Shumshu
Encyclopedia
Shumshu is the northernmost island of Kuril Islands
chain in the Sea of Okhotsk
in the northwest Pacific Ocean
. The name of the island is derived from the Ainu language
meaning “good island”. It is separated from Paramushir
by the very narrow Second Kuril Strait
in the northeast 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi), its northern tip is 11 km from Cape Lopatka
at the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The island has a seasonal population of around 100 inhabitants.
at the time of European contact, who subsided off of the abundant fish, marine mammals and birdlife in the area. The island appears on an official map showing the territories of Matsumae Domain
, a feudal domain of Edo period
Japan
dated 1644. Due to its proximity to Kamchatka Shumshu became the first of the Kurils to be reached by Cossack
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
. Although the Tokugawa shogunate
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, sovereignty
over the island was confirmed to be under Russia under the terms of the Treaty of Shimoda
in 1855. In 1875, sovereignty was transferred to the Empire of Japan
per the Treaty of Saint Petersburg along with the rest of the Kurile Islands. A number of colonizing expeditions followed, establishing the settlement of Kataoka as the commercial center of Shumshu. As the island closest to Russia, it became an important military outpost, as well as a center for the commercial fishing
industry. The island was administered as part of Shimushu District of Nemuro Subprefecture
of Hokkaidō
. In 1910, a cannery was established, and the island’s civilian population exceeded 2000 persons by the early 1940s.
Towards the end of World War II
the island was strongly garrisoned by both the Imperial Japanese Army
and Imperial Japanese Navy
. A garrison of over 24,500 men reinforced by sixty tanks was garrisoned on Shumshu in nine locations centered around Kataoka. All coastal areas convenient for landings were covered with permanent emplacements and bunkers, interconnected with underground passages and trenches. All the warehouses, power station and hospitals were up to 50 meters underground. These defenses were manned by the IJA 91st Infantry Division, with the IJA 73rd Infantry Brigade. Miyoshino Airfield was a joint Japanese Army-Navy airfield, located near the center of the Shumshu island. This airfield based several units including B5N2 Kate
, G3M Nell
, Ki-44 Tojo
s and Ki-43 Oscars. Kataoka Naval Base was under the IJN 5th Fleet
and had three 60' oil storage tanks and other barracks and supply buildings. The base also had a seaplane
facility on the harbor, as well as a 4000-foot and a 5000-foot land runways at neighboring Imaizaki Airfield. These facilities were subject to sporadic air raid
s from the US Army Air Force and US Navy based in the Aleutian Islands from 1943 until the end of the war
.
During the Invasion of the Kuril Islands, Soviet
landed on Shumshu on August 18, 1945, and combat operations continued through August 23, ending with the surrender of the surviving members of the Japanese garrison. The Battle of Shumshu was one of the last battles of the war. The Soviets forcibly deported the remaining Japanese civilian inhabitants and sent the prisoners of war, including most male civilians to labor camps
. Kataoka was renamed Bakovo , and the island annexed by the Soviet Union in 1946. Japan formally gave up sovereignty over the island under the terms of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951.
The island is now administered as part of the Sakhalin Oblast
of the Russian Federation.
Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands , in Russia's Sakhalin Oblast region, form a volcanic archipelago that stretches approximately northeast from Hokkaidō, Japan, to Kamchatka, Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many more minor rocks. It consists of Greater...
chain in the Sea of Okhotsk
Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaidō to the far south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and...
in the northwest Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. The name of the island is derived from the Ainu language
Ainu language
Ainu is one of the Ainu languages, spoken by members of the Ainu ethnic group on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō....
meaning “good island”. It is separated from Paramushir
Paramushir
Paramushir , is a volcanic island in the northern portion of Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It is separated from Shumshu by the very narrow Second Kuril Strait in the northeast , from Antsiferov by the Luzhin Strait to the southwest, from Atlasov in the...
by the very narrow Second Kuril Strait
Second Kuril Strait
Second Kuril Strait is a strait located at , which separates islands of Paramushir and Shumshu in the Kuril Islands, Russia....
in the northeast 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi), its northern tip is 11 km from Cape Lopatka
Cape Lopatka
Cape Lopatka is the southernmost point of Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, with the rural locality of Semenovka at its southernmost point. Cape Lopatka lies about north of Shumshu, the northernmost island of the Kuril Islands...
at the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula. 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 189 metres (620.1 ft). The terrain is low-lying and covered with numerous lakes and marshland. Is roughly oval, and has an area of 388 square kilometres (149.8 sq mi).History
Shumshu was inhabited by the AinuAinu people
The , also called Aynu, Aino , and in historical texts Ezo , are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin...
at the time of European contact, who subsided off of the abundant fish, marine mammals and birdlife in the area. The island appears on an official map showing the territories of Matsumae Domain
Matsumae clan
The was a Japanese clan which was granted the area around Matsumae, Hokkaidō as a march fief in 1590 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and charged with defending it, and by extension all of Japan, from the Ainu 'barbarians' to the north. The clan was originally known as the Kakizaki clan who settled...
, a feudal domain of Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
dated 1644. Due to its proximity to Kamchatka Shumshu became the first of the Kurils to be reached by Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
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
Sakhalin or Saghalien, is a large island in the North Pacific, lying between 45°50' and 54°24' N.It is part of Russia, and is Russia's largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast...
. Although the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
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, sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
over the island was confirmed to be under Russia under the terms of the Treaty of Shimoda
Treaty of Shimoda
The Treaty of Shimoda of 1855, formally Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia , was signed between the Russian Vice-Admiral Euphimy Vasil'evich Putiatin and Toshiakira Kawaji of Japan in the city of Shimoda, Izu Province, Japan, on February 7, 1855...
in 1855. In 1875, sovereignty was transferred to the Empire of Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
per the Treaty of Saint Petersburg along with the rest of the Kurile Islands. A number of colonizing expeditions followed, establishing the settlement of Kataoka as the commercial center of Shumshu. As the island closest to Russia, it became an important military outpost, as well as a center for the commercial fishing
Commercial fishing
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often pursue fish far into the ocean under adverse conditions...
industry. The island was administered as part of Shimushu District of Nemuro Subprefecture
Nemuro Subprefecture
is a subprefecture of Hokkaidō, Japan. The Japanese claim the disputed Southern Kurile Islands as part of this subprefecture....
of Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
. In 1910, a cannery was established, and the island’s civilian population exceeded 2000 persons by the early 1940s.
Towards the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the island was strongly garrisoned by both the Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
and Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
. A garrison of over 24,500 men reinforced by sixty tanks was garrisoned on Shumshu in nine locations centered around Kataoka. All coastal areas convenient for landings were covered with permanent emplacements and bunkers, interconnected with underground passages and trenches. All the warehouses, power station and hospitals were up to 50 meters underground. These defenses were manned by the IJA 91st Infantry Division, with the IJA 73rd Infantry Brigade. Miyoshino Airfield was a joint Japanese Army-Navy airfield, located near the center of the Shumshu island. This airfield based several units including B5N2 Kate
Nakajima B5N
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Bridgwater, H.C. and Peter Scott. Combat Colours Number 4: Pearl Harbor and Beyond, December 1941 to May 1942. Luton, Bedfordshire, UK: Guideline Publications, 2001. ISBN 0-9539040-6-7....
, G3M Nell
Mitsubishi G3M
The Mitsubishi G3M was a Japanese bomber used during World War II.-Design and development:...
, Ki-44 Tojo
Nakajima Ki-44
The Nakajima Ki-44 Shōki was a single-engine fighter aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II. The type first flew in August 1940 and entered service in 1942...
s and Ki-43 Oscars. Kataoka Naval Base was under the IJN 5th Fleet
IJN 5th Fleet
The was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, active during the early portions of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and again in World War II, primarily in the Battle of the Aleutian Islands.-China Expeditionary Fleet:...
and had three 60' oil storage tanks and other barracks and supply buildings. The base also had a seaplane
Seaplane
A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...
facility on the harbor, as well as a 4000-foot and a 5000-foot land runways at neighboring Imaizaki Airfield. These facilities were subject to sporadic air raid
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
s from the US Army Air Force and US Navy based in the Aleutian Islands from 1943 until the end of the war
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...
.
During the Invasion of the Kuril Islands, Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
landed on Shumshu on August 18, 1945, and combat operations continued through August 23, ending with the surrender of the surviving members of the Japanese garrison. The Battle of Shumshu was one of the last battles of the war. The Soviets forcibly deported the remaining Japanese civilian inhabitants and sent the prisoners of war, including most male civilians to labor camps
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
. Kataoka was renamed Bakovo , and the island annexed by the Soviet Union in 1946. Japan formally gave up sovereignty over the island under the terms of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951.
The island is now administered as part of the Sakhalin Oblast
Sakhalin Oblast
Sakhalin Oblast is a federal subject of Russia comprising the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.The oblast has an area of 87,100 km² and a population of 546,695...
of the Russian Federation.