When war came to Australia
On Thursday 19 February 1942, Australia was for the first time attacked by a foreign nation.
The Japanese air raids on Darwin happened four days after the fall of Singapore and only 10 weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbour.
The defence achievements of the Australian Government of the time give no cause for pride. Their decision to spend millions of pounds building Wirraways was appalling, when the Japanese were building Zeros which could out-gun and out-fly anything else in the world. Australia’s ability to manufacture arms and ammunition was sadly neglected, so when the need arose, soldiers were trained with broomsticks because there were not enough rifles, and ammunition was a scarce commodity.
The military strength and ambitions of Germany and Japan were greatly underestimated. When Pearl Harbour was attacked and the Japanese started their thrust into South East Asia, it was urgent that our northern shores be protected. Battalions of soldiers were rushed to Darwin to defend their country with only five rounds of ammunition. The 2/14th Field Regiment had 18 pounder artillery left over from WW-I, and only 80 rifles between 800 men. The 19th Machine Gun Regiment had enough ammunition for only five minutes fighting. RAAF ground crew were enlisted as technicians, and they had no military training, and no arms or ammunition.
The scene was set for the greatest military disaster in Australias history, and when the Japanese attacked Darwin in force with the first 188 aircraft on 19th February 1942, the 10 American Kittyhawks just passing through were quickly annihilated and Darwin was left with no air defences whatsoever. The army and navy gunners fought back with what they had, but they could not match the ferocity of the Japanese attack. In the second raid, another 54 bombers pattern bombed the RAAF aerodrome. Altogether 683 bombs were dropped on Darwin that day, enormous damage was done to shipping and installations, and casualties were high. It was the biggest air raid of WW2 up to that time.
Our Government did too little too late to defend Darwin, but they were very quick to set up extensive political damage control to protect themselves. They held office with the aid of one independent, and a political scandal had to be avoided at all costs, so they imposed strict censorship on all information out of Darwin and started on a campaign of misinformation.
The Minister for Air Mr. Drakeford said “15 Killed, 24 Hurt In Darwin Attacks, 9 Women Among Dead.” The Americans said they lost 81 on the USS Peary, and later amended this to 91. The Mayor of Darwin Jack Burton estimated about 900 killed. Army Intelligence estimated about 1100 killed. Army Intelligence is staffed by reputable trained Officers with the responsibility to assess the situation as it is, and I believe they fulfilled their duties faithfully on that day.
At the end of the war in 1945, the same government was still in power, and they stamped all documents relating to Darwin Not to be released until 1995. In later years, Australian history was deleted from the schools curriculum, so the blanket of silence was complete. Until a few years ago, we then had two generations of Australians who did not even know that Darwin was bombed.
Darwin was a small town and not a happy place to serve in WW2. Nearly all the service personnel camped out in the bush. The millions of mosquitos, sand flies, bush flies, scorpions as big as yabbies, centipedes 6-9″ long, everything that crept or crawled, combined with poor diet, tropical ulcers and other associated diseases took a high toll of those who served there.
In the words of one American, “This outpost in Australia is a substitute for hell !”
About 200,000 Australians served in Darwin in WW2, and I hope that this website and the publication of the book “Darwin’s Battle for Australia” will help to get them the recognition and respect they have earned for their unrelenting efforts in the defence of their country and its people.
The Australian and American armed forces in the Northern Territory were hopelessly under-resourced.They had no fighter aircraft. The infantry had only five rounds of ammunition each, and the ack-ack were told to use the World War I (1916) ammunition before starting on the newer supplies.
The 19th Machine Gun Regiment was allocated to the beach defences. Their orders were: “in the event of an invasion, delay the enemy until reinforcements can be brought up”. It would have been a short delay, we had only enough ammunition for five minutes!
One unit had 80 rifles between 700 soldiers.
On 19 February 1942 eight ships were sunk in Darwin Harbour, with few survivors. Thirty-four aircraft were destroyed, the post office demolished and several hundred people killed and injured, civilians and armed services alike. Initially, Minister for Air said “15 people were killed, 24 hurt in Darwin attacks, 9 women among dead.”
The initial raids were followed by 21 months of air assaults on the Top End: Darwin, Adelaide River, Katherine and Milingimbi in Arnhem Land were bombed 64 times.
Despite a Royal Commission into the attacks, for years the Australian government suppressed the truth about casualties and damage.