Aleutian Islands campaign information

Aleutian Islands campaign
	Part of the American Theater and Pacific Theater 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 States52°49′57″N 173°04′21″E / 52.83250°N 173.07250°E
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	8,500
Casualties and losses
1,481 killed; 640 missing; 3,416 wounded; 8 captured; 225 aircraft destroyed; 3 warships sunk; US Navy vessels heavily damaged: 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; 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. 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]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cloe 1990, pp. 321–323
^ MacGarrigle 2019, p. ^{[page needed]}.
^ Garfield 1995, p. 4.
^ Cloe 2017, p. xi.
^ MacGarrigle 2019, p. 31.
^ "Battle of the Aleutian Islands". history.com. History (American TV network). November 17, 2009. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
^ Ferguson, Aurthur B. (1944). "Alaskan air defense and the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian islands". USAF Historical Study No. 4, Part 2.
^ Pike, Francis (2016). Hirohito's War: The Pacific War, 1941–1945. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 1003. ISBN 978-1-350-02122-8.
^ Cloe 2017, p. xi. "Most people are unaware that the United States launched its first offensive operations in the Pacific with the Aleutian Campaign, June 1942-August 1943. It preceded landing on Guadalcanal by two months."
^ Compare: "Battle for the Aleutians: WWII's Forgotten Alaskan Campaign". history.com. [...] considered a sideshow to the more high-profile battles in the South Pacific, the Aleutians campaign was a vital early victory for the United States.
^ Parshall & Tully 2005, p. ^{[page needed]}.

[auto-1] Cloe 1990, pp. 321–323

[FOOTNOTEMacGarrigle2019[[Category:Wikipedia_articles_needing_page_number_citations_from_February_2024]]<sup_class="noprint_Inline-Template_"_style="white-space:nowrap;">&#91;<i>[[Wikipedia:Citing_sources|<span_title="This_citation_requires_a_reference_to_the_specific_page_or_range_of_pages_in_which_the_material_appears.&#32;(February_2024)">page&nbsp;needed</span>]]</i>&#93;</sup>-2] MacGarrigle 2019, p. ^{[page needed]}.

[FOOTNOTEGarfield19954-3] Garfield 1995, p. 4.

[FOOTNOTECloe2017xi-4] Cloe 2017, p. xi.

[FOOTNOTEMacGarrigle201931-5] MacGarrigle 2019, p. 31.

[6] "Battle of the Aleutian Islands". history.com. History (American TV network). November 17, 2009. Retrieved 2023-10-30.

[AFHS42-7] Ferguson, Aurthur B. (1944). "Alaskan air defense and the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian islands". USAF Historical Study No. 4, Part 2.

[8] Pike, Francis (2016). Hirohito's War: The Pacific War, 1941–1945. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 1003. ISBN 978-1-350-02122-8.

[9] Cloe 2017, p. xi. "Most people are unaware that the United States launched its first offensive operations in the Pacific with the Aleutian Campaign, June 1942-August 1943. It preceded landing on Guadalcanal by two months."

[10] Compare: "Battle for the Aleutians: WWII's Forgotten Alaskan Campaign". history.com. [...] considered a sideshow to the more high-profile battles in the South Pacific, the Aleutians campaign was a vital early victory for the United States.

[FOOTNOTEParshallTully2005[[Category:Wikipedia_articles_needing_page_number_citations_from_February_2024]]<sup_class="noprint_Inline-Template_"_style="white-space:nowrap;">&#91;<i>[[Wikipedia:Citing_sources|<span_title="This_citation_requires_a_reference_to_the_specific_page_or_range_of_pages_in_which_the_material_appears.&#32;(February_2024)">page&nbsp;needed</span>]]</i>&#93;</sup>-11] Parshall & Tully 2005, p. ^{[page needed]}.

Aleutian Islands campaign information

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