1943. Her squadron, Submarine Squadron 12, was assigned to the 5th Fleet′s Northern District Force on 13 May 1943. In the Aleutians, meanwhile, the Battle of Attu had begun on 11 May 1943 with U.S. landings on Attu Island. On 21 May 1943, with the situation on Attu deteriorating — ultimately the battle there ended on 30 May 1943 with the annihilation of the Japanese garrison — the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters decided to evacuate the isolated garrison on Kiska, and on the same day I-171 departed Yokosuka to begin her sixth war patrol, bound for Kiska. While she was en route, she survived an attack by a U.S. patrol plane. After an otherwise quiet patrol, she returned to Paramushiro on 16 June 1943 and refueled from Teiyō Maru. On 26 June 1943 she set out from Paramushiro for her seventh war patrol, operating with I-175 in the vicinity of Amchitka. This patrol also was uneventful, and she returned to Paramushiro on 3 August 1943. While I-171 was on patrol, the last Japanese troops were evacuated from Kiska on 28 July 1943. Allied forces did not detect the evacuation and launched a full-scale invasion of unoccupied Kiska in Operation Cottage on 15 August 1943, but Japanese involvement in the Aleutians campaign had ended with the 28 July evacuation. On 5 August 1943, I-171 departed Paramushiro bound for Kure, where she arrived on 10 August 1943. While she was at Kure, Submarine Division 12 was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 3. Operations from Truk I-171 got underway from Kure on 17 September 1943 bound for Truk, which she reached on 25 September 1943. She departed Truk on 7 October 1943 with the commander of Submarine Division 12, Captain Hajime Kobayashi, on board to begin her eighth war patrol, tasked with conducting a reconnaissance of the New Hebrides. While she was at sea, Kobayashi received orders from the commander of the 6th Fleet, Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi, to take temporary command of I-171 and the submarines and and intercept a convoy of six U.S. Navy fleet oilers that the submarine had sighted south of the Hawaiian Islands. However, a Kawanishi H8K ("Emily") flying boat dispatched from Jaluit to find the convoy failed to locate it. I-171 returned to Truk on 15 November 1943. While at Truk during December 1943 and early January 1944, I-169 took torpedoes, ammunition, and stores aboard from the auxiliary