History and Culture

 

Aerial view, Amaknak and Unalaska Islands, ca. 1942.

Courtesy National Archives, Pacific Alaska Region.

World War II on the Aleutian Front

In 1940, anticipating the spread of the war in Europe to the Pacific Theater, the U.S. military began construction of forward-operating bases in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. By 1943, American troops were stationed throughout this remote, 1,200-mile-long archipelago. From airfields at Adak, Dutch Harbor, and Fort Glenn, U.S. pilots flew patrol bombers, fighter-bombers, and observation aircraft on combat and reconnaissance missions over the Aleutians.

On June 3 and 4, 1942, six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese pilots bombed Fort Mears and the Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base on Amaknak Island. Three days later, Japanese soldiers invaded Kiska Island, 600 miles west of Dutch Harbor, and Attu Island, 800 miles west of Dutch Harbor. American forces recaptured Attu in June of 1943, at the price of many American and Japanese lives, and the Japanese army abandoned Kiska one month later. U.S. troops remained in the Aleutians until the end of the war in 1945.

In 1985 and 1986, the federal government designated Adak Naval Operating Base, Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and Fort Mears, Fort Glenn, and the battlefields on Attu and Kiska islands as National Historic Landmarks in recognition of their significant contributions to the defense of the nation during World War II.

 

Places

From Japan, along the Aleutian chain, to Southeast Alaska, the Aleutian theater of war spanned thousands of miles. Dive into a sequence of maps illustrating this remote part of the world or explore the National Historic Landmarks associated with the war effort in the Aleutians.

 

Collections

Here you will find a collection of snapshots of the past. Saved newspaper clippings illustrating the triumphs and tragedies of World War II as felt by its participants; diaries and journals, of Americans and Japanese servicemen recording their feelings and experiences; donated works of non-fiction looking at the details of the Forgotten War in the Aleutians; and more.

 

People

The 1943 Battle of Attu reclaimed the island; however, its residents would never reclaim their homeland. Captured by the Japanese and held prisoners of war for three years, the Attuans survived horrific conditions. The Unangax̂ from nine other villages were relocated to substandard cannery and mining buildings in Southeast Alaska by the federal government, their homes and villages vandalized by U.S. troops, their beloved churches neglected, and their archeological sites looted for recreation. Of the 880 Unangax̂ who were removed or captured, nearly 100 died. Learn more about the Unangax̂ and the service-members of the Aleutians theater.

 

 

Stories

Known to historians as the "Forgotten War," the Aleutian Campaign began on June 3rd, 1942 when Japanese planes bombed Unalaska and Amaknak Islands. Tens of thousands of troops mobilized to the Aleutians to defend the backdoor to the United States as the Japanese Northern Garrison occupied the western islands of Attu and Kiska.

 

 

Military History

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  World War II in Alaska

  Discover how war came to Alaska, and use our primary and secondary resources to help your students learn to conduct independent research.

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  The Aleutian Campaign

  The Aleutian Campaign claimed thousands of lives and culminated in a particularly bloody battle.

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  Battle of Attu: 60 Years Later

  Lasting 18 days, the Battle of Attu was one of the deadliest battles of World War II, but it remains one of the least well-known.

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  Bombing of Dutch Harbor

  Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese aircraft struck at U.S. Army and Navy installations at Dutch Harbor on Amaknak Island.

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  The Invasion of Kiska

  On June 7, 1942, the Japanese invaded the Aleutian island of Kiska. At its height of occupation 6,800 Japanese personnel were on the island.

 

Publications

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  Aleutian Voices: Forced to Leave

  The [Unangax] were...the first and only people in Alaska to be assaulted by our own government and an enemy foreign power in WWII. (pdf)

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  Aleutian Voices: S.S. Northwestern

  Sailing Sheltered Seas: illustrated history based on the writings of Michael Burwell with supplemental material by Francis Broderick. (pdf)

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  Attu Boy

  The wartime experiences of Nick Golodoff, a six-year-old Attuan boy who was taken prisoner by the Japanese in World War II. (pdf)

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  Attu: The Forgotten Battle

  History of the island of Attu with a focus on World War II era efforts, a play by play of the battle of Attu, and post-war history. (pdf)

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  Lost Villages of the Eastern Aleutians

  Perhaps the most profound impacts of World War II were on three small traditional Unangax̂ villages: Biorka, Kashega, and Makushin. (pdf)

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  World War II Aleut Relocation Camps

  This series focuses on the places, using archival material and oral history to supplement onsite observation and photography at each site.

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  Fort Schwatka: Self-Guided Tour

  The fort was constructed in 1940 to protect the Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base from a seaborne invasion fleet. (pdf)

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  Battle of the Aleutians

  A graphic history written in the 1940s by the Intelligence Section of general headquarters on Adak, AK. (pdf)

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  NEW EDITION: Williwaw Newsletter

  The Medical Issue of the Aleutian WWII National Historic Area's quarterly newsletter.