The Saga of World War 2: a Casus Belli Project · Cassus Belli Guy

Battle for the Backwater

·29 min·1 clip

11,000 troops staged at sea for Ah-Tu, while scouts paddled in from submarines before dawn.

1. The Saga of World War 2: a Casus Belli Project episode “Battle for the Backwater” closes out the Aleutian Islands campaign around Attu and Kiska. 2. The host narrates the campaign as a “weird backburner campaign” while comparing it to New Georgia, the Solomon Islands, and Operation Husky. 3. The episode asks what the Aleutians accomplished for the U.S. military after the landing on Attu on May 11, 1943. 4. Eleven thousand troops staged offshore for the Attu assault, and the 7th Scout Company landed from submarines Narwhal and Nautilus before dawn. 5. The first landings went to Scarlet Beach, Red Beach, Yellow Beach, and Blue Beach instead of a direct strike on Chickaguff Harbor or Holtz Bay. 6. The plan was to use relatively unopposed beaches to build supply lines and approach the Japanese defenders from the rear. 7. The 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry landed at Red Beach after delays in the fog and then faced a rock-studded shore and a 200-foot escarpment. 8. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 17th Infantry landed in Massacre Bay and ran into enemy fire near Jarman Pass. 9. By the end of May 11, 3,500 men of the 7th Infantry Division were ashore, including General Brown. 10. Colonel Yasuyo Yamazaki kept his garrison dug in 3,000 to 4,000 yards from the waterline instead of defending the beaches. 11. USS Pennsylvania, USS Idaho, and carrier aircraft supported the attack, and 48 high-explosive rounds from Idaho helped suppress anti-aircraft positions. 12. Mud, muskeg, fog, and Japanese machine guns turned the advance into a day-by-day struggle in both the north and south. 13. The southern force around Jarman Pass spent several days making little progress while casualties mounted and transport unloading became a labor problem. 14. The northern force fought for Hill X, and naval gunfire allowed 117 Infantry to take the crest while the reverse slope remained contested. 15. On May 15, the Provisional Battalion advanced toward Moore Ridge, but friendly bombs and long sight lines complicated the assault. 16. Brown met with Admiral Rockwell aboard Pennsylvania, asked for more men and equipment, and was then replaced as landing force commander. 17. Major General Eugene Landrum arrived on May 16 just as Japanese forces withdrew to the inner cordon around Attu and the Americans began to gain ground. 18. The later fighting included the clearing of Holtz Bay, the grueling push into the town of Attu, and a Japanese counterattack of roughly 700 to 1,000 men on May 29. 19. The narration’s tone is operational and analytical, with detailed unit movements, ship names, casualty totals, and weather conditions. 20. Listeners interested in World War II amphibious warfare and Arctic combat would likely stay with it, while listeners wanting a fast overview of the Pacific war might skip it.

As heard by us

A backburner Pacific campaign, told through weather, logistics, and command friction.

The Aleutian Islands campaign reads as a hard, methodical fight at the edge of the map, with weather and distance shaping the action as much as gunfire.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want an Aleutian Islands campaign story where fog, beach conditions, and logistics shape the fight.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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