Darwin's Attacks During World War II

On Febuary 19th, 1942, Japanese forces launched two air raids on the city of Darwin. The attack was lead by the same commander who was responsible for the Pearl Harbour catastrophe, which occurred only 10 weeks earlier. The Japanese were planning to invade Timor, therefore they bombed Darwin in an effort to frighten Australia and its allies and prevent any of their forces leaving the country. Over 260 enemy planes attacked the city, destroying twenty military aircraft, eight ships and the majority of civil facilities, including the local hospital.

The Fall of Singapore is considered one of the greatest defeats in British History. For it to be overtaken and then occupied by the Japanese posed a massive threat and shock to Australia, which then caused Australia to withdraw troops introduce conscription and also the USA came in to help Australia against the threatening Japanese.

Not long before 10:00am, on February 19, 1942 the Japanese forces commenced air raids on Darwin. Over 260 enemy planes attacked Australian and US shipping, the harbour of the town, military and civil aerodromes and the local hospital. There were two waves of attacks which were part of Japan's efforts to harm Australia's confidence, hold back the use of Darwin's military base, and at last secure neighbouring Timor. At least 243 people were killed in the attack and up to 400 people were injured. Eight ships in the harbour were sunk and twenty military aircraft were destroyed. Over a space of almost two years the air attacks continued and about half of Darwin's population ended up moving south.

Australia entered the war in 1939 and it became at their doorstep on the 19th February 1942, Nazi Germany and Japan were major enemies to Australia during the war. Australia’s foreign policy and changing alliance during 1942 impacted our national identity because Australia developed a new relationship with America, while it weakened the strong connection with Britain, which demonstrates that Australia was starting to become its own independent country. At the beginning of war, Australia had a strong relationship and alliance with Britain, making Britain their leaders when entering the war. Secondly, as the war progressed Australia began to look to America as an opportunity for protection from the Japanese, while Britain was fighting their own

The major event resulting in the USA becoming such a prominent figure relationship-wise to Australia is what is known as the Battle of the Coral Sea. In May 1942 Japan’s naval force tried to take Port Moresby, the last line of defence before Australia itself. However the United States naval force in conjunction with the Australian ships, Australia and Hobart, forced the

This was also the first campaign the Australia basically manned by them self, proving the Australia need to be taken serious in the world war. At the start of the war Australia was not taken as a threat more as a giant island that has good post position in Asia. As Japan was concurring Asia the last piece of the puzzle was Australia which they japan was going to concur by using papa new Guinea as a vantage point which would have gave them easy access to Australia. This lead Australia to deploy its troops in Port Mosby. As most of the better trained had already been deployed this lead Australia to deploy the “backups”. This ultimately lead Australia becoming a major power in Asia, also providing to Australia overall strength as a

As the Kokoda fighting began in July 1942 , the scheme of both sides was in transition. The Japanese felt it was time to defend their gains, and halt the fighting and advancing. But the Allies were thinking differently. Having massive amount troops, ships, aircraft and supplies in New Zealand and Australia, they made the decision to launch a counterattack to defend and retake some of the islands that were occupied by the Japanese. Papua had no particular resource that they desired, but it was a useful link in the chain of defences of the newly conquered area of Japan. So because Japan was quickly gaining new lands closer to Australia, posing a threat to Australia’s safety, the battle of Kokoda was the most important Australian-fought victory, in terms of winning the war. The campaign helped to shape Australia’s post-war training practices and military operations. Although it was not they first victory against Japan, it allowed the allies to make thrust forward through ‘island hopping’ and ultimately win the war. Kokoda was the battle that ended Japan’s dominance and permitted the Allies to go on the offence. Australia greatly learned from their Kokoda experience, and subsequently improved their strategic thinking. They learned to not purely rely on naval defences, and realised that they cannot just let other countries dot the fighting. “…the modern Australian professional army was

On February 19, 1942, Darwin was bombed by Japanese aircraft, wiping out military infrastructure and vehicles, as well as killing soldiers and civilians.

Politically the great depression hit Australia hard, as many Australians lost confidence in their government representatives. A number of radical or extremist organizations gather strength and popularity as a result of the large scale public dissatisfaction. In Australia the developing of the new capital Canberra was put to a stop leaving a population of 7,000 in limbo, workers were laid off and the federal capital commission was abolished. The Sydney harbor bridge was a great way of bringing employment back into Australia during the depression. At the time of the war and after the great depression it was Australian best interest to have an alliance with Great Britain. Australia needed to form an alliance with Great Britain during World War II, because if the war ended up near or in Australia, we would need the help from Great Britain and their allies. Having Great Britain as its ally at that time was the right thing to do as it protected its colonies from the imperil japan and other foreign invaders. During the period of 1942 Australia was extremely worried as the fall of Singapore in February 1942 and had the threat of a possibility of a Japanese

The bombings of Darwin was the most catastrophic events in the Australian war history. Darwin and Australia was shocked at the time knowing that they were being targeted by the Japanese. The coming of Darwin was extraordinarily significant within Australian History. Some of the short term effects were that the buildings were turned into rubble and long term many of the families lost members and suffered.

Welcome to ABC’s Rear Vision program, my name is Lisa and today we have a special guest to talk about the Darwin Bombings that occurred on February 19th 1942. This event rocked Australia’s defences and traumatized the Darwin community into fleeing to a safer refuge. Today we will be giving an insider’s view of what the event was like and how much it swayed Australia.

World War Two saw many successful battles for Australia. In 1942, Australia’s foreign policy was changed so that Australian soldiers were only sent between the 110th and 159th meridians (Britannica, 2015). This restricted them to only battles against the Japanese, fighting for their nation’s wellbeing. These battles played a huge role in the destruction of the Japanese forces. Australia played a secondary role in the battle of Kokoda Trail, after America (Britannica, 2015). Conflicts such as this impacted Australia’s national identity

On December 7, 1941 the infamous bombing of Pearl Harbour by the Japanese took place, but who was really responsible? Many historians lay the blame with President Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR), citing his approach to the war as antagonistic and inciting a Japanese attack. This report however will highlight that the Japanese were the real antagonises, deliberately and purposely attacking the United States (US), United Kingdom and Holland, and Pearl Harbour was but a pawn in their war plan, thus alleviating FDR of the historical responsibility bequeathed to him over the last 70 years. The key elements within this review focus on Japan's Pacific War plans, FDR's

The Battle of the Coral Sea, was among one of two Japanese attempts of isolating Australia from USA. This was unsuccessful after a conjoined American and Australian naval force defeated the Japanese Forces. The , was the second attempt of increasing Australia’s isolation, this is again unsuccessful as the 39th Australian Infantry Battalion and the AIF troops of the first Brigade, 7th Division again stopped the Japanese Forces. Because of the soldiers and battalions that fought against the Japanese forces during this time, and helped to keep Port Moresby away from Japanese control, they have impacted Australia by decreasing the risk of Australia’s isolation with the

The events of World War Two such as the failed Malaya campaign, the fall of Singapore, the bombing of Pearl Harbour and the stretched resources of Britain, led to Australia developing a more independent foreign policy however, independent of Britain. The changing of alliance between Britain, Australia and the United States of America has led to a substantial impact on shaping Australian society and where Australia are today. The fall of Singapore and the Malaya campaign brought the war extremely close to Australia even reaching Australian soil for the first time and generated new opinions and perspectives on the war for all Australians. Furthermore, with its greatest military defeat of all time, Britain had to recover and Australia had to