In the Second World War, American forces US successfully invaded and captured a series of islands in the Pacific Theater en route to rolling back the Japanese Empire. The seizure of such islands often came at a cost because of fierce Japanese resistance. However, there was one occasion when the US suffered hundreds of casualties invading an island that had no defenders, whatsoever. Below are some fascinating facts about that unfortunate event.
Japan’s Seizure and Abandonment of Kiska
Japanese forces invaded Kiska, one of the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, on June 6th, 1942. Since the island’s only military presence was a weather station manned by 10 US Navy personnel, the 500 Japanese marines who landed on Kiska had little trouble in storming and swiftly capturing the island. The invaders were eventually reinforced by 2000 more Japanese troops. In subsequent months, American forces counterattacked, and recaptured the Aleutian Islands one by one.
When the nearby island of Atu was recaptured, the Japanese decided that it was no longer possible to defend Kiska. So they began an evacuation of their forces from the island on July, 1943. By the end of July, the last Japanese had left and Kiska was abandoned. Japan’s enemies were not aware of that, however, and launched Operation Cottage to recapture the undefended island. After days of intense aerial bombing and naval bombardment, 34,000 Americans and 5,300 Canadians stormed Kiska on August 15th, 1943.
Hundreds of Casualties Suffered Invading an Undefended Island
The American and Canadian forces landed on separate beaches, and made their way towards each other with the intention of catching the Japanese between them in a pincer. Offshore, an American destroyer struck a mine that caused serious damage, and killed and wounded more than a hundred sailors. On land, the invaders took casualties from mines and booby traps as they advanced.
As the invaders had not yet encountered the ferocious defense expected from the Japanese, they were quite nervous and jittery when they finally stumbled upon each other. When contact was made, both Americans and Canadians assumed the other to be Japanese, and opened fire, resulting in yet more casualties. All in all, Operation Cottage resulted in lopsided losses of more than 500 Allied casualties, including almost 200 dead, versus 0 Japanese casualties, since there were no Japanese on the undefended island.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
Garfield, Brian – The Thousand Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians (1988)
