On Aug. 15, 1945, Sadao Kanari, who was a signalman for the Imperial Japanese Navy, listened to Emperor Hirohito's radio announcement of Japan’s surrender in World War II in an underground shelter on Shumshu Island in the Kuril Islands. “The war is over,” Kanari, now 92, recalled thinking at that moment. But his unit was soon attacked by Soviet forces and taken to Siberia, where members were detained and experienced extreme hardship.
Shumshu Island is on the northeastern end of the Kuril Islands and the site of an eponymous battle, a fierce conflict between Japan and the Soviet Union after Japan’s surrender in World War II. In the early hours of Aug. 18, 1945, Soviet forces launched a surprise attack, resulting in scores of deaths and casualties on both sides before a cease-fire was reached on Aug. 21.
After that, Soviet forces advanced further south, occupying other islands including Etorofu and Kunashiri.