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Aleutian islands campaign 1942 1943

Aleutian islands campaign 1942 1943

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Aleutian Islands campaign 1942 - 1943

The Aleutian Islands campaign was a military campaign conducted by the United States,

Canada, and Japan in the Aleutian Islands, part of the Territory of Alaska, in the American

Theater and the Pacific Theater of World War II starting on June 3, 1942. In the only two

invasions of the United States during the war of a U.S. incorporated territory, a small

Japanese force occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska, where the remoteness of the islands

and the challenges of weather and terrain delayed a larger American-Canadian force sent to

eject them for nearly a year. Successful Japanese invasions of other U.S. territories, which

were unincorporated territories, in the western Pacific shortly after the Attack on Pearl

Harbor included Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines. The islands' strategic value was

their ability to control Pacific transportation routes as US General Billy Mitchell stated to the

U.S. Congress in 1935, "I believe that in the future, whoever holds Alaska will hold the world.

I think it is the most important strategic place in the world."

The Japanese reasoned that control of the Aleutians would prevent a possible US attack

across the Northern Pacific. Similarly, the US feared that the islands would be used as

bases from which to carry out a full-scale aerial attack on US West Coast cities like

Anchorage, Seattle, San Francisco, or Los Angeles.

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A battle to reclaim Attu was launched on May 11, 1943 and completed after a final Japanese

banzai charge on May 29. On August 15, 1943, an invasion force landed on Kiska in the

wake of a sustained three-week barrage, only to discover that the Japanese had withdrawn

from the island on July 29.

The campaign is known as the "Forgotten Battle" because it has been overshadowed by

other events in the war.

Military historians often believe that the Japanese invasion of the Aleutians was a

diversionary or feint attack during the Battle of Midway that was meant to draw out the US

Pacific Fleet from Midway Atoll, as it was launched simultaneously under the same

commander, Isoroku Yamamoto. Some historians have argued against that interpretation

and believe that the Japanese invaded the Aleutians to protect their northern flank and did

not intend it as a diversion.

Japanese attack

Before Japan entered World War II, the Imperial Japanese Navy had gathered extensive

information about the Aleutians but had no up-to-date information regarding military

developments on the islands. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto provided the Japanese Northern

Area Fleet, commanded by Vice-Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya, with a force of two non-fleet

aircraft carriers, five cruisers, twelve destroyers, six submarines, and four troop transports,

along with supporting auxiliary ships. With that force, Hosogaya was first to launch an air

attack against Dutch Harbor, then follow with an amphibious attack upon the island of Adak,

480 miles (770 km) to the west. Hosogaya was instructed to destroy whatever American

forces and facilities were found on Adak, but the Japanese did not know the island was

undefended. Hosogaya's troops were to return to their ships and become a reserve for two

additional landings: the first on Kiska, 240 miles (390 km) west of Adak, the other on the

Aleutians' westernmost island, Attu, 180 miles (290 km) west from Kiska.

Because the US Naval Intelligence had broken the Japanese naval codes, Admiral Chester

Nimitz had learned by May 21 of Yamamoto's plans, including the Aleutian invasion, the

strength of both Yamamoto's and Hosogaya's fleets, and Hosogaya's plan to start the fight

on June 1 or shortly thereafter.

As of June 1, 1942, the US military strength in Alaska stood at 45,000 men, with about

13,000 at Cold Bay (Fort Randall) on the tip of the Alaskan Peninsula and at two Aleutian

bases: the naval facility at Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island, 200 miles (320 km) west of

Cold Bay, and the recently built Fort Glenn Army Airfield 70 miles (110 km) west of the naval

station on Umnak Island. Army strength, less air force personnel, at those three bases

totaled no more than 2,300, composed mainly of infantry, field and antiaircraft artillery

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troops, and a large construction engineer contingent, which was used in the construction of

bases. The Army Air Force's Eleventh Air Force consisted of 10 B-17 Flying Fortress heavy

bombers and 34 B-18 Bolo medium bombers at Elmendorf Airfield, and 95 P-40 Warhawk

fighters divided between Fort Randall AAF at Cold Bay and Fort Glenn AAF on Umnak. The

naval commander was Rear Admiral Robert A. Theobald, commanding Task Force 8 afloat,

who as Commander North Pacific Force (ComNorPac) reported to Admiral Nimitz in Hawaii.

Task Force 8 consisted of five cruisers, thirteen destroyers, three tankers, six submarines,

as well as naval aviation elements of Fleet Air Wing Four.

When the first signs of a possible Japanese attack on the Aleutians were known, the

Eleventh Air Force was ordered to send out reconnaissance aircraft to locate the Japanese

fleet reported heading toward Dutch Harbor and attack it with bombers, concentrating on

sinking Hosogaya's two aircraft carriers. Once the enemy planes were removed, Naval Task

Force 8 would engage the enemy fleet and destroy it. On the afternoon of 2 June, a naval

patrol plane spotted the approaching Japanese fleet, reporting its location as 800 miles

(1,300 km) southwest of Dutch Harbor. Eleventh Air Force was placed on full alert. Shortly

thereafter bad weather set in, and no further sightings of the fleet were made that day.

Before the attack on Dutch Harbor, the Army's 4th Infantry Regiment, under command of

Percy E. LeStourgeon, was established at Fort Richardson. Col. LeStourgeon had previously

designed a layout of base facilities—such as isolation of weapons and munitions depots—to

protect against enemy attack.

Attack on Dutch Harbor

According to Japanese intelligence, the nearest field for land-based American aircraft was at

Fort Morrow AAF on Kodiak, more than 600 miles (970 km) away, and Dutch Harbor was a

sitting duck for the strong Japanese fleet, carrying out a coordinated operation with a fleet

that was to capture Midway Island.

Making use of weather cover, the Japanese made a two-day aerial bombing of the

continental United States for the first time in history on Dutch Harbor in the city of Unalaska,

Alaska on June 3, 1942. The striking force was composed of Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo

bombers from the carriers Jun'yō and Ryūjō. However, only half of the striking force reached

their objective. The rest either became lost in the fog and darkness and crashed into the sea

or returned to their carriers. Seventeen Japanese planes found the naval base, the first

arriving at 05:45. As the Japanese pilots looked for targets to engage, they came under

intense anti-aircraft fire and soon found themselves confronted by Eleventh Air Force

fighters sent from Fort Glenn Army Air Field on Umnak. Startled by the American response,

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Aleutian Islands campaign 1942 - 1943 The Aleutian Islands campaign was a military campaign conducted by the United States, Canada, and Japan in the Aleutian Islands, part of the Territory of Alaska, in the American Theater and the Pacific Theater of World War II starting on June 3, 1942. In the only two invasions of the United States during the war of a U.S. incorporated territory, a small Japanese force occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska, where the remoteness of the islands and the challenges of weather and terrain delayed a larger American-Canadian force sent to eject them for nearly a year. Successful Japanese invasions of other U.S. territories, which were unincorporated territories, in the western Pacific shortly after the Attack on Pearl Harbor included Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines. The islands' strategic value was their ability to control Pacific transportation routes as US General Billy Mitchell stated to the U.S. Congress in 1935, "I believe that in the future, whoever holds Alaska will hold the world. I think it is the most important strategic place in the world." The Japanese reasoned that control of the Aleutians would prevent a possible US attack across the Northern Pacific. Similarly, the US feared that the islands would be used as bases from which to carry out a full-scale aerial attack on US West Coast cities like Anchorage, Seattle, San Francisco, or Los Angeles. A battle to reclaim Attu was launched on May 11, 1943 and completed after a fin ...
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