| Landing at Amchitka | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Aleutian Islands campaign | |||||||
 The American landing at Constantine Harbor, 12 January | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States |  Japan (not present) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Lloyd E. Jones | N/A | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2,100 | N/A | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 14 killed 1 destroyer sunk | N/A | ||||||
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. [1]
In June 1942, the Japanese occupied the western Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska, and they hoped to occupy Amchitka. [2] A Japanese survey team scouted the island but rejected it for military purposes.[ citation needed ]
American military planners determined that an airbase was needed near the Japanese-occupied islands. Amchitka was ruled out as a possible candidate since it was only 50 miles away from Kiska. At the War Department's suggestion, an initial reconnaissance of Amchitka was carried out in September 1942, which found that it would be difficult to build an airstrip on the island. [2] Nevertheless, planners decided in December that the airfield "had to be built" to prevent the Japanese from doing the same. [2]
A reconnaissance mission visited Amchitka from 17 to 19 December and reported that a fighter strip could be built in two to three weeks, and a main airfield in three to four months. [2] Plans were drawn out for the landings dubbed "Operation Longview". The operation would scrape together 2,000 immediate U.S military in the Aleutian Islands by the Alaska Defense Command. It was thought through reconnaissance that Amchitka was occupied by a small Japanese military presence. Eager to remove the Japanese, the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed to move quickly to regain the territory. [3] [4]
The operation was set for 9 January 1943 but was delayed by weather. [5] American forces made an unopposed landing at Constantine Harbor near the southwest end of the island on 12 January. Nearly 2,100 troops disembarked without opposition. Their only enemies were the weather, the unpredictable current, and the rock-studded waters through which the landing was made.
The destroyer USS Worden was guarding the transport USS Arthur Middleton as she put the preliminary Army security unit on the shore. The destroyer maneuvered into the rock-edged harbor and stayed there until the last men had landed and then turned to the business of clearing the harbor. A strong current, however, swept Worden onto a pinnacle that tore into a hull beneath the engine room and caused a complete loss of power. The destroyer then broached and began breaking up in the surf. Commander William G. Pogue, the destroyer's commanding officer, ordered abandon ship, and as he was directing that effort, he was swept overboard into the wintry seas by a heavy wave that broke over the ship. Pogue was among the fortunate ones, however, because he was hauled, unconscious, out of the sea. Fourteen of the crew drowned.
Once on the ground the island was cleared and found to be empty of Japanese military. [6] [7] During the first night ashore a "willowaw" (violent squall) smashed many of the landing boats and swept a troop transport aground. On the second day a blizzard wracked the island with snow, sleet, and biting wind. Lasting for nearly two weeks, the blizzard finally subsided enough to reveal to a Japanese scout plane from Kiska the American beachhead on Amchitka. Harassed by bombing and strafing attacks from Kiska, engineers continued work on an airfield on Amchitka, completing it in mid-February. Japanese attacks on the island then sharply declined. By 16 February the fighter strip was ready for limited operation. On that day, eight Curtis P-40 Warhawk s arrived on Amchitka, and within a week they were running patrols over Kiska. [8] [9]
The stage was now set for the next phase of operations, amphibious attacks to eject the Japanese from their Aleutian footholds. [10]
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943:
The Aleutian Islands campaign was a military campaign conducted by the United States, Canada, and Japan in the Aleutian Islands, part of the Territory of Alaska, in the American Theater and the Pacific Theater of World War II beginning with the invasion by Japanese forces on 3 June 1942. In the only two invasions of the United States during the war of a U.S. incorporated territory, a small Japanese force 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. Successful Japanese invasions of other U.S. territories, which were unincorporated territories, in the western Pacific shortly after the Attack on Pearl Harbor included Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines. 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."
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.
USS Bancroft (DD-598) was a Benson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the third ship named for George Bancroft.
USS Coghlan (DD-606) was a Benson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the second ship named for Joseph Bulloch Coghlan.
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. The Japanese, however, had secretly abandoned the island two weeks earlier, and so the Allied landings were unopposed. Allied forces suffered over 313 casualties in total during the operation, due to Japanese landmines and booby traps, friendly fire incidents, and vehicle accidents.
Castner's Cutthroats was the unofficial name for the 1st Alaskan Combat Intelligence Platoon (Provisional), also known as Alaskan Scouts. Castner's Cutthroats fought during World War II and were instrumental in defeating the Japanese during the Aleutian Islands Campaign. The unit was composed of just sixty-five men selected to perform reconnaissance missions in the Aleutian Islands during the war.
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.
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.
The Battle of Attu, which took place on 11–30 May 1943, was a battle 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 more than two-week 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.
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. Along with the Attu landing the next day, it was the first time that the United States was occupied by a foreign power since the War of 1812, and was one of the two invasions of the United States during World War II.
The Japanese Occupation Site on Kiska island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska is where the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked and occupied the island in World War II, as one of the only two enemy invasion sites in North America during the war. The Japanese built defenses and other infrastructure on the island before abandoning it in 1943 after losing the Battle of Attu. American and Canadian forces reoccupied the abandoned island, and departed the island in 1946. Now a part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, the central portion of the island, where these military activities were concentrated, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.
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.
I-9 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type A1 submarine commissioned in 1941. She saw service during World War II, including operations related to the attack on Pearl Harbor, a patrol off the United States West Coast, and in Operation K. She also took part in the Aleutians campaign and the Guadalcanal campaign before she was sunk in June 1943.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.