Another task force still lurked off the Aleutians.
The Japanese carrier task force had bombed Dutch Harbor, not once, but twice, completed their mission. But another Japanese task force, the one carrying invasion troops still lurked.
The Japanese Bomb Dutch Harbor
As the opposing forces in the Aleutians struggled through the weather and their own confusion on June 4, events at Midway, far to the south, took a dramatic turn. The American Navy all but destroyed Yamamoto’s fleet that day. No one on either side knew it yet on June 4 and 5, but Midway ended Japan’s romp through the Pacific; put them permanently on the defensive.
In shock, his grand strategy in shambles, Yamamoto struggled. At first blush, the assault on the Aleutians looked like a waste of time. But Japan still needed to defend itself at the north. And an Aleutian victory might help counter the effects of the Midway disaster on the Japanese public.
The Aleutian operation would go on.
On the water in the North Pacific, Admiral Hosogaya, commander of the invasion fleet forces, knowing that the American Air Force had planes on Umnak, in range of Adak, cancelled his plans for a landing there and steamed west to Kiska and Attu. Two days later, June 7th, the enemy occupied Kiska and the following day troops invaded Attu.
An estimated 2500 enemy troops had taken the western Aleutians. They would remain until a bloody US invasion dislodged them in May of 1943.
At Dutch Harbor, taking stock, on June 5, American commanders judged the battle of Dutch Harbor a draw—good enough. Four more days would pass before they learned that the Japanese had occupied Kiska and Attu—American soil. Clearly Dutch Harbor and the Aleutians remained at risk, and they needed to make changes.
On June 21st the Navy made an official statement to the press, “The enemy has occupied the undefended islands of Attu and Kiska…”