reports corr. IA SakhalinMedia.

The participants of the second joint expedition of the military and scientists to the Kuril island of Matua summed up their work. At the next meeting of the Sakhalin branch of the Russian Geographical Society, they made presentations in which they told what new secrets the island had revealed to them and what findings gave rise to new questions.

Opened the meeting Chairman of the Russian Geographical Society Sergey Ponomarev. He noted that cooperation with the Pacific Fleet provided new opportunities for studying the Kuril Islands.

“The most expensive part of the expedition is transportation to the Kuril Islands. But the fact that Sergei Shoigu headed the Russian Geographical Society, allowed organizing such joint projects with the Ministry of Defense. The military is also sent to Matua with their research goals. And they take our scientists with them. We use this cooperation to our advantage. Our research concerns history, archeology, ecology. Such versatility helps the complex study of the islands, both on land and in the sea,” Ponomarev said.

Meeting with members of the expedition to Matua. Photo: IA SakhalinMedia

Meeting with members of the expedition to Matua. Photo: IA SakhalinMedia

Meeting with members of the expedition to Matua. Photo: IA SakhalinMedia

Meeting with members of the expedition to Matua. Photo: IA SakhalinMedia

Meeting with members of the expedition to Matua. Photo: IA SakhalinMedia

He recalled that Matua is a very interesting island from the point of view of local historians. It is located in the middle of the Kuril ridge and was previously used by the Japanese as a transit point on the route from north to south, as well as a powerful naval base and airfield.

Local historian Igor Samarin during this expedition he continued his last year's work. His main task was to restore the scheme of Japanese long-term firing structures on the island. Last year, such a map was drawn up, but, as it turned out, the island is fraught with many more discoveries.

“This year, quite by accident, our military colleagues discovered a ceramic pipe coming out of the ground. They lowered an impromptu video camera into it - a smartphone with a flashlight, found a room there. At a depth of three meters, there was a concrete structure adjacent to an artillery rangefinder post. It turned out that there was a fire control command post located underground. From there, with the help of electronics, commands were transmitted to the guns, ”said Igor Samarin.

Also one of the tasks of this year was the study of the Japanese command post on one of the heights of the island. Samarin's group dug up this concrete structure and got inside.

But the most interesting discoveries scientists have done by studying small, not always obvious details. So, next to one of the soldiers' barracks, we found a lampshade from a lamp. Igor Samarin explains: according to the testimony of the Japanese military themselves of those years, naval sailors lived better than infantry and they were the only ones who had electricity. So the found lampshade reinforced the belief that it was the sailors who lived in the barracks on the island.

“Many ordinary things were revelation. Here we found a beer bottle, the most common, but on the bottom - the date of manufacture “18 S 8”. For a knowledgeable person, this is simple - August 16, according to the European calendar - 1941. 25 such bottles were found on the island. From them it was possible to determine the time when the bottles were delivered to the island. It turned out that the first supply of provisions began in 1938 and ended in 1943. And in 1944, the blockade of the island of Matua by American submarines began,” Samarin continued his report.

Scientists did not disregard the Japanese kitchen heaps near each dugout. Bird bones were found among the waste. As it turned out, the Japanese actively used local puffins for food. They also ate mice - voles. There was even a barter in kind - one mouse was worth two cigarettes. The skins of rodents were transported to the metropolis for the manufacture of gloves from them.

In total, historians brought 86 items from the Japanese and Soviet period from the island - from baby booties and dishes to fuel barrels and handicraft stoves.

Also, scientists managed to uncover another mystery that the Matua Islands have kept since the Second World War. For more than 70 years, the fate of the American submarine Herring, which sank two Japanese ships off Matua, was unknown and conflicting information was preserved about it. Hydrographers led by the captain of a large hydrographic boat, Igor Tikhonov, combed the entire water area of ​​Dvoynaya Bay using a multibeam echo sounder. And an object very similar to a submarine was discovered near Cape Yurlov at a depth of 110 meters. What to do next with this discovery, the military will determine.

As part of the expedition, the researchers also studied a more ancient period in the history of the island. Yes, the group archaeologist Olga Shubina discovered on the island more than a hundred pits from the ancient dwellings of the first inhabitants of the island. Most likely they belonged to the ancient Ainu, who lived here 2.5 - 3 thousand years ago. Scientists conducted excavations at the sites of finds and marked the boundaries of archaeological sites.

At the end of the meeting, the chairman of the Sakhalin Russian Geographical Society, Sergey Ponomarev, announced that scientists had created a working group dealing with the unification of geographical names on the island of Matua.

“Many objects of Matua still bear Japanese names or “folk” Soviet ones. The group is preparing a proposal for the official name of about three dozen bays, capes and heights, so that when compiling maps and diagrams, we can use the same designations and understand each other,” Ponomarev said.

Uncover all the secrets of the Kuril island of Matua

One of the priority projects of the Russian Geographical Society today is an expedition to the island of Matua. Despite several months of painstaking work on its study, there are still many mysteries. Tunnels and underground structures have not been fully studied. It remains to be seen where the dishes of the Japanese imperial family and empty fuel barrels came from on Matua, and much more remains to be done.

The other day, TASS reported that several teams of scientists from Vladivostok, Moscow, Kamchatka, and Sakhalin Island will work as part of an expedition to Matua, which will take place from June to September.

At present, the Pacific Fleet Headquarters has completed the development of a detailed survey plan for the Kuril Islands, determined the personnel and the necessary equipment for survey work as part of the expedition to Matua Island in 2017. This year the composition of the expedition will expand significantly. Several teams of hydrogeologists, volcanologists, hydrobiologists, landscape scientists, soil scientists, submariners, search engines and archaeologists from Vladivostok, Moscow, Kamchatka and Sakhalin will work on the island of Matua at once, "said the head of the information support department of the press service of the Eastern Military District (VVO) for the Pacific Navy (Pacific Fleet) Captain 2nd Rank Vladimir Matveev.

According to him, Pacific Fleet psychologists are now completing the professional psychological selection of servicemen participating in the future expedition, who are undergoing special tests and programs to establish the degree of stress resistance and the level of performance in extreme conditions, the psychological compatibility of future expedition members and assess the moral and business qualities of servicemen.

Matua is an island of the middle group of the Great Ridge of the Kuril Islands. The length is about 11 km, the width is 6.4 km. During the Second World War, one of the largest naval bases in Japan was located on it. In 1945, the island was ceded to the USSR, and the Japanese base was turned into a Soviet one. The island has preserved many fortifications, mines, grottoes, two runways, which are heated by thermal springs, so they can be used all year round. In 2000, the base was mothballed and the island of Matua officially became uninhabited.

In 2016, the first joint research expedition of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Russian Geographical Society to Matua took place, in which the military personnel of the Eastern Military District and the Pacific Fleet took part. In total, more than 200 people were involved in the expedition. The Ministry of Defense was interested in the island as a possible base for the forces of the Pacific Fleet. Then, an extensive network of tunnels was discovered on Matua, as well as the sunken Japanese light fighter Mitsubishi Zero, released in 1942.

The second research expedition to Matua will take place from June to September 2017, it is planned to collect materials for the preparation of an atlas-key to the marine life of the Matua neighboring islands. Also, the researchers will create a reconstruction of the activity of the Sarychev Peak volcano in the late Pleistocene, including historical eruptions, and map the island. In addition, it is planned to conduct a survey of marine hydrobiont species, compare the biota of adjacent water areas to assess the state of biodiversity, and identify possible ways of migration and interpenetration of elements of flora and fauna in the North Pacific Ocean.

In September last year, tvzvezda.ru correspondent Alexander Stepanov visited Matua. Here are excerpts from his report "The Mystery of Matua Island: When the Japanese Fortress Becomes a Russian Base".

From a bird's eye view, Matua Island seems like a small spot - 11 kilometers long and six and a half wide, two thirds of the island's area is occupied by the active VOLCANO - Sarychev Peak. The island is completely unsuitable for life. severe climatic conditions: constant winds, rains in summer. sunny days one or two and screwed up. Here, even in June, snow turns white on the slopes of the hills. The snow cap decorates Sarychev Peak all year round. This volcano is famous for being one of the most active active volcanoes in the region. Norov at Sarychev Peak is cool - you can’t call him sleeping. Eruptions, though short-lived, are frequent and strong.

Despite all the natural disasters, the Japanese during the Second World War turned the island into impregnable fortress, where there were underground tunnels, and an airfield, and even a railway. The garrison on the island exceeded three thousand people. In general, the Kuril Islands were used by the Japanese as a strategic barrier to exit from the Sea of ​​Okhotsk to the Pacific Ocean. A whole network of various military defensive fortifications was erected here.

To get to the island by air, you need a fair amount of luck. The so-called windows - small gaps - open over the island very rarely, and people sometimes have to sit at the airport for several days to get into this window that has opened for a short time. The nearest airfield from which you can get to Matua is on the island of Iturup. It's about 500 kilometers. And if suddenly the weather over Matua deteriorates after the "turntable" has almost flown up to the island, then you have to return to the base on the remaining fuel. As the helicopter pilots say, "with adventures."

When approaching the island, you can see that it is pitted with coastal fortifications. Trenches originating at the very edge of the water. Pillboxes and bunkers, hollowed out in the numerous hills of the island, look like empty loopholes towards the sea. It is noticeable that the island really resembles a fortress rising directly from the sea. In mid-June, Matua has about seven degrees of heat and a piercing wind. You have to warm up in winter: jackets, sweaters, boots with high berets. An expedition of the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian Geographical Society, the Eastern Military District and the Pacific Fleet has been working here since May under the leadership of Vice Admiral Andrei Vladimirovich Ryabukhin, Deputy Commander of the Pacific Fleet.

Despite the fact that since September 1945 the island passed to the USSR, no real research was carried out on it. The current expedition is designed to unravel the mysteries of the most little-studied island of the Kuril chain. And there are a lot of secrets here. The researchers have three main tasks: to study the military-historical component of the island, to study the volcanic activity of Matua, and to understand how to develop a military infrastructure on the island.

The scientific group of the Russian Geographical Society is engaged in routine, but very necessary work on the island - it makes maps of the island: landscape, geological and soil. Soil and plant samples are taken. The second group is looking for artifacts left over from the Japanese. So, in June, search engines raised the wing of a Japanese aircraft manufactured in 1942 and brought it to the camp. Items that can tell about the life of Japanese soldiers were also found: ammunition, dishes, clothes, household items. Members of the expedition even climbed Sarychev Peak, where two flags were hoisted - Russian Federation and St. Andrew's flag of the Navy.

Climbing the VOLCANO is not just hoisting flags, the expedition members tried to understand which side the eruption with a plume is going to. From a height you can clearly see where the island has changed its structure, geography, where new beaches have appeared. They found out how Japanese barriers, including anti-mudflow outflows, blocked the path of mud flowing towards the Japanese barracks. I am interested in one of the leaders of the expedition, a full member of the Russian Geographical Society Andrey Ivanov, whether Matua is really a mysterious island where the secrets of Imperial Japan are kept, or is it idle speculation of journalists.

“Journalists love to ask questions about riddles,” the scientist smiles. - Of course, it is still difficult to thoroughly study what is left of the Japanese, to understand where the myths are and where the reality is. We managed to find out that the legends that there is an underground city on Matua, built by them at the end of the Second World War, have grounds. We have found quite a few entrances that lead underground, all of them are blown up or filled up. We dug up one such entrance and found behind it numerous underground passages, storage rooms, which were connected to the above-ground system of trenches and trenches by special passages. It's not a legend, it's real."

At the same time, the main goal of the expedition is not to guess Japanese puzzles, but to make a comprehensive assessment of the territory in order to understand how suitable it is for development, whether mudflows and tsunamis will wash away the new infrastructure of the island. The expedition is also interested in how the Japanese garrison solved life support issues, because, as it turned out, there are no water sources on the island.

The head of the expedition, Deputy Commander of the Pacific Fleet Andrey Ryabukhin, told Army Standard that the Japanese used exclusively melt water, which is formed due to melting snow on the volcano. Therefore, many old Japanese filters for water purification are found on Matua, which were invented by the head of the 731st detachment in Manchuria, Shiro Ishii (a Japanese doctor who conducted inhuman experiments on people and developed bacteriological weapons). They assumed two types of cleaning, coarse and fine. Rough with the help of brushes removed all the dirt and debris from the water. During the thin period, water was driven through ceramic filters under pressure, then it went through trenches into special containers.

Part of the system was carried out in the area of ​​​​the mountain system, and the Japanese arranged part near the lakes, which were formed during the period of snow melting. Pumping stations were installed next to them. By the way, due to the fact that there were many rats on the island, which also used water, strong antibiotics were found here, with which underground hospitals were literally littered. Tablets prevented the defeat of personnel. At the same time, the members of the expedition assert that there was no actual production of bacteriological weapons on the island. After all, if something had gone wrong, then the Japanese garrisons in the Kuriles would have died themselves.

The island was needed primarily as a huge storage and security base for an extended line of communication that ran from "big" Japan to the Paramushir and Shumshu islands, where large garrisons were stationed. Only American submarines and surface ships posed a threat to the safety of this route. Since Allied aircraft could not actively bomb the islands due to the flight range, the main emphasis was placed on defense against the fleet. Therefore, a large airfield with two lanes was built on the island, where fighter aircraft and bombers were based.

Also, up to ten thousand people could be on the island in order to, if necessary, strengthen the Japanese garrisons on northern islands Shumshu and Paramushir. I ask Ryabukhin: did the expedition manage to understand how the defense of the island was built?

“We found out the system of communications and fortification of the Japanese, understood how the defense structure of Matua was built,” he says. - The peculiarity of the structure of the island is a large number of gullies - long gorges in which they concentrated their warehouses. The road system was developed on the island. It was of a serpentine type and led to where separate garrisons were stationed. A warehouse and barracks were equipped next to the garrison, as well as positions for defense - trenches, pillboxes. So far, we can only guess how food and ammunition were transported to the positions. It is already clear that road transport and the railway were developed on Matua.”

Of course, the search engines have not yet found the railway itself, only traces of it are found. One can only guess where it passed - these are tunnels pierced underground and, like arteries, crossing the island. The fact that it worked is also evidenced by numerous finds: trolleys rusted from time to time, fragments of rails. In addition, brass or bronze pipelines were laid throughout the island to supply fuel.

The search engines find characteristic fittings and pumping parts, but the tanks where the fuel was stored have not yet been found either. In addition, the expedition found out how the Japanese built their barracks. They were collapsible and consisted of a metal frame and wood. All pillboxes on the island were also sheathed with wood.

The Japanese airfield is now in a rather deplorable state, it was badly damaged by air raids and natural disasters. Now there are several helipads. However, in the future, its restoration is possible. Of course, the main question is: do we need this piece of land, absolutely unsuitable for normal life?

“Since last year, the Sea of ​​Okhotsk has become our inland sea- says Andrey Ryabukhin. This is our sea. And here, let's say, a lot open doors. And everyone wants to enter them. But with what intentions they enter these doors - good or not, you will not immediately understand. In order to reliably protect our territories, we must make efforts so that later we don’t regret that we didn’t do anything. Loopholes still exist, and they must be eliminated, including by creating Russian bases. So far, it is planned that Pacific Fleet units will be located on the island, which will ensure the protection of state interests.”

At the same time, the vice admiral believes that it makes no sense to restore the Japanese infrastructure on the island.

“Now, in modern conditions, go deep underground, build cities there and railways expensive and impractical. he continues. - Again, all the underground communications that we open are very dilapidated. They crumble, crumbling. The structure of the soil here is peculiar, including rocks that are very fragile. The fact that the Japanese dug up here was very relevant for that time, now it’s gone.”

Conclusions about whether Matua is needed by the armed forces, whether a base will appear there, will be made already this year. And there is a high probability that our troops will still be located on Matua.

The other day on a tiny desert island Matua Kurilskaya ridge (an area of ​​about 52 square kilometers), the second expedition of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation began work. 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 from the air a vast part of the Pacific Ocean and the 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. Nevertheless, 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 tsunamis. 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 nearby underwater nuclear explosion. What would be left in this case of the moorings and our ships on Matua?

Thus, we are unlikely to build a new ship-based station for the 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 of the Russian Air Force 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 for 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.

The second large-scale expedition of the Ministry of Defense and the Russian Geographical Society will leave for the Kuril Island of Matua in 2017. This was announced on Wednesday, September 14, by the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Sergei Avakyants, at a meeting of the media club.

The Japanese began to develop the island from the 1930s and gave it an exclusively military significance. "The island served as a springboard for further expansion and capture of the Kamchatka Peninsula. unique system underground structures connected by a single system of tunnels. Underground facilities are a separate topic that requires deep study," said Admiral Sergei Avakyants.

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

“Initially, there was an assumption that these were warehouses, but everything was taken out of them. And if these were warehouses, then any material traces would have remained. allowed to supply up to 3 thousand volts there. Naturally, this is excess voltage for storage facilities. But, it is obvious that some work was carried out in these facilities, "TASS quotes the head of the expedition.

The admiral also said that the same high-voltage cable was found on the slope of the Sarychev volcano. "The volcano is alive, the volcano is still breathing. Every 25 years there are powerful eruptions. The remains of an old road leading to the mouth of the volcano were found. From the helicopter you can see the characteristic entrances to underground structures from the water surface. We need serious deep-sea studies of the northern and northwestern parts of the volcano," Avakyants stressed.

He noted that during the expedition, dishes with symbols characteristic of the imperial family - stars were discovered, that is, the island was visited by the highest military-political leadership of Japan during the war, and the garrison was given exceptional attention.

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

According to the admiral, the expedition also studied the volcanic activity of the island and discovered the remains of an ancient paleovolcano dating back several million years. "Thus, the version requires confirmation that the Kamchatka Peninsula, the islands of the Kuril ridge and Japanese islands were a continuous strip of land," said Avakyants.

The commander of the Pacific Fleet believes that Toporkovy Island, which is supposedly connected to Matua by underground tunnels, also requires further study. "With the permission and at the direction of the President of the Russian Geographical Society, in 2017 we are conducting a second expedition involving a wide range of specialists from 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 including underwater ones. archaeological research", concluded the admiral.

The command of the Eastern Military District the possibility of a promising basing of the forces of the Pacific Fleet 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 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, consisting of six (!!!) warships of the Pacific Fleet, with more than two hundred people on board - scientists and specialists equipped with heavy equipment, underground search tools, various materials and equipment.

The expedition was organized not by social activists or semi-underground treasure seekers, which happened more than once, but for the first time jointly by the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) 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, the island is mysterious,” the President of the Russian Geographical Society and the Minister of Defense said in 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 that in 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 it went great amount equipment and ammunition that were prepared to repel the Soviet troops. 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.

The southernmost cape of the island of Matua 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, there is a convenient and relatively safe place. 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 either north or southern parts bays

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 the planes could take off and land in the 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. 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 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 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.

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.

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

If we assume that in the underground city on the island-fortress of Matua, the development of the most terrible weapon of the 20th century, nuclear, was really going on, then 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 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 the landing and take-off of aircraft at any time,” the press service of the Air Defense Forces 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 there are a large number of aviation technology, it can be disabled in one enemy missile attack or 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.