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Yes, they siezed two of them as a feint in the Midway operation hoping to draw US carriers away from the island. IIRC they were Attu and Kiska. But don't hold me to that.
Yes I watched a documentry on this.
The Japanese invaded the islands. Actually these were the first American lands to be invaded since the last time(American Mexican war?).
Anyhow they were unopposed of course. Later on when the US troops were island hopping in the Pacific, they sent a force to these islands.
The Americans invaded, and the Japanese used the same tactics they used in the Pacific. They let the US troops land on the island unopposed, and when they started moving in, the Japanese attacked.
They were finally all wiped out, since none of the Japanese troops surrendered. Actually one GI of the time said that when they finished their ammo, they attacked one last time with bayonets.
He was talking about how his view of war and of the Japanese changed that day. He said he killed about 5 when they attacked with bayonets. After the "slaughter" he went through one of the dead soilders pockets, and found a diary and a picture of a woman and a baby.
The program also showed him going to Japan to give that diary and picture to the widow. The diary revealed the man was a Japanese doctor, educated in US. In the first days he writes about how harsh it is here and how much he misses his family. He writes about how he thinks this war is crazy and going out of hand. Later on he writes about how the US troops came to the island, and there is no hope of evacuation, reinforcements or supplies. He talks about other soilders he cannot help because there are no medicine available. Slowly he writes more and more about how he is willing to die for the emperor.
The final entry into the diary is a farewell to his wife. He says he loves them. He says they are out of ammunition. He says that they have decided to attack with bayonets, and those who cannot stand will be given grenades, to blow themsleves with the enemy. He then says he will die with honor and then 'long live the Emperor!'.
The American man was crying all the way. He says that when he read the translation he understood how similar this doctor was to him. He felt guilty all these years and said he felt closure when he handed the diary to the family of the doctor.
It was a really interesting and moving documentry...
The Japanese invaded the islands. Actually these were the first American lands to be invaded since the last time(American Mexican war?).
Anyhow they were unopposed of course. Later on when the US troops were island hopping in the Pacific, they sent a force to these islands.
The Americans invaded, and the Japanese used the same tactics they used in the Pacific. They let the US troops land on the island unopposed, and when they started moving in, the Japanese attacked.
They were finally all wiped out, since none of the Japanese troops surrendered. Actually one GI of the time said that when they finished their ammo, they attacked one last time with bayonets.
He was talking about how his view of war and of the Japanese changed that day. He said he killed about 5 when they attacked with bayonets. After the "slaughter" he went through one of the dead soilders pockets, and found a diary and a picture of a woman and a baby.
The program also showed him going to Japan to give that diary and picture to the widow. The diary revealed the man was a Japanese doctor, educated in US. In the first days he writes about how harsh it is here and how much he misses his family. He writes about how he thinks this war is crazy and going out of hand. Later on he writes about how the US troops came to the island, and there is no hope of evacuation, reinforcements or supplies. He talks about other soilders he cannot help because there are no medicine available. Slowly he writes more and more about how he is willing to die for the emperor.
The final entry into the diary is a farewell to his wife. He says he loves them. He says they are out of ammunition. He says that they have decided to attack with bayonets, and those who cannot stand will be given grenades, to blow themsleves with the enemy. He then says he will die with honor and then 'long live the Emperor!'.
The American man was crying all the way. He says that when he read the translation he understood how similar this doctor was to him. He felt guilty all these years and said he felt closure when he handed the diary to the family of the doctor.
It was a really interesting and moving documentry...
I found an interesting site about "Aleutian World War II" ,
go here;
http://www.nps.gov/aleu/home.htm
go here;
http://www.nps.gov/aleu/home.htm
The Japanese landed in the Aleutain Islands, off of the Alaskan coast.They were purely diversionary, because the Aleutains are a cold, frozen place, useless as an airbase and not really strategically important.On June 7th, 1942, two Japanese landing forces invaded and captured the islands of Attu and Kiska, with little resistance.Now, the thing to remember here is that the Japanese had no plan to invade the U.S. through Alaska and Canada.But, seeing that they were the only parts of North America to fall into Axis hands, it would make the U.S. more secure to take these islands before they do anything else in the central Pacific.So, on May 11, 1943, the 7th Infantry Division landed invaded Attu at Holtz and Massacre Bay.They numbered 11,000, but they were poorly trained and led.Once they made inland, the made little headway, but managed to squeeze the Japanese garrison of 2600.On May 29th, 1000 Japanese made a desperate counterattack, but were beaten off.After the island fell, over 552 Americans and 2350 Japanese lay dead, not to mention the 500 of so casualities suffered by the cold.
The Americans decided to improve their chances when overrunning Kiska by heavily bombarding the island's defences.On August 15th, a force of 29,000 Americans and 5300 Canadians invaded, only to find that the Japanese garrison of 6000 evacuated in July.
Macgregor is right about the islands. The full montey was that it had two purposes. The first being the most obvious, the luring away of the USN from Midway. The second also hinged on the hope that in doing so they would fall into the trap that Japan had set up. They had Cruisers with submarine screens waiting in hopes of forcing a cheap but decisive battle. Or so I have read