Enemy Offshore!: Japan's Secret War on North America's West Coast

Following the freighter at periscope depth, Yakota closed to within 750 metres… On Yakota's command two torpedoes were fired, followed minutes later by two terrific explosions. On June 20, 1942, the Estevan Point lighthouse on Vancouver Island was shelled by the Japanese campaign to terrorize North America's west coast during the Second World War. Japanese submarines attacked ships and shore stations; an aircraft-carrier force bombed Alaska and launched a bloody conflict in the Aleutians; and Japan desperately launched thousands of balloon bombs that landed in Canada and the United States. This dramatic narrative also tells the stories of the militias, composed of fishermen, Natives and wilderness warriors, who allied with the Canadian and American military to defend North America's western shores.