1942: Aleutian Islands

The Aleutian Islands, reaching out like a curved sword from the southwestern Alaska peninsula have, in 1942, attained world fame for the first time in their history. Discovered in the mid-eighteenth century by the Danish and Russian explorers, Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirikov, these remote islands have become a center of naval, military, and air strategy in the Pacific, and a station from which the Japanese have hoped to invade the North American continent.

The Islands.

The islands consist of 5 groups comprising 24 major islands and many more lesser ones, all lying within the zone of 52°-55° n. and 172°-163° w. These groups and principal islands include from west to east:

Near Islands:

Attu, Agattu.

Rat Islands:

Kiska, Amchitka, Semisopochnoi.

Andreanof Islands:

Tandga, Kanaga, Adak, Great Sitkin, Little Tanaga, Igitkin, Tagalak, Chigul, Atka, Amlia, Seguam.

Islands of Four Mountains:

Amukta, Yunaska, Herbert, Carlisle, Kagamit.

Fox Islands:

Umnak, Unalaska, Akutan, Unimak.

Position, Distances.

The Aleutians form a kind of broken bridge of land reaching for some 1,400 mi. from the base of the Alaskan Peninsula westward in the Pacific toward the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula and the Japanese Island of Paramushiro, most northern of the Kuriles. It is less than 1,000 mi. from Kiska to Paramushiro, and only 700 from Attu to Paramushiro. The full extent of the Aleutians and Alaska is better understood by noting that if they are placed on a map of continental United States, Alaska would reach from Savannah, Georgia, to Minnesota's Canadian border, while the Aleutians would extend to southern California. Again it should be noted that the Aleutians lie on the shortest route of travel between Seattle and Tokyo. In reality the 'direct circle route' passes some 40 mi. north of Dutch Harbor. Attu is farther west of San Francisco than San Francisco is west of Eastport, Maine.

Physical Features, Climate.

The Aleutians have frequently been described as 'half-drowned volcanic peaks' shrouded in an 'intermittent curtain of fog.' This almost constant fog, so hampering to navigation, is caused by the warm Japanese current striking the cold waters of Bering Sea. The resulting climate is wet and raw rather than Arctic cold. Winds and tidal currents make navigation among the islands hazardous.

The majority of the islands are volcanic. Those that are not wholly so contain crystalline or sedimentary rocks, amber and lignite. As might be supposed, most of the Aleutians, with a total area of 6,400 sq. mi., are mountainous. Attu in the extreme west is the most generally mountainous having elevations to 3,000 ft. and good harbors. Kiska, also in the west has the best harbors in the area, and more flat land than most of the islands. Unimak in the east is the largest of the Aleutians, while in the same area Unalaska, second in size and 77 mi. long, boasts the capital of the same name and the naval base of Dutch Harbor. Unimak has the highest elevation (9,300 ft.) and an active volcano, Mount Shishaldin, 'Smoking Moses.'

History and Peoples.

The natives are known as Aleuts, first cousins of the Eskimos, a quiet amiable folk engaged in hunting and fishing. In Bering's time there were some 20,000 Aleuts; today there are less than 1,400. From the close of the eighteenth century the Russians (Russian-American Company) maintained settlements in the Aleutians in their pursuit of the fur trade. In 1867 the islands passed to the United States as a part of Seward's purchase of Alaska. In 1940 total population of the Aleutians was about 3,000. More recently many of the islands have been virtually deserted of civilian population since the United States Navy announced evacuation of non-combatants. Toward the close of the nineteenth century Dutch Harbor was a port of call for steamers en route to the north during the Klondike rush. The town of Unalaska across the island and inlet to the south is of more recent development.

Japanese Invade Aleutians.

On June 7, 1942, came the first reports that Japanese aircraft had bombed Dutch Harbor. A week later Japanese forces were reported to have landed on Attu and Kiska. Within the following week these new Japanese positions were raided by American flyers. During July, American submarines sank 4 Japanese destroyers bringing total sinkings of Japanese ships in the area to 15. Objectives of the Japanese appeared to be: (1) to attack North America; (2) to intercept Allied communications in the North Pacific; (3) to strike possibly at the U.S.S.R. from a new flank; and (4) to cut the line of supply from Alaska to Siberia. Although additional Japanese craft had been sunk by the end of July, the United States Navy still described the situation as 'serious.' By Aug. 2, it was claimed that 10,000 Japanese had been landed on Attu, Kiska, and Agattu Islands, but reports that the Japanese had reached the Pribilof Islands, 300 mi. from Dutch Harbor, were denied. During August, September, and October, heavy American bombing raids drove the Japanese from Attu and Agattu, leaving them but one base at Kiska. Meanwhile occupation of bases in the Andreanof group by American armed forces was announced on Oct. 3 by the United States Navy. American bombers operated from these new vantage points against the Japanese in the Rat Island and Near Island groups.

On Dec. 17 it was reported that the Japanese, due to American air power, were failing to supply adequately their base at Kiska, and that Japanese on that island might conceivably starve before the winter season had closed.