War On Our Doorstep: The Unknown Campaign On North America’s West Coast, by Brendan Coyle

It would not be entirely fair to say that the campaign on North America’s west coast during World War II was unknown. If, for example, you travel to Fort Stevens, near Astoria, Oregon, you will find a record of the time a Japanese sub fired on the fortress. Likewise, the building of transportation networks to Yokon and Alaska to aid in the defense of those remote territories is likely known to those of that region and those who travel to it. Even more people are aware of the way that Japan attacked the edge of the Aleutian Islands in a way that hindered their efforts at winning Midway. To be sure, the campaign there, especially the counterattack the next year, is one of the more obscure campaigns of the war, but it is by no means unknown. It makes sense, I suppose, that a Canadian historian seeking to write about one of the more neglected fronts of World War II would play up Canadian interests as opposed to the more usually noted American interests, and there are some genuinely obscure aspects of the book concerning Japanese efforts at using their submarines (as well as killer balloons) to cause trouble on the West Coast, but this book’s contents are compelling enough that one does not need to resort to misrepresenting it as something that no one knows about, because at least locals or World War II buffs are going to know a good deal about the area.

When looking for a reason for a book to exist, this book clearly has some reasons to exist, specifically in a Canadian context. While the United States has a proud history of military history relating to every aspect of its fighting in World War II, it seems as if Canada’s historiographical record is a bit more spotty, and in a Canadian context it may be easy to forget the key role that Canada and Canadians served in the war on the West Coast, even if most of that front related to the United States. Canadian troops, for example, formed a large part of the garrison in the islands just north and west of British Columbia. (It is interesting as well that the author notes that many black soldiers from the American south were sent, apparently without a great deal of acclimatizing, to the area as well, and suffered from mental health issues as a result). Canada’s role in the North American front is an aspect of the book that is likely to be unknown to many Canadian (and American) audiences, who would be surprised to know that Canadians did much of the defense of Alaska during World War II, including the air defense of the then-remote region. If this book is therefore not wholly original in what it covers, it certainly does provide a worthwhile and interesting perspective about an aspect of World War II that receives insufficient attention from those outside of its immediate region, even if most of the book’s intended readers (like myself) are in the West coast.

In terms of its contents, this book is a bit more than 200 pages and is divided into just over 20 chapters. The book begins with a foreword by James Delgado, as well as a preface. After this the author introduces the book by talking about the war on the West Coast of North America as a “forgotten front.” This is followed by chapters of Japanese efforts as the enemy offshore (1) as well as the problem that a great deal of Alaska and the Yukon were undefended territories (2). After this comes a discussion of the defense of Prince Rupert and the inside passage (3), the story of the Nikkei who were put in internment camps (4), and the efforts to build highways in the remote north (5). The author talks about the return of the Japanese I-boats (6), as well as the efforts by the Japanese to strike in Alaska, including their capture of territory (7-9). The author talks about the army of the tundra (10), actions in the North (11), the RCAF (12), as well as glory and the way of war in the frozen north (13, 14). The author’s attention turns to such matters as espionage (15), as well as the efforts to reconquer Attu (16, 17) and take the war to the enemy (18) who proved to be highly elusive at times (19, 20) despite the problems of the Japanese position in Kiska. The book ends with a discussion of desperate measures for Japan (21), like balloon bombs, the legacy of World War II in the West coast (22), endnotes, a bibliography, index, and photo credits.