RUSSIA IN THE PACIFIC

Southland Times, Issue 24113, 30 April 1940, Page 4

RUSSIA IN THE PACIFIC

Strong Submarine Bases

By

HALLETT ABEND,

in The New York Times.

There have been references in the cable news lately to German activities in the Komandorsky Islands in the North Pacific. These islands have been heavily fortified by Russia and equipped as submarine bases.

SHANGHAI, February 27. British, French and Japanese naval men in the Far East are keeping worried eyes focused upon Kamchatka and the Komandorsky (Commodore) Islands, and, as tension mounts between Washington and Tokyo, American naval men in the Orient are also puzzling over what may actually be going on in this remote and little-known portion of the North Pacific zone.

Only a few facts are known for a certainty, and these are disturbing. First, Soviet Russia is fortifying the two main islands of the Komandorsky group— Bering Island and Medny Island. Moreover, a strong submarine base already exist-, o- Bering Island, and the British and French fear that Russia may grant Germany the use of this base for raids in the Pacific if the Allies should become embroiled with Russia. In December of last year a large group of German naval officers arrived at Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, flew to the Komandorsky Islands in Russian naval aeroplanes, and remained there until late in January of this year. GERMAN OFFICERS GUESTS Russians who have reached Shanghai from Vladivostock confirm this report, and offer further evidence in the form of recent issues of Vladivostock newspapers, which say that “the party of German officers were the guests of Commander Yumashev, commander cf the Soviet Pacific fleet.” Almost 20 German submarine commanders, also the guests of Commander Yumashev, visited the Komandorsky Islands in January, and in groups of 10 or 12, Diesel engine experts and German submarine experts gathered at Vladivostock and were flown to the Komandorsky group. Some came from Germany via the trans-Siberian railway, but others arrived from the United States, from Mexico, and South America, and not a few went northwards from China, the Philippines, and other parts of the Far East.

Although the 21 Germans forcibly taken from the Japanese liner Asama Maru by a British cruiser had tickets good for travel to Germany, the British naval authorities here believe that this was only a blind, and that most of them were going to the submarine base in the Komandorsky Islands. If Russia permits the Germans to use this base, Germany will not have to buy Soviet submarines already in the Far East. These submarines were made in European Russia and shipped to Vladivostock piecemeal and put together there. The same could be done with German submarines fabricated in German factories.

Although Britain and France are most immediately concerned with this threat to their Far Eastern commerce, Japan, too, is greatly worried lest, in case the long-expected second Russo-Japanese war breaks out, submarines based on the Komandorsky group might ceaselessly raid the Japanese fishing lots along the Kamchatka coast. Japan depends upon these fisheries for about one-fourth her annual food supply. And the Komandorsky base would threaten all Japanese merchant shipping in the North Pacific. Since 1928 the Soviet has declared the Komandorsky Islands and the nearby Sivuchky and Toporkoff Islands “forbidden grounds.” The closed zone extends for 30 miles round these groups. Many Japanese vessels, ostensibly fishing craft, have sailed into the vicinity of the Komandorsky Islands during the last few years—and have never been heard from again. Japan supports the pleasant fiction—for home consumption —that they were lost in storms at sea. Soviet naval men say grimly that these “fishing boats” were engaged in espion-

age “and that they got the proper treatment.”

From 1928 to 1930 these islands were closed to aliens on the pretext of preserving the fur-bearing animals, but in 1930 War Commissar Klementy E. Voroshiloff proclaimed them a closed military zone. Then began the erection of barracks and a navy yard at what was then the fishing village of Nikolskoe, on Bering Island. Today the Soviet Army maintains a garrison force of 1100 officers and men there, but the strength of naval forces, ashore and afloat, has never been disclosed.

FULL MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT

Army and naval warehouses, hospitals, schools, and several powerful wireless stations now exist at Nikolskoe. In addition, there are two landing fields on Bering Island and one on Medny. The Soviet Press refers frequently to the regular air service being maintained between Nikolaevsk-on-Amur and the Komandorsky Islands and several 14,— 000-ton steamers—such as the Volhovstroy—make regular trips carrying military and naval supplies to Nikolskoe from Vladivostock during the months that Vladivostock is not an ice-bound port. Officially the Soviet Government will not admit any of these activities, but nevertheless published orders of the last three Soviet Pacific fleet commanders—< Cherepanoff, Victoroff, and now Yumasheff—mention special awards and decorations given to naval officers for their achievements in developing and fortifying the Komandorsky Islands submarine base. These awards began as long ago as 1928. For instance, Captain Sidorin, now in command of the base at Nikolskoe, received the Order of Lenin late in 1939, according to the latest copy of Podvodka available in Shanghai. Padvodka means “submarine” in Russian, and is the name of the official magazine of the Soviet’s Pacific submarine fleet. It is published at Vladivostock. These Komandorsky Islands, likely to play a large part in the history of the Far East, were discovered in 1741 by Commodore Bering. They are located 55 degrees 17 minutes N. Lat., and 165 degrees 41 minutes E. Long., and lie less than 1100 miles from Japan. Bering, the largest of the islands, is about 70 miles in length and from 23 to 28 miles in width. It is fairly rugged, the tallest peak being Steller Mountain, which rises almost 3000 feet above the sea. Medny and the other small islands of the group are also mountainous. Although Vladivostock and Petropavlovsk are ice-bound nearly half of every year, the Komandorsky Islands, because of the Japan current, are never closed to navigation, although drifting floe-ice prevails from the end of December to about the first of March. None of the islands has any trees or forests, but there is thick dwarf vegetation and much wild fern, which attains unusual size. There are small operating copper mines on both Bering and Medny, and the fisheries and fur catches are fairly profitable. Naval strategists in Shanghai, considering the possibility of an eventual clash between the United States and Japan, point out that a friendly or cooperating Russia would be of great value to the American cause. Even if it were admitted that Japan could grab the Philippines in short order, they say, this would not injure the American position nearly as much as the American Fleet could damage Japan by destroying the Japanese fisheries along the Siberian and Kamchatka coasts, and by cutting communication between Japan and Sakhalin Island, which is an important source of fuel oil and gasoline for the Japanese.