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Alaska Under Attack

© James Soos

Most in tune with American history will recognize the date December 7, 1941. President Franklin D. Roosevelt termed the attack on Pearl Harbor "a day which will live in infamy." It was the catalyst that drew the United States into World War II.

While history profiles the major battles and tactics in the Pacific war against the Japanese, little has been mentioned about another invasion on U.S. soil: the Aleutian Island Campaign.

Alaska was still a U.S. territory at the time, and the surprise attack in Hawaii raised fears of vulnerability. The Alcan Highway, a road system over 1500 miles long, was hastily constructed to transport troops and equipment to this vital strategic area. This link from the lower 48 states to Fairbanks, Alaska, was carved through Canada's Yukon Territory in only eight months and 12 days. An amazing feat, to say the least. But its completion came five months too late. Japanese troops invaded and gained a foothold on two islands in Alaska.

The Aleutian Islands expand more than 1000 miles west from the Alaska Peninsula. The Japanese military recognized the strategic importance of these desolate islands, and drew up a plan to use the area as a base to launch patrols in the northern Pacific Ocean. The Aleutian attack was used as a diversionary tactic to draw the weakened U.S. Pacific fleet north toward Alaska, while a larger Japanese naval force would invade Midway Island, a more important military target deemed necessary for control of the Pacific region. However, the United States had broken the Japanese military's code, and was aware of the plans. Instead of drawing the entire U.S. Fleet north as hoped, the Japanese Navy faced defeat at Midway, thwarting plans for the destruction of U.S. naval military power. The attack on Alaska went ahead as planned despite the mortal blow Japan received at Midway.

While the United States did send a small naval force to repel the Japanese threat to Alaska, bad weather and a small military fighting presence hindered attempts to locate and destroy the invading force. On June 6th and 7th, 1942, Japanese troops landed unopposed on the two Western Aleutian Islands of Kiska and Attu.

The Japanese foothold on Alaskan soil placed a new sense of urgency on the completion of the Alcan Highway. U.S. military buildup slowly began when the highway was finished in October 1942. But because of other urgent military needs for the war in Europe and Pacific, troops and equipment were difficult to allocate for an offensive to drive out the invaders.

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