The Soviet Union (Russia) called the South Kuril Islands (Japan called the four northern islands) (note) is the southward extension of the Kuril Islands in the northwest Pacific Ocean, with a total area of 5,038. 33 square kilometers, mainly including Tooth Dance Islands, Houguo Islands, Sedan Islands and Qiaoao Islands. Due to historical reasons and important resources. For military reasons, Russia and Japan are at loggerheads over the four northern islands.

1945 During the Yalta Conference, the United States and Britain promised that the Soviet Union could acquire all the territories of South Sakhalin Island and Thousand Islands after the war, and signed the Yalta Agreement. After Japan surrendered, the Soviet Union declared its occupation of the territory according to the Yalta Agreement, which has not been returned yet. This is a new pattern of international division of labor formed after the Second World War.

At present, under the actual control of Russia, the main residents are Russians. It belongs to South Kurilsk County in Sakhalin State. Japan also has * * * requirements for this area, calling it the northern territory, the northern region or the four northern islands, and administratively placing it under the Hokkaido Root Room Promotion Bureau without authorization. Japan's move has not been recognized by the international community.

The four northern islands also have great military value. They have unique concealment and can realize complete communication control. In Japanese history, the four northern islands once played a special military role. 194 1,1/in June, 2008, the Japanese navy assembled its core maritime forces in the single crown bay of Xizhi Island, and then set out from here to attack the US naval stronghold, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union established air bases in the four northern islands, and the United States also moved the aircraft carrier Midway Island and the attack nuclear submarine to the north. The fierce struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union near the four northern islands is inseparable from the military value of the four northern islands.

1On August 8, 945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and launched the Far East Campaign. The Kuril Islands Campaign is an important part of the Far East Campaign.

On August 1945, Soviet troops began to attack the Kuril Islands. Japan has as many as 80,000 troops stationed in the archipelago, and has built nine airports (which can accommodate 600 planes), six of which are located in the northernmost and most heavily fortified islands of Zhanshou Island and Sapporo Island. The two islands also have two well-equipped naval bases-Kataoka and Kashiwabara. However, due to the exhaustion of the Japanese navy and air force at this time, the navy and air force deployed in the direction of Thousand Islands were only equipped with a few boats and eight planes.

The fiercest fighting took place in Zhanshou Island, the nearest island to kamchatka peninsula. It is the springboard for Soviet troops to attack south and the focus of Japanese defense. (1) Reinforced concrete and home-made artillery machine guns connected by tunnels and traffic trenches are all over the island, with about 8,000 Japanese defenders and 64 tanks.

At 2: 35 in 18, the Soviet shore shelled and occupied kamchatka peninsula, which was 0/2 km away from/kloc-0. The Soviet destroyer fleet headed by the cruiser Kirov covered the landing troops. At 4: 30, the Soviet advance team rushed to the beach in a narrow section near the Tangka naval base, but failed to make further progress due to the lack of heavy weapons. In the early morning, when the Soviet main force landed in two echelons, it was violently bombed by the Japanese army, and many landing ships were sunk and injured by artillery fire, which was quite passive for a time.

Subsequently, the focus of the battle shifted to the island, and the two sides repeatedly competed for two highlands. Soviet troops used the mixed fire of anti-tank guns, submachine guns, machine guns and cluster grenades to repel the repeated counterattacks of Japanese tanks, and Navy Sergeant Vilcov blocked the shooting holes of Japanese main ammunition points with his body. By 20 o'clock in the evening, the Soviet army finally took control of two commanding heights. 19, the Japanese army, which learned that Emperor Hirohito had surrendered to the imperial edict, offered a truce while still actively preparing for the war. The Soviets continued to advance in depth, but soon fell into more difficult battles. Fortunately, at this time, the Japanese troops stationed in the Kuril Islands received an order to surrender unconditionally. By the afternoon of the 23rd, all the defenders of Zhanshou Island had surrendered.

The Soviet army immediately attacked south, and a series of landings after that were basically not resisted and very smooth. By 22: 00 on August 3 1 Day, the Soviet troops had finished fighting in the northern part of the Kuril Islands and started to station troops in the southern Kuril Islands. In the early morning of August 28th, Soviet troops landed on Chocatching Island, 1. 350,000 Japanese troops surrendered without fighting. /kloc-in September, 2000, after the Soviet occupation of the country, Sedan and the Soviet Far East General Command announced the completion of the "Thousand Islands Landing Operation". On the 2nd, Japan signed an unconditional surrender. It was not until the 5th that the Soviet army ended its final action of occupying Tooth Dance.

In the battle that lasted more than half a month, the Japanese army suffered casualties 10 18, and more than 60,000 people were captured. Soviet casualties 1567. Almost all the casualties on both sides were concentrated in the battle for islands. Since then, the Soviet Union and now Russia have been actually controlling the entire Kuril Islands, including the "four northern islands", greatly improving their strategic environment in the North Pacific. Japan's repeated requests for the return of the "four northern islands" failed.

note:

Guohou island

Guohou Island, located in the northeast of Nofu Cape, Hokkaido, is the second largest of the four islands. The island is 120km long, 4-30km wide and covers an area of about 1500km2. Most of the ground on the island is covered by volcanic ejecta, and its northeast peak is 1845 meters above sea level, which is a beautiful double-cone volcano. There are about 6.5438+0.2 million hectares of virgin forest on the island, distributed around some lakes and hot springs. The main mineral deposits are gold, silver, sulfur and iron sulfide.

etorofu island

Located in the northeast of Guohou Island, the island is about 203 kilometers long, 30 kilometers wide and covers an area of 3,200 square kilometers. It is the largest of the islands. There are 7 volcanoes with an altitude of 1000 meters. There are many lakes on the island, with a forest area of about 300,000 hectares. Maoshilu sulfur mine in the east is the main mineral deposit on the island.

Yawu island

Tooth Dance Islands, also known as Crystal Island, are the general names of small islands such as Mengmaoqi, Crystal, Autumn Forever, Liu Yong, Zhier, Seabirds and Duole. The total area is only 102 square kilometers.

Seden i.

Sedan Island is located in the northeast of Tooth Dance Islands. It is 28 kilometers long, 9 kilometers wide and covers an area of about 260 square kilometers. The remarkable feature of the island is that the coastline is relatively curved and there are many large and small harbors. There is much grass on the island and animal husbandry is quite developed.