16.08.2011
Text: Pacific Fleet Information Support Group
Photo: Pacific Fleet Information Support Group
In these August days 66 years ago Pacific Fleet began the Seisin landing offensive operation against Japan.
Naval base Seisin was considered the key defensive post of Japanese army on the shore of North Korea. Through that base, large reinforcements could be sent to land theater or withdrawn if needed. Each building of Seisin base was well-fortified; the town was circled with two defense lines and minefields.
Medical instructor of 335th Marine Battalion Maria Tsukanova also participated in that landing operation; her mission was to extricate casualties from the battlefield. Being wounded twice, she fell prisoner and suffered fiendish tortures. Later on, Maria Tsukanova was titled the Hero of the Soviet Union, and her name was enrolled in the list of PF Medical School forever.
Seizure of that naval base was a great assistance to troops of 1st Far East Front. With the downfall of Seisin, defense capability of Japan's Kwantung Army was completely broken.
The Cruise of Memory will start in Sept 2011 around battle sites of WW2. Traditionally, veterans will be invited onboard a Pacific Fleet warship to visit ports of Kuril Islands and Sakhalin.
