The thousand-mile war is a war most have not heard of but it was of crucial importance to the US winning World War II in the Pacific. This was the war that was waged in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.
When Dolittle’s raiders bombed Japan, the Japanese did not know they had launched from an aircraft carrier. The Japanese thought they had launched from a land base in the Aleutian Islands. So the Japanese had to divert some of their forces from the south Pacific to protect their northern islands. The US was building air bases in the Aleutians to carry out bombing raids on Japan so the Japanese concern was prudent.
The Japanese had an offensive as well as defensive reason for establishing bases in the Aleutians–they would have had the ability to bomb the defense industries on the west coast. The Japanese did capture and set up bases on two of the Aleutians—Attu and Kiska. The only US territory the Japanese ever captured but they never did launch any air raids on the continental US.
The weather was a huge factor with the cold, rain, clouds, fog, ice, and wind inflicting as much damage on both the Japanese and US armies and navies as the combatants inflicted on each other. [1]
So why did this particular aspect of WWII interest me? At the very tail end of WWII, my dad, Elbert, (who just celebrated his 96th birthday this past week) served on the Aleutian island of Adak. The fighting was long gone by the time my dad reached Adak except for the battle with the weather.
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[1] Brian Garfield. The Thousand-Mile War. New York: Ballantine Books, 1969.
