The Military Deployments of T2K

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by Abbott Shaull

Yeah but the operation of retaking those island tied up resources. Not enough to affect the outcome of the war or to go as far as saying they prolonged the war, but still they tied up resources.

I think this is where the Alaska and Northwest Pacific Invasion angle comes in, even as bone headed as particular.

The sad thing is that it was the pressure of a few Congressmen that forced the Joint Chiefs to retake Kiska/Attu. Alaska Command was relucant to retake the islands due to the rather unique weather conditions that hampered any meaningful-sized air campaign. And the Japanese had just as much trouble in keeping the islands supplied. All in all, Kiska/Attu were an utter waste of resources to take, hold and retake. The only useful thing that came out of the entire Aleutian Campaign was the recovered Zero fighter that was repaired and flight tested to insure that the F6F Hellcat fighter outperformed the Zero...

[Abbott Shaull]

Well yeah, considering that both Hawaii and Alaska were years from statehood to. Yeah and considering all the island that the Japanese had taken that they bypassed during the war. I am sure a few islands with little more than few thousand Japanese soldier on them was more of thorn in one side than any tactical importance....

[HorseSoldier]

In the Twilight War, I would think that a Soviet seizure of Alaskan territory would have propaganda implications that would inflate the importance of the fight beyond what might be reasonable (contesting control of the pipeline is important, contesting control of Nome or Bethel, Alaska, or any of the Aleutians . . . not so much).

In WW2, I don't know if this would have been the case. I haven't read the media coverage from back then, but get the sense that obscure Alaskan islands probably meant less to the public mindset than the Philipines back then. I'm not sure there was a burning need to reclaim American territory, as embodied by the islands out there in the middle of nowhere, but may be wrong.

[Abbott Shaull]

The thing is there is reason why the Russian were so willing to sell Alaska in the first place. If they had some limited objectives, they could of used a force that was more tailored for those objectives instead of invading the Pacific Northwest with what amounted to a Front that found itself cut off.