Aleutian Islands

In WWII, the Japanese landed on two islands in the Alaskan Aleutians, as part of the misdirection plan during the battle of Midway.  Throughout the winter of 1942-1943 and into the spring, the US forces allowed the IJA to remain in place, building fortifications.  At this time, the Alaskan winter was the larger enemy, as the IJA found out.  They hung on through the winter and spring only to find that the US had no real interest in pushing them off the bare rock.  When the Allies finally did attack the islands, they found the Japanese forces tenaciously dug into the first.  After several bloody battles, they finally rooted out the IJA, and set their sites on the second island.  When they landed there, they found the Japanese forces had abandoned it to the weather.

This diorama demonstrates an IJA soldier bringing supplies on a nice spring day.  Dogsled was the only effective overland travel, as the IJA was not able to land an effective air force, nor would it have been able to fly even if they had.  Conditions on the islands were horrible, with fog, sleet and ice storms raging for the 8 months of winter, and the cold ocean winds blowing at over 100 mph throughout the year rendering the rest of the spring and summer barely tolerable.