3 ms·

What about the Japanese invasion of Alaska? Nearly 1500 Allied soldiers lost their lives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleutian_Islands_Campaign https://en.w

• douche 10y ago
  I'm not sure I'd qualify the Aleutian invasion as effective. At best it was a waste of men and materiel, and at worst it weakened the Japanese taskforce at the battle of Midway by two potentially decisive aircraft carriers.
• tedunangst 10y ago
  Alaska isn't really considered "mainland" even today, and it wasn't granted statehood until after the war.
• wtracy 10y ago
  The Aleutian Islands are not part of the North American mainland. If we were talking about talks on U.S. sovereign soil (is that what you meant?) we'd have to include Pearl Harbor as well. Also, this source gives American casualties as 3,929 (!) of which only 549 (!!!) were combat casualties: http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=20 http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=20 Friendly fire and Japanese booby traps apparently account for most of the remainder. The most infamous friendly fire incidents occurred during Operation Cottage, when the US invaded an island that the Japanese had already abandoned two weeks earlier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cottage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cottage
• HillaryBriss 10y ago
  Interesting article. I found this in it: The day before the withdrawal, the U.S. Navy fought an inconclusive and possibly meaningless Battle of the Pips 80 mi (70 nmi; 130 km) to the west. The Japanese may have been gone, but Allied casualties on Kiska nevertheless numbered 313.