Exactly six months after the attack of Pearl Harbor, June 7, 1942 Japanese forces invaded American (territorial) soil, landing on the Island of Attu in the Aleutian Chain of Alaska. May 11, 1943 began the conflict to rid Attu of the Japanese occupiers. It lasted until May 29 and was horrific.
When the Japanese forces landed, they built fortifications and took captive the Alaskan Native villagers. 42 Unangax (Oo-nun-gahx) inhabitants of Attu Village were removed and imprisoned in Japan. Many died but those who survived faced another horror upon return, they found out that the US Military would not allow them back to their ancestral home and they were relocated.
The terrain is rocky and inhospitable, the land offered no place to hide outside of these machine gun nests. The weather was even worse, some say Nature took more casualties than the opposing army.
The Outdoor Boys have a video showing Dutch Harbor and some remaining military artifacts from this conflict. The National Park Service has some great information here. There’s actually a plethora of online sources regarding this “Lost War” including modern day remediation projects.
America lost 3,929 souls in total to brutal hand to hand combat, weather, disease and starvation. The Japanese Army lost at least 2,850 perhaps more, many committing suicide to avoid capture, including an entire hospital, staff and patients. Only 29 men were captured alive.
Go to the History Channel for more information.
Alaska on my mind... 