Janfu

For the first time Jap resistance cracked under Allied pressure: a garrison was evacuated before the final attack. The cold rocks of Kiska had been gavelled under 106 bombings and 15 shellings from the sea since the first of the month. When U.S. and Canadian troops landed on Aug. 15--expertly primed for perhaps the strongest single operation the U.S. had yet undertaken in the Pacific--they found no living creature except a lonesome dog. The timing must have been hairline: invading Allied troops found a container of hot coffee. Victory it was, but seldom has a victory been acknowledged with such wry humor. Among the echoing cliffs of Kiska a new word was born: JANFU ("Joint Army-Navy foul-up").

From TIME Correspondent Robert Sherrod came this firsthand report:

"The Canadian and American soldiers found no Japs, but they did get a good look at the installations our planes and naval guns had been shooting at. What they found: gun emplacements, ammunition, living quarters and other evidence which indicated that at one time nearly 10,000 Japs had been on Kiska. There was a submarine base (evidently abandoned weeks ago) and a long-neglected seaplane base and hangar. Telephone lines strung around the eastern side of the island led to a fair-sized power plant. Crude roads in some sections could accommodate the 50 or more trucks, some Fords, some Jap brands. The Japs were also victory gardeners. They had planted several small patches of vegetables. On the island were many caches of food: five-gallon wood-encased tins of kelp and hard crackers, 100-lb. bags of rice and a variety of canned fish. The Japs did not leave Kiska because they were in danger of starving.

"Evacuation involved destroying equipment and installations. In some cases the Japs did a good job. Three midget submarines, which long ago had been taken out of the ocean into pens, had their bellies blown out. Many containers of food had been jabbed with bayonets and stank from spoilage.

"There were land mines and booby traps. Most of the booby traps were crude, such as a floorboard obviously raised to accommodate a detonator, and not at all up to the fictional standard of Japanese cunning. However, a few men were killed.

"One of the most interesting features of occupying an enemy-held position is to check on the damage done to it. Our naval gunfire in Gertrude Cove had been effective beyond expectations. Many direct hits had been scored on buildings there. But I was disappointed at the apparent ineffectiveness of our aerial bombardment. Some buildings had received a direct hit or two during the hundreds of raids in the past 14 months, but the Japs themselves blew up their subs and the Zero wings and tails in the hangar were damaged by strafing, not bombing. Bomb hits had scarcely affected the Allis-Chalmers tractor which sat on the concrete floor of the hangar. Not one of the 6-in. coast artillery guns had been hit by bombs, though they had been prime targets for months. Only one dual-purpose 70-mm. anti-aircraft gun was blown up and there is some question about what did it. The sooner we acknowledge the relative ineffectiveness of precision bombing on small, well dug-in, expertly camouflaged positions, the better off we will be."

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