Battle of Dutch Harbor

Significance

The Battle of Dutch Harbor on 3–4 June 1942 opened the Aleutian Islands campaign of World War II, as the Imperial Japanese Navy launched two carrier-based air raids against the Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and U.S. Army Fort Mears on Amaknak Island. The attack marked the first aerial bombardment of North American soil by an enemy power, though Amaknak Island was part of the Alaska Territory rather than a U.S. state or the continental United States. By initiating the Aleutian campaign, the raids drew American strategic attention and resources to the northern Pacific, extending the geographic scope of the Pacific War into subarctic terrain that neither side was fully prepared to contest.

Commanders (4)