I know that the title of this post may seem like a mistake – victory and humiliating – but…
Kiska It is an island of the Rat Islands that are part of the Aleutian archipelago. In 1867 the United States acquired mainland Alaska and its western archipelagos from the Russian Empire, including Kiska Island.
In 1942 Admiral Yamamoto ordered a surprise attack on Midway Islands to establish a defensive perimeter against American might. Within this operation, and as a diversionary maneuver, it was also planned to take the islands Kiska and Attu . We will put aside the Battle of Midway and we will focus on the small island of Kiska. On June 6, 1942, Japanese naval forces took Kiska guarded by a small garrison of nine soldiers, a lieutenant... and his dog. It was just a small volcanic island covered in snow… but it was a thorn in the side of American pride and, furthermore, very close to continental American soil .
Troops embark for Kiska
For several months the islands, Kiska and Attu, were bombarded, and on August 15, 1943, the ground operation to take the island began. An army composed of:
- 34,426 allied soldiers (about 5,000 Canadians and the rest US Marines)
- 95 ships (including 3 battleships, 2 cruisers, and 19 destroyers)
In the face of this military might... NOBODY . The Japanese, taking advantage of the bad weather of the last few days, which prevented the American reconnaissance planes from flying, and the dense fog, had abandoned the island.
But the worst of all was yet to come, the allied army had 200 casualties and more than 300 wounded (friendly fire, booby traps, the destroyer USS Abner Read exploded when hitting a mine in the port…)
Sources and image:Canadian Heroes, McClatchy, Find Articles,