The wars reach American shores
Both world wars touched American territory directly, though rarely and briefly. During the First World War, German agents ran a sabotage campaign against munitions bound for the Allies, most spectacularly the Black Tom explosion of 30 July 1916, when a depot in Jersey City, New Jersey, blew up with a force felt across the harbour and damage to the Statue of Liberty. The Second World War brought the only major foreign attacks on United States soil: the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor, the occupation of two Aleutian islands, submarine shelling of the Pacific coast, and a strange campaign of incendiary balloons launched across the ocean to reach the mainland.
Pearl Harbor, the Aleutians, and the Pacific coast
The attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 crippled much of the Pacific Fleet and brought the country into the war. In 1942 Japanese forces landed on Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands, the only United States soil occupied by a foreign power in the conflict; American and Canadian troops retook Attu in a costly battle in 1943 before finding Kiska abandoned. Japanese submarines shelled coastal sites in California and Oregon, including Fort Stevens and an oil facility near Santa Barbara. Late in the war Japan released thousands of paper balloon bombs, the Fu-Go, carried by high winds toward North America; one killed a group of civilians in Oregon, the only combat deaths on the mainland from enemy action.
Written by Aubrey Research from Attacks on North America during World War II on Wikipedia, cited as a reference and not reproduced.
Where these engagements were fought
All 12 are placed on the map. Select a marker to see the engagement.
Red markers are surveyed battlefields with a mapped boundary; navy markers are point-located engagements. Select a marker to open its page.
Documented engagements
| Engagement | State | Year | Forces or losses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Tom explosion | NJ | 1916 | Sabotage: at least 7 killed, ~100+ injured; ~$20M in damage |
| Battle of Dutch Harbor | AK | 1942 | 43 killed, 50 wounded, 14 aircraft lost; Japan: 10 killed… |
| Bombardment of Fort Stevens | OR | 1942 | No casualties; minor damage (telephone cables) |
| Kingsland explosion | NJ | 1917 | Sabotage: no deaths reported; plant destroyed (~500,000… |
| Attack on Pearl Harbor | HI | 1941 | 2,403 killed, 1,178 wounded, 4 battleships sunk, 188… |
| Japanese occupation of Attu | AK | 1942 | Japanese landing force (301st Independent Infantry Bn)… |
| Japanese occupation of Kiska | AK | 1942 | Japanese force ~500 (later thousands); US weather station:… |
| Lookout Air Raids | OR | 1942 | No casualties; small forest fires quickly contained |
| Bombardment of Ellwood | CA | 1942 | No casualties; oil-field derrick and pump house destroyed |
| Battle of Attu | AK | 1943 | 549 killed, 1,148 wounded, ~1,800 frostbite/sick; Japan:… |
| Battle of Kiska | AK | 1943 | Japanese had evacuated; US/Canadian: ~92 killed, 221… |
| Fu-Go balloon bomb (Bly incident) | OR | 1945 | 6 civilians killed (Elsie Mitchell and 5 children); only… |
By state
Engagements and locations are compiled from published sources: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).