On the 19th of February 1942, the isolated northern city of Darwin in Australia was bombed by the Japanese. Back then, it was a small isolated outpost at the top end of Australia and represented the last post of defence of Australia against the Japanese.
It is probably still the last post in Australian Defense.
While our forces, along with the Americans, defended our Nation against the threat from " the yellow peril " our boys slogged their guts out on the Kokoda Trail, in the deserts of North Africa and the horror of the European War. Our country was left rather defenseless and we mucked on, carried on, and did our bit to make do and mend. As did our Kiwi mates, our Yankee mates and our Pommy mates.
Now THAT, WAS WHEN WE WERE ALL IN IT TOGETHER? That was when the words meant something
We, down under, did not experience the horror of the blitz. The " please let this be true and we will all be OK " security of sitting in the underground railway station listening to patriotic ditties from Vera Lynn was simply something people got from the radio.
Our British family endured the horror of the war and Darwin brought it home.
242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, ships in Darwin's harbour and the town's two airfields in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using them as bases to contest the invasion of Timor and Java during World War II.
Darwin was lightly defended relative to the size of the attack, and the Japanese inflicted heavy losses upon Allied forces at little cost to themselves. The urban areas of Darwin also suffered some damage from the raids and there were a number of civilian casualties. More than half of Darwin's civilian population left the area permanently, before or immediately after the attack.
The two Japanese air raids were the first, and largest, of more than 100 air raids against Australia during 1942–43.
It was a rather sombre war but one that Australians and Kiwis only witnessed from ration books and not from the bunker or the underground where our pommy brethren sheltered, huddled and hid for fear of death. Yet it was suddenly brought home.
As Happy Expat wrote in his article about the men who saved Australia :
1942 was the most terrifying year in our history. It was the one and only time that our country was under serious threat of invasion. We have never been, before or since, poised on such a knife edge as we were when Singapore fell and Darwin was bombed. Not just Darwin. It got the publicity. What about Broome, Wyndham, Townsville, Newcastle and Sydney? Prominent figures like PM Curtin, Gen Macarthur and high profile others got the plaudits but none of them saved us from a Japanese invasion. There are three men who did.
They are the unsung heroes who actually did save us from a fate worse than death and they did it in spite of the handicaps heaped upon them by Macarthur and Blamey. They all fell victim to the little man syndrome that afflicted Blamey and the ego of Macarthur that needed constant feeding.
According to the Australian War Memorial site:
On 19 February 1942 Darwin itself was bombed. Japanese fighters and bombers attacked the port and shipping in the harbour twice during the day, killing 252 Allied service personnel and civilians. On 3 March Broome, in Western Australia, was strafed. In succeeding months air attacks were made on many towns in northern Australia including Wyndham, Port Hedland and Derby in Western Australia, Darwin and Katherine in the Northern Territory, Townsville and Mossman in Queensland, and Horn Island in the Torres Strait. Despite popular fears these raids were not the precursor to an invasion but they did serve to interrupt the use of Darwin's port facilities. The raids also tied up anti aircraft defences and air force units that would have otherwise been sent to more forward areas.
The Japanese air raids on Darwin on 19 February involved, collectively, over 260 enemy aircraft. Subsequent raids in April, June, July and November 1942, and March 1943 where carried out with forces of 30 to 40 fighters and bombers. Between the large raids there were smaller operations by groups of under a dozen Japanese aircraft. Most of the raids occurred in daylight but there were some small scale night attacks.
The 64th, and last, air raid on Darwin occurred on 12 November 1943. In total there were 97 air attacks on northern Australia and enemy air reconnaissance over the region continued through much of 1944.
The Bombing of Darwin service (80th Anniversary) will be livestreamed across the country for the first time
The link to the live-stream is available at www.darwin.nt.gov.au/BODD
The Bombing of Darwin Day is a day to reflect on our past and to pay tribute to those servicemen, servicewomen and civilians who were there - those who courageously defended our country, those who selflessly helped others, those who dealt with the aftermath, and of course, those who lost their lives.
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