Mortal Enemies struggled with weather and confusion in the Aleutians in June. Task Force 1 had bombed Dutch Harbor, not once, but twice. But the Americans had yet to hear from Task force 2.
Link to another story “Icy Fog Defended Dutch Harbor”
Admiral Hosogaya’s task force still lurked somewhere west of Task Force 1 in the fogbound waters of the North Pacific. Three cruisers, nine destroyers, three transports, and a screen of submarines carried more mortal enemies, 2,500 soldiers who proposed to occupy American territory at Adak, Kiska and Attu.
Hosogaya, knowing that the American Air Force had planes on Umnak, in range of Adak, cancelled his plans for a landing there and steamed further west to Kiska and Attu. On June 7th, his troops stormed ashore on Kiska and the following day more of them invaded Attu.
As inhospitable to human beings as any place on earth, Alaska’s Aleutian Islands offer roaring winds, bitter cold, active volcanoes… But the people known as “Aleuts”, perfectly adapted to their environment, have lived there continuously for 8,000 years.
For three months after the Japanese invasion, the Aleuts of Chichagof Village lived with fear and uncertainty. The Japanese interrogated then sequestered and confined them. At the end of August, the Japanese razed Chichagof village and carried the 41 Aleuts who lived there to Kiska, abandoning Attu to its fate.
At Dutch Harbor, taking stock on June 5, American commanders judged the battle of Dutch Harbor a draw—good enough. But four days later they got the news of Kiska and Attu.
Clearly Dutch Harbor and the Aleutians remained in play and at risk. The Japanese had taken the western Aleutians, and they would hold them until a bloody US invasion dislodged them in May of 1943.