 The National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated stations present the Pacific story. In the mounting fury of world conflict, events in the Pacific are taking on ever greater importance. Here is the story of the Pacific and the millions of people who live around this greatest sea. The drama of the people whose destinies at stake in the Pacific war. Here as another public service is the tale of the war in the Pacific and its meaning to us and to the generations to come. Sakhalin, sore point of the Pacific. Conflict between Russia and Japan started on the island of Sakhalin. From Sakhalin it spread to the Asiatic mainland. For more than a century now Sakhalin has been the scene of clashes between the Russians and the Japanese. A bullying and armed aggression, a treatise of suffering and bloodshed and massacre. Today again Sakhalin is a sore point of Soviet-Japanese relations. World was startled just a month ago when on the same day both Soviet Russia and Japan made radio announcements concerning Sakhalin. The Soviet Union in what may be its biggest diplomatic victory of the war has forced Japan to surrender coal and oil consciousness in Sakhalin Island, north of Japan. This announcement came as a bombshell. On the same day Tokyo announced. The new agreement with Moscow has further bolstered friendly relations between Japan and the Soviet Union. It is especially significant that the agreement was reached on a basis of mutual concessions and that it has brightened relations between the two parts. The conflict between Russia and Japan on the Pacific today is an extension of the same conflict that has smoldered on Sakhalin since the middle of the last century. Russia emerged from the Napoleonic Wars as the dominant power in Europe. In 1847, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia called in his advisors. What we must see, Your Majesty, is that England has become a dangerous rival of Russia in the Far East. Yes, Count Nessal Road. England has not only opened up five Chinese ports to British trade but by taking Hong Kong she has gained a predominating influence in the Yangtze Valley of China. Do you take this to mean that England might move northward and take control of the mouth of the Amur River? If she did gain control of the mouth of the Amur River, Russia's position on the Pacific would be untenable. That would be disastrous. Yes, Your Majesty. I have been concerned about Russia's interest in the Far East now for some time. Prong and definite action is necessary now, Your Majesty. Yes, and they have made up my mind. That would be a welcome decision. I shall send Governor Muravioff of Tula to be Governor General of Siberia. Muravioff? Yes. Muravioff is a strong and energetic man. But Your Highness Muravioff is only, cannot be more than 38 years old. Muravioff is an outstanding administrator. Yes, Your Majesty. But would Your Majesty appoint Muravioff over the heads of all the older officials? Muravioff is a man with vision, Count Nessal Road. A builder. It is my order that Muravioff be set up as Governor General at Irkutsk, with authority over all the territory between the Yenisei River and Bering Strait. You will make all of it. Muravioff and his staff went from the Russian capital at St. Petersburg to Irkutsk in Siberia. In his staff was a brilliant young naval officer, Nivelskoi. They talked long of Russia's future on the Pacific. And after they had arrived in the Russian Far East, Muravioff fitted out Nivelskoi in an expedition and sent him to explore the Siberian coast from the Bay of Tuga down to the mouth of the Amur River. Nivelskoi returned with a startling discovery. You see here? Look at this map, Your Excellency. News. It has always been thought that Sakhalin was a peninsula. Yes, Nivelskoi. But it is not a peninsula. Sakhalin is an island. An island? Yes, Your Excellency. There are straights here between Sakhalin and the mainland. But Klusenstern 45 years ago explored these waters and said that Sakhalin was a peninsula. But it is not. It is an island. The Gulf of Tartary you see here on the map is connected with the mouth of the Amur River. That means that the Amur River is accessible from the south as well as the north. Yes, sir. And not only that, but the Amur is navigable for seagoing vessels. That is true. It will have far-reaching effects for Russia in the Far East. We have confirmed it, Your Excellency, and we must take steps at once. I must go back to St. Petersburg at once. I must advise the Tsar and inform him we must back. Muravyov went back to St. Petersburg. He informed Zanickalist First and Foreign Minister Nestle Road of Nivelskoi's discovery and suggested immediate development. No, Governor Muravyov, your schemes are not consistent with the present political situation in Europe. Our situation with England has become graveer since you left for the Far East, Governor. I am aware of that, Your Majesty. We must avoid all entanglements in the Far East. No entanglements are necessary, my dear Count Nestle Road. Before I left Siberia, I gave Nivelskoi instructions to found a Russian settlement at the Trotskoi in the Bay of Happiness. You gave Nivelskoi instructions... There is no time to waste, Count Nestle Road. Your Majesty, it is imperative that we avoid all such adventures. We cannot afford to become embroiled in any such adventures at this time. It is a matter of extreme danger. Governor Muravyov, that you have acted in good faith is a burden. However, the situation has changed, then. Your Majesty, forgive my intrusion, but I have an important communication for Governor General Muravyov. Give it to him. Yes, sir. Thank you. Oh, it is from Nivelskoi. Nivelskoi? Yes. May I beg leave to read it now, Your Majesty? By all means. Your Majesty, all St. Petersburg is on edge because of the delicate situation with England. The repercussions from founding a Russian settlement on the Pacific would complicate our relations still more. England has become Russia's principal rival. Your Majesty, Nivelskoi has sailed up the Amur River with six sailors and one gun and has established a post 20 miles from the estuary. Is that that Petrovskoy? No, Your Majesty. He says that he found the Bay of Happiness icebound. So he sailed up the Amur River and established a post of Nikolayevsk, which he named after you, Your Majesty. He has exceeded his orders. He acted on his own initiative, Count Nestle Road. Your Majesty, this is folly. Is Nivelskoi holding this new settlement now, Governor? Yes, Your Majesty. The native Giliaks flocked to see him land and he ordered them to swear allegiance to the Russian crown. Nivelskoi should be court-martialed for his disobedience. Your Majesty, Nivelskoi is a brilliant and able officer. He acted in the interest of Your Majesty and Russia. He has raised a Russian flag over Nikolayevsk. He has raised a Russian flag there? Yes, Your Majesty. I demand that Nikolayevsk be abandoned at once. No. Nikolayevsk must stand. And herewith, I pardon Nivelskoi. Well, the Russian flag has once been hoisted. It must not be lowered. Nivelskoi was made an admiral for his audacity. He built Nikolayevsk into a city, then explored all the Amur River region. Now he looked across the Tartary Straits to Sokaline. The island he had discovered sailed across, anchored at the largest native settlement on the island, took possession of it, and named it Muravyovsk for his enterprising boss Muravyov. And here, the first conflict with the Japanese arose. We are interfering with our commercial relations with the native people of Sokaline. We have information that you Japanese have been trying to store up the Ainu people against us. You will not succeed. We hold the interest of the Ainu people uppermost. The Ainu people of Sokaline can trade with whom they wish. We Japanese traded with them. Well, I call your attention of all Japanese to this official statement issued by me. In accordance with the Treaty of Narchinsk, concluded between Russia and China, the island of Sokaline being a prolongation of the basin of the Amur River incontestably belongs to Russia. The bickering went on year after year. A clash of the same kind developed between Japan and Russia over the Kuril Islands, stretching northward from Japan to Kamchatka. At last, the Russians proposed that the Japanese should take over all the Kuril Islands and that the Russians should take all of Sokaline. It was agreed. But Russia little realized how deeply she had antagonized Japan. While the loss of Sokaline rankled in Japan, the Russians converted the dismal island into a prison. At first, ordinary convicts, felons, were sent there. Later, political prisoners, cultured gentlemen were also sent there. Sokaline became a desolate island of suffering and misery. But what have I done? You had best learn, Caronyan, that you are no longer in St. Petersburg. You are a convict. I am not a convict. I am a political prisoner sent here because... Keep your mouth shut. I was sent here because the influential men around is out. As long as you're in my charge, Caronyan, you will be treated as the other prisoners are treated. You cannot keep me here. In case you're thinking of escape, remember the nearest court of appeals is 4,000 miles away across the wilderness. A long walk. You make a beast of a man here. I have been chained to a wheelbarrow for months, and now you are... Hold your tongue. I will not hold my tongue. You and your kind are trying to silence me, but you will never... Borosky, give this man the plate. Come on, Caronyan. No. The plate will teach you some manners. No. No, you cannot flog me again. No. No, you won't... Warden, this man, Caronyan, has done nothing. He is a convict. But he's such a frail man. And that heavy, row-eyed whip will kill him. He will learn to behave as a convict. But you must not now. Oh. Years it was a Russian prison island, the Japanese never took their eyes off Sakhalin. In less than 30 years, they were at Russia's throat in the Russo-Japanese war. Japan emerged as a world power. And when the Treaty of Portsmouth was at last signed, Russia had surrendered the southern half of Sakhalin to Japan. This southern half of Sakhalin, the Japanese called Karofuto. The main value of Karofuto is its forest and fisheries. Herring is our most important catch. There is very little oil in Karofuto, but there are large quantities over coal. Is it true that Japanese experimental plants have been trying for years to distill oil from coal? Oh, it is just one of our interests in developing the resources over Karofuto. Are the Japanese Army and Navy interested in this experiment? In a passing way. Now over here, we are experimenting with the development of hard wheat. And this is very... In Karofuto, as in other Japanese territories, the research was carefully guarded. At the close of World War I, Japan and the United States, and several other allied nations sent troops to Siberia. Each nation agreed to send 7,000 men. But Japan sent 72,000. When the troops of the other nations left Siberia in the spring of 1920... Something funny here. You American troops are leaving, but the Japs are staying on. Yes, Winthrop. And they brought eight times as many troops over here as we did. Ah, it looks to me as if they plan to stay. Yes, not only that. They've been helping the anti-Borshavik movements of Kalmykav and Simuna. Now there's a lot of bad blood between the Japs and the Red Protestants. Yes, and it's not going to get any better. Well, there's been quite a few outbreaks between Russian nationals and the Japs. The war's over and they want the Japs to get out. I'm thankful, Winthrop, that we American troops don't have the job of throwing the Japs out of Siberia. Well, I'd like to be going back to the States with you, but I've got an assignment to stay here. My publisher seems to have a hunch that there's got to be something doing up there in Siberia. Well, I've got to go now. See you back in the States when you get back. Yeah, if I get back. So long, Winthrop. So long. Meantime, the Red Forces had taken over Nikolaiovsk. The settlement in Nivelskoi had founded on his own initiative three quarters of a century before. But the Japanese were also in Nivelskoi. The Japanese maintained a friendly attitude toward the Russians. I have asked you to come in General Ishikawa because you are chief of the Japanese garrison here. Yes, General Priyapitsa. General Ishikawa, you wish friendly relations with us? Of course. Then why are you maintaining guards around the stores and warehouses? And near my own staff headquarters here? I assure you that it is only in the interest of all the General Priyapitsa. I'm informed that some of your guards, when they are relieved from duty, hide inside our stores and warehouses. What? That is contrary to orders. You can see for yourself that my troops and your troops are on the best of terms. Some of my troops even wear red ribbons pinned to their uniforms. And many of my troops have said that when you march on Koparovsk with your red troops that they will like to go along and help you. We are the friends of Russia. Thank you for coming in, General Ishikawa. I trust that our presence will continue. But General Priyapitsa had misgivings. On March 11th, 1920, he ordered the Japanese to surrender their arms. The day passed and the Japanese made no move to give them up. That night, the American correspondent Winthrop slept with his clothes on. And in the black of night at 2.30 a.m. Ivan! Ivan! Yes, Winthrop? What's that shooting out there? It sounds like grenades and machine guns and rifle fire. Put on your boots, Ivan. Let's get over to Staff Headquarters. Yes, wait for me. Wait for me. Come on, Ivan, we've got to find Priyapitsa. The shooting is down around the Staff Headquarters. Yeah, it looks like the place is on fire. Hurry. There's Priyapitsa somewhere. Flying right over there. Yeah. Very sharp. Come on. General Priyapitsa! General Priyapitsa! They killed Nauma and they set the headquarters on fire. Where'd they get you? In the leg. Oh, Japanese have got with no warning. Come on, Ivan. We've got to get Staff Headquarters to help. He's badly wounded. Those Japanese, they'd kill him if they found him. Give me a hand, Ivan. Yeah. Now, come on, General. We'll make you up and get you back. If I write this, the fighting is still going on. The Japanese have occupied the western and central parts of Nicolayev. Comrade Budrin has arrived with reinforcements and the red partisans are now carrying the fight through the streets to the Japanese. Houses occupied by the Japanese are being set on fire. General Ishikawa is in this store with his troops. Yes, he's either going to have to surrender or be burned to death. Look, what's that? It's a squad of Japanese troops coming out of the fire. That's Ishikawa himself, leading them straight for us. Fire up! Right in his tracks. Yes, but the others are coming on. The fighting is still going on in Nicolayevsk. General Ishikawa and all the troops with him in the Shimada store were killed when they charged out of the blazing building. The fighting is now centering around the Japanese consulate. The Reds today tried to negotiate with the Japanese, besieged in the consulate, but the Japanese fired upon them. The consulate is now on fire and surrounded by the Reds. They may try to come out and make a consulate attack here as they did at the Shimada store. Oh, they may commit suicide in there, Major. They have their choice of coming out and serving. What about all the documents in the consulate? Wouldn't they be very valuable to the Reds? They would. But you can be sure that before those Japanese are destroyed, they will destroy the documents. All of them. The Japanese never came out. And now the Russians and Nicolayevsk on the mainland, and Anzacalene across the Tata Strait, knew that as soon as spring came, the Japanese fleet would come. At Aleksandrovsk, Anzacalene, they kept a constant watch. Warships are visible on the horizon south of Aleksandrovsk. We think they're Japanese. Wait for further orders. The warships have been identified as Japanese. It is a Japanese war fleet. An icebreaker is coming ahead of them, cutting through the eyes of the Tata Straits, inform the population of your district. Japanese landing forces disembarking at Aleksandrovsk. The Japanese are marching in columns toward the city. I'm speaking from the radio station. One column is marching toward us here. The members of the Executive Committee of the Haleen are preparing to march out of Aleksandrovsk. We have informed the population that if any of them wish to retreat northward over the Dutchman state, the Japanese are beating out the door. The Japanese have taken over all of Sakhalin. And for five years, they held the entire island and negotiated when and as they pleased with the Soviets. Now the shoe was on the other foot. Japan called the tune. At last the negotiations were over. Last Japanese soldier has left Russian Sakhalin and this northern half of the island again belongs to the USSR. But Petroviev, the Japanese civilians will be with you for a long, long time to come. You are referring to the oil concession? Well, that was the condition of the Japanese moving out, wasn't it? Well, partially, Mr. Winterf. It's my understanding that Russia granted the Japanese the right to explore half the established oil fields of Russian Sakhalin for a period of 45 years. This may not be as bad a deal as it appears. We have possession of the northern half of Sakhalin and many things can happen in 45 years. The Japanese soldiers left northern Sakhalin, but the Japanese civilians stayed. Oil wells went up and tons and tons of Russian oil went to Japan. For years, Japan had been in quest of oil, the greatest of the essential materials for industry in peace and still more valuable in war. In 1945, Japanese were outspoken about their deal. Japan is no dreamer of dreams, Mr. Winterf. Uh, would you say, Mr. Kawakami, that this Sakhalin deal was inspired by a hope of federation of Asiatic peoples? It would be hypocritical to deny that the thing that has induced Japan to restore friendly relations with Russia is the prospect of getting the oil of northern Sakhalin. Uh, Japan is realistic. There is little oil in Japan and so far little has been found in Korea and in Manchuria. Therefore, it is natural that Japan should turn to Russia's vast eastern territories. Uh, this Sakhalin oil deal could mean future trouble with Russia. Couldn't it, Mr. Kawakami? Trouble is always a possibility, but historically, Japan has reason to rejoice because we have never given up the belief that the whole island of Sakhalin once rightfully belonged to Japan and that we were cheated out of it by Russia. This was Japan's attitude in 1925. They not only secured the oil from their own wells, but they also bought much of the oil from Russian wells in northern Sakhalin. Oil wells mushroomed up out of the wilderness, and new people came in, many of them. Hello. Sarkov, yes, I'm so glad to see you. Ah, we have great needs of men like you here in Sakhalin, Artnikov. Did you have a good wage? Ah, excellent, excellent. It's such a cool ship. Are there oil workers beside you, Kim? Oh, yes, yes. Field workers and engineers from the Caucasus oil fields and fishermen from the Bulgarian and the Caucasian. Ah, good. And we brought tools and tractors and machinery as much as the ship could hold. Do you need them? I need them. We need everything. Sheeps have been coming in one after another with new people, experts, laborers, technicians, engineers. And yet we need more. We need books and teachers and medicine, doctors and microscopes and cement and post-ore diggers. But a great deal has already come here. Ah, we need more, much more. For here in Sakhalin, we're working out not only our own destiny, but march of the destiny of Soviet Russia on the Pacific. In 1925, when the Soviets regained control of northern Sakhalin, the population was 10,000. In the next 10 years, it had increased 10 times. Soon the Russians were taking as much oil out of northern Sakhalin as the Japanese. Under their agreement, they sold part of this oil to the Japanese. In 1933, they sold the Japanese half of their output, but the situation was changing. You are putting in another pipeline here? Yes. It appears that the pipeline is going down under the sea. Yes, it is. Across the Tatar straight to the mainland? Yes. Did you not build the pipeline from the east coast of the island over here to the west coast so that tankers could load oil here at Moskauvo and carry it across the straight and up the Amur River to Haburus? That was the idea. And we've been shipping oil from here across the straight for some time. Was not the shipping across the straight satisfactory? A pipeline under the sea is not hampered by the freezing over the straight. It seems that more and more oil is being sent into Siberia. You Japanese know as well as we know that Asiatic Crusher is being industrialized. That means we need more oil. And that is the reason we are building the big refinery at Haburus. Oh, indeed. Is that the reason there is less oil from your wells to sell to us? You still are operating your concession wells here in Sakhalin? But the oil production from your wells is greater than ours. You are well informed, Yoshizawa. Well informed. Japan still had its own oil concession in northern Sakhalin, scheduled to run until 1970. But in 1941, on the occasion of the signing of the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, Japan agreed to liquidate her north Sakhalin concession within six months. But two months later, Hitler has attacked Russia. The Nazis are storming into the Soviet. The German invaders are sweeping the raids before them. We'll be feeling the effect of Hitler's invasion right here on Sakhalin. It's 5,000 miles away, yes. But now that the Nazis are at Russia's boat, the Japanese are not going to give up their oil concession in six months, as Matsuoka agreed. The Japanese know that Russia is in no position to throw them out of Sakhalin. The Japanese stayed on beyond the six months, beyond a year, two years. But meantime, Russia had thrown back Hitler and the United States was closing in on Japan's outer empire. Meantime, Russia had become strong and in March 1944... Soviet Russia has required Japan to surrender immediately all oil and coal concessions in northern Sakhalin, permitting the Japanese concession 26 years before its expiration. This is interpreted as a triumph of Russian diplomacy and an indication of Russia's rising might in the Pacific. The impact of the event echoed throughout the world. The Japanese had an answer. The oil and coal production in North Sakhalin has fallen off since the peak years, though the giving up of the oil rights to the Russians at this time does not bring much loss on our part. Do this, the Russians replied. We have now forced from our soil the last of concessions rung from us by foreign powers during the early days of reconstruction of our Soviet Union. You have just heard the story of Sakhalin, so a point of the Pacific. The first of two broadcasts dealing with the conflict between Russia and Japan in the Pacific. Next week, over many of these same stations, we will present the story of the long-standing friction between these two far eastern powers on the mainland of Asia. Listen next week for the case of Russia versus Japan. You have been listening to the Pacific story presented by the national broadcasting company and its affiliated independent stations of the public service to clarify events in the Pacific and to make understandable the crosscurrents of life in the Pacific Basin. For a reprint of this Pacific story program, send 10 cents in stamps or coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. It took a war to make us realize how close-knit the world is. When war split our families apart when it rationed food and tires and gas and necessities of life, we began to feel a kinship with others, thousands of miles removed to the east, the west, the north and the south. Now we are relearning our geography every time we hear world news. We're impatient to get that news but we want it accurate and unbiased. Though we tune radios to familiar stations which have proved themselves through the years to be alert, truthful, enterprising and world coverage, NBC and its affiliated independent stations bring you the expert reporting of correspondents who travel with their microphones to both home and battle fronts. They do it by day and by night, so that Americans wherever they may be can be the best informed people on earth. The Pacific story is written and directed by Arnold Marquess. The original musical score was composed and conducted by Thomas Paluso. Your narrator, Gaine Whitman. This program came to you from Hollywood. This is the National Broadcasting Company.