The capture of Attu
“The end came on the night of 29 May when most of the surviving Japanese, about 700 to 1,000 strong, charged madly through American lines, screaming, killing, and being killed. The next day the enemy announced
the loss of Attu, as American units cleared out surviving enemy pockets. Although mopping-up operations continued for several days, organized resistance ended with the wild charge of 29 May, and Attu was once more in American hands. The Americans reported finding 2,351 enemy dead on the island; an additional few hundred were presumed to have been buried in the hills by the Japanese. Only 28 Japanese surrendered. Out of
a U.S. force that totaled more than 15,000 men, 549 had been killed, another 1,148 wounded, and about 2,100 men taken out of action by disease and nonbattle injuries. Trench foot was the most common affliction. Most of the nonbattle casualties were exposure cases, victims of the weather and inadequate clothing.”
“In clearing the Japanese invaders from the Aleutians, the objective had been partly to eliminate a potential military threat but mainly to eradicate a psychological blot. Japan’s foothold in the Western Hemisphere was gone. Starting in June 1942 the Japanese had threatened America’s northern flank. Fourteen months later
the reverse was true, although the idea of using the western Aleutians as steppingstones to Japan had no official approval. General DeWitt and others from time to time urged an assault by this route upon Japan’s Kurile Islands, but commitments to other theaters, and the desire of the Soviet Union not to have its neutrality with
Japan compromised, thwarted sanction of the proposal.”
“From the Japanese perspective, however, the threat remained. The bored American troops stationed in the Aleutians during the last two years of the war were not involved. But harassing attacks by the U.S. Eleventh Air Force from bases in the Aleutians against the Kurile Islands during that period resulted in Imperial Headquarters maintaining a large defensive force in the area which, toward the war’s end, amounted to about one-sixth of Japan’s total air strength. The centerpiece of the campaign was the battle for Attu. In terms
of numbers engaged, Attu ranks as one of the most costly assaults in the Pacific. For every 100 enemy found on the island, about 71 Americans were killed or wounded. The cost of taking Attu was thus second only to Iwo Jima. Of some consolation, the invasion of Rendova in the Solomon Islands during June proceeded well largely because of the struggle for Attu. In an attempt to either reinforce or evacuate Attu, the Japanese Imperial Headquarters had ordered the Fifth Fleet north from Truk in May to the western Aleutians, thereby greatly reducing Japanese naval strength in the Solomons area. While the fleet never reached the Aleutians, its absence from the Solomons allowed the American landings at Rendova to be virtually unopposed.”
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