It is May, 1943. Almost a year has passed since the pivotal Battle of Midway,
a battle that will forever be remembered as one of the key moments that changed the course of the
Pacific War in favor of the Allies. But at the same time, another important but often-forgotten
campaign was starting, with the Japanese invasion of the islands of Attu and Kiska.
These would be the only two invasions of American incorporated territory in the entirety of World
War Two; the first time in 130 years since the War of 1812. As such, it was a great shock for
the population of the US, yet another stain in the record of the American military that would
not be cleansed until the Japanese were brought to their knees. Today, the day has finally come
for the liberation of the Aleutian Islands; but as anything in the Pacific War, this would be
a costly endeavor. Thus, join us as we delve into the start of the bloody Battle of Attu.
This video is brought to you by our youtube members and patrons. Without their financial
support, making these videos would have been unfeasible. For their kind support, they
get many perks, including access to our exclusive videos - recently we have concluded our 9-episode
series on the Peloponnesian Wars, and the series on Xenophon’s Anabasis, the History
of Prussia and the Risorgimento - the Italian Wars of Unification -
are ongoing. More than 30 previously unseen videos are available to our supporters! You
can join their ranks and access these exclusive videos, learn our schedule, get early access to
all videos, join our supporter-only discord and more by pressing the Join button under
the video or via the links in the description and pinned comment. Thanks for supporting us!
As we last saw, Admiral Kinkaid and the American forces in the North Pacific had decided to bypass
Kiska, where the Japanese had constructed an almost-impregnable fortress, and instead
attack the lightly-defended Attu Island, something that would hopefully force the enemy to evacuate
their surrounded position at Kiska. Codenamed Operation Landcrab, the invasion of Attu was
assigned to the 7th Division of General Brown , under the overall command of Admiral Rockwell.
Shipping had been one of the main issues for the Americans in the North Pacific,
always receiving the short end of the stick when it came to the assignment of resources, so the
Landcrab assault force would have to set sail in five terribly-overcrowded transports on April 24.
Meanwhile, General Butler’s air forces had been carrying an intense bombardment campaign
against Kiska, as Kinkaid didn’t want the enemy to suspect that Attu was the real target for the
incoming invasion. By the end of April, the 7th Division finally steamed into Cold Bay , signaling
that the last phase of preparations for the start of the battle were to begin.
Thus, Butler at last shifted his focus to Attu on May 1, with his airmen seeking every opening
in the maddening cloud cover to soften up the island for the impending invasion.
At this point, Colonel Eareckson had again taken command of the 11th Bomber Command and Admiral
McMorris would also take the opportunity to shell the island with naval gunfire.
At Attu, Colonel Yamasaki Yasuyo had been appointed to command the 2nd District Force of
the North Seas Garrison, arriving at the island by submarine in April with orders to hold Attu
without outside help until late May, when it was supposed that he would receive reinforcements.
For this task, he counted with two infantry battalions , a provisional anti-aircraft
battalion , two engineer companies and a company of mountain artillery ; truly meager forces
against the full might of an American division. In the meantime, Rockwell and Brown spent May 1 and
2 discussing the landing plans against the main Japanese position at Chichagof Harbor. Although
Rockwell wanted to land the entire 7th Division at Sarana Bay, as he didn’t believe he could maintain
full-scale supply of two different landing points, it would be Colonel William Alexander’s
Plan E that would finally be approved. Favored by General Brown, the plan was to land a regimental
force at Holtz Bay and another at Massacre Bay, holding the third regimental force in reserve
while Captain Willoughby’s Scout Battalion was to land at Beach Scarlet and press eastwards.
The key to the plan was to have all three forces join up in the mountain pass between
Holtz and Massacre Valleys, thus trapping the Japanese at Chichagof Valley and leaving it
open to naval bombardment, air attack and the 7th Division’s massed advance from the high ground.
As we can see, Willoughby’s landing would be a very dangerous task, so it was planned
that 245 men of the Scout Battalion would land from two giant submarines at night,
in complete silence, to rapidly surprise the enemy from behind.
But if the Americans jumped into the rubber boats, their equipment would clank and the heavy
weapons would rip holes in the fragile rafts, so Willoughby instead planned to come topside,
inflate their rubber boats on the afterdecks and quietly crowd the boats while they were
still high and dry. Then, the submarines were to submerge under them, so that the boats could
float off without a ripple. Once a beachhead was established, a destroyer would finally bring the
remaining 165 men to the island. As for the Navy , it had the critical task of providing
gunfire support on the enemy positions, getting reinforced with three colossal old battleships,
the escort carrier Nassau and a large variety of cruisers and destroyers. Altogether,
it was the largest American force to be assembled in the Pacific since the invasion of Guadalcanal.
On May 3, although American intelligence reported that the Japanese knew about the planned invasion,
the assault force would finally depart Cold Bay en route to Attu, cutting across the Chain at
Amukta Pass and making a wide circle north of Kiska to avoid detection. By May 6, Rockwell’s
force had reached the launch point 100 miles north of Attu, yet a storm blew in that evening.
As the surf would be far too hazardous for troop landings, Rockwell would have to postpone the
invasion until May 11, when the storm ended at last. But in its aftermath, a soupy fog blanketed
the western ocean, causing an unfortunate accident between two American destroyers.
Meanwhile, Colonel Yamasaki had been warned to expect an American invasion on May 4,
so he immediately ordered his men to combat-alert positions. He kept them like this for an entire
week; but by May 10, the Japanese forces were exhausted and it looked like no enemy invasion
was coming. Thus, Yamasaki decided to leave the beaches unguarded, as his small force of 2500
men couldn’t possibly cover every landing point on the beaches. Because of this, his only chance was
to occupy the high ground, draw the enemy back into the mountains away from their supplies,
and fight a delaying action in the high passes. Yamasaki therefore pulled out of the low areas
and built bunkers and trenches along the snowy ridges above the Massacre and Holtz Valleys. Back
on the Kuriles, Admiral Kawase could do little to oppose the American offensive in the near future;
he could only send three submarines and a seaplane tender to raid the enemy while he assembled a
large force of battleships, aircraft carriers and cruisers to bring some 4500 reinforcements
for late May. During the early hours of May 11, it was finally decided to commence the landings.
At 01:00, the submarines Nautilus and Narwhal emerged three miles off the western shore of Attu,
allowing Captain Willoughby’s Scouts to inflate their rubber boats on the afterdecks in complete
silence. Once the men were packed into the rubber boats, the submarines submerged and
the boats began to float free. Rowing with haste in the cold weather , the Scouts would
successfully land at Beach Scarlet two hours later, immediately heading towards an icy little
creek and climbing up its precipitous ravine toward the ridges, with no sign of the enemy.
Behind them, however, they bitterly saw carrier fighters from Nassau come down on Beach Scarlet,
strafing and destroying the Scout’s rubber boats. With only 36 hours’ food in their packs,
the Scout’s only possibility of retreat had thus been caught off.
Further south, after a naval bombardment of Chichagof Harbor by the battleships Pennsylvania
and Idaho, the largest of the three assault bodies had arrived on transports to Massacre Bay by early
morning; yet the fog forced the Americans to postpone the landings until noon, when General
Brown ordered the Southern Force of Colonel Edward P Earle to go ahead regardless of fog . At 15:30,
the first wave started for shore, hitting Massacre Beach unopposed an hour later; the second wave
then quickly followed, and by 17:00, the three battalions of the regimental force had landed.
In the meantime, at 09:00, Colonel Frank Culin led a scouting detachment to explore
the route to Beach Red, the landing point of the Northern Force. Guided by the destroyer Phelps,
the Americans advanced through thick water with perilous shoals and low visibility due to the fog,
finally reaching the beach and finding no enemy defenses there as well. Thus, Culin’s Assault
Company was rapidly sent to land at Beach Red; and upon landing, they were immediately sent up
the cliffs to avoid getting trapped on the tiny beach. In the next few hours, the rest of the
1st Battalion, 17th Regiment, would board its landing craft and begin its movement to Attu.
By midafternoon, Culin had 1500 men ashore and climbing, with no sign at all of opposition.
Back on Massacre Valley, Colonel Earle had decided to carry out a two-pronged movement inland,
which would be slow-going in the muck of snow, mud and muskeg. Against them,
two companies of the 303rd Independent Battalion had set up trenches on the ridge above Massacre
Valley, with the fog concealing their positions. Ordered to destroy the enemy, they waited for the
Americans to come within range. Yet the first shots of the battle would be fired just after
18:00 by Brigadier-General Archibald Arnold’s stuck artillery against a Japanese mortar position
on the ridge. After so long, the Battle for Attu, for the Aleutians, was finally on. By 19:00,
the two battalions of the 17th Regiment had advanced a mile and a half from the beach, when
enemy fire from the high ground suddenly started, forcing the Americans to halt and take cover.
Just in front, Japanese entrenchments dominated all approaches, and the Americans had to cross
open slopes with no cover at all. After an hour of waiting for the enemy to cease,
Earle had to gather his leading companies for a forward push towards the pass ahead;
yet the Japanese laid down heavy and accurate fire from their mortars and machine-guns.
In the confusion, the advance of the green American troops would ground to a halt half
a mile below the pass. Relentless, Earle sent them up once more; but yet again the assault
would break down under the same heavy fire from the fog-hidden heights. At nightfall, Earle would
thus be forced to regroup behind a defensive perimeter, digging foxholes in the cold snow.
Further north, after the landing of the remaining 165 men of the Scout Battalion,
Willoughby continued his advance, working his way forward through the snow at an agonizingly
slow pace. Darkness finally caught the Scouts on a mountaintop in an icy gale-blasting fog,
and they would have to rest there for the night, in fear of being blown over an unseen cliff.
To the east, Northern Force had already reached higher ground when Japanese artillery began to
pound the tiny Beach Red. By 22:00, the Americans were two miles inland and less than a mile short
of their goal: Hill X, a hilltop dominating Holtz Valley. There, they would have to halt,
as night prevented them from seeing forward. This would be a costly mistake though, as the Japanese
would establish strong defensive positions on Hill X by daybreak. The next day, May 12,
started with a heavy bombardment of the ridges above Massacre Valley by the battleship Nevada,
chewing great hunks of the mountains and inflicting many casualties on the enemy
under the guidance of spotters on the ground. At 04:00, Willoughby also got his half-frozen men on
their feet and pushed forward once again, getting within range of the enemy’s rear four hours later.
They had managed to remain undetected, but now the Japanese could see them, so they turned west and
opened fire. In response, the Scouts took cover behind ice boulders and rocks and returned fire
with their mortars and machine-guns. Dug in on the windy slope, Willoughby would begin a costly
struggle that would successfully prevent the enemy from turning to attack the Northern Force.
At 09:00, the fog seemed to have lifted, so Colonel Earle ordered one of his battalions to
attack the Jarmin Pass defenses; but once again, the troops could only make a few yards before
they were stopped cold by withering fire from the fog above, finally getting forced to crawl back
to their foxholes. Furthermore, in an unfortunate event, Earle visited the front lines early in the
afternoon, only to become a target for a Japanese sniper. The death of Colonel Earle was a serious
loss, so General Brown immediately sent his Chief of Staff, Colonel Wayne Zimmerman, to take command
of the Southern Force. At the same time, in the north, one of Colonel Culin’s companies attacked
the right flank of the Japanese defenses towards the Jarmin Pass, but it too came under a fusilade
from mortars, machine-guns and rifles. Pinned down, the company would be unable to move forward
or back, so it would have to be rescued. After launching a strong barrage on the enemy positions,
Northern Force thankfully managed to push forward and link with the isolated company.
But from there, the tenacious Americans continued forward, moving uphill through heavy shooting.
By late afternoon, Culin’s battalion had overrun the enemy’s first line of defenses, successfully
capturing Hill X; yet the Japanese soon regrouped and launched a fierce counterattack,
inflicting many casualties on the defenders but at last failing to push them back. Meanwhile, Brown
was pressing Rockwell to land his two reserve battalions, but unbeknownst to him, the transport
Perida suffered an accident that left the admiral with only four craft for shipping endeavors.
On May 13, the heavy fog would not lift until midmorning, when Colonel Zimmerman threw his
battalions against Jarmin Pass once again. The soldiers flapped uphill through the snow,
blazing at the Japanese guns above, and managed to get within 200 yards of the summit before the
triple-crossfire threw them back. After this defeat, Brown again pressed for his
reinforcements, getting informed that the two battalions would arrive early in the afternoon.
By midafternoon, the 1st Battalion, 32nd Regiment, had successfully landed, immediately moving up
to fill in the front lines; but to the north, the landing of the 3rd Battalion, 32nd Regiment, would
be prevented by steady accurate fire from Japanese anti-aircraft guns. Meanwhile, both Northern Force
and Willoughby’s Scouts were pinned down by the relentless attacks of the enemy, so Brown would
call Rockwell to fire with Nevada against the Holtz Bay area. Despite the attack of a Japanese
submarine , the enemy’s flak guns were silenced, so the Americans took the opportunity to attack.
The debilitated Scouts, in their second day without food, managed to drive the Japanese from
the high ground, securing the summit and settling down just before nightfall in the extreme cold.
To the east, Culin’s 1st Battalion also managed to drive the Japanese from their hilltop trenches
with the assistance of Nassau’s Wildcats. Before dark, the reinforcement battalion had also landed,
going straight up to reinforce the exhausted troops at the front.
With this success, and with the arrival of the reinforcements, Culin then prepared to launch
a full-scale assault towards the mountain pass and the enemy camp in Holtz Bay, to start in 36 hours.
Upon getting informed of the incoming offensive, Brown ordered Zimmerman to postpone further
southern attacks until Culin could get into position on the far side of the pass, thus forcing
Southern Force to pull its frontlines further back . But this is the end for today; next week,
we’ll continue to cover the Battle of Attu, and we’ll also turn to the CBI theater to cover the
start of another engagement: the Battle of West Hubei. If you don’t want to miss any episodes,
make sure to subscribe and press the bell button. Recently we have started releasing weekly patron
and youtube member-exclusive videos. Join the ranks of patrons and youtube members via the
link in the description or by pressing the button under the video to watch these weekly videos,
learn about our schedule, get early access to our videos, join our private discord,
and much more. Please, consider liking, commenting, and sharing - it helps immensely.
This is the Kings and Generals channel, and we will catch you on the next one.