CLICK THE PIC
Posted on 11/07/2009 5:41:24 AM PST by Kaslin
Thanks for posting.
My Dad served on the USS Arthur Middleton. While at Amchitka, it hit a rock and knocked a hole in it. Everyone had to abandon ship. My Dad stayed at Dutch Harbor for approximately 6 months.
He spoke few words about that experience. In fact, he told me he couldnt recall anything after abandoning his ship.
After being towed to Washington state, months later the Middleton was repaired and my Dad rejoined his crew & served at Tarawa & Kwajalein.
He’s one of America’s greatest generation.
I was stationed out at Shemya AFB, second to the last Aluetian Island on the chain.
Toured Attu with the base commander, and our chaplain. (We flew over courtesy of the Coast Guard.) Amazing sights and stories were shared as we crawled across the tundra on track snow machine.
It was amazing to see.
I don’t know that much about the Aleutian War but every time I watch ‘Deadliest Catch’ I think of it.
Huh? Over 13 months?
Thanks. My Dad was a platoon Sgt. in the 201st Infantry and spent most of the war in the Aleutians.
The "13 months" refers to how long the Japanese had control of the Island of Attu after landing there. The actual battle to reclaim Attu lasted about twenty days.
IIRC, the 7th Infantry Division were the main US force in the Aleutians. After the archipelago was secured, they went on to fight at Kwajelin and then participated in the liberation of the Philippines.
Because surrender was so disgraceful, Japanese military doctrine did not include a concept of defense or strategic withdrawal.
As a result, when confronted with defeat, we see all over the Pacific theater, mass suicides rather than the men individually waiting for allies to approach and attempting to "take one with them".
Many certainly did feign surrender only to produce a weapon when close to allied troops. Many fought to their last bullet and then charged with fixed bayonet. Others chaotically massed in suicidal Banzai charges but then we see large numbers of others who unafraid of death could have continued resisting and extracting further allied losses but they didn't choosing instead to kill themselves.
Faced with being overrun, they didn't know what to do. Each man or small unit commander deciding for himself how best to escape the disgrace of surrender or being captured wounded.
CLICK THE PIC
The casualties, per soldier involved, were some of the highest in all of WW2. That you did not know that proves it was one of The FORGOTTEN Battle of WW2.
There was a massive Banzai charge on Attu that succeeded in breaking thru to a campsite where a squadron of USAAF pilots were sleeping. Almost the entire squadron got wiped out. Flying was extremely hazardous up there as you might imagine. Far more operational accidents than combat losses. Planes just failed to come back.
I think that the 7th ID was fresh from desert warfare training when they were committed to the Aleutians. They were slated for North Africa and were not equipped for arctic warfare.
On Attu they couldn’t even get up the ridges where the Japanese were entrenched because the draws & valleys were so marshy from snowmelt. They disassembled jeeps & hauled them up by hand, reassembled them & used them to power tow-ropes to drag supplies up to the summits. Incredible ingenuity under fire.
The Army didn’t do everything wrong. They at least had the foresight to recruit Inuits, Trappers & Fishermen who had knowledge of the terrain into “Scout Units”. These guys imparted valuable survival skills to the troops & help them adapt.
Sending the men up there without proper clothing was criminal. They should have rounded up senior generals from the Pentagon and dropped them off up there in their summer uniforms until they figured out the problem.
I went to a military technical school in Texas in 1960. We had mixed classes: five sailors and five airmen per class. The sailors’ received their orders by name from BUPERS; we airmen were given an allotment of five overseas posts, and class ranking decided who went where. Quite a few of our naval brethren ended up in the Aleutians, on the island of Adak. USAF personnel that went from our school to Alaska ended up at Elmendorf AFB. Other USAF schools supplied operators that ended up at St. Lawrence Island or Shemya AFB.
"It was strategically very important who controlled those islands," says Goldstein. The Americans stationed there "kept the Japanese from the West Coast and from invading the U.S. mainland.... From a strategic point of view, you can't underestimate the situation there. Look at a map! The Aleutians aren't very far from Seattle."
Hate to disagree with the historian, but who on earth would conclude you can take the US mainland from Attu???!?!?!?!?
Good article. It was not a easy duty post by any means with the weather being as it was.
As an Alaskan of over 30 years, who has lived on the coast of Alaska, I can tell you that Aleutian weather is incredibly brutal. Even where I live the winter storms coming out of the Aleutians, well, its like living in a constant hurricane (a very cold one). Hardly a breather between storms.
We have a cute saying here about the Aleutians, the weather is so bad there that the air strips have to use a logging chain for a windsock! A joke and an exaggeration, I’m sure, but not far off from the truth.
I don’t think the article meant taking the mainland of Alaska from Attu. Obviously not, Attu is a looong ways from the mainland of Alaska...at least a thousand miles away, maybe more, I’d have to look at a map.
I think it meant Attu was to be the first stepping stone of taking the Aleutian chain, once the Aleutian chain was taken, they were to be the base for taking the mainland.
My mom’s brother was stationed up there. I had just thot it was an outpost/ to guard the borders. Did not even know there was a battle there! I will send this to my cousin/ his son. He was a doctor/ even then, I think.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.