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{
    "localId": "750433",
    "label": "Foreign Affairs File, 1940-1953: \"Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945\" (galley proofs, Part I)",
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    "id": "750433",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Foreign Affairs File, 1940-1953: \"Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945\" (galley proofs, Part I)",
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{
    "seq": 355,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602191/750433/750433-01-355.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "J. 333305-MONO-State\nGalley 354\nUNCORRECTED GALLEY PROOF\nkaido. the northernmost of Japan's main islands, to the Russian\npeninsula of Kamchatka. They have an area of approximately\n3,944 square miles. The permanent population 17,550 (1940),\nall Japanese, is increased during the summer months by 20,000 to\n30,000 seasonal workers in the fishing industry. Japan has been in\npossession of the southern Kuriles since about 1800. Russia, which\nwas advancing into the northern islands from Kamchatka, recognized\nJapan's title to these southern islands in 1855; in 1875 Russia with-\ndrew from all the Kuriles in return for Japan's withdrawal from\nSouthern Sakhalin. The Kuriles are considered to be a part of Japan\nproper and for administrative purposes are under the Hokkaido\nprefecture.\nThe economic importance of the islands is due almost entirely to\nthe fishing industry, whose output in 1938 was estimated at about\n$9,000,000. Fish products are essential in the Japanese diet and\nform an important item in Japan's export trade. The Kurile fishing\nindustry will be of increasing importance to Japan if the Soviet Union\nfurther restricts or closes to the Japanese access to the inshore fishing\ngrounds of Eastern Siberia.\nThe Kuriles are important strategically to both Japan and the\nSoviet Union because they are a connecting chain between the two\ncountries and provide bases for both defense and attack. They are\nalso important to the Soviet Union because they form a military\nscreen to the ocean approach to the Okhotsk Sea and the Maritime\nprovinces. They are important to the United States because they\nare near the Aleutians, form part of the land-bridge between Japan\nand Alaska, and are situated on the great-circle route between the\nUnited States and Japan. Japan has established a number of fortified\nair and naval bases on the islands.\nThe Kuriles may be divided into three groups: southern, central\nand northern. The southern group, which extends about 235 miles\nnorth from Hokkaido up to and including the island of Etorofu, con-\ntains 90 percent of the total population of the Kuriles and has been\nadmittedly Japanese territory since about 1800. The nearest point in\nthe group is only about 12 miles from Hokkaido. The people are\nJapanese and their life is the same as that in the main islands of Japan.\nThe stragetic value of these islands is limited by the fact that for about\nhalf of the year the waters of Okhotsk Sea to the west of the Kuriles\nis largely filled with ice and almost impassable.\nThe central group, beginning with the large island of Uruppu,\nextends north about 375 miles, is largely unpopulated and has almost\nnegligible economic value. It is important strategically; the islands\nlie across the entrance into Okhotsk Sea, and Shimushiru, 31 miles long\nand 5 miles wide, encloses Broughton (Buroton) Bay, which can be\ndeveloped into an important base and possible fleet anchorage. The\nHandbook on the Kurile Islands, issued in November, 1943 by the\nOffice of the Chief of Naval Operations, says of this bay: \"If the en-\ntrance has been improved, Broughton Bay is now a magnificent har-\nbor.\" The Survey of the Kurile Islands, issued by the Military Intel-\nligence Service of the War Department, states: \"This bay would be\none of the critical factors in operations in the Kurile Islands.\" The\nentrance to the bay, which was only six feet deep, is apparently being\ndeepened. The engineering task of making the entrance passable for\nany ships is not insurmountable. The area of the bay is not fortified."
}