Into the Endless Mist

At the beginning of June 1942, in the wake of the enormous Japanese struggle to bring a conclusive victory in the Pacific War, the Imperial Japanese Navy commenced Operation 'AL' (AL 作戦, AL Sakusen). Among the objectives of this bold plan, was the 2nd Kidō Butai carrier-borne strike on the American military base at Dutch Harbor and seizing part of the United States territory, namely the western part of the Aleutian Archipelago in the North Pacific. Operation 'AL', elaborated by the Navy General Staff (軍令部, Gunreibu), was a response to a gamble by the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet (連合艦隊, Rengō Kantai) to seek a decisive naval battle in the Central Pacific near Midway. Senior naval staff, being reluctant about Admiral Yamamoto's plan of putting on-edge the Nippon Kaigun's main striking potential, desired to secure the northern approach of the home islands and prevent the potential US-Soviet military cooperation against Japan. By conquering two islands in the Aleutians, Attu and Kiska, the Japanese Army and Navy intended to turn them into bastions that, directly supplied from Kurile Islands, would check the American advance from the north by at least the summer of 1943.

Despite the initial supremacy at sea in the North Pacific, the Japanese could only defend their newly established positions in Aleutians and wait for the opponent's move. The great disaster at Midway scuttled the plan to create a greater defensive perimeter, stretching from the far north to the Central Pacific, to intercept American carriers on their way to strike Tokyo again. Ironically, after the battle of Midway, neither the Americans had enough forces to reconquer two lost islands, nor could they predict the enemy's long-term objectives. Japanese presence on the US land, remote on maps but seen as a natural highway to Alaska's doors, also wreaked havoc among military personnel and politicians in Washington D.C., sharing the same fear of an attack on the Western Coast.

The Aleutian campaign was never meant to threaten Alaska or Seattle significantly. After the withdrawal of the Japanese carriers from the North Pacific, nothing but a stalemate could be achieved by Nippon Kaigun. Due to limited resources and severe weather conditions, the struggle for the Aleutians turned into the exchange of blows, while waiting for the outcome of the Guadalcanal Campaign.

Volume 1 covers the events from Operation 'AL' (including the Japanese raid on Dutch Harbor and the invasion of Attu and Kiska) to the American landing on Adak in late August 1942.

'Lost in the Mist and Sheer Cold' is an account of the forgotten struggle in the Aleutians, based on meticulous research of American and Japanese primary sources, testimonies, monographs, and papers. The book's goal is to present the most objective image of a campaign in which the weather largely decided victory and defeat - or life and death.