Sometimes called the “Forgotten Front1” or the “Forgotten War2” the battle for the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska was one of the bloodiest of WWII. With the Battle for Attu still fresh in their minds, on August 14th, 1943 the US military sent over 100 ships and 30,000 men to land on the island of Kiska to attack a Japanese force estimated at 10,000 men. What they found on the island wound up shocking the Allied Forces.
HISTORY
In December of 1941, the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, pulling the US into WWII. The Japanese commander in charge of the Navy, Admiral Yamamoto, was looking for an opportunity to pull the US Navy into a battle in which he could decisively engage and destroy its carriers. He decided that the best target available would be Midway. However, as a distraction, in June of 1942, Yamamoto opened up a second front by attacking the Aleutian Islands.
Unbeknownst to Admiral Yamamoto, US code breakers had deciphered the Japanese radio transmissions and the Americans knew exactly what he was doing. With this knowledge, Admiral Nimitz, commander of the US Naval forces in the Pacific, decided to send a contingent of 21 ships to Alaska and retained the rest of his fleet in the defense of Midway. The Japanese fleet was able to elude the Americans and attack the base at Dutch Harbor on the 3rd and 4th of June. Afterwards they were able to evade a naval confrontation again, and landed on the islands of Kiska and Attu on the 7th of June, quickly subduing the military and civilian inhabitants.
During the rest of the summer the US and Japanese traded blows, with the US Air Force regularly bombarding the forces on Kiska. To the frustration of the Americans they were not able to dislodge them. Continuing t...
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In May of 1942, Japanese Admiral Isorosku Yamamoto devised a plan to draw the US Pacific fleet into battle where he could completely destroy it. To accomplish this master plan of his, he sought out the invasion of Midway Island which would provide a base for the Japan troops to attack Hawaii. Unfortunately for Yamamoto, America decrypted Japanese radio transmissions and Admiral Chester Nimitz was able to establish a counter attack against this offensive. Nimitz sent three aircraft carriers, The USS Enterprise, The USS Hornet and The USS Yorktown to destroy the Japanese. This is just a short overview of The Battle of Midway, or as commonly referred to as, the battle that changed the war. People argue that it had no affect on the war, but those critics couldn’t be farther from the truth. The Battle of Midway was the turning point of the war because it fully enters America into the war, it kicked off the Pacific Campaign, and it had Japan on the defensive, thus preventing them from helping The Axis Forces.
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Zuehlke, Mark. Terrible Victory: First Canadian Army and the Scheldt Estuary Campaign, September 13-November 6, 1944. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2007. 15. Print.
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The History of the Metis The Metis were partly french and partly indian. Their leader was called Louis riel. Following the Union of the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company in 1821, trading had been reorganized in order to reduce expenses. Since there was no longer competition in the fur trade, it was unnecessary to have two or more posts serving a single trading district.
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Initially, Japanese strategists assumed that the tiny island would be overwhelmed in a matter of hours. However, they underestimated the fighting spirit of the military personnel and civilians stationed on the island. For sixteen days these brave men fought against overwhelming odds, but demonstrated both to the Japanese and to their fellow Americans back at home that the Americans could and would put up a courageous fight.
In the early morning of 19 February 1945, United States Marines assigned to the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Division led the initial assault on the Japanese controlled island of Iwo Jima, with the objective of capturing and securing the island. This was the beginning of one of the fiercest and bloodiest; and more decisively, the most strategically important battles fought during World War II. After the dust had settled, and the smoke had cleared, the causalities and losses were astounding. 6,821 U.S. Marines along with 18,844 members of the Imperial Japanese Army had paid the ultimate sacrifice. A decisive US victory on the island of Iwo Jima later played a pivotal role in the overarching defeat of the Japanese Empire and its Armed Forces (Morison, 1945).
General Hideki Tojo was the Premiere of Japan. He and other Japanese leaders did not like the fact that Americans were sending war supplies to China and other countries in Asia. A surprise attack was ordered by Japan on December 7, 1941. The target was the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 360 planes bombed the naval base killing about 3,000 people and destroying many warships, aircraft carriers, and submarines. This was a catalyst that brought the United States into World War II.
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The book begins right in the midst of the clean up effort in Pearl Harbor; Admiral Chester Nimitz was sent immediately after the bombs fell to take command of the Pacific Fleet. Admiral Nimitz would obtain control of the Pacific fleet for the entirety of the novel. He contributed many key decisions that would lead to an American victory. On the opposing side Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku would lead his feared task force against the American fleet. A large advantage dealing with the way the tasks forces operated is revealed early in the book and would prove vital in the battle. Throughout the book it was made obvious that air craft carriers where essential for victory. When attaching an American Fleet or land based asset the Japanese combined all their carriers in a task force called The Kido Butai. While this task force h...
On December 7,1941 Japan raided the airbases across the islands of Pearl Harbour. The “sneak attack” targeted the United States Navy. It left 2400 army personnel dead and over a thousand Americans wounded. U.S. Navy termed it as “one of the great defining moments in history”1 President Roosevelt called it as “A Day of Infamy”. 2 As this attack shook the nation and the Japanese Americans became the immediate ‘focal point’. At that moment approximately 112,000 Persons of Japanese descent resided in coastal areas of Oregon, Washington and also in California and Arizona.3
Zaslow, Morris. The Defended Border, Upper Canada and the War of 1812. Toronto: MacMillian of Canada, 1983
As the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 the United States officially entered World War Two. The Japanese government later learned later that this single event sets off an explosion that subsequently caused the United States to attack the Midway Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Pearl Harbor was one of the United States largest naval bases and the largest in the Pacific Ocean. This attack ceased all trade with Japan and officially added Japan as one of the US enemies. With a new world war started it created new concerns for the army. “World War II introduced a whole new set of problems in naval tactics” (Smith, 1). The main change driving these changes was the fact that aircraft carriers became more prevalent and common in every major countries naval force. Japan was able to pull off the Pearl Harbor attack as a result of aircraft carriers to launch their airplanes. As a result of the battles leading up to the Battle of Midway and conflicts with Japan this created a lot larger of an impact on WWII as a whole and to boost unity in America leading to a more prosperous period of history following the war.