The Thousand Mile War-The Campaign in the Aleutians with guest co-host Jon Parshall -Episode 222: 

My dad was a Lt. with the Scouts who landed by submarine on Attu. They trained at Ft. Ord, thinking they'd be headed to North Africa. They were completely unprepared for winter conditions but made it over the mountain into Massacre Bay, which took 2 to 3 days. The conditions were horrible. From what he said, the fighting was ferocious. He happened to be carrying the Army Code of Conduct in his left breast pocket, when a grenade exploded near him, shattering his upper left arm. On first pass, he was declared dead, but a doctor went to double-check and found he was alive. He was evacuated, had surgeries, and recovered, but scarred. Hence, afterward, I was born. As a little girl he was carrying me on his left hip at the beach. I remember seeing the scars, and asked what happened and I'll never forget what he said. With a grin, he replied, "You're mother bit me"!! I loved that man dearly.

In the late '70's I met an Air Force electronics tech who'd been stationed on Adak. "It's just like Cher", he said. "Neither one is fucking sunny".

Thank-you, My father was stationed in the Aleutian islands. Hated it. "Don't like the weather wait 5 minutes, it will get worse" was his saying.

I was in Dutch Harbor in the early 1980's and the wooden remains of the submarine repair shop along with a lot of other buildings were still standing. Lots of tunnels and concrete gun emplacements too. We used to say, "There is a woman behind every tree in Dutch Harbor."

I first heard of this channel right about the time of the MacArthur episode. You guys talked about a history that was COMPLETELY washed out of the popular narrative. RIGHT THEN, I was hooked! You are required Tuesday morning! For those of us who are new to this channel; go back and listen to the letter Seth Paradin read on Memorial Day and you will quickly understand this channel.

I know others must have already said this: The old Battle Wagon sitting in the calm sea at the end is the most peaceful scene one could imagine. I don't know why it is so moving.

Thanks again, Seth and John, for another wonderful episode. I didn't k ow about the indigent populations' plight there as well.😢

Fishing. In the spring of 1936, the Japanese Diet approved funding for a three-year survey of fishing resources in the Alaskan waters, seeking particularly salmon and trout, and in the early summer sent several ships into Bristol Bay to begin investigating the salmon run. The following year in July the appearance of a factory ship, _Taiyo Maru_ , signalled the full expansion of the Japanese salmon fishing industry into Bristol Bay, touching off a five-year struggle over fishing rights between Japan and the US. This expansion was part of Japan’s search throughout the Pacific and Asia for food and other natural resources. Japan had the world's largest fishing fleet at the start of the War. How large was it? It was twice the size of the second largest fleet. Fish was not only an important part of Japan's caloric intake, fish byproducts, called fish cake, along with soy byproducts, called oil cake, were used to fertilise the nation's agriculture on the cheap. Though no point anywhere in Japan is more than 150km (93 miles) from the sea, that journey traversed mountains on unimproved paths. Improvements in domestic transport (rail and road), canning, manufactured ice, and refrigeration/freezing brought fish products inland. Fish, especially sardines, were important to Japan's munitions industry. The glycerin derived from sardine oil was converted into nitroglycerin. In the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War the nation sought to maximise domestic resources. For example, it shifted from thermal power (provided by domestic coal) to hydroelectric power. Though coal remained king, about 80% of electricity was generated by hydro (this amount was dictated by the annual monsoon, typhoons, and snow melt-off to replenish the reservoirs). Great effort and expense went to shifting industry from coal to electricity. The fishing fleet was motorised, allowing it to extend both the range and the time at sea from fewer than 10 days in the early 20th century to 15 - 20 days in the '30s. The whaling fleet spent much longer periods at sea, and this required replenishment tankers and other vessels. The contested waters of the Pacific reduced the fleet's range and all but ended whaling, which had been an important food and oil source. (How abundant were whales? Whale meat was one of the rare foods that was not in deficit in the USSR, even in the '70s and '80s. But the Soviets becoming a deep-sea fishing power is a post-WWII development.) Further, the seven tankers that served the whaling fleet were needed for wartime duties. IIRC, the Japanese were the sole whalers of the Pacific, especially the South Pacific. The Norwegians were the other whaling power, usually in the other hemisphere. Norway's whaling fleet was larger and caught more than Japan in the '30s. I need to mention that conscription had an effect on industry including fishing. Japan didn't take the same care identifying war-essential civilian workers like Britain and US did. Looking at the pelagic empire from Tokyo, the safest waters were Japan's inland sea, the Sea of Japan, and the Yellow and East China Seas, but these were heavily fished. The central and south Pacific were becoming unsafe or inaccessible. What's the remaining large body of water that's relatively safe and with abundant resources? North Pacific and Bering Sea. A lot of oil-rich salmon and herring in these waters. Japan's fisherman also served a picket-duty role, providing reports of US movements.

Seth I love your channel. Having Jon as a guest host is such a delight. I hope this turns into a long term collaboration.

This is one of the finest, unedited, and truthful history channels i have ever viewed. Equaled only by Ken Burns "Civil War ". Many thanks

Any episode with Jon Parshall is a great one.

All of these episodes have been incredibly informative and can't thank you all enough. ❤❤❤❤❤

Because of the Aleutian campaign we were able to get ahold of a Zero Zeke fighter that had crash landed upside down with minimal damage. The plane was transported to San Diego and test flown with invaluable results that really helped our pilots and design teams to beat a great fighter.

Thank you for another stellar episode. Missed Capt. Bill but always a treat to have Jon.

Excellent at presenting an often forgotten part of the pacific war. Great job Seth and Jon was superb as always.

I love you guys! Thanks for what you do. My dad was in the Pacific with the first Cavalry division in the Philippines. He said that when they loaded the troop ship (in San Francisco I believe) they were completely kitted out with beautiful cold weather gear--big parka’s with fur trimmed hoods etc. When they got to the Philippines they threw all that gear into a huge pile on the shore and left it to rot.

I spent ten years flying in Alaska, most of it in DC-3's. The ones I flew had been built as C-47's, except for one C-53. I read The Thousand Mile War pretty early in my time there. I flew mostly between Bristol Bay (King Salmon - called Naknek Field in WWII) and Anchorage. I often overflew the remains of the C-47 that crashed on a low hill North of the airport. I often overflew a PBY that had landed in a tundra pond near Port Heiden and couldn't take off again. The furthest I went out in the Aleutians was Atka. One time we go there and the island was all in sunshine except around the airport, which was cloaked in thick fog. The weather had closed in behind us on the return trip to Dutch Harbor, so we pulled the engines back to 1440 RPM and used just enough manifold pressure to hold 115 MPH indicated airspeed while holding 7,000 feet of altitude. The tailwind carried us back at a groundspeed of 180 MPH! The weather there was no better then than in WWII. Flying in Alaska in an airplane of that period opens your eyes to what the pilots of WWII had to deal with. And they had much poorer navigation and communication resources! Flying the DC-3/C-47 was interesting, and fulfilling. Reading The Thousand Mile War and Fate Is The Hunter while doing so really put things in perspective. Earnest Gann once described turbulence in a C-47 as if the wings flapped as if they were solely responsible for keeping us in the air. I've experienced that!

Thanks Bill and Seth and Jon for another great topic. We appreciate your efforts and hard work.

Seth and Jon, another great episode. Tell Bill we missed him. A couple of things came to mind: In the US Navy history of the PT boat in WW2, the chapter on the Aleutians described the weather as: the only place on earth where dense fog and high winds occur AT THE SAME TIME. Just think about that for a minute. I have always thought the Japanese decision to invade Attu and Kiska was made by officers who had never been there, and never met anyone who had been there. This is the type of move that can look good on a map, but that’s it. Looking forward to the episode on the Battle of the Komandorski Islands. It would be interesting to hear a short mention of the Battle of the Pips !

This was a greatly needed video and filled a massive void in my personal history repertoire. Thank you!

The only reason im familiar with this battle is randomly seeing a documentary about it in the early 2010s when i was in middle school. The story of the 7th ID has become one of my favorites.

Vert good review of a terrible battle. I was a civilian contractor for the Naval Air Unit on Adak Naval Air Station from Sept 1977 to Sept 1978. And I have the Book The Thousand Mile War. Thank you for giving a very good summary of the weather which is dominated by the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean constantly clashing. We had 10 days of sunshine the whole year I was up there. Thank you very much from Prescott, Wisconsin

John, I recent completed reading your book, Shattered Sword, and I enjoyed learning more details about the battle of Midway.

Excellent job guys. I didn’t know about that aspect of the war. This is the most educational channel I’ve ever seen. Hope Captain Bill isn’t wearing himself out. I hope he is enjoying using his expertise on this unfortunate situation. He is the perfect man for the job! The knowledge and experience you all have is incredible. Thank y’all so much!!!

The Norwegian Rat. "Sounds like my kinda joint." Me too Seth. Throw another pallet on the fire!

You two guys work well together and compliment each other in style and delivery. I look forward to more of these collaborations! Excellent job. Thank you!

Always nice when a new episode appears. I've been bingewatching this channel for a while, it's very informative and fun to watch. Great show, great guests, keep up the good work! Much love from Holland ♥

My Dad was a seaman on a mine sweeper in the Pacific. Thank you. You've given me a good look at a part of War World II I'd never seen before and always wondered about.

I spent a year of isolated duty on Attu 1965-66 while in the Coast Guard weather was brutal

I have learned so much more from this series than I have from other sources.

I read Thousand Mile War back in the 80's and got an appreciation of the important of the campaign. The bad weather necessitated the use and refinement of using radar to counter the soup. I seemed to recall that they would become experts in radar bombing and use of radar in naval engagements.

Spent a fair amount of time on Adak and there was a lot of that part of WW II there. We had the Adak National forest that was 5 feet tall when it was planted in the 50's. It was still 5 feet tall in the mid 70's. It was a good place to keep tabs on the Russians.

Wow I had no idea how much this campaign cost our guys. Thanks so much.

Definitely glad you guys covered this operation. I knew there was fighting in the Aleutians, but had never looked into the campaign. What a rotten place to be sent. Thanks Seth and Jon--great coverage as usual.

I went to high school in Anchorage and took both Alaska state history as well as a WWII military history course (Mr. Green, my favorite teacher). In neither case did they mention that Native Alaska tribes were interned during the war. As usual, you guys are always good at teaching me something I didn’t know. Great job.

What a wonderful podcast this is, just tremendous. Jon Parshall is fantastic!

Always enjoy the programs, your story telling pulls me in. Having watched Jon on other programs has brought me to yours. Thank you so much for taking the time to make history come alive!! This is my first time to comment but have been following over a year, Thank you again.

In different wways, Ryujo and Junyo seem to have bee intended as ways to skirt naval treaty provisions. Ryujo was like USS Ranger got washed in hot water. It was just below the carrier displacement subject to treary limitation. Japan, at the time, thought it could have large numbers of small carriers, but Ryujo tried to do too much in too little (as did, arguably, Ranger and Wasp). Junyo (and several other ships) took a different tack, being converted from non-combatant ships designed to be convertible.

Fascinating as always! Miss Bill, but always a pleasure listening to Jon talk Pacific War!

Interesting segment on a rarely mentioned theatre. Jon Parshall is always a welcomed guest expert. The no surrender ethos of the Japanese made the atom bomb a necessity.

It would be interesting for you to discuss the Army Air corps in the Aleutians prior to the counter invasions. This is where Tommy McGuire honed his piloting skills. A lot of crews in aircraft took off only to never be heard from again in the Aleutians. Noble on this day knows what happened to them they may have been mechanical or they may have been weather losses.

Jon Parshall is ALWAYS amazing.

Wow, great episode. I had no idea about the removal of the Alaskan natives from their lands also. Maybe I missed it but I am pretty sure that this action was not only Pennsylvania’s but also Nevada’s first action since Pear Harbor. That is a big testament to the hard work of the shipyards of the west coast to repair Nevada and get her back in the fight. Always a pleasure having Mr. Parshall as a guest.

One of the best historical channels on the net . One of the things that Bill brought up on the Australian and American animosity after talking with my grandfather 9 div and step grandfather 7 div . Was squarely in dugout Dug’s lap at the battle of Finchhaven in New Guinea dug promised the transportation for the operation. After starting the operation the Americans withdrew the transport Dug’s staff left the Aussie’s with their arse’s hanging out with their reinforcements sitting in lay . The only thing that saved Dug’s arse was it was the 9 division and at the time the premier allied division with extensive combat experience. The average soldier looked at this as a stab in the back .

Hell yeah for Jon Marshall. That guy's a celebrity in my book.

I love this channel because I have always been interested in every aspect and detail of the Pacific war. My grandfather was stationed on Kodiak Island in Alaska in the Army during the war. My great uncle fought in the Solomon Islands in the Marine Corps. I wish you would’ve talked more about Kiska and what happened there. Thanks for all of the great information! Great podcast!

I kind of knew about this campaign but learned SO much more. I'd never heard about the internment of the Aleuts. Why no mention of the overland highway built from Washington to Alaska? Thank you for your work.

Great job guys. I really enjoyed the discussion of the lesser known battles. I look forward to seeing Hollywood Toti next week.

Jon's wallpaper is back! Gonna pour myself a drink and settle into this. Many thanks to you both for the great work that you do. Liked and subscribed.

This is my favorite podcast series. I enjoy the depth of content and appreciate the hosts obvious knowledge on these subjects. I've heard things in every episode that were new to me. The coarse language that is used from time to time is distracting, but great overall. Thank you for putting this very interesting series together.

Your comment about what are you going to do when suddenly confronted with a banzai charge, reminded me my dad's last nightmare due PTSD fighting in Europe during the second World War. " What are we going to do? We're going to fight like hell! " Dad had the dream post-op triple bypass. He passed away a few years later.

What a terrific episode. I just increased my knowledge of this campaign by 1000%. Thank you so much. Incidentally, I saw Bill's report about the loss of the submersible. He sure knows his stuff and is great on camera. Please give him my compliments.

One of my uncles was an Army radio op in the Aleutians. He had most all his service there. He was strongly influential in getting me into amateur radio. Another now-deceased friend was Army Coast Artillery stationed there. In civilian life he'd been a Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive engineer. So -- of course! -- they made him a red leg. I remember him mentioning that he and others frequently would listen at night to WLW, from Cincinnati, "The Nation's Station".

I find the information from Kings and Generals to be complimentary to your fine analyses.

Another great show!! Didn’t know about how the native Alaska folks were treated. Hope they were compensated fairly after the war. Don’t forget the Alaska highway buoy during the war, I believe

Thanks again for opening my eyes and understanding of a Campaign that I knew little more about other than its name. The work you are doing in helping keep this conflict in living memory is invaluable. Keep up the great work guys!

Great job. Highlight of my Tuesday. Thanks y’all

Thanks So Much for presenting this phase of the Pacific War.

15:32 Drachinifel keeps pointing out that Ryujo was a Japanese attempt to exploit a loophole in the treaty system, a carrier that doesn't meet the Washington definition of a carrier because the standard displacement is less than 10,000 tons. Then tye London Treaty came along and said "We'll have none of that, Japan."

This is a great series. Worth watching

My Uncle's DE was in the Aleutians. He had several pictures. He almost preferred the North Atlantic convoys to Archangel. This was a great episode and an untold story that really did need to be covered.

I love this so much. I’m a former Alaskan fisherman and have been to all these places. I also read The 1000 mile war on the boat

Excellent job with John!!!

Never visited the Aleutians, but been through Unimak pass many times over the years, sailing from west coast ports to the far east and back. The weather sucks and the snow is the weirdest looking snow ive ever seen. Great episode!

My Grandfather was stationed in the Aliutians during the war as a Seabee. And he had nothing good to say about the Aliutians ,he said that the battle was more against the weather than the Japanese.

Thanks guys; I wait to for your broadcasts. It's an amazing effort.

What a great episode! I learned so much! Damn good episode covering the Aleutian’s

You have to wonder, how many, if any of the Aleutian island chain's islands could be used as a deep water port or have an airstrip built onto them. It seem that, the US concept of "Island Hopping" either enabled us to capture islands with, or capable of having airstrips built onto them easily enough, or supported ports for repair and resupply of forces as we captured them and advanced. It seems that, just capturing a random island, even if it is a larger one, would just strand and tie up troops that could be used elsewhere without creating an active, and defensible port or airstrip, and could be ignored or bypassed until success on other fronts made those captures a moot point.

Great show guys! 👍 👍

A terrific series, thanks for your great work at exploring and sharing Pacific War history!

Seth, Jon...thanks very much. I learned a ton of history I've never heard or read about this Aleutians campaign.

I'm one of those who knew of the Battle for Attu but not about the battle. I very much enjoyed this look into the campaign.

Thanks Guys! Great episode…. Nice to see you Jon.

Superb presentation. Thanks, you're appreciated.

Martinez, what a story, what a hero. Another outstanding episode gentlemen. Your podcast is quickly becoming the gold standard on the Pacific War. Thank you for these presentations.

You guys do a great job. My grandmother’s brother fought in the Aleutians during WWII. He came back pretty messed up psychologically.

In about November 1977 I had the dubious honor of being in USMC Rifle Company that was sent to northern Norway to A) Work with the Norwegians B) Test cold weather gear. In 1977 US cold weather gear was all WW2/Korean War leftovers. 99% of it failed miserably. After 2 weeks in the mountains we'd lost 50-75% of our people to cold related "injuries".

40 year Alaskan; A small book journaling the experience of the (very remarkable) Aleut people SLAVES OF THE HARVEST includes the WW2 experience where they become absolutely vital to their Illl-equipped comrads. Also, WW2 era plane wrecks were ebbing from Alaska Peninsula glaciers as of the late 1980s; with dog tags and airmen remains to identify. Thanks for this episode; please remember AND keep looking for America’s finest

Thank you Seth and John.

'The Thousand Mile War', I have read and re-read that book about half a dozen times. I highly recommend it to everyone. Your point about fratricide, Americans and Canadians were killed on Kiska and there were NO Japanese troops on the island! As a British Columbia boy I grew up hearing stories from friends and relatives so it is not a 'forgotten war' for me. Thank you very much.

Maps! This guy who is not Bill but Jon likes and uses maps too! Seth promised a map but forgot. Great show!

God bless all the courageous veterans with nerves of steel who risked everything and selflessly sacrificed so much to protect our countries and preserve the freedoms we enjoy today! God bless all the souls - military and civilian - that we have lost in times of war! God bless America! God bless us all and grant us peace!

I knew that the Aleutians were part of the war, but this certainly gave a great deal of detail and I now see that it was much more significant than we generally think

Thanks for covering. My dad was USN stationed in Dutch Harbor and Adak 42 ti 45 before finally being sent to gunnery school to arrive at his new carrier assignment in New Jersey on VJ day.

Well done gentlemen!

“Blathered on long enough…..” Good God! I could watch you two talk about women’s soccer and be enthralled at your passion and delivery. The only thing I can think that would be better is to get you two(Skipper Bill as well) sitting in a bar, having beers. You find out a lot about someone while knocking down a beer.

Thanks guys for bring this information to us.

Great show Seth & Jon. This is the 1st in depth look ive ever had of this little talked about campaign. Good job guys.👍 🇺🇸 Thank you. 🇺🇸

My Dad was stationed at Adak from 45 to 47 in the army. He didn't see any fighting, and was a draftsman at headquarters there. I'm not sure what unit he was in. After his three-year stint was over, they asked him if he wanted to stay on as a civilian he said hell no. He talked about Willawas was and how cold it was there

Another great episode as usual. This one though hits a little close to home. My wife had an Uncle who was severely wound on Attu. I know he was blinded in addition to his other wounds that eventually took his life in the 1950's. I've not been able to get a lot details of what exactly happened to him as the family members that did know after the war are all now gone. I will always now wonder if he was in the field hospital that was overrun during Japanese last charge. Thank you for covering this mostly forgotten battle.

Seabees went to the Aleutian Islands also; 22nd Naval Construction Battalion among others. My dad was fortunate, if you could call it that, his new friends made in Seabee boot camp went to Alaska. Dad was with the 20th NCB, and went to New Guinea and the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands. What a Sophie's Choice of deployments!

Great episode. Thank you, gentlemen.

Thanks as always guys!

I have heard of the battle to retake Attu my entire life. My father lead the diversionary group at the beginning of the operation. The book 'Bridge to Victory' is the best source of information on the operation as the correspondent was imbedded with the 7th Division. A condensed version was reprinted in the October 1943 edition of the Reader's Digest.

Great show gentlemen.

My father, Wendell Kaufman, served with the Seabees on Adac. He never talked much about it, except how crappy the weather was and that they were served rotten pork at mess. He came down with appendicitis and shipped home for surgery. After he recovered he was deployed to Subic Bay in the Philippines to build airstrips for the duration of the war.

1:32:38 according to Jerry Pournelle of the Falkenberg's Legion series, "la cafard" (the bug) was a chronic condition among garrison troops. The recommended treatment was a rifle and the opportunity to use it. However much we might think that sitting out the war in a backwater like Norway or the Aleutians was a good way to survive the war, it has its own challenges for the men there.

Another great show. Thanks

Attack on field hospital: My father served in the 6th ID on Luzon. His regt. captured a Japanese field hospital and killed everyone including doctors and nurses.

Don’t forget that this invasion caused the speed up of the Alcan Highway which became a great engineering achievement.