The battle for the island (20 photos) Bashny.Net

To put the point in the Pacific campaign of World War II, the United States occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska occupied by the Japanese June 3, 1942: The operation involved about 40 thousand. US Marines, 100 ships and 236 samolёtov.Yaponsky garrison consisted of about 8, 5 thousand. Man and 20 aircraft.



Island Pussy (Kiska) and Atta are part of the US state of Alaska. Attu is also the most western point of Alaska and the United States.
The aim of capturing the Japanese army Islands 3 June 1942 was to destroy US aircraft carriers and the final neutralization of the US Pacific Fleet.



To capture the connection was established north of Vice Admiral Bosiro Hosogayya, which consisted of two light aircraft carriers, 6 cruisers, 12 destroyers, six submarines, 4 transports (2450 people landing) and a number of other support vessels.
The operation was launched June 3, 1942 the Japanese air strike on the naval base at Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island. Japanese troops as part of 1,250 people landed on the morning of June 7 Pussy.
A few hours later troops landed on the island of Attu.
The garrison on the islands was absent, so the seizure was carried out without interference. 8 American officers were taken prisoner.



Americans so that does not remain as the only clear the Japanese from their islands. But only almost a year later, May 11, 1943 began operation inning Attu Island. The defenders of the island under the command of Colonel Yamasaki Yasuё not prevented dropping, but dug in on the heights.



May 11 reconnaissance team landed from submarines nine miles northwest of the main location of the Japanese forces, and, unopposed, began to move inland. The basic forces made a landing on the south-east of the island. By the evening of May 11 the number of US troops on the island has reached 3,500. With support from the sea and from the air they began to move towards the main base of the Japanese troops in the northeast of the island.



The Japanese garrison fiercely resisted, and the Americans were forced to send reinforcements to their groups on the island. Within three weeks of the battle on the island has been delivered about 12,000 people.



Finally, by the end of May the Americans realized their numerical superiority, almost cleared the island from Japanese forces, and their remains pinned to the shoreline. May 29 the commander of the Japanese garrison Colonel Yasuo Yamasaki led the survivors (about 1,000 people) in a last-ditch counterattack.

They managed to break through the defense line of the Americans and join the melee, but soon were all killed. Thus, by 30 May the island was again in the hands of Americans.



The outcome of the battle

The assault involved 15,000 people, of which the Americans lost 549 killed and 1148 wounded, in addition, about 2,100 people have made non-combat losses, mostly from the trench illness or hypothermia and frostbite due to improper climate outfit.
As for the Japanese, there were about 3,000 Americans reported on in 2351 found dead and hundreds more have been buried by the Japanese during the battle. The number of survivors of the Japanese was only 29 people. And not a single officer.



The battle for the island Pussy (Kiska)

Mindful of the bloody battle for Attu, the Americans planned to disembark significant forces. The area of ​​the island had more than 100 ships, landing forces were 29,000 US Marines and 5,500 Canadian. In addition, since the end of July Kitty subjected to air raids and shelling from the sea.

But before the operation with the Americans, there was an incident, a sudden military radar US Navy unidentified objects discovered 200 miles from the island. The Americans thought it was the Japanese fleet goes to the rescue of the army and opened murderous fire from all the trunks of their vehicles.



Battleships and cruisers headed for the goal and opened fire at 00:13. Observers reported that they had seen the flash bursts, traces of torpedoes. At 00:44 the objects disappeared from the radar and command ordered a cease-fire. However, intelligence is not found in the zone of fire no trace of a fight. "No ships, no debris or even a dead whale." In this battle, battleships fired 518 14-inch shells, and the cruiser - 487 8-inch. Events were explained by errors and breakdowns of radar observers.



Early in the morning of 15 August, the first group of American troops landed on the west coast of the island August 16, just north of the Canadians landed. Disembarkation no one interfered, however, veterans of the Battle of Attu was not surprised. Americans expect that only advancing inland encounter defensive positions on the Japanese commanding heights. However, no resistance and was not only airborne combat losses were losses from its fire support forces.



It turned out that the Japanese command, aware of the inability to defend virtually an island, decided to evacuate the garrison. July 28, two weeks before the landing of the Americans, the entire garrison in the number of 5183 people per hour fell by 2 cruisers and 6 destroyers and, under the cover of fog, was evacuated.









August 24 the commander of the ground forces, General stated that the island came under the control of the United States.







Outcome.

During the survey of the island (including a plurality of underground tunnels), the Americans lost 313 men killed and missing.

This number includes the 70 sailors killed on the destroyer "Abner Reid" when patrolling the neighborhoods of the island came to a random mine.