Kyska Island is part of the Aleutian Islands, which stretch in an arc from the US state of Alaska to Russian Kamchatka. The coasts of their southern part are washed by the cold waters of the Bering Sea. The number of islands is impressive - 110. The length of the island arc is 1740 km. Consider them carefully.
Aleutian Islands on the map
These islands are divided into five main groups: Neighboring, Rat, Andreyanovsky, Chetyrehsopochnye, Fox. They stretched in that order from west to east. Islands were formed due to the active action of volcanoes located on the archipelago. In our time, 25 craters continue to live. Of these, the most famous volcanoes can be called Shishaldin, Vsevidov, Tanaga, Big Sitkin, Gareloy, Kanaga, Segul.
The Aleutian Islands on the map come close to the Commander Islands. Some geographers propose combining these two groups of islands into a single whole under the general name of the Commander-Aleutian ridge.
Life on the island
The harsh climate of the islands did not prevent the sprawling germination of herbs. This is Arnica Unalashkinskaya and cereal meadows. Above one hundred meters, you can see bushes of heather and willow. Even higher are char and mountain tundra.
Previously, foxes, sea otters, sea lions and foxes were found on the islands. Now there are huge flocks of birds, completely capturing the rocky coast, the so-called bird markets. The main part of this motley community is made up of the Beringian sandpiper and Canadian goose, which arrive on the shores of the island of Kyska (Alaska).
In order to preserve the uniqueness of this place, since 1980 the Aleutian Islands have been included in the state protected areas - the Alaska Marine National Reserve. Islands inhabited. The indigenous inhabitants of these places - Aleuts - make up a small part of the population. In total, a little more than 6,000 people settled on the islands of the archipelago. They are mainly engaged in fishing. But part of the population is involved in servicing the US military base.
Kyska - Volcano
The island of Kyska, like all other parts of the Aleutian ridge, is of volcanic origin. He is a member of a group of islands under an interesting name - Rat. When Fyodor Petrovich Litke, in 1827, during a round-the-world trip, appeared on the island, he came up with such a peculiar name for him. That's because at every step he came across small animals similar to rats. There is a version that it was such a species of gophers that lived in those parts at that time. Rats of the island consist of several uninhabited rocky separate parts. There are no permanent residents on them, therefore these places are considered uninhabited.
Kyska is also a rocky island with steep banks, the main part of which is occupied by the eponymous volcano with a height of 1229.4 meters. The last time the eruption occurred in 1964. It is located on the northern part of the island of Kiska USA and is as if separated from the main territory by a narrow isthmus. Nearby, three lakes formed: West, Christina and East.
Kyska volcano is considered a stratovolcano, or layered. A feature of this type is the explosive nature of the eruption, in which the lava has a dense structure and hardens before it manages to cover large areas of the earth's surface. The eruption occurs quickly, and the frozen lava forms a specific layered structure of the volcano on the island of Kyska. The description of stratovolcanoes is usually the same throughout the world. These are symmetrical mountains with a wide base, having steeper slopes near the crater. During the eruption, magma almost does not flow down the slopes, but densely clogs the crater. Pyroclastic flows of hot material and clouds of ash and gas descend down the sides of the volcano. When such mudflow hits the snow cover of the mountain, volcanic mud flows form.
Discovery of Kyski
The island was discovered by the famous explorer of Siberia, Kamchatka and the northern islands of the Pacific Ocean - Georg Steller (in 1741). He was a German physician, botanist and natural scientist working in the last years of his life for the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Went to the second Kamchatka expedition by Vitus Bering. It went down in history as the first European to set foot on the land of Alaska.
Russian expedition
A little later, a Russian ship with industrialists on board called "Saint Kapiton" also reached the aforementioned island, but the sailors did not manage to step ashore, as they were attacked by Aleuts. After that, the ship could not stand the test of the storm and was thrown to an inhospitable shore. Russian industrialists wanted to escape and even tried to set up camp on the shore, but the attack of the Aleuts did not allow them to do so.
After small losses, the indigenous inhabitants retreated to the neighboring island, leaving uninvited guests to spend the winter alone in the uninhabited island of Kyska. During the winter, the Russians continued to pursue failure. From starvation and scurvy 17 passengers died. The remaining barely escaped, having reached the shores of their native Kamchatka on the wreckage of an old ship in the summer. After such an unsuccessful expedition, the Russians for a long time did not dare to go to deserted wild islands in the cold inhospitable sea. And already in 1867, after Alaska was sold to America, the island of Kyska also became part of the United States.
World War II events
In the summer of 1942, Japanese marines from the Marines landed on the island and immediately destroyed the U.S. Navy's meteorological station. After that, there was a huge contingent of Japanese troops. According to information received during the intelligence operation, the number of Japanese was about 10 thousand soldiers.
At the very beginning of the operation to seize the islands of the Bering Sea, military units and large-scale work units were brought to the coast. There is a submarine base and communications and air defense services. On the small island of Kyska, the population at that time was 5400 Japanese. For a year, the enemy occupied the territory with virtually impunity. The actions of American troops were limited to only infrequent and insignificant raids of military aircraft and constant patrolling of the territory from submarines. The purpose of such sorties was to isolate Japanese island military units from the rest of the armed forces of the enemy.
But already in August 1942, US military ships delivered the first decisive blow to the enemy, located on the American island of Kyska. The story of the liberation of enemy-occupied territory has just begun. After a decisive strike from the sea, which was carried out by the united efforts of cruisers and destroyers, aircraft of America and Canada launched air strikes on the captured islands over the following months.
Start of rebuff
At first, the first bombing did not have much effect on the Japanese command. However, the invaders nevertheless decided to strengthen the defense, to dig in well, but the military faced a number of unsolved problems. The harbor of the island was always in fog, and the constant dead swell also created big problems. The Japanese had only seaplanes that contained light weapons and had no armor at all. They could not compete with heavy American bombers.
The enemy’s floating bases did not dare to constantly be near the coastline due to the constant attacks of the Allied aircraft. The Japanese kept them in the open sea and only under the cover of night darkness or in bad weather they brought them closer to the island in order to unload equipment or seaplanes. The Japanese aircraft carriers that were at the beginning of the operation off the coast of the Aleutian Islands left their location a month later.
Accumulation of resistance forces
The Americans were building up their military potential on the nearby islands. On about. Adah was erected as soon as possible airfield, which became the largest in the region. Submarines intensified. So, the American submarine Triton sank the Japanese destroyer Nenokhi in mid-summer, taking the lives of 200 people on board. At the same time, three destroyers, which moored the Tiyoda cruiser in the harbor, also suffered. The Growler submarine managed to fire three torpedoes that hit the ships. The fog of the coastal zone helped.
Strengthening the defense of the Japanese
The Japanese had a longing to leave these islands to themselves. In the autumn of the same year, they began to actively strengthen their positions. By order of the imperial command, troops were transferred to the islands with the aim of building defensive structures. They had to build an airfield on the island of Kyska and next to about. Attu, on a small nameless islet. By the end of winter, the work was planned to be completed, but the Allied forces did not give them this chance.
Although these desert islands had absolutely no significance for America, they were not going to give their lands. An offensive was being prepared in full swing with the goal of finally defeating the Japanese troops. The invaders, completely cut off from the rest of the world, lacked supplies, and the cold of the inhospitable islands of the Aleutian arc did not bode well.
Battles for Attu
On May 11, the Allies launched a grandiose operation to free the island of Attu. Bloody battles lasted for three weeks. Hundreds of soldiers died, more than a thousand were injured and injured, but most of all they lost people from frostbite. The harsh climate of the Aleutian Islands could not withstand warriors not accustomed to such conditions.
The Japanese also killed about 3,000, several dozen were captured. After such a difficult battle for Attu, the Allied command decided on the mandatory release of Kyski. Such an operation to clean the last island played a big role, as it opened the way for the Allies to the shores of Russia. If the path was clear, then the Americans would be able to throw military equipment to the aid of our troops. A large-scale operation was planned, and huge funds were raised for a decisive battle.
Operation "Cottage"
According to intelligence reports, the Americans believed that more than 10,000 troops had gathered on the island. For the assault operation, more than 100 American and Canadian ships were pulled to the shores of the bay. The number of military personnel exceeded 34,000, of which 5,300 were citizens of Canada. From the air, aviation provided every possible support, making frequent shuttle bombing.
In early August, in the early morning, an airborne expedition landed on the island. The Japanese were not visible. The military felt that the enemy had dug in the mountains in order to take up defensive positions. The next day, additional troops went to help. Only at the end of the second day it became clear that there were no Japanese on the island. They left him. How did this happen?
Escape under the cover of fog
Anticipating the enemy’s advance on their positions, the Japanese, under the cover of heavy fog, carried out a lightning-fast operation to withdraw troops from the Aleutian arc. On the afternoon of July 29, at great speed, two cruisers and a dozen destroyers sailed around the island of Kysku from the north and anchored. To sink aboard, the Japanese spent only 45 minutes. During this short time, 5400 soldiers entered the ships.
Heading to their base, they quickly left the place of deployment while there was heavy fog, and American aircraft could not fly into the air, and sentinel vessels at that time replenished fuel supplies. The Japanese at that time calmly and brilliantly conducted an operation to rescue their military, who were safely transported to Paramushir.
Reproaches and disputes
As a result, the Americans in the army of many thousands and 100 ships, not counting aviation, fought with an empty island. Moreover, as a result of the so-called "friendly" fire, several hundred people died. Operation "Cottage" some call a failure. But it must be borne in mind that, firstly, the winners are not judged, and secondly, the Japanese fled from such a terrible force, afraid to engage in open battle.
You must also take into account the harsh conditions of the island of Kyska, the description of which is given above. The constant dense fog and severe cold caused much trouble to the soldiers forced to carry out the operation in such harsh conditions. To this day, the whole island is covered with the remains of crushed guns, half-sunken rusted ships are in the bays. The island resembles, rather, an open-air museum that tells people visiting it about the terrible days of the war.