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The Battle of Attu took place May 11, 1943 – May 30, 1943 on Attu Island off of Alaska as part of the Aleutian Islands Campaign during the Pacific War of World War II. In the battle, a force of primarily United States Army soldiers landed on Attu with the goal of retaking the island from Japanese forces who had occupied the island since October 1942. The American forces on the island were led in turn by Albert E. Brown and Eugene M. Landrum. The Japanese forces on Attu were led by Yasuyo Yamasaki.
The Japanese troops on the island put up a more effective defense than the Americans anticipated. Also, the arctic weather conditions caused many cases of frostbite and other exposure-related injuries among the American troops, who were not accustomed to the climate conditions. With some difficulty, the Americans were able to push Yamasaki's men into a pocket near the coast of the island. In desperation, Yamasaki and his remaining troops launched a surprise counterattack, executing a frontal charge that broke through the American frontline defenses and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with shocked American rear area defenders before most of the Japanese troops were killed. Most of the Japanese survivors from this charge then committed suicide, effectively ending the battle for the island. Only 29 of the 2,900 Japanese defenders survived the battle to be taken prisoner.
Attu was the last ground combat in the campaign. The Japanese successfully evacuated their garrison on nearby Kiska on July 28, 1943 ending the Japanese presence in the Aleutian Islands.
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[edit] References
- Cloe, John Haile (1990). The Aleutian Warriors: A History of the 11th Air Force and Fleet Air Wing 4. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co. and Anchorage Chapter – Air Force Association. ISBN 0929521358. OCLC 25370916.
- Dickrell, Jeff (2001). Center of the Storm: The Bombing of Dutch Harbor and the Experience of Patrol Wing Four in the Aleutians, Summer 1942. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., Inc.. ISBN 1575100924. OCLC 50242148.
- Feinberg, Leonard (1992). Where the Williwaw Blows: The Aleutian Islands-World War II. Pilgrims' Process. ISBN 097106098-3. OCLC 57146667.
- Garfield, Brian [1969] (1995). The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press. ISBN 0912006838. OCLC 33358488.
- Goldstein, Donald M.; Katherine V. Dillon (1992). The Williwaw War: The Arkansas National Guard in the Aleutians in World War. Fayettville: University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1557282420. OCLC 24912734.
- Hays, Otis (2004). Alaska's Hidden Wars: Secret Campaigns on the North Pacific Rim. University of Alaska Press. ISBN 188996364X.
- Lorelli, John A. (1984). The Battle of the Komandorski Islands. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 0870210939. OCLC 10824413.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot [1951] (2001). Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls, June 1942-April 1944, vol. 7 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Champaign: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0316583057. OCLC 7288530.
- Parshall, Jonathan; Tully, Anthony (2005). Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books. ISBN 1574889230. OCLC 60373935.
- Perras, Galen Roger (2003). Stepping Stones to Nowhere, The Aleutian Islands, Alaska, and American Military Strategy, 1867 - 1945. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. ISBN 1591148367. OCLC 53015264.
- Urwin, Gregory J. W. (2000). The Capture of Attu: A World War II Battle as Told by the Men Who Fought There. Bison Books. ISBN 080329557X.
- Wetterhahn, Ralph (2004). The Last Flight of Bomber 31: Harrowing Tales of American and Japanese Pilots Who Fought World War II's Arctic Air Campaign. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0786713607.
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