82nd anniversary of the bombing of Darwin

[Swagman]

On 19 February 1942 mainland Australia came under attack for the first time when Japanese forces mounted two air raids on Darwin. The two attacks, which were planned and led by the commander responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor ten weeks earlier, involved 188 attack aircraft which were launched from four Japanese aircraft-carriers in the Timor Sea, and a second raid of 54 land-based bombers. The carrier battle group consisted additionally of two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, seven destroyers, three submarines, and two other heavy cruisers on distant cover.

In the first attack, which began just before 10.00 am, Kate bombers hit shipping, infrastructure and the town; and Val dive bombers escorted by Zero fighters then attacked shipping in the harbour, and the military and civil aerodromes. The attack ceased after about 25 minutes. The second raid, which began around 11.45 am, involved high altitude bombing of the Royal Australian Air Force base by twin-engine machines.

The two raids killed 235 people with a further 300 to 400 wounded. Thirty aircraft were destroyed, including nine out of the ten flying in defence, nine ships in the harbour and two outside were sunk, and some of the civil and military facilities in Darwin were destroyed.

The Japanese lost four aircraft to a spirited defence: two Val bombers and two Zero fighters. One of the fighters crash-landed on Melville Island to Darwin’s north, and its pilot was captured by a local Aboriginal man, to become the first prisoner of war taken on Australian soil.

Lest we Forget.

[PriseDeFer]

Thank you Swagman, I knew nothing of this. Most interesting. Some of us have a certain view of Oz and its people, just like our Golden West, only different. And this wonderful quote makes it all real..."One of the fighters crash-landed on Melville Island to Darwin’s north, and its pilot was captured by a local Aboriginal man, to become the first prisoner of war taken on Australian soil."

[samsi]

Thanks for posting this. I'm embarrassed to admit that most of what I know about Australia's part in the War in the Pacific has only come from the History Channel.

[Swagman]

Cheers Samsi!

It was a dark time for Australia, with the fall of Singapore the entire 8th Division 2nd AIF had been captured by the Japanese, Timor and the Dutch East Indies had fallen and the invasion of Papua New Guinea was about to begin. The majority of our combat troops along with the bulk of our Airforce and Navy was in North Africa, Greece and Lebanon leaving the defense of Australia to the Militia, known as the Citizens Military Force (18 to 35 year old single men or widowers).

[Paladin]

I hope enough of your government remembers to stop a repeat.

[jeepnik]

Strategically it was a mistake. While the Australians already had skin in the game, a direct attack on their homeland created a resolve equal to that of the US. In effect they insured their eventual defeat.

But then had the Japanese thought it through from the start, even with the destruction if the entire Pacific Fleet (and they missed the subs and carriers) the outcome would have been the same.

And if you look at the timeline of the atomic bomb thing’s likely wouldn’t have taken much longer.

[mickbr]

Jeepnik is correct, Australia entered the war days after Britian declared war and had been fighting in Africa and Europe a couple years before the Darwin bombing. The population of Aus back then was 6-7 million then and they had 1 million in the armed forces, unfortunately as swagman says most were already fighting for the Brits in other theatres. My grandfathers on both sides were Australian and fought in the Pacific campaign. One related to me they had limited chance against the Japs without US intervention, it just came down to numbers, the Jap military exceeded the actual population of australia.

[gcs]

I thought I knew the major engagements of WW2, but I was unaware of this attack. Thank you for reminding us.

[Bill in Oregon]

Swagman, kudos for bringing this up. I knew nothing of it either, and am ashamed to admit how little I know of the war in the south and central Pacific. I should know more, three of my four uncles fought in the Pacific Theater. What a blessing the Japs never developed a successful four-engine heavy bomber.
The only book I have read on the war in your part of the world was Peter Fitzsimmons' "Kokoda." Talk about grit and sacrifice!

[gamekeeper]

So much was happening in world war two that many terrible things went under reported at the time, the threat of a Japanese invasion was very real at that period in time.

[barbarossa]

One of the faults of the Japanese was that they frowned on independent thinking.There is a Japanese saying that goes “The nail that stands out gets pounded down”.When a plan worked for the Japanese it worked great but if a plan started to go sideways then they were lost.The average Japanese soldier didn’t have mind set to think on his feet like the averageAllied soldier and depended on their officers for every move.Treatment for the average Japanese soldier especially in training was brutal.The Japanese were only out of the feudal system by about 60 years or so and their leaders still thought of them as tools too be discarded when no longer useful.It was also this mindset that led to Banzai charges etc.Their lives belonged to the Empire not them and to surrender was shameful and not an option

[Swagman]

Glad to bring you a bit of Australian History! One thing I forgot to mention was that the fighters defending Darwin were from the 49th Fighter group USAAF and they suffered heavy casualties trying to intercept the waves of Japanese fighters and bombers. After this raid it felt like invasion was imminent, my father who lived in a small country town about 350kms from the sea was digging slit trenches at his school and also on the farm he lived on, my Grandfather and the local farmers were organising hidden bases in the bush were they could launch guerilla attacks on the invading Japanese army.

[GunnyMack]

Fantastic bit of history that I've never heard of before! Thanks for sharing it.

[Ysabel Kid]

I hope enough of your government remembers to stop a repeat.

+1