The island of Matua. North-Kurilsk city district of the Sakhalin region
The island of Matua is a piece of land uninhabited to date, which is often covered with a dense fog, which gives this mysterious place even greater mystery.
general characteristics
This is the most unexplored island of the Kuril chain. Its dimensions are relatively small: length - 11 km, width - 6.5 km. The highest point is the peak of Sarychev, (Fouyo volcano) - its height is 1485 meters. Significant removal from populated areas of Sakhalin and Kamchatka, the presence of an active volcano and the mysterious historical facts associated with this place, are the reason that the island is now uninhabited. It should be noted that after the capitulation of Japan in August 1945 for several decades on the island there was an active border outpost. But in 2000 it was destroyed by fire. Since then the island of Matua has become absolutely deserted. Only occasionally are expeditions arriving here, whose members struggle over the mysteries of this small part of the land.
History of the island
The first mention of the island was found in the reportsresearcher Ivan Kozyrevsky. He was one of the first to give a detailed description of the islands of the Kuril chain, having visited some of them, and gave them names. Matua, he called the island of Motogo. Also about this place is mentioned in the research diaries of the Cossack centurion Ivan Black, which reached in 1766-1769 before Iturup. He calls Matua the island of Mutov. It is Ivan the Black who first mentions the Fouyo volcano, calling it a hill. Based on the information from the stories of the Kuriles, he tells how the burning hill caused monstrous rock falls, from which all living creatures died within a radius of several kilometers.
Until the 20th century, the island of Matua was a placepermanent settlement of the Ainu. It is also known that in 1923 there was a settlement of Matsu-mura in which several hundred Japanese lived. Then the island was part of the internal territory of Japan, and most likely, it was in the 20-30s that construction of all military facilities and communications began here. The fact is that during the Second World War, Matua was the most important strategic object of Japan. It became the most powerful fortress with which the entire northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean was controlled.
Secrets of the island of Matua
However, in addition to the obvious facts proving thatthere was an airfield, fuel depots and aircraft, there are reasons to believe that the island of Matua was a secret base of the Japanese, where they could develop chemical and bacteriological weapons.
The fact is that in addition to the airfield and the wholeThe network of defensive structures (bunkers, pillboxes, caponiers, trenches, ditches) that are openly available has a number of underground structures on the island, the purpose of which is still unknown. What is it - chemical laboratories, disguised warehouses, bomb shelters, barracks or command post? This question is unlikely to ever be answered unequivocally. Most of the objects are hidden deep beneath the ground, the entrances to them are littered with explosions and eruptions. But from under the ground there is a large number of cast-iron and ceramic pipes. According to the stories of the expedition members, there is a camouflaged water tower and concrete bunkers with steel doors and shutters. The fact that on the island could be carried out laboratory studies, evidence and found in the piles of iron sensors, manometers, centrifuges, fragments of flasks and test tubes. But if so, where did the main equipment and equipment go? And the most important question is where the labs are.
Most likely, just before surrendermore than 10 thousand soldiers managed to leave the island. And those 3811 Japanese who surrendered are those soldiers who were engaged in the fact that they preserved the island and kept everything hidden.
It is impossible not to pay attention to how muchthoughtfully approached the Japanese to build an airfield. Takeoff strips on it are so qualitatively lined with concrete that to this day his condition is no worse than, for example, in Sheremetyevo. In total three runways were equipped, two of which are parallel to each other, and the third - at an angle of 45 degrees relative to the rest. This is not accidental. Two parallel ones were used as the main ones, and the third was used when a strong wind from the sea was blowing. So far, hundreds of barrels with fuel are scattered around the airfield, on which the marking of the Wehrmacht is visible. And some of them are complete.
Post-war time
Already after the Japanese military evacuatedwith Matua, and there settled the Russians, strange events happened on the island: people disappeared, then the light at night lit up the slopes of the volcano ... And in the late sixties three border guards found one of the entrances of the dungeon, and, moved by curiosity, went down there. No one else saw them. It was after this incident that the government's ban on penetration into the Japanese catacombs followed.
Territorial dispute with Japan
Russia and Japan to this day can not shareKurile Islands. The border with Japan has not changed since the Second World War, after which all the islands of the Kuril chain were included in the Soviet Union. However, the Japanese side even now claims to own the southern islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of Habomai islands, which, in their opinion, are occupied by Russia in a form that has no legal basis. The Russian side does not recognize the territorial dispute, since this fact is legitimate and, in view of historical events, can not be questioned.
Despite the fact that since August 1945 the island of Matua (Kuriles) belongs to Russia, it still keeps a lot of Japanese secrets.
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