Also task force 8 and Canada pacific fleet from Victoria BC attacked ijn navy This my favorite story Soon both Navy's engaged and retreated thinking each force had more in reserve, if Japan would of chased the fleet Alaska would of fell.
Also why did you say the natives were pow?? They where killed thrown of cliffs by Japanese, USA army documented this, But why don't you mention Canada's role
@@AJ-sw8uf Mark Felton is just Wikipedia text-to-speech over footage compilation 😂. There's nothing indepth from the article he's voicing over unlike KG
It was in the Aleutians that the Allies had one of their greatest intelligence scoops of the Pacific War. On the 4th June, a new and inexperienced Zero pilot named Tadayoshi Koga, took of from the carrier Ryujo in an attack on Dutch Harbor, where his plane took a hit that cut his oil line. This forced him to make an emergency landing on the island of Akutan, where he found a long, grass covered landing strip, designated by the IJA as an emergency landing strip. But as soon as Koga's plane touched the ground, the wheels buried themselves into the soggy ground, flip the plane on it's back and broke Koga's neck. On July 11th, a PBY spotted the wreck through a break in the clouds. After three attempts, the Navy managed to salvaged the wreck, and had it shipped to San Diego to studied and analyzed. Many people nowadays doesn't even know about this event, nor it's importance for the war effort. Up to this point, the Zero has been known in name only. Now, by a stroke of luck, the Allies now had an intact Zero, if you disregard the cosmetic damage. The studies revealed that the Zero had no armor protection and no self-sealing fuel tanks, which we all know today. But it also revealed that the Zero had two additional Achilles heels. First, it could not perform rolls at moderately high speed. Second, it's poorly designed carburetor caused the engine to sputter badly when diving at high speed. With this info, the Allies started developing new tactics to combat the Zero. And at Grumman, the aircraft designers started working on the Wildcat's replacement, the F6F Hellcat, popularly referred to as: the Zero killer. Given the fact that it shot down about 75% of all Japanese shoot down during WWII by US Naval aviators. Masatake Okumiya, who led several Zero squadrons during the war, wrote in his book 'Zero', that the recovery of Koga's plane, had the same impact on the Japanese war effort as the battle of Midway.
True. The book "Zero" are more detailed about. And on "Midway", by Okumiya and Mitsuo Fuchida, the crash are mentioned on 2 ou 3 lines. Both excelent books, by the way 😎
Should look up his dad some time, he's quite the interesting read. That'd be US Civil war general (Confederate) Simon Bolivar Buckner(sr). Put the senior in like that because JR wasn't even born till 21 years after that war ended.
I rather think the most American sentence was "The Americans decided to evacuate the Western Aleutians - interning some 881 native Aleuts in relocation camps in south-eastern Alaska and burning their villages to the ground." As Erin Blakemore writes in the Smithsonian: 'The internment camps the Aleut evacuees were forced to live in were "abandoned canneries, a herring saltery, and gold mine camp-rotting facilities with no plumbing, electricity or toilets.” There, they had little potable water, no warm winter clothing, and sub-par food. Nearly 10 percent of the evacuees died in the camps. Some of the men were even enslaved during their detainment, forced to harvest fur seals and threatened with continued detainment if they refused.'
@@KillroyWasHere86 More like needs must, and let's sort out if we need to prosecute him after the war. Turned out they didn't have to as he was KIA during the battle of Okinawa..
I heard another one... talking about Hawaii's Japanese immigrants ..what the Japanese couldn't take by force into forty's they took with cash in the 60's and 70's!!
@@ZENIGMATV not to cast any doubt but where in Alaska was he? Tents for shelter in Alaska?? ….grandad complained he spent his time shivering in a barracks half the year and the other half building stuff
Glad to see K&G cover the Aleutian Campaign! I also want to give a shout out to a long departed friend of my parents, Charles "Mucktuck" Marston who during the Imperial Japanese invasion of the Aleutians, helped organize and train the Alaskan Home Guard made up largely of Inuit and Native Alaskans. After the war, he helped draft Alaska's state constitution securing Native civil rights.
Pacific War #1 - Attack on Pearl Harbor: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZzS1ZAulpoY.html Pacific War #2 - Japanese Invasion of Malaya: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mpBGUC8OjE4.html Pacific War #3 - Japanese attack on Guam, Wake, and the Philippines: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MZ4d7Qeyivk.html Pacific War #4 - Japan Continues Attacking: Borneo, Philippines: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MhQrv82HHn8.html Pacific War #5 - Fall of Wake Island: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tgtagewcqKo.html Pacific War #6 - Battle of Kampar: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AGYaghICqkY.html Pacific War #7 - Battle of Slim River: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-meWALqmsXxs.html Pacific War #8 - Battle for the Dutch East Indies: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lBwjgesFsFU.html Pacific War #9 - Invasion of New Britain: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rUL538i8Oms.html Pacific War #10 - Fall of Malaya: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-z7KaNtn2sFo.html Pacific War #11 - Battle of Makassar Strait: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XJMxr7ED8tI.html Pacific War #12 - Fall of Singapore: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-d_xE4CVG3rY.html Pacific War #13 - Invasion of Sumatra: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DA2HKaeu8w4.html Pacific War #14 - Invasion of Timor: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PID0vt52-vY.html Pacific War #15 - Fall of Java: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QOOJcr2DQSQ.html Pacific War #16 - Fall of Rangoon: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oyu7z7wQNqg.html Pacific War #17 - How the US Responded to Pearl Harbor: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-z-0liSYA60M.html Pacific War #18 - Hideki Tojo: Bringing Japan Into The Pacific War: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7FO4o-N2fKk.html Pacific War #19 - Japanese Raids in the Indian Ocean: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-E75hxwGbFHE.html Pacific War #20 - Fall of Bataan & The Bataan Death March: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gZsxpgNwxYc.html Pacific War #21 - Doolittle Raid: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TTM2HR3Mtyo.html Pacific War #22 - Japanese Advance on Burma Road: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bdJ_373NyME.html Pacific War #24 - Battle of the Coral Sea: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kMX7Y6Njc9A.html Pacific War #25 - Fall of the Philippines: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AEwH8oQk6H8.html Pacific War #26 - Fall of Burma: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LyHqNY_p27Y.html Pacific War #27 - Operation Sei-Go: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6Ta_eum5hdU.html Pacific War #28 - Battle of Midway: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-p1qKon2rdzk.html
Great continuation of the series! For future videos, I have a few suggestions: - History of Sikhism - The Tulip period in the Ottoman empire - Nizam-i Cedid (New Order army) - Battle of Buxar
Fascinating look at an ill-covered part of the Pacific War. Extremely interesting and love your detailed maps. I like that you incorporated the Midway battle into this, but still gave it a stand alone episode. Very rarely is this part of the war mentioned and even then only as a passing comment. Great work again!
Ryujo and Junyo were the IJN's second- or third-team of the IJN's carrier force. Ryujo was small - in tonnage and aircraft complement - and not the best reliability. Junyo was only a bit larger, carried a similar complement of aircraft, and was slower than Ryujo (which was similar in speed to Kaga, the slowest of Kido Butai). They would have been adequate to seriously damage Dutch Harbor, probably, but were, obviously, much hindered by the weather.
Again, Thanks K&G for telling another fact. From Japanese perspective, Gen. Simon Buckner Jr. is famous for his Army-Marine units, or in Okinawa. I've never been told about his Battle of Alaska. So this is the main theatre of World War.
My great grandpa Lieutenant Commander (at the time, he later worked his way up to a rear admiral) Carroll Burgess Jones was a Commanding Officer of Patrol Squadron 43 (later known as Patrol Bomber Squadron 43) of Patrol Wing 4 on PBY-5 Catalinas who lead his Squadron in the raid on Kiska Harbor, With his own plane pierced by shrapnel and lighter caliber projectiles from enemy fire, he was forced to fly blind on pull-outs, avoiding the perilous cloud-obscured mountains surrounding the bay at Kiska. Leading his squadron over the Aleutian Islands, without benefit of fighter escort, he directed perilous, low-altitude bombing attacks on enemy ships in Kiska harbor. At less than 1,000 feet, he released his bombs, probably sinking two hostile vessels and destroying two planes despite fierce machine gun opposition from six hostile fighters. He was Awarded the Navy Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions in the war.
Another excellent outing, K&G. Great detail on this Front. Needless to say that the American youth of today only get a small overview. I went to high school in the '70's and Attu was barely mentioned. Outstanding historical update on the Japanese plan with popular belief that the operation was a feint or something else. Somehow I think the truth likely is somewhere in between. It seems a little too far from Midway to be a covering force, but Yamamoto knew what was what and he ain't talkin'. He had a perchance towards layers of planning so it's possible of some kind of variation of the two possibilities. IDK, but it does give pause for thought. Outstanding video as always. The bell has always been pressed. Cheers.
Contemporary scholarship (i.e. authors like Parshall) suggest that the Aleutians campaign was asked for by the Japanese Army for the reasons that K&G mentioned. The IJA were concerned that American long-range bombers and submarines could use the Aleutians as bases. In exchange for their approval of the Midway operation (which the IJA was initially opposed to), and supplying troops to assist in the invasion of Midway, the IJA wanted the Aleutians invaded. So they were. As far a diversion, at best it would seem to be the other way around re. the conventional logic. What better time to seize territory ostensibly in North America than when the US Pacific Fleet was expected to be fully engaged (and destroyed) elsewhere?
Are there any stats on the survival rates of PBY crews? Considering they had no chance of outrunning carrier-based aircraft or flak and would often crash over open water far from any friendly force or shipping, their job had to be one of the worst.
General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. was the son of a Confederate general who fought the battle of Fort Donelson. He was the only U.S. general killed by enemy fire in World War II, when he commanded the U.S. Army on Okinawa. During his time as commander in Alaska, his Southern roots compelled him to refuse black troops in his theatre, saying that they would interbreed with the Eskimos and create the ugliest race the world has ever known.
Man I keep coming on these threads and lauding you guys but in just so blown away by this series. The music, the art style, the content itself .. so incredible!
"If the Japanese come, they may get a foothold. But it will be their children who get as far as Anchorage, and their grandchildren who'll make it to the states. And by then, they'll all be American Citizens anyway." "He began to illegally construct airfields using funds he had embezzled." This man is now my favourite American General of all time. Here's the thing... Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. gets even MORE based. Here are some more quotes: "The loyal courage, vigorous energy and determined fortitude of our armed forces in Alaska-on land, in the air and on the water-have turned back the tide of Japanese invasion, ejected the enemy from our shores and made a fortress of our last frontier. But this is only the beginning. We have opened the road to Tokyo; the shortest, most direct and most devastating to our enemies. May we soon travel that road to victory." -1943 "Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. commands the new US 10th Army, comprising American Soldiers and Marines, which made amphibious landings on Okinawa. Buckner says he intends to Christianize the Japs, and that "the best way to do it is to give them a Christian burial." " -Elmira Star Gazette, Tues. April 3rd 1945, pg. 2
Glad we're going to Sydney next week. There's been some renewed press about the attack here in Australia and the failures in the defences that led to it happening.
I just realized: While the fighters get all the glory, the job of the recon planes was actually tougher. In a fighter plane, you can at least shoot back, before being shot down.
The reason why the invasion of the Aleutians was portrayed as a feint is because it was meant to be one. It’s primary purpose in the moment was to confuse the Americans and cause them to send ships north to counter the Japanese there, thereby weakening their forces at Midway. They probably weren’t expecting to lure the carriers away (not all of them, anyway), but they likely intended to cause the Americans to split their forces, not knowing which attack was the front and which was the real one. It probably would have worked, too, if American intelligence hadn’t cracked the Japanese Navy’s cipher and so been aware of their plans.
What hubris among the IJN officer corps....always so confident of these wildly complex operations. Not even the simplest of military operations ever pan out just right.
Thanks. The only thing I know about one of my grandpas service was that while he was building anti-submarine measures, the Japanese attempted this assault but I’ve never know wtf happened.
General Simon Buckner Jr. Son of General Simon Buckner, commander of the first Confederate army forced to surrender by General Grant at Fort Donelson. Also highest ranking American officer in WW 2 killed in action on Okinawa.
Very well done film. If you ever re-do, please contact someone from the Aleutian Islands or Alaska Peninsula to get the pronunciations and geographic locations a little more accurate.
You deserve so much credit for this. It's a surprised there's no real discussion about this part of history. Especially for those who think The United States Of America has never been invaded. A side The Philippines when it was an American Territory before becoming an independent country during World War 2.
What's the source for the assertion that he embezzled enough money to build a series of airfields? I can't find this anywhere else, and it seems at odds with his career. Buckner had issues with inter-service cooperation, but even his bureaucratic adversaries did not accuse him of this. One source says "Buckner all but embezzled the funds for construction from other projects." but redirecting funds under your control is not the same thing as embezzling (hence the wording in the original).
Despite the little damage the Do-little raid did it inflicted massive mental damage, seeming to cause Japan to focus on that event so much leading to the destruction of its own Navy. It's crazy to think about how so much happened and changed after that small air-strike.
Visited Kiska for two whole days in 1983. A visit I’ll never forget. It’s almost like a secret. Well, it was back then. Now the internet might change things up a bit.
My Grandpa was one of the Canadians sent to the Aleutians, they got into a fight with the Americans in a friendly fire scenario in Operation Cottage lol
Very nice! This theatre of operations is often forgotten about in lieu of more well known campaigns. Looking forward to seeing the conclusion of this part of the war in a video.
hey, I was wondering if you guys could do a video on the battle of bzura(1939) as part of your modern warfare unit? I think it is a very crucial and epic battle of ww2, that is not really covered in any other historical channels.
Pacific Joint Agreement on Defense signed in 1940. The Canadian Army were involved from beginning to end, from guarding the inside passage where transport and military boats would pass to the final offensive mission, where 5300 Canadian troops landed with the Americans to re-take Kiska. There was a friendly firefight where the USers openned up on the Canadians. The Canadians dealt the most damage in this skirmish, even with conscripts and bolt action rifles. The Royal Canadian Navy had 3 large ships, several corvettes, minesweepers and some sub chasing auxiliary vessels involved. The Royal Canadian Air Force, had approximately 500 personnel up north with at least 5 squadrons participating. The battle marked the first time that Canadian conscripts were sent to a combat zone in the Second World War. The government had pledged not to send draftees "overseas", which it defined as being outside North America. The Aleutians were considered to be North American soil
In 1985, while working in Norman Wells, we drove out to an old Canol site. I saw the 6 inch pipeline and some old abandon equipment. Local stories say the US Army buried all their equipment and boats and left in 1944.
7:27 - so, and what was been done to establish garrisons on these islands? It was possible to send around 3,000 soldiers to both islands (Op. ''Bingo'') as a greeting - ''come get some''. Such a logistic operation would take no more than 2 weeks.
Aside from the battle of Hong Kong I believe this was only time Canadian ground forces participated in the Pacific Theater when the islands were recapture.
I always beef up defense around Alaska whenever I start a new US campaign in Victory at Sea Pacific. The IJN usually loses a decent task force trying to take it while I'm wrecking their holdings on the push to the home islands.
Fun fact, the famous 20th century philosopher, Willard V.O. Quine, was recruited (at a relatively young age) to be a cryptographer for the U.S. navy during WW2. After the war, he became one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century. He was something of a genius when it came to mathematics, language, etc., so I was not surprised when I learned that he had served as a code-breaker for the Navy during WW2. Most of the best and most educated minds of Europe basically fled Europe before WW2 even started, and most of them ended up in Britain or the US, many of them being German or German speaking. It's ironic how many of Germany and Europe's finest thinkers ended up wanting to have nothing to do with the Nazis, but also not surprising at all either.
Also how the US got Einstein. People also leave out others like the Italian and Spanish intellectuals that came during Mussolini's dictatorship and the end of the Spanish Civil War. It's called a brain drain, it almost always happens in repressive regimes.
I knew Japan had considered an attack on Alaska, but I don't think that I knew they actually assaulted and occupied some of the Aleutians. That's wild. Thank you for another very interesting video! Stay well out there everybody, and God be with you, friends. ✝️ :)
