Stepping Stones to Nowhere: The Aleutian Islands, Alaska, and American Military Strategy, 1867-1945 (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Stepping Stones to Nowhere: The Aleutian Islands, Alaska, and American Military Strategy, 1867–1945 Dean C. Allard Stepping Stones to Nowhere: The Aleutian Islands, Alaska, and American Military Strategy, 1867–1945. By Galen Roger Perras. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2003. ISBN 0-7748-0989-2. Photographs. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xiv, 274. $85.00. In Stepping Stones to Nowhere the Canadian historian and archivist, Galen Perras, presents an overall account of American strategy in the North Pacific through the early years of the Cold War. He also offers an operational history of the World War II campaigns in that region and includes brief but intriguing comments on Canada's role in the North Pacific. World War II is the predominant subject matter of this book. In exploring that topic Perras draws vivid portraits of the senior U.S. Army and Navy commanders serving in the North Pacific, some of whom were particularly [End Page 1295] opinionated. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that interservice comity often was a problem in the Alaskan theater. In addition the author recounts the struggles of Ernest J. King, George C. Marshall, and other military leaders operating at the national level, to gain approval for their strategic goals for northern waters. Perras describes fully the amphibious operations against Attu and Kiska in 1943. It is sobering to be reminded of the heavy casualties suffered by American forces at Attu. In fact, the author claims, in proportion to the size of its landing force Attu ranked second only to Iwo Jima as the most costly battle of the Pacific War. At Kiska, the Japanese secretly withdrew their forces shortly before American and Canadian forces launched an assault. Yet, it took several days for Allied commanders to realize that their objective was uncontested, aside from friendly fire. That intelligence failure was all too typical in the Aleutians, a region plagued by incredibly bad weather and abysmal visibility. Perras's coverage of Canada's participation in the Pacific conflict suggests some important political themes that may not be well appreciated by American readers. For example, he shows that Canadian officials were cautious in dealing with their U.S. counterparts due to the fear that the presence of large American forces in the North Pacific would exert undue political influence on Canada. At another point Perras observes that the French Canadian population was more willing to support U.S. campaigns against Japan than to collaborate with Great Britain's war effort. Despite the title of this book, one can argue that a strategic road was opened and pursued after the Allies secured the Aleutians in 1943. That development is suggested by the 1945 Lend Lease program at Cold Bay, Alaska—to which Perras makes only very brief reference—under which the American Navy transferred almost 150 vessels to the Soviet Navy and trained more than 12,000 prospective Soviet crew members in amphibious warfare tactics. As planned, after the U.S.S.R.'s entry into the war against Japan, these resources were used by the Soviets to seize positions in the Kuriles. Combined with the aerial and surface ship strikes that the Americans mounted from Aleutian bases against the Kuriles, another subject slighted by Perras, these operations suggest that the United States and its Soviet ally were undertaking a considerable offensive against Japan's northern flank as the Pacific War ended. Despite this caveat, Perras deserves credit for producing a fresh and well-researched synthesis of a relatively neglected subject. Stepping Stones to Nowhere is a welcome addition to our literature on the Second World War. Dean C. Allard Arlington, Virginia Copyright © 2004 Society for Military History