Operation Cottage and empty Kiska

Expecting another battle like Attu, the US 7th Infantry Division, 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, and 13th Canadian Infantry Brigade landed on opposite sides of Kiska during Operation Cottage. The landing also included the first combat deployment of the joint American-Canadian First Special Service Force. Japan had already evacuated after radio traffic ceased, but fog, uncertainty, and poor coordination led Allied troops to mistake one another for the enemy. Friendly fire killed 28 Americans and four Canadians, while mines, booby traps, ammunition explosions, and vehicle accidents caused further losses. A Japanese mine tore away part of the Fletcher-class destroyer USS Abner Read's stern, killing 71 and wounding 47. Operation Chronicle on Woodlark Island produced a similar empty landing by another large Allied force. Such episodes show the asymmetry of planning under uncertainty: arriving with too little force risks disaster, while arriving with overwhelming force looks wasteful only after the enemy's absence is known.