Aleutian Islands campaign

Aleutian Islands campaign
Part of the American Theater and Pacific War of World War II
American troops hauling supplies through Jarmin Pass on Attu in May 1943. Their vehicles could not move across the island's rugged terrain.
Date 3 June 1942 – 15 August 1943 (1 year, 2 months, 1 week and 5 days) Location Aleutian Islands, Alaska, United States 52°49′57″N 173°04′21″E / 52.83250°N 173.07250°E / 52.83250; 173.07250 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States  • Alaska Territorial Guard  Canada	Japan
Commanders and leaders
U.S. Navy: Thomas Kinkaid Francis Rockwell U.S. Army: Albert E. Brown Archibald Arnold Simon Buckner, Jr. Alaska Territorial Guard: Marvin R. Marston Canadian Army: George Pearkes Harry Foster	I.J. Navy: Boshiro Hosogaya Kakuji Kakuta Monzo Akiyama I.J. Army: Yasuyo Yamasaki †
Strength
144,000[1]	8,500[1]
Casualties and losses
1,481 killed 640 missing 3,416 wounded 8 captured 225 aircraft destroyed[1] 3 warships sunk US Navy vessels heavily damaged:[2] USS Salt Lake City (CA-25) USS Abner Read (DD-526) US Navy vessels lost: USS Worden (DD-352) USS S-27 (SS-132) USS Grunion (SS-216)	4,350 killed 28 captured 7 warships sunk 9 cargo/transport ships sunk[1] Imperial Japanese Navy vessels lost: Arare I-7 I-31 Nenohi Oboro Ro-61 Ro-65
2 civilians killed, 46 captured (16 died in captivity)

The Aleutian Islands campaign (Japanese: アリューシャン方面の戦い, romanized: Aryūshan hōmen no tatakai) was a military campaign fought between 3 June 1942 and 15 August 1943 on and around the Aleutian Islands in the American Theater of World War II during the Pacific War. It was the only military campaign of World War II fought on North American soil.^[3][4][5]

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."^[6] The Japanese reasoned that their control of the Aleutians would prevent a possible joining of forces by the Americans and the Soviets and future attack on Japan proper via the Kuril Islands.^[7]: 19 Similarly, the US feared that the islands could be used as bases from which to launch air raids on West Coast cities such as Anchorage, Seattle, San Francisco, or Los Angeles.

Following two aircraft carrier-based attacks on the American naval base at Dutch Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Navy 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.^[8] A battle to reclaim Attu was launched on 11 May 1943 and completed after a final Japanese banzai charge on 29 May. On 15 August 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 29 July. The campaign is known as the "Forgotten Battle" because it has been overshadowed by other events in the war.^[9][10]

Many military historians 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.^[11]