Japanese occupation of Attu
Part of World War II, Pacific War
Four Japanese seaplanes over Attu on November 7, 1942. Photo taken by American surveillance aircraft.
Date June 6, 1942 - May 30, 1943 Location Attu, Aleutian Islands, Pacific Ocean Result Japanese occupation commences.
Belligerents
United States	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
N/A	Imperial Japanese Army: Boshirō Hosogaya Imperial Japanese Navy Yasuyo Yamazaki Matsutoshi Hosumi
Strength
N/A	1,140-2,900 infantry
Casualties and losses
1 killed, 46 captured	none

The Japanese occupation of Attu was the result of a Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands during World War II. Imperial Japanese Army troops landed on June 6, 1942 at the same time as the invasion of Kiska. The occupation ended with the Allied victory in the Battle of Attu which ended on May 30, 1943.

In May of 1942, the Japanese in Tokyo began a campaign against Midway, there objective was to occupy the islands and destroy the remaining United States Navy forces in the Pacific. In order to decieve the American Pacific Fleet, a diversionary attack was ordered to take place in the Aleutians, thus beginning the Aleutian Islands Campaign. during the Battle of Midway, Japanese forces were repulsed in a descive action, meanwhile on June 6, Japanese naval forces under Boshirō Hosogaya landed troops unopposed at Kiska and Attu. A force consisting of 1,140 infantry under Major Matsutoshi Hosumi took contol of the island and captured forty-five Aleut civilians and a school teacher. The school teacher's husband was killed during the invasion, the Japanese army was suspected of executing him. After landing, the soldiers began constructing an airbase and fortifications. The nearest American forces were on Unalaska Island at Dutch Harbor and at an airbase on Adak Island. Initially the Japanese intended to hold the Aleutians only until the winter of 1942, however, the occupation continued into 1943 in order to deny the Americans use of the islands. In August of 1943, the garrison of Attu was moved to Kiska to help repel a suspected American attack. From August to October 1943, Attu was free but when a 2,900 man force under Colonel Yasuyo Yamazaki arrived, the island was again a Japanese possesion. The new garrison of Attu continued constructing the airfield and fortifictations until May of 1943 when a 15,000 man army of American and Candian troops landed.

During the Battle of Attu, all but twenty-nine men of the Japanese garrison were killed. Allied forces under General John L. DeWitt took control of the island on May 30 after the remaining Japanese troops conducted a massive banzai charge. American and Canadian forces lost 1,600 killed or wounded and another 2,100 evacuated due to weather related injuries. The occupation ended with the Allied victory and American forces used the Japanese built airfield to launch bomber attacks against the Japanese home islands.

• Attacks on North America during World War II

• Chandonnet, Furn, "Alaska at War 1941 - 1945, The Forgotten War Remembered", University of Alaska Press, Anchorage, Alaska (2008), pg.# 23-26, ISBN 9781602230132
• Olthuis, Dianne, "It Happened in Alaska", Morris Book Publishing, Gulford, Conneticut (2006) pg.# 119, ISBN 9780762739080