Recently, Lieutenant General McKenzie, a senior general of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, mentioned that the US military has extensive experience in "seizing islands." During World War II, they made the Japanese troops stationed on the Pacific islands famous, but in reality the U.S. island-taking operation was not perfect. During World War II, they endured a number of fierce battles, including landing operations on the islands of Kuah, Saipan, and Okinawa, which resulted in the casualties of thousands of American soldiers. However, there was also a strange battle to seize the island, involving dozens of warships and 30,000 soldiers, who went so far as to capture an uninhabited island at great cost, and ultimately found only three abandoned Japanese dogs.
As early as the beginning of World War II, the Japanese army won one victory after another in the Pacific theater. In June 1942, in order to confuse the U.S. deployment, Japan sent two aircraft carriers and six cruisers to occupy the islands of Attu and Giscard in the Aleutian Islands on U.S. territory. It was also the first time since 1812 that U.S. territory was occupied by a foreign country. However, with the defeat at the Battle of Midway, the Japanese army realized that there was no point in holding on to these two remote overseas islands again. On Attu Island in particular, about 15,000 American soldiers were the first to land, eliminating 2,500 Japanese soldiers on the island at the cost of nearly 4,000 casualties, forcing the Japanese army to retreat. Under a tight blockade by American troops, the Japanese army carried out a desperate retreat. They initially used submarines to secretly evacuate 800 wounded, and then, before the American army could detect it, the Japanese army took advantage of the foggy weather in the North Pacific to break through the US Navy blockade and successfully evacuate more than 5,200 soldiers in less than an hour. At this time, the U.S. military thought that there were still thousands of Japanese soldiers holding on to the island, so a farce in American military history began.
On August 1, 1945, the U.S. military launched a fierce attack, dispatching dozens of warships and a large number of bombers to bomb Giska Island indiscriminately. After half a month of fire preparation, 30,000 American soldiers and 5,000 Canadian troops cautiously landed on Giscard Island. However, in dense fog and panic, American soldiers opened fire on any suspicious target, resulting in a large number of friendly casualties. There was even a destroyer that was sunk by a mine, killing and wounding more than 200 people. Eventually, it took three full days for the American military to recognize that Giscard Island was uninhabited. However, during this period, the U.S. military paid a huge price of 313 killed, and finally found only three dogs left on the island by Japanese soldiers.