The 1942 Japanese invasion of two of the Aleutian Islands, the thousand-milerchipelago west of Alaska, represents the only time in modern history thatmerican territory has been occupied by a foreign power. The ensuingifteen-month campaign, memorialised in John Huston's extraordinaryocumentary film, was 'the weirdest war ever waged': a terrible, elementalnd always three-sided battle, between the Americans, the Japanese and theeather. Frozen puddies of oil could be lifted like boards. Servicementurned summer clothing for fuel. Aircrews flew amidst icy rain, drivenpside-down by gales. The eventual liberation of the island of Attu wasecond only to Iwo Jima in the percentage of American casualties. Brianarfield's book, never before published in the UK, is the definitive historyf this 'Forgotten War'.