The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
planes, useful in covering the northern approaches across the Pacific
to Japan, although some time before the Midway action the plan had
been altered to eliminate Adak.'13 Along with a small occupation force
aboard two transports, the Japanese prepared a task force built around
the two small carriers Junyo and Ryujo, which with two heavy cruisers
and three destroyers would attack shipping, planes, and shore installa-
tions at Dutch Harbor. There was no intention of invading the
Alaskan mainland, or even Dutch Harbor; the objective was to create
a diversion for Midway, then fall back to support the occupation of
the western A1e~tians.I~~O n 30 May the task force sortied from Omi-
nato in North Honshu; its attack upon Dutch Harbor was scheduled
for 3 June, one day earlier than the date set for Midway.
Meanwhile Admiral Nimitz, having dispatched all available surface
craft northward from Pearl Harbor, on 2 1 May placed all Army,
Navy, and Canadian forces in the Alaskan theatp under Rear Adm.
Robert A. Theobald, as commander of Task Force 8.l" In the Alaskan
theater, work proceeded at a feverish pace far out on Umnak Island,
where the secret base was under construction. All available men were
put to work constructing hardstands along the steel mat and by the
23d of May twenty-five of them were ready although they were
unfloored. The work was exceedingly difficult. During the sunny days
of spring, progress had been excellent, but by June the rains had come,
followed by blizzards, and the construction work bogged down in
deep mud."' By the end of March, a 3,000 x roo-foot strip was usable
at Umnak, but it was far from satisfactory. Even in June, when it had
reached 5,000 feet, it was unstable, it tossed fighters thirty feet into the
air upon impact, and waves in it made its use by B-26's exceedingly
risky. Yet it did permit fighters to operate."'
From early April, the garrisons in Alaska had been alerted to expect
attack at any moment upon one of the naval operating bases at Kodiak,
Sitka, and Dutch Harbor, and Generals Butler and Buckner had pressed
hard for reinforcements as they moved what planes could be spared out
to Fort Greeley on Kodiak, Cold Bay on Alaska Peninsula, and Fort
Glenn on Umnak, a t the expense of some of the fields in the rear
area.'" On 26 May, a flight of ten B-26's of the 77th Bombardment
Squadron moved to Cold Bay. By I June a naval squadron of twelve
F-fl's was en route to Kodiak; the Canadian Western Air Command
had dispatched one squadron of bomber reconnaissance Bolingbrokes
to Yakutat, in addition to fifteen P-40's to Fort Richardson; twenty-
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