This is the second volume of Into the Endless Mist, The Aleutian Campaign. The first volume, Into the Endless Mist Volume 1: The Aleutian Campaign, June-August 1942, was reviewed previously. This book picks up right where the first volume left off. While good, a map of the Aleutians theater of operations present in Volume 1, would have benefitted from being included in this volume. A good introduction to this book is summarized by a letter from General Marshall to Private Allen, dated 17 December 1942, stated...

We have these garrisons all over the world and in many of the posts they have not only a great deal of loneliness to combat and lack of action, but extreme discomforts of heat or cold, or wind and rain, as in the Aleutians. The men across the ice cap of Greenland with literally no diverting facilities and Arctic winter darkness to combat, have a very hard role to play. There are others manning air look-out towers in the peaks of the Himalayan Mountains between India and China who have a fearfully trying task to perform. It makes a very moving picture to one who is aware of the conditions.

It is remarkable that the US Army Chief of Staff wrote a letter to a Private, but that showcases a lot about the Chief of Staff and his appreciation for world events, especially in far-flung theaters in the periphery during a worldwide conflagration.

The first volume did an outstanding job of setting the stage regarding the extreme climate, weather patterns, remoteness, and the combatants’ strengths and intentions.

• Into the Endless Mist, Volume 2 - The Aleutian Campaign, September 1942-March 1943 is a part of Helion and Company’s Asia@ War No. 53 (HEL1819). The 78-page page book is complete with extensive photographs, technical details and specifications, and detailed illustrations, composing the following six chapters:
• Chapter 1 – Autumn Campaign of 1942 in the Aleutians
• Chapter 2 – Winter Chess Match in the Aleutians
• Chapter 3 – Landing on Amchitka
• Chapter 4 – Convoy No. 21 “RO”
• Chapter 5 – Comparison of the Japanese Convoy and US Navy Task Force
• Chapter 6 – Battle of the Komandorski Islands
• Chapter 7 – Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Notes
• About the Author

This is the fourth amazingly detailed book that I have reviewed by Polish author Michał A. Piegzik, who lives in Japan, writing about the Japanese in the Pacific.As if that isn’t intriguing enough, author Michał A. Piegzik covers a little known (at least to most Americans) subject in a much larger backdrop of Allied defeats in the early Pacific War.His previous books in this series, The Darkest Hour – The Japanese Offensive in the Indian Ocean 1942 (two volumes), tie in nicely with this new two volume set, both of which were based on the Kidō Butai (Mobile Strike Force – Carrier Force). This volume does not disappoint, and the pages turn quickly as more information is absorbed in an easy to comprehend format. The detail, especially involving the Japanese navy, their ships, captains, locations and missions is simply amazing. He compares claims by both sides with the other side’s reports. In a battle of giants, this attention to minor detail is phenomenal.

The Japanese had a foothold in the western Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska and had naval superiority. The Americans landed on Adak on 30 August 1942, thus considerably decreasing the distance for aircraft to travel from Dutch Harbor. American aviation forces pressed their advantage while the Japanese defended with float planes, primarily Rufes. In a war of attrition, the Japanese were on the negative ledger, at least in the air.

During this war in the Northern Pacific, the Japanese and American forces were also battling it out in the South Pacific, primarily in the Eastern Solomon Islands, focused on Guadalcanal, which the Japanese quickly dubbed “Hell Island”. The competing theaters were tied together with limited naval and air forces for both sides. Both American and Japanese navies transferred ships from one end of the Pacific to another.

While the Japanese held both Attu and Kiska, the decision was made to harbor resources for the winter and Attu was abandoned.With the American moves westward, that decision was reversed, and the Attu garrison was reinstated. The Nippon Kaigun (Imperial Japanese Navy) was essential in providing material support through convoys, supplies, and float plane support against American bombers, while the Nippon Rikugun (Imperial Japanese Army) was largely responsible for the defense of the islands. Due to weather conditions and lack of adequate naval transport support, airfields were planned, but not developed.

With naval convoys being instrumental in holding the Japanese occupied islands, a naval strategy was primarily adopted, with favor going to the Japanese in numbers. The American strategy was to contain the Japanese to the seized islands and preventing further reinforcement until American forces gained in strength for the invasions. Air power was critical in balancing naval inferiority. The American landing on Amchitka was key to increasing air power for the coming fight.

A key aspect of the campaign, and this book, is Japanese Convoy No. 21 “RO” which was a large transport of supplies and troops to their Aleutian garrisons. Around this convoy was organized a large and powerful naval force, with the Japanese relying on the bad weather to mask its presence. When the Americans learned of this convoy, it sallied forth a naval task force to prevent the Japanese from reinforcing the islands. Thus, the conditions were set for the pivotal Battle of the Komandorski Islands.

The Battle of the Komandorski Islands took place over just five hours on 27 March 1943. The outnumbered and outgunned American task force held its own against the superior Japanese fleet, largely due to weather, bad Japanese decisions, and pure luck.The Americans use of radar (the Japanese didn’t have radar on most of their ships at this stage in the war), bravery and ship damage control carried the day against the better armament and range of the Japanese fleet. The author’s details and descriptions are well stated, backed up with facts such as number of naval shells fired, positions, timing, and other facts. The author summarized the battle,

The battle of the Komandorski Islands was the culmination of the aerial and naval struggle for the Aleutian Islands. Since the seizing of Attu and Kiska in early June 1942, the Japanese attempted to actively oppose the American strategy of regaining both islands. Once Convoy No. 21 “RO” failed to reach Attu and the Fifth Fleet could not take advantage of its superiority at sea, the Japanese lost their last upper hand in the North Pacific campaign.

He goes on further,

The Aleutian Islands campaign from 3 June 1942 to 27 March 1943 was undoubtedly the period of equal rivalry between the Japanese and the Americans. The latter profited from their advantages through various strategic initiatives and secured the approach to reclaiming Attu and Kiska. Once the struggle in the North Pacific turned to unquestioned domination by the Americans, the Japanese could only prepare for the worst.

American forces invaded Attu on 11 May 1943 and the end of the Japanese garrison was a foregone conclusion. The Japanese could not reinforce or relieve the Attu defenders.The commander of Japanese forces, Colonel Yamasaki, decided, and received Emperor Hirohito’s permission, to change tactics from defense to a decisive action to inflict massive losses on American forces in a morale sapping “gyokusai” (honorable defeat) – a suicidal defense without the possibility of surrendering. This is where the author’s knowledge of Japan and Japanese language comes in helpful as he describes what is at conflict to western thought, but natural for Japanese culture – duty to the Emperor and Japan over self-preservation. After midnight on 29 May 1943, the remaining 800 Japanese soldiers “charged like an avalanche, shouting ‘banzai’ and running directly under the machine guns.” After the initial shock, the Japanese were eliminated, with only 28 soldiers surviving, most of them seriously injured, “suffered a complete nervous breakdown and were, therefore, unable to commit suicide.”

When the American and Canadian invasion forces attacked Kiska on 15 August 1943, they found the island deserted. The Japanese didn’t want to repeat the sacrifice of the Attu garrison and evacuated the Kiska garrison through some amazing naval exfiltration with submarines and surface forces. Unfortunately, during the invasion, Canadian and American forces mistook each other, and a firefight broke out, resulting in 32 killed and 50 wounded.

The final chapter on the ground forces and fighting in retaking Attu and Kiska were not as detailed as the naval and air actions leading up to the invasions. There is hope as Michał A. Piegzik writes,

The North Pacific campaign from April to August 1943, outlined in the last pages of this volume, fascinates and frightens the author simultaneously, as the fate of the ‘twin Japanese garrisons’ was vastly different. The tragedy of the ‘honourable defeat’ of Attu and the ‘Miracle of Kiska’ certainly deserves a more detailed study. The potential book, a natural continuation of this work, will fill in the gaps in the Japanese perspective on the bloody and blurry events of the less-known theater of the Pacific War.

This reviewer certainly hopes so. As this is a story that needs to be told, Michał A. Piegzik is a great author to write it, and we would benefit from it.

Modelers will appreciate the plethora of black and white period photographs of Japanese and American aircraft and warships that took part in the Aleutians Campaign. Also of interest are the photos of American forces daily life in those bleak outposts. The color profile section, for which Helion’s @War series is known, is replete with A6M-2 Type 0 Model 11 (also known as the A6M2-N Rufe), Aichi E13A Jake, Mitsubishi GM4 Betty, Douglas A-24B Banshee, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, North American B-25 Mitchell, Martin B-26 Marauder, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Bell P-39 Airacobra, Curtiss P-40E Warhawk, RCAF P-40, Lockheed PV-1 Ventura, PBY-5A Catalina, and Grumman F4F-3P Wildcat. The heavy cruiser USS Salt Lake City is also treated to a three-sided color illustration. The author and illustrators have provided a fantastic reference source for modelers, vignettes, and dioramas for an often neglected, yet crucial theater of the Pacific War.

Profuse thanks to Casemate and IPMS/USA for providing the review sample.