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Question: During World War II did the Japanese ever attack the U!.S!. mainland!?
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Yes!. On February 23, 1942, the oil refinery at Ellwood near Santa Barbara, California, was shelled by a Japanese submarine using its 5!.5 inch deck gun!. This was the first attack on the U!.S!. mainland!. Then on June 7, Japanese soldiers invaded the U!.S!. Aleutian Islands off Alaska and remained there until American troops retook the islands in May 1943!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

There were no significant attacks!. The Japanese attacked the United States (Hawaii, Wake Island, Midway, Aleutian Islands) in major battles but attacks on the mainland U!.S!. were limited!. The Japanese drifted fire balloons over the forests in Oregon, which ended up starting forest fires and killing a few people!. They also managed to get submarines close enough to the West Coast and start shelling the land on several occasions, but no one died!. German U-Boats operated pretty close to U!.S!. shores on the Atlantic side, and managed to sink A LOT of American ships and land a few spies!.

Since there were no aircraft carriers or refueling stations lost in the Pearl Harbor attack, the U!.S!. Pacific Fleet was able to remain in the mid-Pacific and implement the U!.S!. defensive plan which was to keep the Japanese out of the eastern-Pacific!. If the Japanese had succeeded in crippling the fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Americans would have had to withdraw to the West Coast, and the answer to this question might have been drastically different!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yes, they sent many hydrogen-filled balloons, loaded with incendiary bombs and launched from Japan that traveled in the jet stream to the west coast states of America!.
The intent was for the bombs to start large forest fires and destroy cities and farmlands!.
Many of the bombs landed and exploded but didn't cause much damage!. However, there were six people, one teacher and five children who were killed when on a church outing, they discovered a balloon in a tree, tried to pull it down and it blew up and killed them!.
See " sole lethal attack " in source
From late 1944 to early 1945, the Japanese launched 9000 of the fire bombs, but only 300 were found or observed in America!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

They also shelled the beaches just north of Seaside, Oregon near the military reserve!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

After the Japs and Nazis captured Paris, they held onto to San Francisco for 12 yearsWww@QuestionHome@Com

Ellwood shelling
The United States mainland was first shelled by the Axis on February 23, 1942 when the Japanese submarine I-17 attacked the Ellwood oil production facilities at Goleta, near Santa Barbara, California!. Although only the pumphouse and catwalk were damaged, I-17 captain Nishino Kozo radioed Tokyo that he had left Santa Barbara in flames!. No casualties were reported and the total cost of the damage was officially estimated at approximately $500-1000!.[1] However news of the shelling triggered an invasion scare along the West Coast!.[2]


Battle of the Aleutian Islands
Main article: Battle of the Aleutian Islands
On June 3, 1942 the Aleutian Islands, running southwest from mainland Alaska, were invaded by Japanese forces as a diversion to deflect attention from the main Japanese attack on Midway Atoll!. Having broken the Japanese military codes, however, the United States military knew it was a diversion and did not expend large amounts of effort defending the islands!. Although most of the civilian population had been moved to camps on the Alaska Panhandle, some Americans were captured and taken to Japan as prisoners of war!.[3]

In what became known as the Battle of the Aleutian Islands, American forces engaged the Japanese on Attu Island and regained control by the end of May 1943, after taking significant casualties in difficult terrain in which hundreds died!. A large invasion force, mainly US, but including some Canadian troops, assaulted Kiska Island on August 7, 1943, but the Japanese had already withdrawn, undetected, ten days earlier!.

Although Alaska was a U!.S!. territory and not yet a state (statehood was not granted until 1959) it was part of the North American continent!. This battle also marks the only time since the War of 1812 that U!.S!. territory in North America has been occupied by a foreign power!.

In response to the United States' success at the Battle of Midway, the invasion alert for San Francisco was canceled on June 8, 1942!.


Fort Stevens attack
In what became the only attack on a mainland American military installation during World War II, the Japanese submarine I-25, under the command of Tagami Meiji,[4], surfaced near the mouth of the Columbia River, Oregon on the night of June 21 and June 22, 1942, and fired shells toward Fort Stevens!. The only damage officially recorded was to a baseball field's backstop!. Probably the most significant damage was a shell that damaged some large phone cables!. The Fort Stevens gunners were refused permission to return fire, since it would have helped the Japanese locate their target more accurately!. American aircraft on training flights spotted the submarine, which was subsequently attacked by a US bomber, but it escaped!.


Lookout Air Raid
Main article: Lookout Air Raid

Nobuo Fujita standing by his Yokosuka E14Y "Glen" seaplane!.The Lookout Air Raid occurred on September 9, 1942!. The first aerial bombing of mainland America by a foreign power occurred when an attempt to start a forest fire was made by a Japanese Yokosuka E14Y1 seaplane dropping two 80 kg (170 pound) incendiary bombs over Mount Emily, near Brookings, Oregon!. The seaplane, piloted by Nobuo Fujita, had been launched from the Japanese submarine aircraft carrier I-25!. No significant damage was officially reported following the attack, nor after a repeat attempt on September 29!.Www@QuestionHome@Com