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The Japanese Occupation Site on Kiska island (along with Attu Island) in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska is where the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked and occupied the island in World War II, as one of the only two enemy invasion sites in North America during the war.
The Japanese occupation of Kiska took place between 6 June 1942 and 28 July 1943 during the Aleutian Islands campaign of the American Theater and the Pacific Theater of World War II. The Japanese occupied Kiska and nearby Attu Island in order to protect the northern flank of the Japanese Empire .
In 1985 the Japanese occupation site on the island was designated a National Historic Landmark and part of Aleutian Islands World War II National Monument. [10] The island is also a part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (AMNWR) and contains the largest colony of least auklets (over 1,160,000 birds) and crested auklets.
Kiska Harbor was the main base for Japanese ships in the campaign and several were sunk there, some by warships but mostly in air raids. On 5 July 1942 the submarine Growler, under command of Lieutenant Commander Howard Gilmore, attacked three Japanese destroyers off Kiska. She sank one and heavily damaged the others, killing or wounding 200 ...
The Allied invasion of Kiska, August 17, 1943. After the heavy casualties suffered at Attu Island, Japanese planners were expecting another costly operation. They realized the isolated Kiska Island was no longer defensible and planned for an evacuation. [citation needed] Starting in late July, there were increasing signs of Japanese withdrawal ...
Battle of Attu battlefield remnants on Attu Island (four areas totaling 2,600 acres (11 km 2)) Japanese Occupation Site on Kiska Island and Little Kiska Island (five areas totaling 2,345 acres (9.49 km 2)) Atka B-24D Liberator crash site on Atka Island (one area of 5 acres (0.020 km 2))
The airfield on Kiska island, and a seaplane base, were built by the occupying Japanese forces during the Second World War in 1942 after the Battle of Dutch Harbor. Thousands of US and 6000 Canadian troops landed on 15 August. The Japanese garrison of 5,183 troops and civilians were evacuated from the island on July 23 under the cover of fog.
The Japanese Northern Army secretly evacuated its remaining garrison from nearby Kiska, ending the Japanese occupation in the Aleutian Islands on 28 July 1943. The loss of Attu and the evacuation of Kiska came shortly after the death of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who was killed by American aircraft in Operation Vengeance.