The Battle of Attu remains the only land battle on American soil during the Second World War, as well as the second bloodiest battle behind Iwo Jima. Yet, most Americans have never heard of it. Overshadowed by the Battle of Midway and the Guadalcanal campaign, the entire Aleutian Campaign has fallen through the cracks of American history.
Photo by The Art Archive, Shutterstock / Source: chalkboardchampions.org / Photo by Northcliffe Collection, ANL, Shutterstock
According to popular belief in the 1930s, whoever controlled Alaska controlled the world. This prompted a grueling invasion and the first recorded banzai attack used in the Pacific. But Imperial Japan wasn’t the American’s only enemy. Mother nature seemed to always have the upper hand in this brutal battle.
This is the forgotten story of the Battle of Attu.