Shumshu (; ; ) is the easternmost and second-northernmost island of the
Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...
chain, which divides the
Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...
from the northwest
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
. The name of the island is derived from the
Ainu language
Ainu (, ), or more precisely Hokkaido Ainu (), is a language spoken by a few elderly members of the Ainu people on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is a member of the Ainu language family, itself considered a language family isola ...
, meaning "good island". It is separated from
Paramushir by the very narrow
Second Kuril Strait in the northeast , and its northern tip is , from
Cape Lopatka at the southern tip of the
Kamchatka Peninsula
The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively.
Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...
. The island has a seasonal population of around 100 inhabitants.
Geography
Shumshu is the least elevated in the entire Kuril group with a height of . The terrain is low-lying and covered with numerous lakes and marshland. Shumshu is roughly oval, and has an area of .
Main Features
*
Ozero Utinoye (lake)
*
Ozero Dogovoye (lake)
*
Ozero Kuzminovskoye (lake)
*
Ozero Bol'shoye (lake)
*
Bukhta Shumnaya (bay)
*
Bukhta Sakulina (bay)
*
Bukhta Inozemtseva (bay)
*
Bukhta Mayachnaya (bay)
*
Nakagawa-wan (bay)
*
Katoka-wan (bay)
History

Shumshu was inhabited by the
Ainu, who subsisted off of the abundant fish,
marine mammal
Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine enviro ...
s and birdlife in the area, at the time of European contact. The island appears on an official map showing the territories of
Matsumae Domain, a
feudal domain of
Edo-period Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
dated 1644. Due to its proximity to the Kamchatka Peninsula, Shumshu became the first of the Kurils to be reached by
Cossack
The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...
s from the peninsula in the first years of the 18th century. Russian fur traders are known to have visited the island in 1711 and 1713, and it was from this base that Russian fur hunters and traders gradually expanded into other islands of the chain and
Sakhalin
Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...
. Although the
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868.
The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...
of Japan officially confirmed the Matsumae Domain’s claims to the island, the island remained outside of ''de facto'' Japanese control. Also claimed by the
Empire of Russia
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
,
sovereignty
Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...
over the island was confirmed to be under Russia under the terms of the
Treaty of Shimoda in 1855. In 1875, sovereignty over the Kuril Islands, including Shumshu, was transferred to the
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...
per the
Treaty of Saint Petersburg. A number of Japanese colonizing expeditions followed, establishing the settlement of
Kataoka (on the site of the
Ainu settlement of Mairuppo) as the commercial center of Shumshu. As the island closest to Russia, it became an important Japanese military outpost, as well as a center for the
commercial fishing
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...
industry. The island was administered as part of the Shumushu District of
Nemuro Subprefecture
is a Subprefectures of Hokkaido, subprefecture of Hokkaido, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. Japan claims the southern parts of the Kuril Islands dispute, disputed
Kuril Islands (known as the Northern Territories in Japan) as part of this subprefectur ...
of
Hokkaidō
is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel.
The ...
. In 1910, a
cannery was established, and the island’s civilian population exceeded 2,000 by the early 1940s.
Towards the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
the island was strongly garrisoned by both the
Imperial Japanese Army
The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...
(IJA) and
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...
(IJN). A garrison of over 24,500 men reinforced by sixty tanks was garrisoned on Shumshu in nine locations centered around Kataoka. All coastal areas suitable for enemy
amphibious landings were covered with permanent emplacements and
bunker
A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...
s, interconnected with underground passages and
trench
A trench is a type of digging, excavation or depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a swale (landform), swale or a bar ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or trapping ...
es. All the
warehouse
A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...
s,
power station
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...
s, and
hospital
A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...
s were up to underground. These defenses were manned by the IJA
91st Division, with the IJA 73rd Infantry Brigade. Miyoshino Airfield was a joint IJA-IJN airfield, located near the center of the island, and it hosted several aviation units operating various aircraft including IJN
Nakajima B5N2 (
Allied reporting name "Kate") and
Mitsubishi G3M (Allied reporting name "Nell") and IJA
Nakajima Ki-44
The Nakajima Ki-44 ''Shoki'' (鍾馗, "Zhong Kui, Devil Queller") was a single-seat fighter aircraft, fighter-interceptor aircraft, interceptor which was developed by the Nakajima Aircraft Company and operated by the Imperial Japanese Army from ...
(Allied reporting name "Tojo") and
Nakajima Ki-43
The Nakajima Ki-43 ''Hayabusa'' (, "Peregrine falcon"), formal Japanese designation is a single-engine land-based tactical Fighter aircraft, fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in World War II.
The Allied World War II Allie ...
(Allied reporting name "Oscar") aircraft. Kataoka Naval Base was under the command of the IJN′s
5th Fleet and had three oil storage tanks as well as
barracks
Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...
and supply buildings. The base also had a
seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...
facility in the harbor, and neighboring Imaizaki Airfield had a and a runway. These facilities were subject to sporadic
air raids by
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
and
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
forces based in the
Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...
from 1943 until the
Japanese Emperor Hirohito
, Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...
announced the
surrender of Japan
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was Hirohito surrender broadcast, announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signed on 2 September 1945, End of World War II in Asia, ending ...
on 15 August 1945.
The
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
continued combat operations against Japan until early September 1945. During the
Invasion of the Kuril Islands, Soviet forces landed on Shumshu on 18 August 1945, beginning the
Battle of Shumshu, one of the last battles of World War II. Combat operations continued through 23 August 1945, ending with the surrender of the surviving members of the Japanese garrison. The Soviets sent the Japanese
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
, including most Japanese male civilians, to
labor camps and forcibly deported the remaining Japanese civilian inhabitants. The Soviets renamed Kataoka
Baikovo (), and the Soviet Union annexed the island in 1946, including it in the
Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
. Japan formally gave up sovereignty over the island under the terms of the
San Francisco Peace Treaty
The , also called the , re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war, military occupation and providing for War reparations, redr ...
of 1951.
The island remained a part of Russia after the 1991
dissolution of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
and is now administered as part of the
Sakhalin Oblast
Sakhalin Oblast ( rus, Сахали́нская о́бласть, r=Sakhalinskaya oblastʹ, p=səxɐˈlʲinskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) comprising the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in the Russian ...
of the
Russian Federation
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
.
See also
*
List of islands of Russia
Notes
References
* Gorshkov, G. S. ''Volcanism and the Upper Mantle Investigations in the Kurile Island Arc''. Monographs in geoscience. New York: Plenum Press, 1970.
* Krasheninnikov, Stepan Petrovich, and James Greive. ''The History of Kamtschatka and the Kurilski Islands, with the Countries Adjacent''. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1963.
* Rees, David. ''The Soviet Seizure of the Kuriles''. New York: Praeger, 1985.
* Takahashi, Hideki, and Masahiro Ōhara. ''Biodiversity and Biogeography of the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin''. Bulletin of the Hokkaido University Museum, no. 2-. Sapporo, Japan: Hokkaido University Museum, 2004.
External links
*
PicturesAbandoned tanks of Shumshu island
{{Authority control
Islands of the Kuril Islands
Islands of the Sea of Okhotsk
Islands of the Russian Far East