Operation Cottage

Operation Cottage was a tactical maneuver which completed the Aleutian Islands campaign. On August 15, 1943, Allied military forces landed on Kiska Island, which had been occupied by Japanese forces since June 1942.

The Japanese, however, had secretly abandoned the island two weeks earlier, and so the Allied landings were unopposed. Allied forces suffered over 313 casualties in total during the operation, due to stray Japanese landmines and booby traps, friendly fire incidents, and vehicle accidents.

Background

The Japanese under Captain Takeji Ono had landed on Kiska at approximately 01:00 on June 6, 1942, with a force of about 500 Japanese marines. Soon after arrival, they stormed an American weather station, where they killed two and captured eight United States Navy officers. The captured officers were sent to Japan as prisoners of war. Another 2,000 Japanese troops arrived, landing in Kiska Harbor. At this time, Rear-Admiral Monzo Akiyama headed the force on Kiska. In December 1942, additional anti-aircraft units, engineers, and a negligible number of reinforcement infantry arrived on the island. In the spring of 1943, control was transferred to Kiichiro Higuchi.Vorlage:Cn

Invasion plan and execution

The Allied invasion of Kiska, August 17, 1943

After the heavy casualties suffered at Attu Island, planners were expecting another costly operation. The Japanese tactical planners had, however, realized the isolated island was no longer defensible and planned for an evacuation.Vorlage:Cn

Starting in late July, there were increasing signs of Japanese withdrawal. Aerial photograph analysts noticed that routine activities appeared to greatly diminish and almost no movement could be detected in the harbor. Bomb damage appeared unrepaired and aircrews reported greatly diminished anti-aircraft fire. On July 28, radio signals from Kiska ceased entirely.Vorlage:Cn

On August 15, 1943, the U.S. 7th Infantry Division, 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division and the 13th Infantry Brigade (Canada), landed on opposite shores of Kiska. The invasion also involved the first combat deployment of the First Special Service Force, an elite special forces unit consisted of American and Canadian commandos.Vorlage:Cn

Both U.S. and Canadian forces mistook each other, after a Canadian soldier shot at U.S. lines believing they were Japanese, and a sporadic friendly fire incident occurred, which had left 28 Americans and 4 Canadians dead, with 50 wounded on either side. Progress was also hampered by mines, timed bombs, accidental ammunition detonations, vehicle accidents and booby traps. A stray Japanese mine also caused the Vorlage:USS to lose a large chunk of its stern. The blast killed 71 and wounded 47.Vorlage:Cn

See also

• Operation Chronicle, a similar amphibious assault on an abandoned island
• Yank Levy, who trained many of these forces in guerrilla warfare
• Friendly fire incidents of World War II

References

• Leonard Feinberg: Where the Williwaw Blows: The Aleutian Islands-World War II. Pilgrims' Process, Inc., 1992, ISBN 0-9710609-8-3. 
• Garfield, Brian The Thousand Mile War, Aurum Press, 1995 Vorlage:ISBN
• Donald M. Goldstein, Katherine V. Dillon: The Williwaw War: The Arkansas National Guard in the Aleutians in World War. University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA 1992, ISBN 1-55728-242-0. 
• Samuel Eliot Morison: Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls, June 1942-April 1944, vol. 7 of [[History of United States Naval Operations in World War II]]. University of Illinois Press, Champaign, Illinois, US 2001, ISBN 0-316-58305-7 ( [1951]). 
• Galen Roger Perras: Stepping Stones to Nowhere, The Aleutian Islands, Alaska, and American Military Strategy, 1867 - 1945. University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver British Columbia 2003, ISBN 1-59114-836-7 (archive.org). 

External links

Commons: Aleutian Islands campaign – Album mit Bildern, Videos und Audiodateien

• Logistics Problems on Attu by Robert E. Burks.
• Operation Cottage at canadiansoldiers.com
• Aleutian Islands Chronology
• Aleutian Islands War
• Red White Black & Blue - feature documentary about The Battle of Attu in the Aleutians during World War II
• Soldiers of the 184th Infantry, 7th ID in the Pacific, 1943-1945
• World War II Aleutian Islands: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II from the United States Army Center of Military History.
• Kiska. Abgerufen am 11. März 2018. 
• Vorlage:Internet Archive film clip