Battle of Attu

Battle of Attu
Part of the Aleutian Islands campaign
U.S. soldiers fire mortar shells over a ridge onto a Japanese position on 4 June 1943
Date 11–30 May 1943 Japanese holdouts until 8 September 1943 Location Attu, Aleutian Islands, Territory of Alaska, United States Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States  Canada[1]	Japan
Commanders and leaders
John DeWitt Thomas Kinkaid Albert Brown Eugene Landrum Archibald Arnold	Yasuyo Yamasaki †
Strength
15,000[1]	2,600
Casualties and losses
549 killed 1,148 wounded 1,814 frostbitten and sick[2]	2,351 killed or committed suicide 28 captured ~200 missing or holding out[3]

The Battle of Attu (codenamed Operation Landcrab),^[4] which took place on 11–30 May 1943, was fought between forces of the United States, aided by Canadian reconnaissance and fighter-bomber support, and Japan on Attu Island off the coast of the Territory of Alaska as part of the Aleutian Islands campaign during the American Theater and the Pacific Theater. Attu is the only land battle in which Japanese and American forces fought in snowy conditions, in contrast with the tropical climate in the rest of the Pacific. The battle ended when most of the Japanese defenders were killed in brutal hand-to-hand combat after a final banzai charge broke through American lines.