JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- June 3 marks the 75th anniversary of the Aleutian Islands Campaign during World War II – a campaign which claimed 1,481 allied lives.
With extensive intelligence gathered prior to the beginning of WWII, the Japanese believed Alaska was key to not only protecting their flank, but to also controlling transport and supply routes throughout the Pacific.
“I believe that in the future, whoever holds Alaska will hold the world,” said U.S. Maj. Gen. Billy Mitchell to U.S. Congress in 1935. “I think it is the most important strategic place in the world.”
Though the Aleutian Islands Campaign is often overlooked, it was just as unforgiving and intense as other campaigns in the Pacific theater.
“[The battle of] Attu was actually the second most-costly battle in the Pacific campaign, second only to Iwo Jima,” said Suellyn Wright Novak, the president of the Alaska Veterans Museum. “Everybody knows Iwo Jima. Nobody knows Attu.”
The campaign began June 3, 1942, when a Japanese strike force of fighter and bomber aircraft attacked Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Returning the next day, the Japanese inflicted moderate damage to Dutch Harbor Naval Base and Fort Mears.
Three days following the initial attack, Japanese forces invaded the island of Kiska and on June 7, they invaded Attu. It took U.S. and Canadian forces nearly a year to respond to the invasions due to weather and terrain difficulties.
Starting May 11, 1943, U.S. forces stormed Attu via amphibious assault. The Japanese were heavily entrenched and the arctic weather conditions made fighting extremely difficult. After two weeks of relentless battle between the two forces, American units pushed the Japanese soldiers into a corner around Chichagof Harbor. When hope of rescue was lost, the Japanese commander led his 1,000 remaining men into a banzai charge, resulting in a bloodbath of total defeat and recapture of the island by the Americans.
Of the 2,379 Japanese soldiers who occupied Attu Island, only 28 were captured; the rest lost their lives. In comparison, the U.S. lost 549 lives, with 2,000 wounded and injured.
“The sacrifices that those men made out there need to be recalled,” said Novak.
When U.S. and Canadian forces stormed Kiska on August 15, 1943, they found it abandoned. It was discovered that the Japanese had fled two weeks prior under the cover of fog, bringing an end to what is now known as “The Forgotten War.”