Battle of Dutch Harbor

Last updated
Battle of Dutch Harbor
Part of the American Theater of World War II
Japanese Attack at Dutch Harbor.jpg
Buildings burning after Japanese air attacks on Dutch Harbor, circa 3 June 1942.
Date3–4 June 1942
Location 53°53′15″N166°32′32″W / 53.88750°N 166.54222°W / 53.88750; -166.54222
Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg United StatesMerchant flag of Japan (1870).svg  Japan
Commanders and leaders
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Robert Theobald
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Simon Buckner
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Archibald Arnold
Merchant flag of Japan (1870).svg Kakuji Kakuta
Strength
37th Infantry Regiment
206th Coast Artillery (AA)
1 search light battery
6 anti-aircraft batteries
U.S. Marines
30 aircraft
1 aircraft carrier
1 light carrier
3 cruisers
5 destroyers
86 aircraft
Casualties and losses
43 killed
50 wounded
14 aircraft destroyed
1 barracks ship destroyed
10 killed
5 captured
8 aircraft destroyed
1 aircraft captured [1]

The Battle of Dutch Harbor took place on 3-4 June 1942, when the Imperial Japanese Navy launched two aircraft carrier raids on the Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and U.S. Army Fort Mears at Dutch Harbor on Amaknak Island, opening the Aleutian Islands campaign of World War II. The bombing marked the first aerial attack by an enemy on the continental United States and was the second time in history that the continental U.S. was bombed by someone working for a foreign power, the first being the accidental bombing of Naco, Arizona, in 1929.

Contents

Background

The Japanese planned to occupy islands in the Aleutians in order to extend their defensive perimeter in the North Pacific to make it more difficult for the U.S. to attack Japan from that area. The air raid on Dutch Harbor was conducted to support the invasions on Kiska Island and Attu Island by the Japanese military under Operation AL.

Dutch Harbor was ringed with anti-aircraft artillery batteries from the 206th Coast Artillery (Anti Aircraft) group of the Arkansas National Guard, and was one of the key targets protected by the Eleventh Air Force based out of mainland Alaska. [2] [3] The 206th CA (AA) was deployed to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands in August 1941 and had been on station for approximately four months when the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December. The 206th CA was equipped with the 3-inch Gun M1918 (an older model with a vertical range of 26,902 ft (8,200 m)), .50in (12.7mm) M2 Browning machine guns, and 60 in (150 cm) Sperry searchlights. The 206th had one radar in position at Dutch Harbor at the time of the attack. In the harbor were two old destroyers, King and Talbot, destroyer-seaplane tender Gillis, submarine S-27, Coast Guard cutter Onondaga, and U.S. Army transports President Fillmore and Morlen. [4]

Battle

On 3 June 1942 a Japanese carrier strike force, under the command of Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuta, comprising the carriers Ryūjō and Jun'yō plus escort ships, sailed to 180  mi (160  nmi ; 290  km ) southwest of Dutch Harbor to launch air strikes at the United States Army and United States Navy facility to support a Japanese offensive in the Aleutians and in the central Pacific at Midway.

U.S. Marines observing the battle from trench positions, June 3, 1942 Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor, June 3, 1942. Group of Marines on the "alert" between attacks. Smoke from burning... - NARA - 520589.tif
U.S. Marines observing the battle from trench positions, June 3, 1942

Shortly before dawn at 02:58, given the geographic latitude and longitude, Admiral Kakuta ordered his aircraft carriers to launch their strike which was made up of 12 A6M Zero fighters, 10 B5N Kate high-level bombers, and 12 D3A Val dive bombers which took off from the two small carriers in the freezing weather to strike at Dutch Harbor. One B5N was lost on takeoff from Ryujo.

The planes arrived over the harbor at 04:07 and attacked the town's radio station and oil storage tanks causing some damage. Many members of the 206th were awakened by the sound of bombs and gunfire. While the unit had been on alert for an attack for many days, there was no specific warning of the attack before the Japanese planes arrived over Dutch Harbor. With no clear direction from headquarters, gun crews from every battery quickly realized the danger, ran to their guns stationed around the harbor and began to return fire. In addition to their 3 in (76 mm) guns, 37 mm (1.46 in) guns and .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns, members of the unit fired their rifles, and one even claimed to have hurled a wrench at a low-flying enemy plane. Several members reported being able to clearly see the faces of the Japanese aviators as they made repeated runs over the island. [5] The highest casualties on the first day occurred when bombs struck barracks 864 and 866 in Fort Mears, killing 17 servicemen of the 37th Infantry and eight from the 151st Engineers. [6]

When all the Japanese planes were recovered, there were erroneous reports of enemy ships in the vicinity, but search planes found no ships within the area. During the search, four Nakajima E8N2 "Dave" two-seat reconnaissance planes—launched from the heavy cruisers Takao and Maya—encountered U.S. fighters searching for the departing Japanese squadron.

Barracks ship Northwestern engulfed by flames in Dutch Harbor after the second Japanese airstrike, June 4, 1942 NorthwesternInFlames-2.jpg
Barracks ship Northwestern engulfed by flames in Dutch Harbor after the second Japanese airstrike, June 4, 1942

The 206th CA spent much of the night of 3/4 June moving guns down off the mountain tops surrounding the harbor down into the city of Unalaska and into harbor facilities. This was partially as a deception and partially to defend against an expected land invasion. Civilian contractors filled sandbags to protect the new gun positions.

On 4 June the Japanese carriers steamed to less than 100 mi (87 nmi; 160 km) south of Dutch Harbor to launch a second attack. At 16:00, a second airstrike of nine fighters, 11 dive bombers, and six level bombers attacked less than an hour later. More targets were damaged including some grounded aircraft, an army barracks, oil storage tanks, aircraft hangar, and a few merchant ships in the port. The Zero fighters concentrated on strafing the gun positions, while the bombers destroyed the fuel tanks located at the harbor. One wing of the military hospital at the base was destroyed. [7] After hitting the fuel tanks, the enemy dive-bombers and high-level bombers concentrated on the ships in the harbor, Fillmore and Gillis. Driven away from these two targets by intense anti-aircraft fire, they finally succeeded in destroying the station ship Northwestern which, because of its large size, they mistakenly believed was a warship. Northwestern was actually a transport ship which had been beached and used as a barracks for civilian workers. Although in flames and badly damaged, firefighters managed to save the hull. Its power plant was thereafter used to produce steam and electricity for the shore installations. [8] [9] An anti-aircraft gun was blown up, and four U.S. Navy servicemen were killed. [7]

Two Japanese dive bombers and one fighter, damaged by anti-aircraft fire, failed to return to their carriers. On the way back, the Japanese planes encountered an air patrol of six Curtiss P-40 fighters over Otter Point. A short aerial battle ensued which resulted in the loss of one Japanese fighter and two more dive bombers. Two out of the six U.S. fighters were lost as well.

Aftermath

Front page of the June 3, 1942 Anchorage Daily Times featuring the attack Anchorage Daily Times June 3, 1942.JPG
Front page of the June 3, 1942 Anchorage Daily Times featuring the attack

As a result of the enemy actions, the Eleventh Air Force lost four B-17s, two Martin B-26 Marauders, and two P-40s, while the Navy suffered six PBY Catalinas destroyed. [1] 43 Americans were killed: 33 soldiers, eight sailors, a Marine, and a civilian. Another 50 were wounded in the attack. [10]

None of the Japanese ships were harmed, but one Zero was damaged by ground fire and crash-landed on Akutan Island, about 20 mi (17 nmi; 32 km) northeast of Dutch Harbor. Although the pilot was killed, the plane was not seriously damaged. This Zero—known as the "Akutan Zero"—was recovered by American forces, inspected, and repaired. The recovery was an important technical intelligence gain for the U.S., as it showed the strengths and weaknesses of the Zero's design. [11]

The following day, Admiral Kakuta received orders to break off further attacks and head for the central Pacific to support the Combined Fleet which was retreating after being defeated at Midway. Two days later, a small Japanese invasion force landed and occupied two of the Aleutian Islands, Attu and Kiska, without further incident. Aleuts on Kiska and Attu were imprisoned on the Japanese mainland.

The bombing of Dutch Harbor and the subsequent occupations of Kiska and Attu by the Japanese helped trigger an impression among Americans that they were going to launch a full-scale attack along the United States West Coast. As a result, military and commandeered civilian aircraft flew nearly 2,300 troops to Nome, along with artillery and antiaircraft guns and several tons of other equipment and supplies to deter a possible Japanese landing in mainland Alaska.

Fearing a Japanese attack on other Aleutian Islands and mainland Alaska, the U.S. government evacuated hundreds more Aleuts from the western chain and the Pribilofs, placing them in internment camps in southeast Alaska, where many died of measles, influenza and other infectious diseases which spread quickly in the overcrowded dormitories. In total, about 75 died in American internment and 19 as a result of Japanese occupation. [12] [13] [14] The Aleut Restitution Act of 1988 was an attempt by the Congress to compensate the survivors. On 17 June 2017 the U.S. government formally apologized for the internment of the Unangan people and their treatment in the camps. [15]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Fern Chandonnet (2007). Alaska at War, 1941–1945: The Forgotten War Remembered. University of Alaska Press. p. 394. ISBN   978-1-60223-135-1.
  2. Goldstein, Donald; Dillon, Katherine V. (1992). The Williwaw War: The Arkansas National Guard in the Aleutians in World War II. University of Arkansas Press. ISBN   978-1557282422.
  3. See also, Never Give Up! A History of the 206th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment of the Arkansas National Guard in the Second World War by William E. Maxwell, Jr., 1992
  4. "The Aleutians Campaign June 1942 – August 1943". Naval History and Heritage Command, Office of Naval Intelligence, U.S. Navy.
  5. Goldstein, p. 151
  6. Goldstein, p. 152
  7. 1 2 Garfield, p. 49
  8. Garfield, pp. 48–49
  9. Goldstein, p. 176
  10. Page 63/183
  11. O'Leary, Michael. United States Naval Fighters of World War II in Action. Poole, Dorset, UK: Blandford Press, 1980, pp 67–74. ISBN   0-7137-0956-1.
  12. Ryan Madden, "'The Government's Industry': Alaska Natives and Pribilof Sealing during World War II." Pacific Northwest Quarterly 91.4 (2000): 202–209. in jstor
  13. "Evacuation and Internment, 1942–1945 – Aleutian World War II National Historic Area (U.S. National Park Service)". nps.gov.
  14. Goldstein, pp. 208–221
  15. "US apologizes for WWII internment of Alaska's Unangan people". Associated Press . June 17, 2017.

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Nashville</i> (CL-43) Brooklyn-class light cruiser

USS Nashville (CL-43) was a Brooklyn-class cruiser. She was laid down on 24 January 1935 by New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey. She was launched on 2 October 1937, sponsored by Misses Ann and Mildred Stahlman and commissioned on 6 June 1938.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943:

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1942:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleutian Islands campaign</span> World War II campaign between Allied and Imperial Japanese forces

The Aleutian Islands campaign 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 during the Pacific War. It was the only military campaign of World War II fought on North American soil. At the time of World War II, Alaska was a territory of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleventh Air Force</span> US Air Force division in Alaska

The Eleventh Air Force (11 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Cottage</span> Allied tactical operation of World War II

Operation Cottage was a tactical maneuver which completed the Aleutian Islands campaign. On August 15, 1943, Allied military forces landed on Kiska Island, which had been occupied by Japanese forces since June 1942. However, the Japanese had secretly abandoned the island two weeks earlier, and so the Allied landings were unopposed. Allied forces suffered over 500 casualties in total during the operation from Japanese landmines and booby traps, friendly fire incidents, and vehicle accidents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Field at Fort Glenn</span> United States historic place

Cape Field at Fort Glenn was a military site significant for its role in World War II. It consists of Fort Glenn, an airfield of the United States Army Air Corps later renamed Cape Air Force Base, and the adjacent Naval Air Facility Otter Point, both located on Umnak Island in the Aleutian Islands of southwestern Alaska. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Attu</span> 1943 battle in the Pacific Theatre of World War II

The Battle of Attu, which took place on 11–30 May 1943, was fought between forces of the United States, aided by Canadian reconnaissance and fighter-bomber support, and Japan on Attu Island off the coast of the Territory of Alaska as part of the Aleutian Islands campaign during the American Theater and the Pacific Theater. Attu is the only land battle in which Japanese and American forces fought in snowy conditions, in contrast with the tropical climate in the rest of the Pacific. The battle ended when most of the Japanese defenders were killed in brutal hand-to-hand combat after a final banzai charge broke through American lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese occupation of Kiska</span> Japanese military occupation

The Japanese occupation of Kiska took place between 6 June 1942 and 28 July 1943 during the Aleutian Islands campaign of the American Theater and the Pacific Theater of World War II. The Japanese occupied Kiska and nearby Attu Island in order to protect the northern flank of the Japanese Empire.

Amchitka Air Force Base is an abandoned Air Force Base located on Amchitka, in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akutan Zero</span> Japanese fighter aircraft

The Akutan Zero, also known as Koga's Zero (古賀のゼロ) and the Aleutian Zero, was a type 0 model 21 Mitsubishi A6M Zero Japanese fighter aircraft piloted by Petty Officer Tadayoshi Koga, that crash-landed on Akutan Island, Alaska Territory, during World War II. It was found intact by the Americans in July 1942 and became the first Zero acquired by the United States during the war that could be restored to airworthy condition. It was repaired and flown by American test pilots. As a result of information gained from these tests, American tacticians were able to devise ways to defeat the Zero, which was the Imperial Japanese Navy's primary fighter plane throughout the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">206th Field Artillery Regiment</span> Military unit

The 206th Field Artillery Regiment is a United States artillery regiment, currently represented in the Arkansas Army National Guard by the 1st Battalion, 206th Field Artillery, Headquartered at Russellville, Arkansas. The 1–206th FA is an element of the 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese occupation of Attu</span> World War II occupation

The Japanese occupation of Attu was the result of an invasion of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska during World War II. Imperial Japanese Army troops landed on 7 June 1942, the day after the invasion of nearby Kiska. Along with the Kiska landing, it was the first time that the continental United States was invaded and occupied by a foreign power since the War of 1812, and was the second of the only two invasions of the United States during World War II. The occupation ended with the Allied victory in the Battle of Attu on 30 May 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkansas National Guard and World War II</span>

The history of the Arkansas National Guard and World War II begins with the reorganization following World War I. The State first reorganized a provision unit, the 5th Arkansas, in order to provide a force to deal with domestic situations. As the Defense Department slowly implemented the massive changes and expansions outlined National Defense Act of 1916, the Arkansas National Guard was allowed to reorganize its war time units, including the 153rd Infantry Regiment, the 141st Machine Gun Battalion, and the 142nd Field Artillery. The Guard acquired its first permanent facilities and additional training during its annual encampments. During World War II, the entire Arkansas National Guard was activated and units saw duty in the Pacific and European theaters of conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of the Aleutian Islands</span> Aspect of military history surrounding the Aleutian Islands

The military history of the Aleutian Islands began almost immediately following the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire by the United States in 1867. Prior to the early 20th century, the Aleutian Islands were essentially ignored by the United States Armed Forces, although the islands played a small role in the Bering Sea Arbitration when a number of British and American vessels were stationed at Unalaska to enforce the arbitrators' decision. By the early 20th century, a number of war strategies examined the possibility of conflict breaking out between the Empire of Japan and the United States. While the Aleutian Islands were seen as a potential staging point for invasions by either side, this possibility was dismissed owing to the islands' dismal climate. In 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty was signed, after which the United States Navy began to take an interest in the islands. However, nothing of significance was to materialize until World War II.

Cape Air Force Base also known as Fort Glenn Army Air Base, is a site significant for its role in World War II fighting, operating alongside Naval Air Facility Otter Point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Air Facility Adak</span> United States Navy airport in the U.S. state of Alaska

Naval Air Facility Adak, was a United States Navy airport located west of Adak, on Adak Island in the U.S. state of Alaska. After its closure in 1997, it was reopened as Adak Airport. The facility was designated a National Historic Landmark for its role in World War II, although most of its elements from that period have been demolished or lie in ruins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landing at Amchitka</span>

The landing at Amchitka on 12 January 1943 was the unopposed amphibious landing operation and occupation of Amchitka island by American forces during the Aleutian Islands campaign during World War II.

VP-3 was a Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy. The squadron was established as Patrol Squadron 16-F (VP-16F) on 2 January 1937, redesignated Patrol Squadron 16 (VP-16) on 1 October 1937, redesignated Patrol Squadron 41 (VP-41) on 1 July 1939, redesignated Bombing Squadron 136 (VB-136) on 1 March 1943, redesignated Patrol Bombing Squadron 136 (VPB-136) on 1 October 1944, redesignated Patrol Squadron 136 (VP-136) on 15 May 1946, redesignated Medium Patrol Squadron (landplane) 3 (VP-ML-3) on 15 November 1946, redesignated Patrol Squadron 3 (VP-3) on 1 September 1948, and was disestablished on 1 November 1955. It was the second squadron to be designated VP-3, the first VP-3 was redesignated VP-32 on 1 July 1939.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VPB-43</span> Military unit

VPB-43 was a Patrol Bombing Squadron of the U.S. Navy. The squadron was established as Patrol Squadron 43 (VP-43) on 21 July 1941, redesignated Patrol Bombing Squadron 43 (VPB-43) on 1 October 1944 and disestablished on 15 September 1945.

References

Further reading