Operation Cottage was a joint American-Canadian plan to complete the recapture of the Aleutian Islands from the Japanese. On August 15, 1943, Allied military forces landed on Kiska Island, which had been occupied by Japanese forces since June 1942. However, the Japanese had secretly abandoned the island two weeks earlier, and so the Allied landings were unopposed. Allied forces suffered over 500 casualties in total during the operation from Japanese landmines and booby traps, friendly fire incidents, and vehicle accidents.

Background

The Japanese under Captain Takeji Ono had landed on Kiska on June 6,

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

with 500 troops of Special Naval Landing Forces. Soon after arrival, they stormed a United States

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasting, weather forecasts and to study the weather and clima ...

, where they killed two and captured eight

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

officers. The captured officers were sent to Japan as

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. Another 2,000 Japanese troops arrived, landing in Kiska Harbor. At this time, Rear Admiral Monzo Akiyama headed the force on Kiska. In December

, additional anti-aircraft units, engineers, and a negligible number of reinforcement infantry arrived on the island. In the spring of

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

, control was transferred to Lt. General Kiichiro Higuchi.

Invasion plan and execution

After the heavy casualties suffered at Attu Island, Japanese planners were expecting another costly operation. They realized the isolated Kiska Island was no longer defensible and planned for an evacuation. Starting in late July, there were increasing signs of Japanese withdrawal. Aerial photograph analysts noticed that routine activities appeared to greatly diminish, and almost no movement could be detected in the harbor. Bomb damage appeared unrepaired, and aircrews reported greatly diminished anti-aircraft fire. On July 28, 1943, radio signals from Kiska ceased entirely. KISKA TF

On August 15, 1943, the U.S. 7th Infantry Division, 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment of the

10th Mountain Division The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division (military), division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in ...

and the 13th Canadian Infantry Brigade from the 6th Canadian Infantry Division, landed on opposite shores of Kiska. Canadian regiments landed included the Canadian Fusiliers; the Winnipeg Grenadiers; the Rocky Mountain Rangers; and the

Saint John Fusiliers The Saint John Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the Non-Permanent Active Militia of the Canadian Militia (now the Canadian Army). In 1946, the regiment was amalgamated with The New Brunswick Rangers to form the South New Brunswick Regiment wh ...

. The invasion also involved the first combat deployment of the

First Special Service Force The 1st Special Service Force (FSSF) was an elite joint American–Canadian commando unit in World War II, formed by Lieutenant Colonel Robert T. Frederick of the Operations Division of the U.S. General Staff. During the Italian campaign of W ...

, an elite

special forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

unit consisting of American and Canadian

commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...

s. Both U.S. and Canadian forces mistook each other, after a Canadian soldier shot at U.S. lines believing they were Japanese, and a friendly fire incident occurred, which left 28 Americans and 4 Canadians dead, with 50 wounded on either side. Progress was also hampered by mines, timed bombs, accidental ammunition detonations, vehicle accidents and booby traps that caused further casualties. A stray Japanese sea mine caused the to lose a large chunk of its stern. The blast killed 71 and wounded 47 personnel. The operation was detailed in the 1944 book, ''First Steps to Tokyo'', by RCAF flight officer David Griffin.

Gallery

Notes

References

* * Garfield, Brian ''The Thousand Mile War'', Aurum Press, 1995 * * *

External links

Logistics Problems on Attu
by Robert E. Burks.

*
Red White Black & Blue - feature documentary about The Battle of Attu in the Aleutians during World War IISoldiers of the 184th Infantry, 7th ID in the Pacific, 1943-1945
from the

United States Army Center of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Arm ...