Operation Cottage was a tactical maneuver which completed the Aleutian Islands campaign. On August 15, 1943, Allied military forces (including the 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division) landed on opposite sides of Kiska Island, which had been occupied by Japanese forces since June 1942.

After the heavy casualties suffered at Attu Island, Allied planners were expecting another costly operation. The Japanese, however, had secretly abandoned the island two weeks earlier, and so the Allied landings were unopposed.

However, both U.S. and Canadian forces mistook each other, after a Canadian soldier shot at U.S. lines believing they were Japanese, and a sporadic friendly fire incident occurred, which left 28 Americans and 4 Canadians dead, with 50 wounded on either side.

[From Wikipedia]