When I was at school in Australia during the 60's, the bombing of Darwin was taught as just a side event to WW2. A couple of bombs, 1 ship sank and and I think 3 people killed. We all learned about Pearl Harbour. The bombing of Darwin was top secret and not released until the 1970's. I was a bit pissed off when I found out the truth,as the men who served in Darwin were not given the recognition the were due. More bombs fell on Darwin than Pearl harbour, but Darwin was not recognised as a war zone for returned servicemen purposes.
Just a slight update - I was at school in Australia in the 60s as well and very little was said about Darwin - or about Pearl Harbour for that matter. Our major education regarded Gallipoli, Middle East, Singapore and Kokoda as the forefront of battles. We did learn that there were several raids and more than 60 people were killed in the first attack.
@Molly McCullagh I remember as a kid growing up as a baby boomer seeing a photo my dad had of that post office . It looked like a pair of bookends. It had taken a direct hit by the look of it . The roof was shattered completely along with I think the font & rear of the building . It`s been more than sixty years since I saw that picture but I`ve not forgotten it. Dad was sent there with AIF in 44ish to clean up . Both Broome & Pt Hedland were bombed too.
@Molly McCullagh Not quite. Aboriginal servicemen did exist and were guaranteed the same rates of pay and conditions as other servicemen. I once asked my father, who fought along the Kokoda trail, what he thought of the aboriginal servicemen. His reply was blunt and to the point - they fought the same fight, wore the same uniform and ate the same food so deserved to receive the same pay and recognition etc. It is possible they were not not included in the general civilian death tally because they were not included in the general census. It wasn't a matter of them being considered unworthy - it was just a matter of it not being done. As a result of the 1967 referendum however, all of this changed and general inclusion in statistical details - government and otherwise - became mandatory.
I am a 62 year old Australian who served twenty years in the Australian Air Force. My brothers were both also in the Military, one was in the Army for six years and the eldest also did twenty years in the Airforce retiring as a Wing Commander. Our Father was a WWII vetran and former Argyle and Sutherland Highlander who was a POW in Germany after being captured on Crete. As you can imagine, with this sort of exposure to the military and being a keen amateur historian of WWII, I can honestly say I have never heard the bombing of Darwin referred to as "Australia's Pearl Harbor".
Can't believe that an Australian had never heard of the bombing of Darwin. The Australian Airforce led by Clive "Killer" Caldwell with his fighter pilots were busy in action over Darwin for months intercepting Japanese bomber waves attacking Darwin & it's surrounding airfields for months. We lost lot of pilots in those early times of the war.
@@iancotteral717 re read my comment. I have never heard the bombing of Darwin referred to as "Australia's Pearl Harbor". The last six words are very important.
@@terrybarrett2368 I guess if you are being pedantic, but apart from this video, I still HAVE not heard the bombing of Darwin being reffered to as Australia's Pearl Harbour. You HAVE to love grammar Nazis.
It actually was far worse than Pearl Harbour. The Japs learnt lessons from PH and didn't make the same mistakes. They made sure the infrastructure and fuel depots were also destroyed . Read the book The Unfortunate Truth. The bombing Darwin. Sadly, there is little written about what really happened or taught in Australian schools.
My father was based in Darwin and told me a lot about the attacks in the mid 80s before it really ever publicly surfaced .. he said there were multi attacks during the time he was there and plenty of fatalities. . .showed me photos he took of downed mangled zeros ..twas a shock as it was never spoke about in history at school .
It is a Crime that this was not taught in school ! This is perhaps why Ausie ruling class has such contempt for it’s own people that we are now seeing !
@@TP-pc5kz Most of the Japanese pilots had a lot of experience flying/fighting in China and elsewhere. The Zero was a superb fighter, that dominated the skies... until the F4F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair was fielded. Then, it was game over for the Zero. The Japanese pilots would fly in, shoot, then flee. 1000 times better? If so, then why were almost all of their experienced pilots shot down in about a year?
@@vigilantobserver8389 A lot of the early war losses the Allies suffered from engagements with the Zero were due to poor tactics. Attempting to engage and turn/dogfight with them yielded poor results. Look to Claire Chennault as well as Cactus Air Force for change in tactics and better results. If the Japanese pilots were (ha) 1000x better than US pilots, the war would have turned out much differently. Hint...they weren't.
Thank you for this. My dad was there but didn't talk about it much when I was growing up. He was Floyd Oscar Tacklind, a captain at the time with the American 148th Idaho Artillery. He and his battalion were on the MC Tulage with the Timor convoy and at Darwin on the day of the attack. His Battery stayed on board the Tulage the night before the attack. When a crew gunner was wounded my dad and his C.O. took over the gun and fired on the enemy until they left. At least that's what his citation stated. Soon after he was awarded the Silver Star.
@@davidb2206 They weren't captured. While in route they were bombed by air with no casualties. They were called back to Darwin just in time and were bombed again on the way back. The next day the Japanese bombed Darwin. I think the ship he was on was the only one not hit by bombs in the harbor probably because my dad and his C.O. were firing on the enemy planes. The newspaper article from his home town which I still have said McArthur gave him his silver star.
My father was a gunner stationed at East Point, he told me that RAAF personell were instructed to go bush and get to Adelaide River (south of Darwin) There was no longer an airfield, and more raids were expected.
as an australian born in 1949 i found this video most enlightening indeed. during my schooling through the 50's & 60's we were taught next to nothing about the bombing of darwin. very sad really.
My schooling was the 70's and same . I had to learn it myself. Even did Japanese history in Year 12 and WWII wasn't even touched . I did my own exam essay on Pearl Harbour ( which wasn't taught) to get a B+ lol
I am a Canadian who spent a few weeks in Darwin in 2015. I used to go to the park almost every day on the bluff overlooking the harbor. There is a nice memorial dedicated to this battle which I never even heard about until I arrived.
Thanks for the video.It was very detailed.My uncle,Charlie Stover ,was in this battle.He crossed over in 2004.He said whenever the major wanted fresh fish,3 of them would take a landing craft,1 guy on each side,1 guy driving and toss grenades over each side.He told me there were always an abundance of fish wherever they went.He was in also in New Guninea,and the battle of the Philippines.
The bombing of Darwin was a bigger event than most historians mention. Thanks for a very educational video. It was a repeat of the Pearl Harbor attack. The valiant USS Houston deserves greater attention.
Yes !! I have learned SO much from this video and I will probably watch it several times (I do wish we could have found some pictures of the Japanese commanders that were labeled) the back ground music was well chosen too!
It is a good documentary, but it is so hard to listen to the awful fake voice narrating. Please just read it yourself or get another actual human to do it
this is phenomenal - I just discovered your channel. I love the strategic storytelling you present here. The graphics and animation are so helpful in understanding the events. Thank you so much for putting this together.
As a World War II buff this is a very informative video. As a child I grew up in the early 50’s in the Andaman Islands. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands were occupied by the Imperial Japanese forces in March of 1942. Our neighbor Mr Edwin Monin was the Manager of the Local Dairy Farm lived under the Japanese occupation, his house was taken over my the Japanese Military and he lived in the Shed in the backyard. He told me a lot of stories of the atrocities committed by the Japanese troops. Even he was brutally kicked by a group of soldiers for failing to bow to them. He always walked with a pronounced limp. Quite a few locals were killed, and the British Administrative officers were beaten to death or beheaded. One of them was a gentleman named Bird who was a senior British officer.
Propaganda, but NOT History, has led us to believe that the Empire of Japan began its territorial expansion in the 1930’s, invading China, creating the puppet State of Manchukuo and “Provoking” the war with the Western Powers. But, Was this really, how events happened? Did Japan invade China and South East Asia? It seems so. However, the Propaganda does NOT say that for centuries, all Asia was invaded by Western Powers. England occupied India, Burma (Myanmar); Singapore, Malaysia and China (Hong Kong, Nanking, Shanghai, etc). France dominated all Indochina. The Netherlands intervened by the Force of its Arms, to all of Indonesia. And Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and of course, also the United States were in South East Asia cuz, for example this country, the US, occupied the Philippines since 1898. (Spanish-American War). Thus the panorama in the 30's, the Empire of Japan, when defeating to the Tsarist Russian Empire, it also decided to "Grow" by invading its neighbors. In those years, all European nations had colonies in Africa, India, the Middle East, Asia and America. (England came to occupy almost ¼ part of the planet). For its part, the US, in 113 years of existence as a nation in those years, had "Grown" 711 the size of its territory from its original 13 colonies. Now is the picture clear? Japan for its part, had fought on the side of the winners in World War I (1914-1918), and they, the Japanese, not awarded any "Gain". The western victors of WWI divided the world. Japan was excluded. Thus, Japan's motives for attacking and expanding as the Europeans and the US did seem clearer, right? Then they, the Japanese, attacked China in 30’s, which was occupied by 6 Western Powers for almost a century. None of the Western Powers occupying China at this time, OPPOSED or fought Japan for Invading China. NONE! Then, 11 years later after having occupied the territory of China and coexisted without any problem with the Western Powers within China, they, the Japanese, attacked Hawaii, which in turn, this Island had been occupied and annexed by the US in 1898. (In 1900-01, Hawaii became US territory and Hawaii ceased to be an independent nation after more than 630 years of sovereignty. By the time Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States had just completed the 40th anniversary of the military occupation and annexation of Hawaii). They, the Japanese, attacked Singapore, which was then a Colony of England. They, the Japanese, attacked the Philippines, which were occupied by the US and whose Gov’r, Douglas MacArthur reined as Emperor. Yup… Truly like an Absolute Autocrat. Therefore, the Japanese did NOT attack (In the 40’s), Singapore, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Borneo, Timor, the Philippines, etc. In reality, the Japanese attacked England, France, Belgium, Holland, the US, etc. That is, the Japanese attacked the Western Powers invading all of Asia. That is the verifiable truth. But, Propaganda has made us believe that the good guys were us, the US. And of course… Nanking was a horrendous Genocide committed by Japan, but, it was no more horrendous than the 12 Genocides committed by the United States in his History and all over the world. Nor was it less horrendous than the Genocide committed by King Leopold II of Belgium, in Central Africa. Nor was Nanking more or less horrendous than the Genocides that the British Empire committed in America, Africa, Australia, Middle East, India and also in China too. And now, the Japanese are our friends and allies... Yup… But, to fight against China, AGAIN!!! Well… No More. No More British Malaya nor British Borneo nor British wherever. No More French Indochina. No More Dutch Indies. No More Portugese Domains. No More US Domain here. Asia is for Asians.
The graphic/animation of the raid is highly informative; kept me wondering when the bombing was going to end. The IJN bombers were very disciplined. The second wave with the land based bombers was probably an overkill. Awesome video!
I completely agree , he describes the allied forces very well and also the terrible level of preparation. This was my first introduction to this battle the level of Japanese co ordination was unsurpassable, one can imagine the level of the morale on the Japanese carriers. I also enjoyed the music that went along with the story
Imagine this kind of coordinated and well-equipped operation on the U.S. West Coast in February 1942 instead of just the Aleutian invasions. This is the very real risk that is described well in the book "WWII Japanese Relocation Camps & the WRA: A Prudent, Emergency, War-time Measure."
Thank you for posting it was interesting to see my father was stationed at the Air Force base when it happened he said he never knew he could run so fast as a lot of ground staff did and headed to the bush as they had no guns to fight with he was with the RAAF transport company
I agree my grand father jhon Roberts telegraphist Darwin post office in Darwin post office 19th February direct hit he jumped off the hill which is now government house the foyer has remains the walk of regional Darwin post office 19th February 1942 and the plaque says 10 postal worker where killed in bombing raids on Darwin post office 19th February 1942
Agreed. People are too petty. Lots of good info and graphics. Certainly lots of time spent researching as well. Haven’t seen a more comprehensive one on RU-vid. Nice job 👍🏻
Thank you for this wonderful presentation. As an American, who is a voracious reader of WW2 history, I knew very little about Australia during that war. You have started me on a quest to learn more. Thank you
Recently reading my great grandfathers auto biography, he was there when it was bombed and helped collect injured and dead men put of the water. He was on one of the ships that got sunk.
In the 70’s & 80’s I got in trouble at school for talking about this and other actions around Australia, such as the mini submarines in Sydney and the war in bass strait. Teachers yelled at me and told me how wrong I was. I’d been to the National war museum in Canberra, several times as a kid. I’d climbed on the mini sub there, had photos, etc. They still did not want to believe it, or allow others to hear about it! I guess they grew up in the generation that still had this and other information suppressed from them. The only thing they believed about the whole of WW2 & Australia, was that “just a few planes bombed Darwin and very few people were killed”. One of them was supposed to be the HISTORY TEACHER!
Maybe Goverment still covered their mistake. Number civilian killed and habor damaged higher or uncountable. But I couldnot believed why the war over the world but Australia didn't have any preparation against Japanese. Did they still sleep after Pearl Habour???
Pumba3280: As a child in the 60s I asked my mother about the bombing of Darwin. She'd been a WAAAF (Women's Auxiliary Australian Airforce) during the war. She told me that during the war itself, the official line was 'a few bombs fell'. That myth became the accepted fact, but frankly, your teachers obviously weren't doing their homework. Being a student of Australian history, I can hardly turn a page these days without coming across an outdated Aussie myth which has become accepted fact. History by ingrained sound-bite; it's a common disease.
My Grandparents were only kids when the Bombing of Darwin happened back in 1942. They were 5 and 6 Years old. My Grandmothers Father fought in the War. and returned home in Geelong 1945. My Grandparents are now aged in their nearly mid 80s. They remember the shocking things that happened during World War II on Newspaper and in person.
If you ever visit Darwin please drop into the 1934 QANTAS hanger and view the bullet holes left over from an attack by a Japanese Zero. There is a length of wooden dowel next to a thick I-beam that you can push the dowel through and visualise the angle of the attack. The holes are clean through the steel like someone let loose with a big drill bit.
Darwin is an interesting city with It's war history and cyclone Tracey. Been there a couple of times on short Stays. Love looking at local history, Especially war events. It's an amazing Place Darwin with what happened And its isolation, but it comes back.
very interesting stuff, working in aged care for ww11 vets i had the pleasure to care for two gunners in this raid who told me a few explicit details of what they saw in these raids, and forever greatfull for them to share, thats how close we became, very shocking and harrowing experience for all them involved
Thank you for this. We need to learn from our history. For almost half a century, the dominant paradigm presented to Australians was that this was just a minor skirmish. Fast forward to modern times, and the NT Government has relinquished control of the port of Darwin to a foreign state owned company for 99 years!
Thank you , Mr Vector, for this comprehensive narration .Really grateful and appreciative, and we can almost feel we were there when the raids took place.
Lived in Darwin in the1960 after leaving Helen Springs Cattle Station as the camp cook,then traveled to Darwin worked at the Darwin Hotel,and lived in at the hotel,then moved to the Fanny Bay Hotel ,there was still remainders of the past Second World War conflict,along the Darwin Harbour,then changed jobs and worked at the Darwin Hospital,as a orderly,exploring was a interesting time back then,with trips to old air fields down the track heading south,as well as the caves at the cliffs at Darwin harbour, that still held objects of interest, long past good memories after watching this video,
@@danielmocsny5066 I think there should be only 3 subjects taught in a proper state school...mathematics, science, and a blend of applied technology and engineering. I think whatever the Australian equivalent of the PTA is should leave History, Arts and Crafts on a back burner and not be allowed to taught for over 3 hours per week. The parents would have to submit a list of the reading material they are going to have their kids read, forget teaching. Use the English boarding school and University examples of allowing the kids choose one of the above topic area.
I was there as a seventeen year old soldier with 1/54th. AASL at MacMillans camp close to the main RAAF field. My mates and I watched as the first Zeros attacked the American Warhawks Our CO ran from his office and sounded the alarm. I took up position in a lewis Gun pit and fired on the VAL dive bombers attacking the air base. Many RAAF ground crews ran past our position to escape the carnage on the airfield. Our WW1 Lewis gun was useless against the dive bombers and we on ly had five panniers of ammo which was fired off in very short time. Yes it was Australia's Pearl Harbour but is not considered important in our history books.
Fantastic video! This theater of World War II seems to have been nearly forgotten and, as an avid World War II buff, I am pleased to find so much information to fill the holes in my knowledge! Kudos!
I don't think it's been forgotten it's just people born after 1990 have no interest in history because they've been taught that Australia is a boring place and they should all be American which is why they know about pearl Harbour but not Darwin
The real count of downed Zero fighters was probably higher. These were regularly found inland from Darwin, one dragged out of a muddy creek only a few weeks ago. As a child in Darwin in the 60's and 70's I remember a neighbour had one largely intact in his back yard. I distinctly remember a spray of bullet holes up one side of the cockpit - although my father said these were probably more recent and the Zero had just run out of fuel.
Very well made sir. As a student of history, I am fairly ashamed to say that I had no idea of the bombing of Australia after Pearl Harbor. Thank you for the very informative video.
I was surprised that in the incredibily long, but interesting movie "Australia", which was panned by the critics, this was the first I came to know about the bombing of Darwin. I wish the movie had spent more time on the Australian's prelude to war. But, I can understand why maybe the Aussie's just did not want that much to do with another world war after they were buthchered in Flander's Fields and Gallipoli. Particularly, when all of the ANZAC forces were put under English General Officer's control (and they were more interested in the quality of their claret and the yorkshire pudding they were getting in their pillbox dugouts away from the front line firing.
@@nickdsylva932 It wasn't that we didn't want to stop the peril from the north or fight in a war, but we were so undermanned as a country with a small population. We put up the best we had. The Poms didn't have the right of command in Australia or New Guinea and Pacific conflicts. Our main ally in those conflicts was the USA. My grandfather served as a major in the AIF 36th Battalion. He was attached to the USA 7th Fleet PT boat Squadron as a liaison officer. He served with them and along with another officer from the RAN, received the "Legion of Merit medal for meritorious service to the Government of the United States in action against the enemy" ( www.awm.gov.au/collection/C361650 ).
Darwin bombed 64 times, last on 12Nov'43. From Exmouth W.A. to Townsville Q.L.D. northern Australia was bombed in 97 air attacks. Submarine and minisubmarine attacks down east coast with attacks on Newcastle and Sydney as well as coastal shipping. www.awm.com.au
little snippet of info, RAAF Base Tindal, located 320KM south of Darwin, is named after the first RAAF officer to be killed in the Darwin air raid, Wing Commander Archibald Robert Tindal. Tindal's Airman's Club, the Latham Club, is named after the first RAAF airman killed in the Darwin air raid, Leading Aircraftman Philips Stonham Latham
I have one of those Zero's droptank sitting in my shed...a friends father found it in the bush with half bomb fragments that weigh a good couple of kilo's each😎👍Great rundown of events👍
The salient point for me was the Glaring Fact (ONCE AGAIN) as at Pearl Harbor, that the EARLY WARNING reports were NOT acted on or dismissed! Very Fishy for a Military on a War Footing!
If you like history, facts are important and if you like WW2 videos that are filled with ACCURATE facts you're in the right place. This is one of the BEST researched documentaries you'll ever see! (here or anywhere) I kid you not and I could do with a lot less VOLUME on the 'special effects' , like the Morse Codes that step all over the dialog (but that's just an editing issue and an easy fix with the audio mixing thing) Aside from that this is really put together and I'm astounded by the amount of info it provides. Watch and see. You'll be amazed before you're halfway through but it's obvious after just 5 min. Much time went into putting this together and nobody puts that much effort into something unless it's a labor of love. So thx Vector Historia. I think you're on to something and you did a good thing
It was not just Darwin , Broome had its casualties as well as it was attacked on the 3rd March 1942 and then again twice later . Around a 100 killed including 19 USA service men and about 50 Dutch nationals who had recently escaped from Indonesia . Found a good little book on the subject when in Broome last year . Never hear much about that either , also kept secret I guess . There is a also a small Japanese cemetery at Broome with a number of Japanese pearl divers who had live and worked there .
@@geoffbell166 I have read somewhere of an actual landing of a small Japanese party somewhere but I believe after going inland for a short distance they concluded it was not worth the effort . Unless it was in the wet season it must have looked a pretty inhospitable place !
Darwin, Adelaide river, Katherine, Broome, Exmouth, CairnsTennet creek, and Tiwi islands these where the major centres at the time that where bombed. Yes Broome was boomed, but Darwin was the first and hardest hit of all towns and cities, there where more bombs dropped on Darwin then pearl harbour
I am addicted to this video. I keep watching it, taking lessons from it. If the IJN had hammered Pearl Harbor this badly, then the war would have lasted another year longer than it did. Maybe even more.
Word has it that the Japanese Commander held back on a planned final wave, thinking the job was done. As the narrator said, lessons were learnt by the Japanese on their attack on Pearl Habor, hence the massive attack on the RAAF base.
Or imagine if either attack had been followed up with ground landings, as the IJN and IJA could easily have done at that time, just as they later did in the Aleutians.
My grandparents home was bombed. My Grandmother and mother were shipped off to Perth prior to the attack and my Grandfather stayed behind to defend against the expected invasion.
Australia is spelt with ONLY one R thank you. Have a look at the map at the end of the video. Also the front end of a ship is called a " bow" , to rhyme with bough or bow down , but definitely NOT pronounced as " bow" to rhyme with bow and arrow Otherwise a very accurate depiction of the Darwin raid which my father as a stoker on HMAS Warrego (sloop) survived. His sister ship HMAS Swan (sloop), also survived but had some casualties ,( 3 men killed).
My dad flew spitfires in Darwin with 457 squadron. He never talked about it, but from reading his diaries and his log book, and from talking to an old RSL mate of his, I know it knocked him about pretty badly, he lost a couple of his best mates, they never found the planes. The book Darwin Spitfires is worth reading for a great insight into the spits and the aerial battles.
The first Japanese plane shot down over Australia was attacking fuel barrels on the very long warf of the WA port of Broome. It was attacking Dutch women and children off a ship. At that time a private flying boat was moored, fitting a machine gun. The owner was so angered by what he was seeing he took up the gun and sprayed the Zero with 30 cal bullets cooking the skin off his hand but had the satisfaction of seeing a ball of flame rise from the direction the Zero had flown, trailing smoke. He was hailed for his success but was never to be acknowledged to the wider public. A non serviceman must not be know to have been the first.
Thank you for your video , my Poopa was based in Darwin during ww2 defending Australia against the Japanese, he never spoke of what happened. I now have some idea of what he went through.
In 1940, Australia's northern half was an empty void of nothingness. Nobody had any idea of its mineral resources and nobody cared. In fact the Australian government was only committed to defending a line drawn from Sydney to Adelaide, which was in reality the productive part of the country. the rest of the country was a place to die. My grandfathers brother, "Snowy" Robertson was stationed at Darwin and bombed something like 36 times.
A big advantage of that line was that the enemy would severely stretch their supply lines and exhaust their troops crossing great distances before the Australian Army would need to fight them. Conversely the Australian Army wouldn't need to move their troops and supplies over vast distances to the north. Very sensible.
A very interesting documentary and fills a hole that exits in history. Dad was in New Guinea so I always like to know what happened around that time, as he wouldn't speak of it.
Me pop was sent up here as part of the reinforcement after 1st raids, Him and some mates came across a shot down zero or Kitty hawk not sure which one, they grabbed the propeller and made some moulds melted the prop poured into moulds in shape of little Spitfires. I still have them thanks to pop. Bout 100mm by 90mm. The Australian government were so considering giving Northern Australia to Japanese, thankfully the Americans showed up eh.
@@nifty1940 I would love for you to say that to an Aussie SAS, Aussie Commando, or Aussie Para member and watch how you run when you find out your ass has been torn off and handed to you.
I had the privilege of training with Ausssies while I was in the Marines. People really don't realize U.S., UK, Australia, and Canada servicemen are at peace despite the what civilians think. We get the job done for our respective nations, but fuck with one of us, and they'll get stomped by all of us. God bless Australia, UK, Canada, and America.
I visited Darwin about 1998 and was surprised to find a lot of residual resentment of the Japanese by the locals. Considering the overkill the Japanese navy used I kind of understand it better now.
This video should be shown to all history teachers so kids at school wont be lied to as we were lied to saying it was nothing big. It certainly was a full on assault with many lives lost. Thank you for the post.
Its still staggering that to this day, so few Australians know of this raid and others that go all the way down the WA coast to Broome and below. Even our education system fails in a way to teach what happened and it wasn't til I was older that I learned about it. Darwin still lets out the air raid signal to this day and there are memorials held throughout the day. Its interesting that once every 2 years, Pitch Black is performed and includes the airforces of Australia, the US, The Indian, The Japanese, The Indonesian airforces a to make up a total of roughly 16 airforces from throughout South East Asia. Peace is where it has to be. We look back on the raid of Darwin and hopefully look forward to Peace and the lessons learnt..
To all those mad that the Americans were caught with their pant down earlier in the war, may I point out they were not (officially) at war with Japan, so their attack is different to Australia’s.
the reason the city was so poorly defended was because of the norhtern trench policy it essentially drew a line from adelaide in south australia to just north of bribane anything north of this line was to be abandoned to japan in the event of a full scale invasion
I agree "using a sledgehammer to break an egg". Seems like the first wave bombing have already finished the port btw Zero are just so legendary. If there isn't a fight on midway island, I think even the US air force will find it very hard to deal with such skilled pilot of the IJN
Great video, but a tip. Could you lower the sound effects on the video? When describing the air raid on Darwin, the sounds of the air raid sirens and bomb effects ultimately drown out the narration. Other than that, this was a great video in describing an air attack on Australia that is pretty much ignored in the USA.
I had 2 uncles stationed in Darwin during the raids neither talked about them one was RAA the other was RAAF. The RAA spent time in Burma and other theatres. All up 5 family members served overseas including my mother ( Army Nurse ) and they all came home , how blessed am I . I am here due to the sacrifice of many, I constantly think about those who lost their lives protecting our way of life.
Does anyone know if any paperwork and files were salvaged from the MV Don Isidro or the SS Florence D ??? the other bombed military supply ship that was headed for Bataan? I am looking for a manuscript or diary from one of the Naval Observers (Intelligence Officers) aboard one of them lost somewhere North or West of Bathurst and Melville Island during the Darwin Bombings. The American naval officer "escaped on a makeshift raft towards Australia and was picked up after a week adrift". His name would be censored as normal procedure. He was evacuated on a US PBY or Douglas Dakota soon after towards The Gilbert Islands or Java.
My father Edward Thomas ARNOLD was an army mechanic in Darwin during the bombings, he worked with the search lights maintaining the diesel generators. He never spoke much about the raid but lived at the RSL club and marched in every ANZAC parade till he died.
This is my eighth year in Darwin and it has always struck me how fixated many still are with the bombing and a cyclone that tore through weatherboard homes 30+ years later. Sure, in the Australian context both were major events but compare them to a city like Singapore and we were comparatively lucky. Thousands of troops from the Commonwealth were killed or captured in the fall of Singapore but at least they were able to resist the initial attack. The civilian population were left to suffer at the hands of the Japanese, largely thanks to the incompetence of their British military overlords. Whatever privations northern Australia suffered during WWII at least the majority of women and children were spared.
