Wesy Posted January 26, 2001 Share Posted January 26, 2001 Read the link: I'm a big PTO buff, and this battle is the only one that took place on US Soil (although it wasn't a state at the time)...Fog..Snow...Hilly terrain no cover... http://www.msnbc.com/news/506263.asp?0nm=-29F ------------------ "Lack of weapons is no excuse for defeat" - Lt. General Renya Mutaguchi, Commanding General, Japanese Fifteenth Army, 1944-1945 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
109 Gustav Posted January 26, 2001 Share Posted January 26, 2001 Wes, I live on Kodiak Island, where our bombers were based for strikes against the Aleutians. There's tons of WWII stuff on Kodiak, like bunkers, Quonset huts, marsten mat, and gun emplacements. Don't know if you've ever heard of Miller field, but it was a fighter strip on Cape Chiniak, right by where I live. One of these days I'm going to go to Kiska and explore all the junk the Japanese left behind. I've got a couple of bullet casings from there, but I want to see the submarine on the beach. Be sure to head over to the CMHQ scenario depot and get my Invasion of Chiniak scenario to do some fighting against a German invasion on Kodiak. It takes place around my home. I'm planning on doing a couple more scenarios of Kodiak when I get aroundtuit. ------------------ Well my skiff's a twenty dollar boat, And I hope to God she stays afloat. But if somehow my skiff goes down, I'll freeze to death before I drown. And pray my body will be found, Alaska salmon fishing, boys, Alaska salmon fishing. -Commercial fishing in Kodiak, Alaska [This message has been edited by 109 Gustav (edited 01-26-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow 1st Hussars Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 typical that they don't mention that the Canadians were there too. ------------------ No bastard has ever won a war by dying for his country. They won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. shadow@jagdtiger.de Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 Originally posted by Shadow 1st Hussars: typical that they don't mention that the Canadians were there too. Ain't it the truth? My mom's uncle was one of them. He was a draftee - the Aleutians were the first time that Canadian draftees were ever sent into a potential combat zone. A bunch of them deserted before going. At the other end of the spectrum, the Devil's Brigade was there too (before they became known as such). So you had our best and our worst there at the same time. Mom's uncle didn't have it so good - served in the Aleutians without having to fight, then went to NWE Europe. After the war was over, he came to Canada to be diagnosed with TB. They kept him in an army hospital for a year before they discharged him. Then a few years later he died of cancer, age 35. My dad worked many months in Alaska and on the Arctic ocean doing seismic work, so the region has a lot of interest for me personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
109 Gustav Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: Mom's uncle didn't have it so good - served in the Aleutians without having to fight, then went to NWE Europe. Ooh, double whammy. Trouble with the Aleutians was, wind gauges only went up to 130mph, so troops never knew exactly how hard the wind was blowing. Can you say williwaw? Boredom was relieved only when the quonset huts or tents blew down. Which island(s) was your uncle on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 Originally posted by 109 Gustav: Ooh, double whammy. Trouble with the Aleutians was, wind gauges only went up to 130mph, so troops never knew exactly how hard the wind was blowing. Can you say williwaw? Boredom was relieved only when the quonset huts or tents blew down. Which island(s) was your uncle on? I think all the Canadians went to Kiska. I really don't know much about him, or the campaign there - except that 13 Canadian Brigade was stationed there for about 6 months IIRC before coming back to Canada. I don't know if any Canadians went to Attu or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
109 Gustav Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 I don't think any Canadians were sent to Attu. Instead, the 7th "Hourglass" Motorized division was sent to do the job. They had been training in the desert in preperation for service in North Africa. Unfortionatley, Rommel was no longer a threat by then, so the 7th was not needed in Africa, and their trucks, tanks, and armored tactics would be of no use in the Aleutians. When the commanders of the Alaskan front protested, they were told that they were lucky to get any division at all, so it was the 7th or nothing. The invasion force of Kiska consisted of the 7th division's survivors, 5000 men from the Alaskan 4th Regiment, 5000 men of the the 87th Mountain Combat Team tained to fight in Italy, 2500 paratroopers of the First Special Service Force, and •••5300 troops of the 13th Royal Canadian Infantry Brigade.•••, for a total of 34,426 men. Kiska had already been abandoned by the Japanese, but this was not known for sure by the allies. D-Day was August 15, 1943. The landings proceeded without incident, although 24 men were killed by friendly fire in the dense fog, and booby traps killed 4 others. 130 men got trenchfoot. Reference- The Thousand Mile War, by Brian Garfield. ------------------ Well my skiff's a twenty dollar boat, And I hope to God she stays afloat. But if somehow my skiff goes down, I'll freeze to death before I drown. And pray my body will be found, Alaska salmon fishing, boys, Alaska salmon fishing. -Commercial fishing in Kodiak, Alaska Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted January 27, 2001 Share Posted January 27, 2001 Originally posted by 109 Gustav: I don't think any Canadians were sent to Attu...etc. Reference- The Thousand Mile War, by Brian Garfield. That sounds right. Garfield makes the same error many Americans do, however - the Canadian Army was never granted the prefix "Royal", and it was definitely not applied to field formations either. In fact, the Canadian Army was only known as the Canadian Army between 1940 and about 1967. Before that, it was the Canadian Militia, divided into the Permanent Active Militia (or Permanent Force, the regular army) and the Non-Permanent Active Militia (or reserves). In 1940 they were renamed the Canadian Army, divided into the Canadian Army (Active), Canadian Army (Reserve) and Canadian Army (Overseas). In the late 1960s, all three services were unified into the Canadian Forces. We've only just recently begun calling ourselves the Army again in the last few years, though officially I think we are also still known as Land Force Command of the Canadian Forces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aacooper Posted January 28, 2001 Share Posted January 28, 2001 Interesting article. My great-uncle lost part of his hearing in the Aleutians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
109 Gustav Posted January 28, 2001 Share Posted January 28, 2001 Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: That sounds right. Garfield makes the same error many Americans do, however - the Canadian Army was never granted the prefix "Royal", and it was definitely not applied to field formations either. Never knew that, thanks for the info. The mistake is kind of understandable, though, as every 5 years you guys are called something new. 'Course, I've heard other Canadians on the board say that your army could maybe invade the Galapagos if they had the advantage of surprise and attacked at 3:00 AM on a Saturday night. ------------------ Well my skiff's a twenty dollar boat, And I hope to God she stays afloat. But if somehow my skiff goes down, I'll freeze to death before I drown. And pray my body will be found, Alaska salmon fishing, boys, Alaska salmon fishing. -Commercial fishing in Kodiak, Alaska Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forever Babra Posted January 28, 2001 Share Posted January 28, 2001 Originally posted by 109 Gustav: 'Course, I've heard other Canadians on the board say that your army could maybe invade the Galapagos if they had the advantage of surprise and attacked at 3:00 AM on a Saturday night. You really think you could pull them outa the Junior Ranks' mess at only 3am? Hell, that's happy hour... I never did learn why the British and Commonwealth armies never earned the title of "Royal". It's just one of those things... ------------------ When it's my turn to march up to Glory, I'm gonna have one HELL of a story... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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