81 years ago today, 11 May 1943, the battle of Attu began. Code named Operation Landcrab it lasted from the 11th to the 30th of May. It was the only battle on American soil and only cold weather battle between the US and Japan.

An irony to the battle was the troops of the 7th Infantry Division had apparently been training in the desert prior expecting to be sent to North Africa. Then after the freezing battle in Alaska their next battle would be on the little steamy atoll of Kwajalein.

It is an interesting battle and recommend following a link or two to read a bit more details on it
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/retaking-aleutians-1943” https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-attu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Attu
or for the dedicated https://www.nps.gov/aleu/planyourvisit/upload/Attu-Forgotten-Battle-Optimized-508.pdf

Rather than essentially copy paste what other have written ill leave you with the links and go over some uniforms and equipment instead. Something that always made this battle stand out was the unique look it has compared to others. The most common outer garment seen in photos is the Arctic M1941 Jacket. This is probably the largest concentration of them in photos from the war. Some reversible parkas are also seen but they are few and usually seen on officers. Foot wear were Blucher Boots. Basically just high boots that were heavily oiled. All completely unsuitable for the climate.

Field gear wise it was mostly basic. nothing really unique. Canteens almost all seem to be the aluminum capped variety though. Helmet net usage seems to be about 50/50 and when used they are the OD 1/2″ square style. Occasionally some ill have scrim on them as well.

Some guys seem to have been issued arctic pants as well. It is a bit hard to tell who but usually the lighter color one in photos should be the arctic trousers.

So that’s about it. See what else you can see in there. The last link above to the PDF of the “Forgotten Battle” has a lot of good pictures as well.