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18-534: The islands have been under Soviet / Russian administration since the 1945 invasion by the Soviet Union near the end of World War II . But together with Iturup ( Etorofu ), Kunashir ( Kunashiri ), and Shikotan , the islands are claimed by Japan . In the fifteenth century, the Matsumae clan made efforts to administer the islands; by 1644 the islands had been mapped as Japanese territories. In 1732

36-578: A full year subsisting on "scallops, grass, and roots". Sovereignty initially passed to Russia under the terms of the Treaty of Shimoda , but was returned to the Empire of Japan per the Treaty of Saint Petersburg along with the rest of the Kuril islands. The island was formerly administered as part of Shimushiru District of Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaidō . Settlers on the island were engaged in fishing, and

54-602: A population of approximately 3000 people. The remains of the base can be seen clearly on satellite images. Today the island is uninhabited. It is now administered as part of the Sakhalin Oblast of the Russian Federation . Simushir is highly elongated, consisting of a series of stratovolcanos . The island has a length of 59 kilometres (37 mi) with a width of 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), and an area of 227.6 square kilometres (87.9 sq mi). At

72-571: The Kuril Islands dispute between Russia, Japan, and other parties. Simushir Simushir ( Russian : Симушир , Japanese : 新知島 , romanized :  Shimushiru-tō , Ainu : シムシㇼ , romanized:  Simusir ), meaning Large Island in Ainu , is an uninhabited volcanic island near the center of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean . It

90-606: The Petropavlovsk military base ( Captain Dmitry Ponomarev ). The 128th Aviation Division also provided support. The islands were occupied by the Japanese 91st Infantry Division ( Shiashkotan , Paramushir , Shumshu , and Onekotan ), 42nd Division ( Simushir ), 41st Independent Regiment ( Matua ), 129th Independent Brigade ( Urup ), and 89th Infantry Division ( Iturup and Kunashir ). The Japanese commander

108-617: The invasion of South Sakhalin created the necessary prerequisites for invasion of the Kuril Islands. The operation took place between 18 August and 1 September. The attack was made by the 87th Rifle Corps (Guards Lieutenant General A. S. Ksenofontov) of the 16th Army (Lieutenant General Leonty Cheremisov ) from the 2nd Far Eastern Front, and elements of the Kamchatka Defense Area ( Major General Alexey Gnechko commanding). Ships and transportation were drawn from

126-565: The 20,000-strong Japanese garrisons on the islands were ordered to surrender as part of the general surrender of Japan . However, some of the garrison forces ignored this order and continued to resist Soviet occupation. From 22 to 28 August, troops of the Kamchatka Defense Area occupied the Kuril Islands from Urup north. On 1 September, elements of the 87th Rifle Corps were landed by torpedo boats, mine trawlers and transports (departing from Otomari) on Kunashir and Shikotan in

144-609: The Kuril Islands ( Russian : Курильская десантная операция , lit.   ' Kuril Islands Landing Operation ') was the World War II Soviet military operation to capture the Kuril Islands from Japan in 1945. The invasion, part of the Soviet–Japanese War , was decided on when plans to land on Hokkaido were abandoned. The successful military operations of the Red Army at Mutanchiang and during

162-660: The Soviet Union. As part of the proceedings, the United States questioned the validity of the Soviet Union's claim to the Habomai Islands. In 1956, after difficult negotiations, the Soviet Union agreed to cede the Habomai to Japan, along with Shikotan, after the conclusion of a peace treaty between the two countries. As the treaty was never concluded, the islands remained under Soviet jurisdiction. However,

180-696: The islands as part of a war-time agreement between the Allies ( Yalta Agreement ), which provided for the transfer of the Chishima (Kurile) Islands to the USSR in return for its participation in the Pacific War. However, Japan maintains that the Habomai Islands are not part of the Kuriles and are in fact part of Hokkaido prefecture. On May 26, 1955, the United States submitted an application for proceedings against

198-523: The islands were mapped during the Russian Great Eastern Expedition . The Treaty of Shimoda , signed by Russia and Japan in 1855, recognised Japanese ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai Islands. The Habomai Islands were occupied by Soviet forces in the last few days of World War II . The islands were eventually annexed by the Soviet Union , which deported all the island residents to Japan. Moscow claimed

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216-635: The north end of the island is a half-submerged caldera, Brouton Bay, with an entrance only 2.5 meters deep, plunging to 240 meters in the center. In spite of its temperate latitude, the powerful Oyashio Current on the western flank of the Aleutian Low gives Simushir a chilly and very wet subarctic climate ( Köppen Dfc ) that amazingly almost qualifies as a polar climate ( ET ), which in low-lying areas would be expected only at latitudes about 20 degrees or 2,200 kilometres (1,370 mi) further north. Unlike typical subarctic or polar climates, however,

234-636: The promise of a two-island solution (for the purpose of simplicity, the Habomai rocks count as one island) has been renewed in the Soviet-Japanese, and later Russo-Japanese negotiations. Formerly home to a Japanese fishing community, the islands are now uninhabited except for the Russian border guard outpost. Invasion of the Kuril Islands Second Sino-Japanese War The Invasion of

252-683: The raising of Arctic fox and reindeer . During World War II , the civilian population was evacuated to the Japanese home islands and Simushir was garrisoned by a detachment from the Imperial Japanese Army . It was surrendered to Soviet forces during the Battle of the Kuril Islands without resistance. Under the Soviet Union , Brouton Bay was used by the Soviet Navy as a secret submarine base between 1987 and 1994, and had

270-449: The southern Kuril Islands. This was an assault landing against Japanese resistance. On 4 September, 87th Rifle Corps occupied five smaller islands (Sibotzu, Taraku-Shima, Uri-Shima, Akiuri, and Suiseto). After 4 September, Soviet forces occupied the rest of the Kuril Islands without further resistance. The islands remained part of Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union , but their true legal status remains in question as part of

288-499: The winters are only moderately severe and there is no permafrost since the mean annual temperature is around 2.8 °C (37.0 °F), whilst temperatures have never fallen below −22.2 °C (−8 °F). However, the extreme winds, which in winter average as much as 43 kilometres per hour (27 mph), make it feel much colder. Summers are mild, but extraordinarily cloudy with fogs occurring on six-sevenths of all days in summer and annual sunshine hours less than 1,100 per year, which

306-403: Was Lieutenant General Fusaki Tsutsumi . Initial reconnaissance was undertaken on 18 August by a detachment of the 113th Separate Rifle Brigade (Captain-Lieutenant G. I. Brunshtein), carried by two mine trawlers (ТЩ-589 and ТЩ-590) to Rubetzu Bay on Iturup island. The landings on Iturup were continued by the 355th Rifle Division , which also landed on the smaller island of Urup. On 23 August,

324-473: Was formerly known as Marikan . At the time of European contact, Simushir was inhabited by the Ainu . The island appears on an official map showing the territories of Matsumae Domain , a feudal domain of Edo period Japan dated 1644, and these holdings were officially confirmed by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1715. Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov was marooned on Simushir in the early 1770s. He spent

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