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The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The War in the Aleutians - Feb 17th, 2003
http://www.hlswilliwaw.com/aleutians/Aleutians/html/aleutians-wwii.htm ^

Posted on 02/17/2003 5:36:32 AM PST by SAMWolf

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World War II In The Aleutians
The Forgotten War

"You served where?"

The Islands


There are approximately 120 islands comprising the Aleutian chain that stretches from the tip of the Alaskan peninsula to within 90 miles of Kamchatka, Russia. The easternmost island, Unimak, is also the largest, measuring 65 by 22 miles. To the southwest is Unalaska, on the north coast of which is located Dutch Harbor. Unalaska is about 2,000 miles from both San Francisco and Honolulu. Continuing westward, in order, lie Umnak, Atka, and Adak. Kiska is 610 miles west of Dutch Harbor. Further west you will find Shemya, a small island located about 35 miles east of Attu. The Shemya landmass is only two by four miles, with the highest point being about 240 feet. Attu, the westernmost American island, is nearly 1,100 miles from the Alaskan mainland and 750 miles northeast of the northernmost of the Japanese Kurile Islands. Attu is about 20 by 35 miles, and has some fairly high mountainous terrain beginning just a short distance from its shore line, rising abruptly to altitudes of 3000 feet, and stretching through to the interior of the island. One writer of the time wrote, "Attu is the lonesomest spot this side of hell."



All the Aleutians are volcanic in origin. They are uniformly rocky and barren, with precipitous mountains (usually covered with snow) and scant vegetation. There are no trees on the islands, with the exception of a few stunted spruces at Dutch Harbor, and no brush. The lowlands are covered with a spongy tundra or muskeg as much as three feet thick, making walking very difficult. Below the tundra is volcanic ash, finely ground and water soaked to the consistency of slime. In many places water is trapped in ponds under the tundra. A man on foot may readily break through the tundra, sinking in watery mud up to his knees. Men have fallen into these bogs and have been lost. Motor vehicles, even those with caterpillar treads, quickly churn the tundra into a muddy mass in which sunken wheels and treads spin uselessly.

The Aleutians, being unsuitable for agriculture, lacking in mineral resources, and with little possibility of commercial exploitation, received only slight attention after their acquisition from Russia in 1867. A chart of the coast lines were prepared by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey office. The Aleutian island's shorelines are jagged with submerged rock formations rendering navigation hazardous. The better anchorages, such as Dutch Harbor, are located in the easternmost islands, while the worst are located in the westernmost islands. Attu has four relatively unguarded bays...Holtz, Chichagof (the best), and Sarana on the northeast side, with Massacre Bay on the southeast side.

The Weather


Aleutian weather becomes progressively worse as you travel from the easternmost islands to the west. Attu weather is typified by cold, damp fog, often accompanied by snow or icy rain. The winds often reach velocities of more than 100 miles an hour. There are many days during the year where working outside is impossible. On Attu, five or six days a week are likely to be rainy, with hardly more than eight or ten clear days a year. The rest of the time, even if rain is not falling, fog of varying density is the rule rather than the exception. Shemya, located a short distance from Attu, suffers the same fate, but to not as great an extent due to the lack of mountainous terrain. This weather is highly localized, however, and areas of high visibility can be found within 20 miles of fog concentration! The average rainfall is around 40 to 50 inches throughout the islands, with the heaviest rains in fall and early winter.



Snow Scene Onboard Ship


Squalls, known as "williwaws," sweep down from the island's mountainous areas with great force, sometimes reaching gale proportions within 30 minutes. The mountains are concentrated on the north sides of the islands, which results in strong off-shore winds that in turn make it difficult to find a lee along the north coasts. The columns of spray and mist resulting from the williwaws frequently resemble huge waterfalls. In the winter, the williwaws can cause snow to be blown right up your pant legs, with many having observed the phenomenon of snow blowing from the ground up!

The Aleutian weather turned out to be a constant impediment to the military operations of the United States and Japan alike. Japan, however, enjoyed one advantage: the weather in this theater moves from west to east, resulting in Japan always knowing in advance the conditions which were likely to prevail in the islands.

Background


As a diversionary move in conjunction with their strike against Midway, the Japanese in June 1942 bombed Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Island chain and landed troops on Kiska and Attu islands. Here the Japanese remained, primarily in a defensive situation, to prevent any movement by American forces toward Japan through the Aleutians.

Why Japan clung to its positions in the Aleutians after the battle of Midway is not known, but it is probable that Attu and Kiska were either going to provide the jumping-off places for future invasions of the North American continent, or merely provide advanced observation posts and defenses for the Empire. General Simon Buckner had proposed to attack Japan via a northern route, through the Aleutians, thus giving some credence to Japan's concerns about protecting their northern flank, which formulates the second reason for Japan's wanting to hold on to Kiska and Attu. A line drawn from Kiska through Attu and down to Midway Island would define Japan's eastern line of homeland defense.



It was clear to the Allied Forces that the Japanese occupation in the Aleutians provided a continuing threat to America's (and possibly Canada's) security. Any plans for Allied Forces to seize the offensive in the Central Pacific would be difficult to execute while Japan maintained flanking positions in the Aleutians. One should also consider that every day Japan's troops remained on American soil was beneficial to Japanese morale (especially after the losses incurred at the Battle of Midway), while it was deleterious to that of the American's. Perhaps this was the primary reason for what became the total blackout of news relating to events in the Aleutians...to keep the American public from becoming too overly concerned about events in Alaska that were perceived by some higher military and government authorities to be of not much importance considering the scope of WWII. Would the American public panic if they knew that Japan had actually occupied American soil at this time? Because of America's commitments elsewhere, the means of quickly resolving these issues were far from adequate.

The War In The Aleutians


Lieutenant General Hideichiro Higuda, commander of the Japanese Northern Army, said they wanted to break up any offensive action the Americans might contemplate against Japan by way of the Aleutians, to set up a barrier between the United States and Russia in the event Russia joined with the United States in its war against Japan (Russia at this time was neutral in terms of the Japanese conflict with America), and to make preparations through the construction of advanced airbases for future offensive actions.

Japan's intent was brought to light on June 3, 1942, when Japanese carrier-borne aircraft flew out of the Aleutian fog and bombed the American installations at Dutch Harbor on the island of Unalaska. There were few casualties incurred with only minor damage to the Dutch Harbor facilities. Nevertheless, WWII now became more personal to those who lived in Alaska. News of this event took an inordinate amount of time to reach Americans living on the mainland's "lower 48."



On the 6th of June, 1942, the Japanese No. 3 Special Landing Party and 500 Marines went ashore at Kiska. The Japanese captured a small American Naval Weather Detachment consisting of ten men, including a Lieutenant along with their dog. One member of the detachment escaped for 50 days. Starving, thin, and extremely cold he finally surrendered to the Japanese.

At the same time, the Japanese 301st Independent Infantry Battalion landed on Attu via Chichagof Harbor. At this time Attu's population consisted of several Blue Fox, forty-five native Aleuts, and two Americans: Charles Foster Jones, a sixty year old ham radio operator and weather observer, and his wife Etta Jones, a teacher and trained nurse. They (with the exception of the fox) all lived in a little village of frame houses around Chichagof Harbor, maintaining a precarious existence by fishing, trapping the foxes, and weaving baskets. Missionaries, as well as government patrol boats and small fishing craft, provided the inhabitants with their only direct link with the outside world...except for the small radio operated by Mr. Jones. Mr. and Mrs. Jones, having heard of the Japanese atrocities committed against the Chinese during their conquests on that continent, attempted suicide as the Japanese invasion force began their sweep of the island. While Mr. Jones was successful, his wife Etta recovered under Japanese care. [Note: There are several variations on the story relating to the Jone's fate after the Japanese invasion of Attu. One story has it that the roles were reversed with Foster Jones being the schoolteacher. Another story has it that Foster was shot by the Japanese. Additionally, other stories indicate that Foster had a cache of guns in the mountains of Attu and that he was shot as he headed for his weapons.] For a short time, the Japanese occupational forces maintained the services of the Aleut fishermen to supply them with food. As the Japanese forces became more entrenched on Attu, Mrs. Jones and the entire Aleut population of the little village of Chichagof was transported in the hold of a freighter to Hokkaido, Japan for internment. Additional information indicates that Mrs. Jones was separated from the native Aleuts and interred at Yokohama (along with U.S. Navy personnel captured by the Japanese on Kiska), while the Aleuts were interred at Otaru, Hokkaido. The Japanese garrison now had the island of Attu entirely to themselves, and began setting up defensive positions.

By the 11th of June 1942 it was evident that Japan had landed substantial forces on Kiska and Attu. The U.S. Navy's PatWing 4 (Patrol Wing 4) consisting of PBY Catalina's flying out of Atka, bombed the Japanese held positions on Kiska that same day.

On the 12th of June, 1942, the U.S. Army's 11th Air Force heavy bombers made their first run over Kiska at 1200 feet, claiming hits on two Japanese cruisers and one destroyer. One B-24 Liberator was lost to the intense anti-aircraft fire originating chiefly from the Japanese ships in the harbor.



The rusted and scorched hulk of the bombed barracks ship Northwestern is part of the Dutch Harbor scene as is the whirling snow shipped up by constant williwaw, the eccentric and unpredictable winds of the Aleutians. At the extreme left a cargo ship unloads at dock.

On the 30th of August, 1942, the allied forces captured Adak during a raging storm that prevented air cover during the assault. The first plane to land on the new Adak runway on 10 September 1942 was piloted by Col. Eareckson. This brought the Aleutian war uncomfortably closer to the Japanese occupying the islands of Kiska and Attu.

Kiska came to be regarded as the primary objective for re-conquest by American Forces. Not only was Kiska the most advanced Japanese threat to those Aleutian Islands remaining in America's possession and to the Alaskan/Canadian mainland, but it provided better potential air facilities from which to launch attacks against Japan, a more satisfactory harbor, and terrain more suitable for a base. In December, 1942 Rear Admiral F. W. Rockwell, Commander Amphibious Force Pacific Fleet was directed by CINCPAC to submit an estimate of the situation along with a plan for the reduction and occupation of Kiska. On 24 January 1943 Admiral Rockwell reported to CINCPAC that the earliest date of troop readiness would be about 1 May, 1943.

Due to a severe shortage of equipment and transport, Admiral Kinkaid recommended on 3 March 1943 that the Kiska operation be tabled for the time being, and that an attack on Attu be substituted. The Commanding General, Alaska Defense Command, Maj. Gen. Simon Buckner agreed and CINCPAC directed Admiral Rockwell to plan an operation against Attu.



The plan as it evolved was to land the 7th Division on Attu in two forces. One would land north and the other south of the enemy positions. They would then converge at the top of a peninsula which would isolate the enemy.

Thanks to FReeper SamWise for the research and idea for this thread



TOPICS: VetsCoR
KEYWORDS: alaska; aleutians; attu; freeperfoxhole; japan; ksika; veterans; wwii
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January 11th, 1943 saw the beginning of events that would place Amchitka Island in the hands of the allied forces.

January 28th, 1943 brought Jack Chennault and his squadron of P-40s to Amchitka's new airfield, with P-38s joining soon after. The 36th Bombardment Squadron also moved to Amchitka.

February 4, 1943 saw American P-40's strafing Japanese installations on Kiska, while five of Japan's bombers attacked American positions on Amchitka.



The first Japanese raid on the island of Amchitka brings forth a frantic burst of anti-aircraft fire. In this picture, a 37mm gun adjacent to the mess tent spits out a stream of lead at the invader, while his bombs explode geyser-like in the harbor.

On 11 March, 1943, CINCPAC made available three battleships, three heavy cruisers, three over-aged light cruisers, one escort carrier, nineteen destroyers, plus tenders, oilers, mine-sweepers, etc., and four attack transports. The Army commander was Commanding General 7th Division. The forces assigned Navy were Task Forces KING and ROGER. Army forces, assault, reserve, and initial occupation troops were as follows: Assault on Attu, 7th Division Combat Team, consisting of the 17th Infantry, one battalion field artillery, one battalion engineers for shore parties, one battery AA automatic weapons, three detachments 75th Special Signal Company, one company 7th Division Organic Combat Engineers, one medical collecting company, 7th Division. One Platoon 7th Division Medical Clearing Company, Detachment HQ 7th Division Battalion, detachment 7th Division Quartermaster Battalion, detachment 7th Division Organic Signal Company. For the initial occupation of the selected site in the Near Islands, 18th Combat Engineers from Adak, 4th Infantry Composite Regiment from Adak. The floating reserve was one regimental combat team consisting of the 32nd Infantry with reinforcements similar to those for the 17th Infantry indicated above. The garrisons for Attu and the selected site in the Near Islands are to be designated by the Commanding General Western Defense Command, and are to include 17th Infantry Combat Team, 32nd Infantry Combat Team, 78th CAAA and 2nd Battalion 51st CAAA. The target date is May 7th, 1943.

In early February of 1943 it was realized that since Japan knew of America's occupation of Amchitka, Japan would be taking countermeasures. There appeared to be an increase in Japanese forces and installations located at Holtz Bay and Chichagof Harbor areas of Attu. With a desire to remove the Japanese from the Aleutians, Rear Admiral McMorris's Task Group Mike was directed to isolate Attu and Kiska from Japan with a blockade formed by his seemingly inadequate fleet of old, incapable, and far too few ships, and to proceed with direct naval bombardment of these islands. Knowing he didn't have the resources to intimidate both Kiska and Attu at the same time, Adm. McMorris decided to concentrate on Attu. This way he could also blockade Japan's re-supply efforts of both Attu and Kiska. On the 18th of February the shelling of Attu began without opposition.



On March 26, 1943 Rear Admiral McMorris's Task Group Mike engaged the Japanese Northern Pacific Fleet which was attempting to re-supply the Japanese garrisons located on Attu and Kiska. This engagement, 150 miles west of Attu's Cape Wrangle, was to become known as the Battle of the Komandorskies. The defeat of the Japanese Northern Fleet by Task Group Mike ended Japan's attempts to gain a greater foothold in the Aleutians, and seemingly left the Japanese garrisons on Attu and Kiska to fend for themselves. U.S. airpower wasn't able to engage the Japanese during this skirmish as U.S. aircraft had been loaded with bombs with which to bomb Kiska. By the time the aircraft had changed-out their arsenal with weapons more suitable for naval engagements, the battle of the Komandorskies was over. This was the last pure navy fleet Vs. navy fleet battle to occur during WWII. Subsequent WWII naval engagements made heavy use of air power assisting the naval fleets to overcome the enemy. U.S. Bombers and fighters continued to bomb and strafe the islands of Kiska and Attu as the weather permitted. During March of 1943, 39 raids were made against Kiska.

On the 1st of April, 1943, a joint directive from CINCPAC and Commanding General Western Defense Command orders preparations for Operation LANDGRAB, the invasion of Attu Island.

In early April a spell of stormy weather with winds up to 108 m.p.h. grounded all planes for five days. Sixteen B-24, five B-25, and twelve P-38 sorties were ultimately flown against Kiska Island from Adak and Amchitka Islands. Antiaircraft fire damaged two bombers. During the month of April, the 73rd bombardment Squadron (Medium), 28th Composite Group with B-25s transferred from Elmendorf field, Anchorage, Alaska to Umnak Island.

On the 12th of April, 1943, 3 B-25's, 24 P-40's, and 13 P-38's flew 7 missions to Kiska. The fighters also strafe Little Kiska. AA fire damaged 1 P-40 and 1 P-38. The P-38 force-lands safely.



On the 13th of April, 1943, 15 B-24's 15 B-25's, 28 P-38's and 20 P-40's flew 11 attacks to Kiska; 43 tons of bombs were dropped. Fighters attacked the Main Camp causing large fires, and also strafed aircraft on the beach. Heavy AA fire damaged 2 P-38's, 1 of which later crashed into the sea, and 1 B-25.

The 14th of April, 1943 saw 30 P-40's 17 P-38's, 9 B-24's and 6 B-25's fly 10 missions to Kiska, bombing and strafing the runway, North Head area, installations, parked seaplanes, and facilities on Little Kiska.

The 16th of April, 1943 saw Kiska bombed and strafed 13 more times.

April 17th saw 7 B-24's bomb and score 8 direct hits on the runway and gun emplacements at Attu. One B-24 and 2 F-5A's abort due to weather. Four B-25's, 31 P-38's, and 14 P-40's hit Kiska 9 times, bombing installations and strafing gun emplacements and 3 parked airplanes.

On Sunday, April 18th, 1943 22 P-38's (some flown by Royal Canadian Air Force pilots) and 37 P-40's hit Kiska 9 times. The submarine base and gun emplacements on North Head were bombed and gun emplacements near the submarine base were silenced.

On Monday, April 19th, 1943 9 missions involving 14 B-24's, 12 B-25's, 32 P-40's, and 23 P-38's were flown to Kiska. The first mission was weathered out of the primary target, Attu, and directed to Kiska. Bombing and strafing concentrated on 4 grounded ships and the submarine base area where fires were started. One ship, believed to serve as a power station, was set on fire.

The 20th of April 1943 included 10 bombing and strafing missions by 15 B-24's, 16 B-25's, 10 P-38's, and 32 P-40's. They hit shipping in the harbor at Kiska and gun positions in North Head. Other targets included buildings in the Main Camp area and the runway.



By the 21st of April Kiska had been attacked 83 times.

Strong Naval reinforcements began to reach the Aleutians for the eventual assault on Attu. On Sunday, the 25th of April 1943, another naval bombardment was conducted against Attu. There were no signs of personnel or activity ashore. A number of small buildings and huts testified to the continuing presence of the Japanese. Fifteen B-24's, 12 B-25's, 32 P-40's, 23 P-38's, and 1 F-5A fly 12 missions to Kiska and Attu. Targets included Holtz Bay, North Head, South Head, the beach areas, the runway, shipping and the submarine base.

By the end of April, 1943, Adak, now the center of Army, Air Force, and Navy operations in the Aleutians, was maintaining a garrison of 19,067 Army personnel and 7,811 Navy. At Amchitka, where there were 10,260 Army and 903 Navy personnel, a 5,000-foot bomber strip had been completed during the month. This enabled America's air power to finally begin a significant presence in the war. Many of the buildings in the Main Camp area on Kiska, as well as part of the submarine base, had been destroyed, but despite the 1,000 sorties made by American planes during April, new construction on Kiska and Attu rapidly replaced damaged structures. By the end of the April 640 tons of bombs had been dropped.

In May of 1943 American Forces completed 35 strikes in 22 days with 17 of them against Kiska, 17 against Attu, and one directed at the Rat Islands. American Forces dropped 470 tons of bombs on the two major islands with a loss of 28 planes, only three of which were known to have been destroyed by enemy action, the remainder succumbed to the weather or other mishaps.

1 posted on 02/17/2003 5:36:32 AM PST by SAMWolf
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To: MistyCA; AntiJen; Victoria Delsoul; SassyMom; bentfeather; GatorGirl; radu; souris; SpookBrat; ...
The Invasion of Attu


The battle of Attu was essentially an infantry battle. The climate greatly limited the use of air power as the island was shrouded in fog and experienced high winds almost every day. The terrain...steep jagged crags, knifelike ridges covered with snow, boggy tundra...made the use of mechanized equipment and of all motorized vehicles impracticable. The American GI, thus reduced to moving only on foot, had to blast his way to victory with only the weapons he could carry with him. The American troops, some trained and equipped for fighting in desert climates, some totally inexperienced in combat, had found a most formidable enemy in the Japanese who were fully equipped, thoroughly acclimated, and fanatically determined to hold their strong, well chosen, defensive positions.

The Attu attack force was originally scheduled to leave Cold Bay on May 3rd, but bad weather postponed sailing until the 4th of May, 1943. D-day was re-designated to be 8 May, 1943, then, again as a result of bad weather, D-day was postponed to 9 May, 1943, then to Tuesday, 11 May, 1943.

There were numerous "firsts" experienced by the U.S. Forces in the Aleutians. The American 7th Division had embarked on the first Allied sea-borne invasion of enemy-held territory. The 7th had trained in the Mojave Desert expecting eventually to fight the Germans in North Africa. Soon after the defeat of the German Army in North Africa, the 7th began to practice amphibious landings on San Clemente Island. With their training completed and plans in place, the 7th eventually shipped out of San Francisco, destination unknown. As the ships later set a northerly bearing, heading for the Aleutians once out to sea, the GIs were finally informed of their real destination. Cold weather uniforms were then issued to the men, including leather boots that would prove useless in the wet snow and mud soon to be encountered on Attu.



A J2F-4 refuels on the airfield at Dutch Harbor preparatory to taking off. The drab supply house stands in humble contrast to the distant mountains

The arrival of American forces off Attu was uneventful. A dense fog obscured the Island and surrounding area. The 7th Scout Co. had safely landed at Beach Scarlet, located on the northern shore of Attu, from their submarine transport. The Northern Force landing took place at 1450 hrs on Beach Red. The Southern Force landings at Massacre Bay proved difficult to the extreme. Some landing craft snagged on outcroppings of rock, sank, and dragged their crews to the bottom. A few landing craft collided with each other in the fog.

The northern force followed the island's coast-line, accompanied by a small flanking scout battalion to their right. The southern force finally pushed upwards from Massacre Bay through what was named Massacre Valley. The first wave of Americans found snow running all the way down the beach. The first artillery pieces promptly sank into the tundra after being fired. Air support from the nearby CVE Nassau was eliminated by 90% cloud cover over the island. Those fighters that were able to find their way to the island more often than not strafed friendly units. A flight of F4F Wildcats attempted an attack against the Japanese defenders. As they flew through what was to become known as Jarmin Pass, a williwaw blew two of the planes against the mountain. A thick ground fog persisted to a considerable altitude that, while preventing the American invaders from seeing the Japanese defenders, provided protection for the Japanese (invisible in their white clothing) who could clearly see American troop movements below them.

The beaches quickly jammed up with supplies and bogged-down vehicles. The 7th soon realized they wouldn't be able to get their artillery or tracked vehicles across the muskeg. It was apparent the battle would have to be fought by the foot soldiers themselves. Troops in the front lines began to suffer greatly from the effects of the bitter cold. Hundreds of GIs would eventually have their feet amputated as a result of frostbite and trench foot (roughly a quarter of all casualties would be traced to frostbite). American troops, lost in the fog, walked into enemy cross-fires and would be pinned down for hours with no reasonable shelter from the cold.

The American's continued to slug it out for eight days of nearly perpetual combat as the Japanese forged a bloody withdrawal. Finally, on the 18th of May, 1943, with the added help of the "Fighting Fourth," the American northern and southern forces linked up as per the original plan objective.

Badly outnumbered and sensing possible defeat, the Japanese now killed their own wounded by injecting them with morphine. To make sure the job was completed, they then threw hand grenades into their own medical tent.

On the 28th of May, 1943, Colonel Yasuyo Yamasaki, commander of the Japanese forces on Attu, formed a plan that could possibly turn the tide of battle in favor of the Japanese. In the middle of the night he would lead his remaining force of 800 men (of an initial 2600) through a weak point in the American lines, capture an American Howitzer emplacement, then use it to pin down the Americans long enough to evacuate his surviving forces.



Seabees at Dutch harbor, Alaska

At 3:15 the following morning, Yamasaki's remaining troops took advantage of the lingering fog and managed to break through the American lines. Ten minutes later, with the artillery battery of Engineer Hill in sight, the Japanese commander ordered a Banzai attack. They killed several American patients in their field hospital and exploded a propane stove in the mess. The sleeping Americans quickly rallied their forces and threw the Japanese back into the fog after intense close combat. The failure to carry out their plan effectively destroyed the Japanese morale. Five hundred of the remaining Japanese committed mass suicide (gyokusai) with grenades held close to their stomachs, chests, and foreheads. Yamasaki attempted a final but fruitless charge later in the day with what remained of his force. During this charge he lost his own life to a .30-caliber bullet. The battle for Attu was over.

The casualties incurred during the invasion of Attu were appalling. The Americans suffered 3829 casualties, roughly 25% of the invading force, second only in proportion to Iwo Jima. Of these, 549 were killed; 1148 injured; 1200 with severe cold injuries; 614 with disease; and a remaining 318 to miscellaneous causes. On the Japanese side, 2351 men were counted by American burial parties, and hundreds more were presumed already buried. Total prisoners taken: 28 (none of whom were officers). The Japanese fought to virtually the last man.

By May 30th, 1943, unknown to the allied forces at the time, all organized Japanese Army resistance ended in the Aleutians.

On August 15th, 1943 the allied invasion of Kiska finally began. There was no opposition to the invasion of Kiska by the US and Canadian forces as there were no Japanese troops left on the island. The Japanese had been secretly removed from Kiska by I-class submarines and surface vessels prior to the allied attack. Allied casualties during the invasion nevertheless numbered close to 200, all from friendly fire, booby traps set out by the Japanese to inflict damage on the invading allied forces, or disease. There were seventeen Americans and four Canadians killed from either friendly fire or booby traps, fifty more were wounded as a result of friendly fire or booby traps, and an additional 130 men came down with trench foot.

The Japanese were finally ejected from the Aleutians only after 15 months of arduous operations hampered by shortages afloat, ashore, and in the air...not to mention the almost insuperable obstacles of weather and terrain.
2 posted on 02/17/2003 5:37:01 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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To: All
'Attu is the lonesomest spot this side of hell.'

-- Anonymous


3 posted on 02/17/2003 5:37:20 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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To: All
The State of the Union is Strong!
Support the Commander in Chief

Click Here to Send a Message to the opposition!


4 posted on 02/17/2003 5:37:41 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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To: All


Thanks, Doughty!

5 posted on 02/17/2003 5:38:09 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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To: All
Good Morning Everybody.


Coffee and Donuts
Courtesy of Fiddlstix.
You Know The Drill
Click the Pics
Soldier

Click here to Contribute to FR: Do It Now! ;-) Lifetime Stranger


6 posted on 02/17/2003 5:38:30 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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To: SAMWolf
Good Morning SAM
7 posted on 02/17/2003 5:58:32 AM PST by Soaring Feather
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To: SAMWolf
Happy Presidents Day.

Thanks for the thread today. We have studied the history of the Aleutians in our school this year. I will try to have Ally take a look at this later in the day.

The school bell rings.....have a good day everyone.

8 posted on 02/17/2003 6:04:28 AM PST by SpookBrat
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To: SAMWolf; Fiddlstix
Good Morning, SAM. Thanks to you and Fiddlstix for the coffee...

It really hits the spot after spending 15 minutes in the Aleutians!

What a miserable place to spend a war...
9 posted on 02/17/2003 6:06:24 AM PST by HiJinx
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To: HiJinx; AntiJen; MistyCA; Victoria Delsoul
<===Mash This
10 posted on 02/17/2003 6:33:44 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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To: HiJinx
There's never a good place to spend a war, some are just worse than others.
11 posted on 02/17/2003 6:34:32 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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To: SpookBrat
Morning Spooky. I'm sure Ally will be thrilled having to read this. LOL!
12 posted on 02/17/2003 6:36:05 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: coteblanche
Good Morning, Cote.

You found a good shot of a PBY to go with it.

14 posted on 02/17/2003 6:53:06 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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To: coteblanche

Battle of the Komandorski (Comodore) Islands, 26 March 1943: Salt Lake City in action laying the smoke screen during the battle, with an enemy salvo landing astern. She was called "Swayback Maru" by her crew.

15 posted on 02/17/2003 7:19:04 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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To: coteblanche
Oh and since I know you're gonna ask:

When the war began, the cruiser "Salt Lake City" was already an old lady of a ship, two years from replacement date, and a rather disreputable old lady at that. She was at the bottom of the fleet in gunnery and ninth in engineering efficiency, had weak armor, a reputation for being a hazard to other ships because she steered so wildly and a crew that didn't seem to care whether school kept or not. But when the time came to put the heat on the Japs, she poured it all over them. She became known as "the one-ship fleet" because she conducted a personal feud with a Jap base and almost single-handed fought one of the decisive battles of the war. She killed more Japs and fought more actions than any other cruiser. This is the story of how the old lady turned into a tiger.

"Slick City", her crew used to call her, but she was the "Swayback Maru" to the rest of the fleet and before the war they used to laugh at her. There was reason to laugh. She was one of the first pair of cruisers built after the Washington Treaty, and a good deal of a comic compared with the sleek vessels that came later. When she was designed, American shipbuilders were faced with the problem of restricted tonnage, which they had never met before. They saved weight by cutting her armor belt down to a patch amidships and giving even that a thickness that would hardly have been adequate for a light cruiser; by omitting the upper deck to leave a long well amidships that gave her a swaybacked look; by placing her ten big guns three over two, fore and aft; and by cutting down on things inboard.

The results were that every time the "Salt Lake City" rolled, water went tearing through that well deck, the ventilation was never good and gunnery officers nearly went mad trying to synchronize the firing of two different types of turret. On top of that her steering gear behaved in the most unpredictable manner, and other ships hated to be in column behind her. The weakness of her protection did not show up until she began fighting, but the command knew about it and knew how inferior she was to the Japanese cruisers built at the same time---the famous "cheating cruisers" that were built by setting the 10,000 ton figure down on a piece of paper, then building a ship nearly half again as large.



16 posted on 02/17/2003 7:23:23 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: coteblanche
Yep, it was our friends from the First Special Service Force


18 posted on 02/17/2003 8:03:47 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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To: coteblanche
Private Henri Richard

Kiska, Alaska
June 1943 - January 1944

The Japanese attacked and occupied Attu and Kiska Alaska on 7 Jun 42. During the Spring of 1943 it was decided by the Canadian government to send a force in the recovery of these islands. A force was to be assigned to assist the Americans in their assault on Kiska, scheduled for September 1943.

By 2 Jun 43 the basic order of battle was decided. The 13th Canadian Infantry Brigade would consist of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, the Rocky Mountain Rangers and the Canadian Fusiliers. Other formations consisted of Twenty Fourth Field Regiment (Royal Canadian Artillery), The Twenty Fourth Field Company (Royal Canadian Engineers), a machine gun company from the Saint John Fusiliers and various service detachments. The brigade would be called GREENLIGHT FORCE.

Private Henri Richard wasn't initially a member of GREENLIGHT FORCE. He had been assigned to the Midland Regiment in Terrace, BC, where the army was busy building an airfield. But on 7 Jun 43 it was decided that any soldier who had been enlisted after 15 Feb 43 was too "fresh" to fight a seasoned and dug in enemy on Kiska. Due to this ruling the Winnipeg Grenadiers lost 52 men, but gained 196 new soldiers, including Private Henri Richard who was transferred to the regiment on 8 Jun 43.

At this point events happened particularly fast for Henri. The assault was initially scheduled for September, but now it was moved ahead to August. Also, once soldiers arrived in Courtenay, BC, a rigorous training regime was put in place. This training was designed to prepare them for the peculiar conditions they would face on Kiska Island. They had to prepared to run up mountains and fight in biting cold winds. All members of the force had to be in top-notch physical shape.

On 12 Jul 43 the brigade boarded four US transport ships in the ports of Nanaimo and Chemainus and headed north for Adak, Alaska. At this time a total of 165 men were reported absent without leave. Pacific Command attributed these absences were due to "a feeling of discourse among the men". This was created when within the space of a month, or less, about one third of existing personnel were shuffled from one unit to another.

The force arrived in Adak on 21 Jul 43. While on Adak, GREENLIGHT FORCE troops were kept busy with marches (physical training) and individual and sub-unit training, the latter emphasizing battle drill and patrolling tactics. The high point of the training was an amphibious landing exercise held on Great Sitkin Island during the first week of August. General Buckner and Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kincaid, the US Navy's senior officer in Alaska, both expressed favorable opinions about the appearance and bearing of the Canadians.

While on Adak, GREENLIGHT FORCE was also issued American environmental clothing (parkas), medical supplies and assigned American vehicles, though few vehicles would be used in the mountainous terrain of Kiska.


On 13 August the transport ships departed from Adak for Kiska, and were accompanied later by the US navy ships Pennsylvania, Idaho, Tennessee, Santa Fe andtheir escorts. Prior to the landing, a heavy bombardment of Kiska was undertaken from both the air and the sea. On the day of the invasion, the landing plan was to provide a bombardment and feint landing on the south side of the island, then complete the real landings on the west and northwest sides on the 15th and 16th of August.

GREENLIGHT FORCE landed upon a rocky beach on the northwest side of Kiska on 16 Aug 43, a day after the American troops landed further south. The brigade was to move inland as quickly as possible as they
sought an enemy believed to have withdrawn into the hills. The Canadians followed a ravine up into the hills, cautiously approaching two nearby gun emplacements and several machine gun nests, all of which were luckily unmanned. Despite heavy fog all troops reached and surpassed their initial goals. Of course no enemy was to be found. The only thing there was a friendly dog left behind by the Japanese.


There were many who thought that the Japanese were in every cave and behind every rock in these days of the invasion. American forces reported contact with Japanese riflemen in the fog and wild shooting took place. Of the Americans 28 soldiers were dead and another 50 wounded after the first two days on the island. Only 4 of the dead and several of the wounded were actually of the result of Japanese mines and booby traps. The Canadians meanwhile, accounted for 4 dead and another 4 wounded, all the cause of Japanese munitions. (There is another source which does indicate that one of the Canadian wounded was the cause of "unidentified machine gun fire.")

Stories of caves found with coffee pots "still hot" and in Henri's case, a story of "bowls of rice still warm on the table" were later discovered to be a case of a soldier's imagination acting up and regimental rumors running rampant. Once the war ended it was finally discovered that all Japanese forces had been taken off the Island a full three weeks prior to the landing. It is believed that the main Japanese evacuation took place on or about 28 July. The departure had taken 1 hour and was done in dense fog, a feat within itself, although the Japanese force did leave most of their weapons and equipment behind.

Many soldiers expressed regret that the Japanese weren't there. In one report it was stated "When we got there, the cupboard was bare." Deep down though there was a sigh of relief. Of the 5300 Canadian men that were sent to Kiska, it was initially expected that 1800 would be casualties.

The GREENLIGHT FORCE remained on Kiska as a garrison for more than 3 months, living in "winterized" tents, and engaged in road and pier construction and other general duties. Fog, rain and wind made the island an unpleasant place at the best of times. The Canadian troops finally started to come home in November 1943.

Henri was one of the last to leave Kiska, on or near 7 Jan 44. He arrived home in St. Genevieve, MB, in the middle of a cold January 1944 night to the surprise of his family. It was then that Henri astonished his family with stories of Kiska and told them of the army life that he grown accustomed to.

Note for clarification purposes: Another Canadian Force participated in he Kiska Invasion. The First Special Service Force, made up of Canadian and American (40/60% ratio) troops, was not related in any way to the GREENLIGHT
19 posted on 02/17/2003 8:14:13 AM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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To: SAMWolf
This is one of the most interesting campaigns in the history of warfare -- the conditions extreme, not only in physical conditions but pyschological as well. The infantry in rows of pup tents and not much else suffered from extreme boredom. PT boats were brought, for some months, into this theater ... the bad seas and high waves proved impossible for them -- but one can hardly imagine the difficulty of serving on such a small boat in such choppy seas and bitterly cold, high-wind blizzards of weather.

Some very important advancements were developed there -- especially the managment of logistics in beach landings -- later applied in all the allied landings in Africa, Europe and the Pacific, "timing patterns" -- that phrase we now use in football, came orginially from the necessity of flying blind on bombing runs, using only the clock, a constant airspeeed, and a heading. Radar was hardy born yet.

20 posted on 02/17/2003 8:14:53 AM PST by bvw
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