The battle for Attu (Aleutians) - Alaska

[spidge]

[Attu WWII History - from USCG Loran Attu web site]
Attu's World War II History

In early June of 1942, Japanese forces landed on the island of Attu capturing the only inhabitants: 41 native Attuans, an American schoolteacher and his wife. When American troops landed almost a year later, May 11th, 1943, they found the Japanese dug in and well positioned in the foothills and ridges that cover the Southeastern portion of the island. The American's also found that they were not completely prepared for all the trappings the weather and topography of Attu had in store for them. Trained in warm climates and outfitted with inadequate cold weather gear, many succumbed to frostbite and hypothermia. The cold Bering Sea also served as an unwelcome adversary, claiming several soldiers before they could get ashore. Low lying fog impeded the American's ability to see and navigate the many reefs that surround the island. Landing craft would run into each other or rip-up altogether on the reefs, sinking with everyone onboard. When land was finally reached, the American forces found that the tundra could not support the weight of the vehicles and artillery. It would be up to the foot soldier to take the island back.

The Japanese were buried in the hills. They wore white to blend in with the terrain, and would rise and fall with the level of the fog line. The Japanese soldiers used mortars, hand grenades, and snipers to attack the American forces as they advanced up Massacre Valley. The battleships Nevada, Idaho, and the Pennsylvania used their guns to bombard the island with shells. As the battleships hit their targets, Japanese machinery, soldiers and supplies came down the mountains along with the snow which moments earlier had fortified them. A second American force came from the north, but took longer to reach its destination then first thought. The unexpected delay caused the American troops to run out of supplies, forcing them to search the dead bodies of Japanese soldiers for rice. In all, the capture of Attu took 20 days to complete. In the final days of the battle, the Japanese killed their wounded with morphine and made one last bonsai charge through the American base camp. On their last charge, the Japanese went through the American hospital killing wounded soldiers and destroying the propane stove. Surrounded by units of engineers, the Japanese force committed suicide by holding grenades to themselves. At the end of the battle the Japanese had lost 2622 men and 28 surrendered. The Americans had lost 549 and had 1148 injured, many from the severe weather conditions on the island. The dead were buried in Little Falls cemetery at the base of Gilbert Ridge. The bodies were later exhumed in 1946.

The navy and army set up a large base on the island from 1945 to 1958, creating a little city at the edge of the world. There were hospitals, pubs, bowling halls, a church, and a movie theater. There were three working runways and several buildings. Now, all the buildings and two of the runways have begun to be taken over by the island. The only people remaining on Attu, reside at the USCG Loran Station. Twenty people in all; they serve one-year tours wandering through the skeletons of the past that lie rusting from the end of an era… at the edge of the world.

[Antipodean Andy]

Every time I read about Attu, I always remember this crash site:

http://www.wreckchasing.com/atkab24.htm

[Kyt]

For what is now considered a "side-show", the Aleutian campaign was horrendous. The weather alone killed and injured more than battle casualties. And yet it's amazing the efforts and achievements of the US, for example, in their building of roads across Alaska.

The best book on the subject is The Thousand-mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians

Some more links:

Naval perspective
http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87.../forgotten.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/...Aleutians.html

Army perspective
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-C-Aleutians/

And excellent WW2 documentary:
http://www.archive.org/details/Repor..._The_Aleutians

Another recent release
http://www.alaskainvasion.com/home.html

And associated with the campaign:

http://www.microworks.net/PACIFIC/ba...ki_islands.htm

[spidge]

The luck of the draw for US troops.

Attu - 1943

Pearl Harbor - 1943.

[Kyt]

DefenseLink News Release: U.S - Japan Search for WWII Japanese MIAs in Alaska

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that a small team of Japanese and U.S. specialists is visiting Attu Island, Alaska, in search of burial locations of the Japanese soldiers who are still missing from a 1943 World War II battle there.

The Department of Defense, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are supporting a team of three Japanese and 11 Americans. The team departed from Kodiak today via a C-130 on a flight to the U.S. Coast Guard Station on Attu Island. Some engineering equipment will be flown to Eareckson AFS on a U.S. Air Force C-17 and from there, the Coast Guard will move the equipment via C-130 to Attu Island.

The team's work on Attu Island will be supported by Army engineers from Ft. Richardson, Alaska, who will also employ ground-penetrating radar to help locate remains and guard against unexploded ordnance.

While visiting the island, the team is being housed at the long range navigation station and will be supported by the U.S. Coast Guard garrison. Attu Island is under the management and protection of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which administers the Aleutian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. At the end of Alaska's Aleutian island chain, Attu is the westernmost point of land of the United States.

In June 1942, a unit of the Japanese Army occupied Attu, capturing and imprisoning many of its inhabitants. U.S. forces began action to recapture the small island in May 1943, where fierce hand-to-hand battles led to about 540 American and 2,300 Japanese deaths. It was the site of the only land battle in WWII in North America.

In 1953, 235 sets of Japanese remains were recovered on Attu and reburied at Ft. Richardson, near Anchorage, Alaska. The Japanese later disinterred those remains, cremated them as part of a religious ceremony and reburied them at the same location.

The Japanese government assisted U.S. investigators in June 2007 in a visit to Iwo Jima in search of information related to American WWII MIAs. This 14-day deployment to Attu Island follows a similar four-day investigation there in July 2007.