<p>It was cold, to begin with. It had the williwaw, a brisk wind of about 100 mph (160 km/h). There was neither a calm nor a dry season, and it was possible to have both thick fog and high winds simultaneously. The weather was good perhaps eight to 10 days each year. "If you can see for 100 feet, it's a clear day," said the pilots.
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<p>That was the daily condition in the Aleutian chain, where the frozen war was fought by the freezing Eleventh Air Force. It was in action early. Admiral Yamamoto, in his planned attack on Midway in June 1942, sent a diversionary force spearheaded by two carriers to the Aleutians, hoping to convince the US that it was a serious threat against the northern approaches and so dilute the possible opposition at Midway.
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<p>The Eleventh was forewarned through intelligence messages. It mustered its handful of heavy bombers, its mediums, and a few squadrons of fighters. Augmented by US Navy patrol boats and three Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons on temporary transfer with the Americans, they set out to defeat the foe. The Japanese bombed Dutch Harbor, at the Alaska end of the Aleutians, and landed occupation forces on Kiska and Attu, at the opposite end of the chain. When the offensive ceased, it had cost the defending forces 78 men and 14 planes.
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<p>The Eleventh then was given the task of striking the Japanese shore installations, which were well and cleverly defended. The enemy had about 50 'Rufe' (Nakajima A6M2) floatplane fighters. They had set up anti-aircraft batteries of several calibers. They had surveyed the routes by which any US attackers might come, and had strung cables across the mountain passes they might use in the approach. On the first raid, a conventional high-altitude bombing mission, the Americans were pounded hard by the defenses, and lost one of the heavy bombers. On the second raid, they came in low with B-17s, surprised the Japanese and bombed well, they thought. But post-strike photo-reconnaissance showed no hits at all.
