craft sunk and one other damaged. On 12 May 1943, the Japanese submarine was sunk in a surface action with the destroyer northeast of Chichagof Harbor. Komandorski Islands A cruiser and destroyer force under Rear Admiral Charles "Soc" McMorris was assigned to eliminate the Japanese supply convoys. They met the Japanese fleet in the naval Battle of the Komandorski Islands in March 1943. One American cruiser and two destroyers were damaged, and seven US sailors were killed. Two Japanese cruisers were damaged, with 14 men killed and 26 wounded. Japan thereafter abandoned all attempts to resupply the Aleutian garrisons by surface vessels, and only submarines would be used. Attu Island On 11 May 1943, American forces commenced an operation to recapture Attu ("Operation Landcrab"). The invasion force included the 17th and 32nd Infantry regiments of the 7th Infantry Division and a platoon of scouts recruited from Alaska, nicknamed Castner's Cutthroats. A shortage of landing craft, unsuitable beaches, and equipment that failed to operate in the appalling weather made it difficult for the Americans to exert force against the Japanese. Adding to problems for the US forces, soldiers suffered from frostbite because essential cold-weather supplies could not be landed, and soldiers could not be relocated to where they were needed because vehicles could not operate on the tundra. The Japanese defensive strategy against the American attacks included Colonel Yasuyo Yamasaki having his forces engage the Americans not where they landed, as might have been expected, but the Japanese digging into the high ground far from the shore. That resulted in fierce combat, with a total of 3,829 U.S. casualties. Total casualties: 549 men were killed, 1,148 were wounded, with another 1,200 men suffering severe injuries from the cold weather. Also, 614 Americans died from disease, and 318 from miscellaneous causes, mainly Japanese booby traps or friendly fire. On May 29, 1943, without warning the remainder of Japanese forces attacked near Massacre Bay. That was recorded as one of the largest banzai charges of the Pacific campaign. Led again by Colonel Yamasaki, the attack penetrated so deep into US lines that Japanese soldiers encountered rear-echelon units of the Americans. After furious, brutal, often hand-to-hand combat, the Japanese force was virtually exterminated. Only 28 Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner, none of them were officers. American burial teams counted 2,351 Japanese dead, but it was thought that hundreds of more Japanese bodies had been