Many people have the impression that before 9/11, the United States had not been attacked by foreign countries on its own territory since Pearl Harbor in 1941.
However, this was not the case, as the United States suffered multiple attacks during World War II alone. Admittedly, these attacks are not large in scale, and the damage done to the American mainland is equivalent to scratching an itch. So it's easy to see why everyone thinks the U.S. mainland was never attacked during World War II. In fact, the strict statement should be that in the 20th century, the United States has suffered large-scale attacks, but there have been several small attacks.
Here are five attacks on the U.S. mainland during World War II:
Fire Balloon Attack
Above, the Americans re-inflate the Japanese hot air balloon they had previously shot down in California.
Beginning in 1944, Japan fired fire balloons over the Pacific Ocean toward the United States, which were capable of igniting with payloads of up to 15 kilograms of explosives.
Named Fu-Go, they were the first intercontinental weapon ever used, and they held the record for the longest range of attack weapons in the history of warfare until the 1982 Air Raids of Operation Black Deer in the United Kingdom during the Falklands War. In the last year of the Pacific War, Japan launched 9,300 such balloons, of which only 350 landed in the United States. However, many simply landed in uninhabited areas, and some were even never discovered. Unfortunately, in 1945, in a forest in Oregon, a pregnant woman and five children stumbled upon one of them and was killed.
The Oregon fortifications were attacked by the Japanese
Above, U.S. servicemen inspect craters after the I-25 attack on Stevensburg.
On the night of June 21, 1942, the Japanese submarine I-25 surfaced off the Coast of Oregon to shell fortifications at Fort Stevens. The submarine silently followed the fishing boat through the minefield near the coast, stopping 10 miles from Stevensburg. The submarine then fired 17 rounds of 5.5-inch shells at the fort, causing virtually no damage. As artillery fire began to land around the fortifications, Stevensburg soldiers were sleeping on their bunks. They acted quickly and returned to their respective posts in total darkness, as they were forbidden to turn on the lights. Once they reached their posts, the commander refused to let them fire, as this would expose the exact location and firepower of the fort, and the soldiers in the fort could only watch dryly.
In June 1942, German troops landed on the East Coast of the United States
Located on the East River and known as Hell's Gate, the Hell's Gate Bridge, which separates Queens' Astoria and Ward Island, was the only railroad bridge in New York in the mid-20th century. The bridge opened to traffic in 1916 and was considered one of the strongest bridges in the world at the time.
Most of the attacks on the United States during World War II came from Japan, but in 1942 Germany also underwent a shift. In June of that year, four agents jumped out of a German submarine near New York and landed with camouflage, money and explosives. Another similar team chose to head to Florida for operations.
Their goal is to weaken U.S. industry from within and hinder America's ability to wage war. In addition, they hope that these measures will affect the morale of the US military and force the American public to want to withdraw from the war. The photo above is of the Hell's Gate Bridge in Queens, New York, which was one of the main targets the German soldiers were responsible for destroying.
Fortunately for the United States, these people are useless. With a questionable background and only 18 days of training, the mission went wrong almost at the beginning. They were spotted by the Coast Guard immediately upon arrival but managed to escape. A massive manhunt began, but they were easily captured because the leader of the operation had sold the mission to the FBI. Six of the eight were executed, and the other two served six years in prison before eventually returning to Germany as traitors.
California refineries were attacked
In the image above, both oil fields show the location of the damage caused by Japanese shelling. The "Cactus Bush" incident occurred about 300 meters west of the damaged oil well.
In February 1942, months before the Japanese submarine I-25 operated near Oregon, the submarine I-17 was involved in a similar activity, but this time against a California refinery. Similar to I-25, I-17 surfaced 10 miles off the coast of California and fired 17 shells at the oil processing site in Elwood. And, like the I-25, the shots were completely blind and did little damage. Still, the incident caused a huge panic on the West Coast of the United States. The I-17 took part in the Attack of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and was the first enemy ship to attack the United States during the war. In August 1943, it was sunk by depth charges.
Logging towns were bombed
The attack was another operation organized by the I-25 submarine. There was a small aircraft on board for reconnaissance, and the crew of the I-25 realized they could use it for attacks. In early September 1942, the light aircraft, piloted by Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita, flew to the forested areas of Oregon with incendiary bombs. Incendiary bombs succeeded in causing a small fire in the forest, but the fire did not spread due to the rapid action of the fire lookout and conditions that were not conducive to the fire. I-25 launched a second attack in late September with similar results. The submarine was also sunk a year later.
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