Japanese Attack on Sydney - Pacific War #30 Animated DOCUMENTARY 

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6 months into the war, and we see radar operators ignoring warnings and radio intercepts being discarded. Truly a stunning level of command incompetence...

It truly is incredible how many warnings and reports were delivered, and in such variety, and yet ignored, dismissed, not acted upon, or countermanded by those in charge. Absolutely astounding.

As an Australian, this attack carried a lot of significance for my country. If the Japanese takeover over Timor and northern New Guinea was not scary enough, the attack on Sydney Harbour really put the fear up our backsides! Thank you so much Kings and Generals for covering this little known chapter of World War II!

Unsurprisingly for anyone familiar with this series so far, Muirhead-Gould was a British (not Australian) Rear-Admiral who was in charge of the Sydney naval defense. He also had prior experience with submarine attacks following the sinking of the HMS Royal Oak in 1939 (where he was tasked with identifying how submarine attacks on a port could be prevented) before he was sent to Sydney. Regular Australian civilians living in Sydney were sure after the Russian ship was attacked that a submarine attack was imminent, but Muirhead-Gould not only didn't prepare but hosted a party with the naval officers in the city... then finally turned up drunk to chastise the defenders for having found the submarines. Needless to say the Australian navy officers thought very little of the man.

Captain Howard D. Bode had one of the most spectacularly self destructive careers of any US Navy officer during WW2. Even before the war he had a reputation among subordinates for petty authoritarianism, earning the nicknames "Captain Bligh" and "King Bode". Coupled with this were apparent bad luck joined with poor judgement. In command of the battleship USS Oklahoma 7 December 1941, Bode and several subordinates were ashore in Honolulu when the Japanese air attack began, and his ship was sunk before he could return. Transferred to the USS Chicago, Bode's command was rated at the bottom of all Pacific Fleet heavy cruisers in engineering performance and combat readiness. This was compounded by his disheveled performance at Sydney, and finally destroyed his career with his poor performance at the Battle of Savo Island. Despite grave errors committed by commanding Allied admirals during that battle, Bode and another captain were singled out and censured for the defeat. As a result, Bode committed suicide in Panama on 19 April 1943.

The Japanese attacks along Australia's east coast is one of the least know aspects of the pacific war. The amount of ships sunk along the coast as far south as the NSW/VIC border is incredible. Heavy fortifications were built a not only around Sydney, but also Wollongong and Newcastle to protect our vital steel industry. Both Sydney and Newcastle were shelled by Japanese submarines

Good thing the officers on duty on their ships took decisive action; the senior commanders (Bode and Gould) who arrived on scene after the fact chastising those who were there at the time were totally incompetent, not to mention plastered. "Great" example of leadership

I had no idea this attack even happened. Considering how it went for both sides, I'm betting their respective militaries wish it hadn't happened either.

Two of the Submarines were reconstructed and combined into 1 and it's on display at the Australian War Memorial. The third submarine is a declared war grave in a secret wreck site on the south coast of New South Wales

Fun fact, two of the three Midget submarines that undertook this attack were on display at the Australian War Memorial, though you wouldn't know it because the two halves were put together to provide an example of a complete (although damaged) version of the midget submarine.

My father was a merchant marine seaman during the war in the Pacific campaign. He served primarily on tankers, which surprisingly were much cleaner than general cargo ships. Luckily, none of his ships were torpedoed, but he said the fear of that never left from the time the ship left Pearl Harbor. I've always been proud of him. He could have spent the war in California because he worked for a defense plant, and was exempt from the draft. That was truly the "greatest generation".

One if the best "Battlestations Pacific" missions

As a midget, I'm grateful to be seeing this finally getting some coverage

I think this incident was lost to a lot of people outside this region! Thank you for highlighting this!

Interesting of you to mention the scouting of Wellington and Auckland harbours by the submarines. Here in Auckland there is a story/rumour about how a Japanese Submarines was seen stuck on the Manukau Harbour's sand bar during the war. Potentially that is related to those scouting missions. For those without any context. Auckland has two harbours, the eastern Waitemata and the western Manukau which together define the Auckland Isthmus. The Waitemata is the main harbour with the larger port and is where the centre of the city and the naval base is located. The Manukau is the larger of the two and once had a significant port. However, the sand bar at the mouth of the Manukau is incredibly treacherous and has taken many lives over the years. Including the infamous sinking of the HMS Orpheus which remains NZs worst ship wreck to this day. Of the two harbours, the Manukau was less protected, so would have seemed the best approach for scouting, aside from the natural protection offered by the sand bar. So perhaps those old stories are true, though whether the truth will ever be known for sure is anyone's guess.

I have seen this submarine with my own eyes. If any of you get the chance to visit Australia, head down to Canberra and visit the War Memorial. There is a lot of history packed into that place and I encourage all of you to make the effort, you won't be disappointed. Lest we forget 💜

Excellent video, first time I have seen anything detailed on this attack. My mother and her one year old daughter, not knowing what the hell was going on, but hearing sirens and war planes overhead, crouched under the kitchen table for hours. My father was away in the RAAF. By the way, Bungan Head where one of the subs sank is actually north of Sydney heads. Also, the guy who rowed out to check the strange dark object on Sow and Pigs shoal, was, of course, rowing with his back to the object. He was absolutely gobsmacked when he turned around and saw the sub 20 metres away.

Kings and Generals, whenever you release a new video, my spirits soar. Been following this series since the start. Every video speaks of quality. Excellent production and narration. Outstanding job again! Cheers.

Love this series so far!!! Love your videos Kings and Generals. Keep up the good work!!!

Wonderful video! The war in the Pacific is utterly fascinating and so pivotal! Can't wait to see next week's vid on MacArthur!

This has been an enlightening series to watch. Your work is of the highest quality, keep it up

Iv NEVER been this early for one of your uploads, this next dab hit, i do in your honor kings and generals, may you always find your way on the battlefield.

I really liked this episode, thank you!

As a Novocastrian, I knew about the midget subs, but no great detail beyond their presence. Cheers for the video.

Thank you Kings and Generals Team!

Thanks

M24 was found in 2006 off the northern beaches of Sydney near Long Reef, off Bungan Head. Which is north not south of the harbour entrance as was falsely shown in this video's map. One of my uncles was honeymooning near Balmoral that night and was high up on a hill overlooking the harbour, and he often talked about the commotion that was going on down in the harbour with search lights and boats rushing about, and muffled explosions being heard. That night was a wake up call for the residents of Sydney.

Thank you very much for the video

Excellent summary. Well done.

Kings and generals this pacific series has changed my theater of interest when studying ww2 history thank you so much for the details and dedication to these videos keep up the great work 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Can't wait to see videos on the fighting in New Guinea, the Battle of Kokoda in particular!

Thank you , K&G . 🐺

Great video, keep up the good work.

Really great information

It's no wonder, with those kinds of figures that you never hear much about Japanese submarine warfare, outside of the best known ones, Yorktown and Indianapolis for example.

Nice video. I always like to know more about little known events of any war. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.

Another good video thanks

:) Another great episode!

Definitely want more on submarine warfare in the pacific and indian ocean!

I wonder what effect the conquest of Australia would have had on the impact of the War in the Pacific - overwhelming American industrial might would have prevailed, but by how much would the war have been prolonged?

thank you for your very good work on this topic. I've lived in Sydney for several years now but I didn't know all the details. I remember seeing a display at the Canberra war memorial that was very detailed but that was many years ago. One point, Bungan Head is about 35KM north of the harbour, not south. It's close to Palm Beach, where they film the outdoor scenes on the TV series Summer Bay.

I love this series about the pacifc war ❤️👍

good video on the raid of Sydney Harbor, also those midget sub m-21 conning tower is in a museum, m-24 was found dive on like the video said , m-14 is in a museum too in Australia

Amazing

Italians are the best in the midget submarines attacks, and one of the first with success. From that moment that other countries began to copy and improve the concept of the minisubmarine.

Extrapolating the strategy that worked in a strait to the entire goddamned Pacific Ocean seems a bit mental

My mum was born in a hospital right near Sydney Harbour in the week this all went down. She loves to tell that story.

Also, on 30 May 1942, one of IJN midget submarines which had been launched by I-16 and I-20, scored a hit on HMS Ramillies just forward of her "A" turret on the port side, at Diego Suarez, Madagascar.

I was born in Sydney and my mum and dad were around for that attack. All I’d been told was about the midget sub and the Kuttable. I never knew any of that other stuff like further patrols to the north and south and firing shots in to Vaucluse. Well done K&G keep up the good work 👍👍👍

5:00. A US torpedo in 1942 actually sunk something? That's almost a miracle!

Very nice video

Those Senior Commanders should've been Demoted, Relieved of Command, or Dishonorably discharged. Throwing a 'Party' and getting Wasted while On Military Assignment? Sickening. Way too many lives taken for such an Incident as this. No Wonder it was swept under the Bloody Rug... Until Now. Keep the Content Coming, Kings and Generals! These Stories DESERVE the Spotlight!

I hope Spielburgh and Tom Hanks creates a WWII series about the American navy.

There’s a really good book called Thunder Bellow, it’s about an American Fleet Submarine USS Barb.

I never knew that the Japanese had float planes on submarines. I been reading up on this since I watched your video. Thanks for giving us knowledge!!

These maps are gorgeous. What is it with the Pacific War aesthetic?

Interesting story..good job. Keep 'em coming.. 👍👍

The RAN was a part of the RN until the ratification of the Statute of Westminster at the end of 1942. Amongst other things, the RN made senior appointments to the RAN. Britain's contribution to the defence of Australia in 1942 consisted of a couple of admirals, one in Sydney Harbour at the time of the midget submarine attack and another in command of Task Force 44 at the Battle of Savo at Guadalcanal.

It is almost comical how often warnings just go completely unheeded. It's less comical cuz it often resulted in lots of unnecessary death, but I guess in the moment it probably was a lot different. Just hindsight makes it seem so ridiculous.

good video

Hey, im pretty sure the heavy cruisers are facing backwards in all of these shots as it is depicted sailing out of the harbor with its stern leading

Folloing that serie since the start, better than all WWII book of course i did escpeccially related with the pacific. Easier to retain and remeber the information. Also, do you have an actual original soundtrack for all your series? or it is come from a 3th partie?

great to see some local history

1:00 HAHA! That's the most far fetched segue to a sponsor I ever heard.. LOL!😄😄 Keep it up, oh mighty kings and cunning generals!

Could you publish the titles of some of the epidemic sound tracks you use? I hear a lot of Dream Cave, but there's other stuff I don't recognize and I'm trying to get a Kings & Generals playlist going! Frustrating how Bode and Muirhead Gold could have done more to prevent all those deaths, but they didn't because of, if not their alleged intoxication, hubris and skepticism.

A post came by about the battle of Toulouse in the 8th century. So i looked it up and your video didn't pop up now i don't know if you have made a video about the battle but if now could you?

Pronunciations: Kuttabul = Cut a bull ; KIX = K9.Macquarie = Mack quarry

Great video on Australia's history! Just a few pronunciation pointers: Geelong is pronounced 'Jelong' not 'Jeeeeeelong', and Macquarie is pronounced 'Maquarry' not 'Maquairy'

Thanks for this episode. I knew of this attack being a Sydneysider but had never looked into it in any detail. What an almighty screw-up on both sides. The complacency of the allies is unbelievable.

Hello, may i ask if you could flip the order of videos in the playlist? As it is it goes from newest to oldest and makes it more difficult to binge the series

The incompetence of the senior Allied officers displayed here was staggering. All glory to their competent underlings who did their duty diligently!

video of the Lusitanian War or the Peloponnesian War, please 👉👈

m, the footage at 19.19 depicting "Allied Raid on Japanese Merchant Shipping," looks suspiciously like footage form the Pearl Harbor attack.

This is a good Video that Show sometimes Both side have no clue of Wtf they are doing

Well, you're busy in that corner, maybe its interesting to take a closer look at Conrad "Ship-a-day " Helfrich What he did there is unfortunately underappreciated after the battle of Java

Established Titles does not give you Real Titles at all, you don't get anything at all, the Laird title is limited to ONE per property and cannot be divided like that, more importantly, your "souvenir plots" can't be registered due to a prohibition as per Land Registration (Scotland) Act 2012, s 50 (2).

8:26 haven't we seen this before during the attack on King's Landing?

Hey pows at the kings and Generals channel I don't know if you notice what you're missing a part 23 to your Pacific War series also quick question have you done a video on the bombing of Darwin..

15:46 typo on map, should be ‘Vaucluse’.

Really wait for Yamato in action.

Ok, so this is an episode that I've been looking forward to. Since I've liked the high quality for your productions. And while I do like the video you made, I feel you have made a couple of errors with it that kinda might put incorrect info out there. Something that I don't think you want to see happen. So, a couple of things; -RAAF. The way you pronouce this, it is clear you are trying to say it like the UK Royal Air Force. It is pronouced R "double-A" F, not a forced attempt at saying A twice really quickly. -Warragamba Dam (south-western side of the map, large body of water), you show this before as there before it existed. Other maps have people credit you for having them be period correct, so seeing this was interesting. Other dams locations are correct, as they existed at the time. -The location of Barangaroo (western side of the southern headland the Sydney Harbour bridge sits on) is shown as it exists currently. So the buildings are where they are located nowdays, and with the graden point that was built there to restore the more "natural" look of the place. In 1942 it was a major hub for cargo handling, and most of the people who lived there had been the working poor. So was flat land with warehouses there, not green spaces, sadly. It was only restored to this look a few years ago. -You show Garden Island (third headland east of the same spot as above) as part of the mainland. It wasn't at this point in time. At least to the degree shown. On that subject... -HMAS "Kittabul", it is pronouced "CUT-a-bull". You show the name right, but hearing you get the name wrong so many times just hurt my ears.,.. -HMAS Yarroma (you pronounced it Yarr-A-ma, heard it more Yarr-OH-ma), other ships had off names, but that was the only one really worth it. You did get Macquarie (as in, Macquarie Lighthouse) very wrong. I'm not even sure how to spell your version, but it is pronouced mac-quar-ie. -M-24 didn't sink off the Eastern suburbs, like you showed. She sank to the north. They have tried to keep it unlisted, but it has leaked. So they are trying to protect the site since people have taken bits from it over the years. Sorry. Blame the fact I grew up hearing stories from my grandfather (Sydney Tram driver) racing down, like many others, to go and watch what was happening as they hear Sydney was under attack and he wanted to take a look. Got to see the American ship fire her guns. Plus I used to work at Fleet Base East as a civvie, so also got exposed to a lot of the history while working there. If not getting stories from those in my family who had been in the RAN about what importance the event has on the RAN to this day. Hence why they named part of the base, HMAS Kuttabul. The name is really an interchangable name for the whole location, even if it just a smaller part of the whole base. Saying all that. Extra notes! Some impacts; -On the other torpedo, no one was aware it was fired. As either everyone missed seeing it, or mixed it up with the other (there is some reports some saw two in the water, but there was confusion over if they meant another sub, hence fired elsewhere, or tried to escape a torpedo they believed had been fired at them by a friendly. Hence the shock when they found the second one stuck in the mud of Garden island days later. Gave some important intel on the type used by Japan. -The midget submarines they found at the time (not M-24) had been recovered and studied. They later went on tour across the country to help drum up support for the war effort, with some parts later sold as souvenirs. One was later put on display at the War Memorial in Canberra, where it was allowed to stay for many years. Has seen been moved inside to protect it, but not before kids could climb all over it for many years. -After the shelling of the Eastern suburbs, many of the people in those areas wanted to move out of the area. As they figured it was a precuser for a future invasion by Japan that would target those areas, so they moved out. They would later move to more newer suburbs in other parts of Sydney which had started to go up around that time. This meant in the long term the Eastern Suburbs moved from a very working class area, to one that started to see more white coller types living there. Which is why the area is now seen as such a heartland for the rich of the city. -And yes, the Japanese attacks on shipping in this region was largely ineffective, it did have an impact on things. An oversight by the Japanese was the lack of attempting to put more pressure onto this part of the world. As doing that would've forced Allied powers to put more resources into defence measures, over saving them for upcoming attacks. Not that it would have changed the outcome, but would've given the Japanese more time with a delayed war. Still, grew up with stories of either seeing ships get hit off the coast here, or attacks against subs (or what was believed to be subs). Thanks for doing this. :D

06:45 was the morning of not the night before.

Cant wait to see the battle leyte gulf the best and devesdating war of pacific

Submarine I-27 patroled the Indian Ocean exclusively until her destruction on 12 February 1944 southwest of the Maldives. That night she sank the British troop transport Khedive Ismail with the loss of 1297 persons, including most of the East African Artillery 301st Regiment. She was finally sunk by HMS Petard with all hands after a 2.5 hour battle. The sinking of the Khedive Ismail was third highest in terms of casualties for the Allies from a civilian ship sinking during WW2, and the largest in terms of female Commonwealth personnel (77 WRNS and nuns lost).

greatt

I believe they are called "little ships" now.

Radar: *detects plane* Military officers: 'must be a glitch as there are no scheduled flights' Doesn't that make it OBVIOUS then that the aircraft was hostile?????

The Admiral was correct in giving the Japanese sailors full military honors.

Attacking the Soviet vessel was stupid. Japan and the USSR were not at war and it alerted the Australian defences to the presence of enemy submarines operating close by. Japanese submariners were aggressive, maybe too aggressive for their own good.

My Dad was in Sydney with the USN. during this attack.

Your footage at 19:30 is not of “allied attacks on Japanese merchant shipping”, but footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor!

It truly is no wonder the Japanese were able to accomplish so much. Thanks in part due to sheer Allied incompetence. Seriously, this is almost half a year into the war and they’re ignoring or dismissing direct information.

"One of the more lesser known . . " WHAT !!! 2:12

Was Rear Admiral Muirhead-Gould ever reprimanded for his failures during this attack?

at 17:11, do you mean Sydney Harbour? narration and captions say "Pearl Harbor"

Captain Bode. The original Mr duck and run.

Very participant

Fun fact, fort scratchly (Newcastle) fired it's only shoots ever at a hostile that day.

Being a submarine crewman, especially in a midget sub had to be hell. Spending days, weeks, or months underwater. Then when you get blown up youre stuck in a steel casket to drown