Battle of act – Wikipedia

The battle with act It took place between 11 and 30 May 1943 on the island of ASSU in Alaska as part of the campaign of the Aleutine islands during the war in the Pacific in the Second World War. Fought entirely between the Japanese Empire and the United States of America, it was the only terrestrial battle of the Pacific front to be fought in a territory that was part of the insular areas of the United States.

The Aleutine islands constituted a kind of road that communicated the North American continent and the Far East, along the shortest director of the connection between San Francisco and Tokyo, and their strategic value appeared evident to both contenders. On the other hand, that belt of islands was one of the most inhospitable areas of the planet, where variables and stormy weather conditions and geological conformation would however have represented a considerable problem in constituting permanent bases, especially aerial, on the islands. The sea of ​​Bering, where the islands are located, was even defined as a “storm factory”, because during the winter months one or two storms per week are formed, which then travel in the east and south-east direction.

In May 1942, before carrying out the battle of the Midway, the US commands considered Dutch Harbor and the Aleutine islands as a possible enemy objective; Consequently, they began to organize a complex of forces, commanded by the recipient Robert A. Theobald, intended for the northern Pacific.

But anticipating the US, the Japanese on June 3, 1942 launched the attack on the Aleutine islands: in the early hours of the day, from some light aircraft carriers they sent on Dutch Harbour 23 bombers escorted by 12 hunting ^[first] The formation, due to the fog and because it was too small, caused only light damage and the attack was considered the next day with more favorable weather conditions ^{[first] [2]} . Even the following day the result was far from decisive and on June 5 the two aircraft carriers were called south to participate in the main operation on the Midway islands. On June 7, however, a small force of Japanese invasion landed 1,800 men ^[3] Out of two of the three islands that represented their goal, namely Kiska and ASTU, and occupied them without meeting resistance ^[first] .

The event was very propagated in Japan where, also to divert attention from failure in the Midway islands, the action was presented as a success, despite actually the barren rocky nature of these islands tormented by bad weather did not make them suitable in every case to host air or naval bases for an advance through the Pacific ^[first] .

Summer and stall actions [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The situation stalled due to bad weather and American effort focused on other fronts; For almost a year the situation in the Aleutine islands did not change, and the Japanese continued to occupy the islands.
The first US reaction was a naval bombardment on the island of Kiska, where a chausative task force and cruisers under the command of the contract with the contract with the contract with Japanese installations on the island.
In the meantime, the operations to equip the island of Adak with a take -off track, completed on 11 September, which allowed the Americans some air raids on the island of Kiska only 400 km away, and forcing the Japanese to transfer the garrison of Actu to Kiska. ^[4]

On 30 September the Japanese counterattack began, when the first phase of a series of aerial actions of disturbing on the island of Adak started; For the rest of the year, until May 1943, it was a sporadic succession of small disturbing actions, without particular effects.

The American Pacific commands, worried by the possibility of attacks from the enemy bases in the Aleutine, on 1 April branch off a directive for the invasion of the island of ASTU, the operation will take place on May 7 and will be directed by Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, commander of the Task Force 16 of the northern Pacific. Rockwell recipient depended on him (under the command of the landing forces from landing), and General Albert E. Brown at the head of the 7th Infantry Division ^{[5] [6]} .

On April 15, some infantry departments of the 7th Division therefore began the first boarding operations to the island of ASTU, first were transferred to Adak and Dutch Harbour, boarding base boarding for the final stages of the operations. ^[7] So on April 24 from the port of the US city of San Francisco, the bulk of the 7th Division intended for the conquest of ASTU embarked towards Cold Harbor in Alaska where men were landed on April 30th ^[8] . As preliminary actions, an American team of three cruisers and six destroyers, under the command of the countermerer Charles H. McMorris, bombarded the Japanese bases on the island of ASTU, particularly targeting Chicagof Harbor and Holtz’s bay. On May 4, one day of delay for bad weather, the convoy intended for invasion started from Cold Harbor, who always due to the bad weather conditions came three days late at the time X, therefore only the convoy on May 11 It was in view of the island ^[9] .

Landing [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

On 11 May the American landed on the beaches of ASSO, protected by the fog and fire of three courses of support ^[ten] , even if the Task Force 16 of Kinkaid was strongly limited precisely by the presence of the fog, which however caused a favorable surprise factor. The departments that landed in the afternoon took Earth in the “bay of the massacre” and in Punta Alexai, west of the Bay of Holtz, while other landings took place on the night of the next day.

The American troops, although not finding resistance on the beaches, were immediately engaged as soon as they entered the step Jarmin, where they were blocked by the fire of the Japanese affected on the reliefs around the pass. General Brown, having to also face the unexpected logistical problems due to the mud that blocked the refueling trucks, prepared an attack for May 12th. With the support of naval artillery, the 7th Converse Division from two points towards the Jarmin Pass but the frontal attack on the bay of the massacre does not have any results: ^[11] The US commands soon understood that despite exceeding the Japanese of a ratio of 4 to 1, the Japanese garrison would have given rise to a stubborn resistance ^[ten] . For a few days, bad weather limited the action of naval artillery and the Japanese offered a tenacious opposition, immediately looking for violent counterattacks and nailing the American on the beaches for several days, while the avant -garde of the 7th Division on the Jarmin Pass were unable to progress.

The US assaults from the bay of the massacre to the south and from the Hotz bay to the north-east continued in the following days; In the end, the Japanese, to avoid being surrounded, retired during the night of May 17, attesting to Chicagof Harbor, where they would try a last resistance. Benefited by an overwhelming numerical superiority (the United States had now landed more than 11,000 men, while the Japanese remained about 2,380 actual) and by the undisputed aeronaval support, the US occupied the positions abandoned in the two bays and bridge heads rejected the passage Jarmin.

The fierce Japanese resistance [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The American forces from the North and the South, meanwhile joined, and taking advantage of the events, new departments and supplies for the troops are landed, meanwhile the preparations for the attack on Chicagof Harbor were quickly started where the Japanese had been.
The attack began before dawn, to conquer a step to open a road to the Sarana valley, but the fights lasted until sunset without bringing any result ^[twelfth] .
The US troops after hard fighting, however, managed to penetrate the valley the following day, and on May 21 they managed to eliminate the last Japanese cornerstone on the peaks overlying the step, before advanced towards the next crest and another step that will lead them to Chicagof Harbor.
On May 22, the American troops managed to penetrate the valley that leads to the Chigacof, while the troops in the north, were slowed down by the difficulty of the mountain environment, that day then the improved atmospheric conditions, allowed naval artillery to bring greater fire contribution ^[twelfth] .
On May 23, the Americans attacked the ridge Fish Hook But they were rejected by the intense enemy fire, at the end of the day it was decided by the commands of the island that the crest will be conquered the following day with a joint action between the troops in the north and south; But the following day a fanatic Japanese resistance prevented progress from American troops.
Meanwhile, the chiefs of staff met to approve the invasion plan of the nearby island of Kiska ^[13] .

Only after the hand -to -hand clashes the Americans, on May 25 they managed to set foot on the slopes of the ridge Fish Hook , which will be definitively conquered on May 27th.

The last desperate attempt by the Japanese, now closed in a vice, and forced into the Chicagof area, take refuge in the mountains all around, waiting to launch the last attack.
In fact, on 29 May a violent Japanese counterattack almost flakes the American lines that resist, fighting all day and the following night; It was a practically suicidal attack, and at 30 May all the Japanese forces on the island were practically annihilated by the US forces, more numerous, better armed and better positioned ^[14] .
The same day the Americans occupy the island of Shemya ^[14] .

The conquest of the island cost very dear to the Americans, who left 549 deaths and 1140 injured on the field only on May 29, while on the Japanese side the situation was far worse, all the garrison in defense of the island, 2380 men, sacrificed himself, With 2352 dead, 500 of whom died suicides, only 28 injured survived because they are prisoners.

• Basil H. Liddell Hart, Military history of the Second World War , Oscar History, Ed.2009.
• Chesare Salagi, Alfredo Pallavis, Continents on flames 2194 days of war, chronology of the Second World War , Mondadori Editore, 1981
• ( IN For interest of John Haiale, The Aleutian Warriors: A History of the 11th Air Force and Fleet Air Wing 4, Pictorial Histories Publishing Co. and Anchorage Chapter – Air Force Association, Missoula, Montana, 1992 ISBN 0-929521-35-8. OCLC 25370916.
• ( IN ) Dickrell Jeff, Center of the Storm: The Bombing of Dutch Harbor and the Experience of Patrol Wing Four in the Aleutians – Summer 1942 , Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., Inc. Missoula, Montana, 2001 ISBN 1-57510-092-4. OCLC 50242148.
• ( IN ) Feinberg Leonard, Where the Williwaw Blows: The Aleutian Islands-World War II . Pilgrims’ Process. 1992 ISBN 0-9710609-8-3. OCLC 57146667.