Severnaya Zemlya any traces of land to the north of the wide strait between the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea that they navigated. The archipelago was not put on the map until the 1913–1915 Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition of icebreakers "Taimyr" and "Vaigach". The chief organiser and first captain of the Vaygach was officer Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak of the Imperial Russian Navy. The expedition was privately financed and was launched in 1910, being led by Boris Vilkitsky on behalf of the Russian Hydrographic Service. This venture accomplished its goal of exploring the uncharted areas of the continental side of the Northern
Malaya Zemlya Malaya Zemlya Malaya Zemlya (, lit. "Minor Land") was a Soviet uphill outpost on Cape Myskhako () that was recaptured after fierce, bloody battles with the Germans during the Battle of the Caucasus, on the night of 4 February 1943. The episode paved way for a Soviet attack on German forces in Novorossiysk. Cape Myskhako is still associated with a heroic stand made by the 800-strong contingent of the Soviet Naval Infantry against the Germans during the Second World War. The special forces were dropped during winter high storms by the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, after the unsuccessful landing attempt