aichi ‘val’ dive-bomber d3a1...
TRANSCRIPT
Areas struck by bombs during 58 raids between 1942 — 1944
Coastal guns
Anti-aircraft guns
Bofors anti-aircraft guns
Coastalguns
Anti-aircraft guns
Anti-aircraft guns
Anti-aircraft HQ
MindiiBeach
Post Office
Court House
Oil storage tanks
Railway Hill
China Town
DarwinRailway Station
Vesteys’ meat works
Darwin Civil Aerodrome
Bofors anti-aircraft guns
MainWharf
Swam
p
Darwin Hospital
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thetelegraph.com.au/classmate
In February 1942 Australians were stunned when Japanese aircraft descended on Darwin, bombing the town. It was the first time enemy bombs had fallen on Australia. The raid came 10 weeks after Japanese
forces bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, bringing the United States into World War II. But while the details of Pearl Harbor were widely publicised and used to recruit for the war against Japan, many details of the raid on Darwin were covered up at the time. Another 63 raids on Darwin followed over the next year. Japanese bombing raids also extended to other parts of northern Australia, including Broome and Townsville.
Darwin Post Office destroyed by Japanese bombs in the first raid on Australian soil on February 19, 1942. Killing the postmaster, his family and several staff members
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Editor: Troy Lennon Writer: Marea Donnelly Graphics: Paul Leigh and Will Pearce
Prime minister John Curtin, February 20, 1942
We must face this test with fortitude
and fight grimly and unflinchingly. Australian
forces and civilians conducted themselves
with gallantry. Darwin had been bombed, but
not conquered.
Lead-up to attacksThe attacks on Darwin came as part of Japanese conquests in South-East Asia, particularly against China, since the early 1930s. Japan had occupied Indo-China and Thailand in 1941. Since the bombing of Pearl Harbour, Japan had also taken Hong Kong, Malaya and the Australian territory of New Britain. Japanese forces were advancing into the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia). Four days before the attacks, Japanese forces had captured Singapore. Military strategists say Japan had no intention of landing in Australia, but wanted to seize raw materials and economic resources in South-East Asia and secure a defensible perimeter around the region. Darwin was a major Allied (Australian, British and US) base. Ships and planes based there were supporting the defenders of Timor, which was to fall within a week, and Java, which was overwhelmed by the end of February. Darwin was attacked to support Japan’s seizure of the Netherlands East Indies.
SoURcES & FURThER STUDYBooksAn Awkward Truth by Peter Grose (Allen & Unwin)Australia’s Military History For Dummies by David Horner (Wiley)The Encyclopaedia of Australia’s Battles by Chris Clark (Allen & Unwin)WebsitesThe Bombing of Darwin http://orford.tased.edu.au/bombing%20of%20dawin.htmAustralian War Memorial http://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_59.asp
WarningsAn Australian coastwatcher on Melville Island, off Darwin, reportedly spotted the Japanese planes at about 9.15am. Father John McGrath, a Catholic priest and missionary on Bathurst Island, sent a message: “An unusually large air formation bearing down on us from the northwest”. Darwin received both warnings at least twice by radio, no later than 9.37am. But the Australian duty officer assumed the reports referred to returning US fighters and its B-17 escort. The warnings were not acted upon.
T h e b o m b i n g o f
DarWinFrances Bay
West PointAnti-s
ubmarine boom net
DARWIN
Fannie Bay
East Point
HMAS Southern CrossHMAS Katoomba
MV Tulagi(beached) USAT Meigs
12,568 tons (sunk)
SS Mauna Loa5436 tons (sunk)
SS Benjamin Franklin(damaged) SS Admiral
Halstead(damaged)
Lighter
HMAS KirraSS Barossa (damaged)
MV Neptuna 5952 tons (sunk)
HMAS Swan (damaged)HMAS Warrego
HMAS DeloraineHMAS Platypus (damaged)
MV Neptuna 5952 tons (sunk)
HMAS Platypus (damaged)HMAS Mavie (sunk)
SS Zealandia 6683 tons (sunk)
USS Peary 1190 tons (sunk)
Supply Hulk Kelat (sunk)USS William B Preston(damaged)
USN PBY5 Catalina flying boats (3 sunk)
SS Port Mar (beached)
SS British Motorist (sunk)
Mangrove swamp
Oil storage areaSunk
Damaged
Beached
HS Manunda (damaged)
RAAF Base
Stuart Highway
To Adelaide River
CivilAerodrome
N
FirST raiD: 9.58am, February 19, 1942A bomb blast near Stokes Hill wharf shattered the sunny peace of Darwin Harbour, crowded with 47 naval and merchant ships.Nine low-flying Japanese Zero fighters
launched the attack, strafing minesweeper HMAS Gunbar.
Within minutes the wharf was burning, two ships at the wharf
had been hit and one was on fire. Ships in the harbour were also hit. Two American destroyers were blazing and one bomb narrowly missed an Australian hospital ship, the Manunda.The first raid, with 188 aircraft which approached from the southeast, continued for about 40
minutes. It targeted the harbour, military and civil
aerodromes, the harbour front and Berrimah hospital.
The first planes took off from four Japanese aircraft-carriers, Carrier
Division 1 (Akagi and Kaga) and Carrier Division 2 (Hiryu and Soryu) in the Arafura Sea off the eastern tip of Timor at 8.45am, the fleet was
commanded by Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. Leading the raid from the air was Japanese naval Commander Mitsuo Fuchida who had also led the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
SECOnD raiD: 11.15amIt lasted about 20 minutes and involved high altitude bombing of the Royal Australian Air Force base at Parap. This wave of 54 planes, consisting of G4M “Betty” and G3M “Nell” bombers, was launched from airfields at Kendari in the Celebes and from Ambon, off Indonesia. Their target was the RAAF airfield. The raiders destroyed hangars, aircraft, barracks, officers’ quarters and the mess hall. At least six people were killed.
SEcond raidLaunched from airfields in the Celibes and Ambon27 G4M1 Betty Bombers27 G3M Nell Bombers
FirSt raidLaunched from aircraft carriers. It came in over Shoal Bay, turning northwest over Noonamah and up the harbour81 B5N Kate bombers71 D3A Val dive bombers36 A6M2 Zero fighters
CasualtiesThe two raids killed between 243 and 270 people, including 68 civilians, and wounded between 300 and 400. Dive-bomb, pattern bomb and machine-gun
sweeps destroyed 20 military aircraft, sunk eight ships anchored in the harbour, damaged 11 ships and damaged or destroyed most civil and military facilities in Darwin.At least 21 labourers, some trapped on the open
wharf when a section was destroyed, perished.A one-tonne bomb that fell on the postmaster’s house, adjacent to the post office, killed nine people, including the postmaster, his wife and daughter, and six female telephonists.Allied forces also downed at least four Japanese
planes, killing 32 unidentified Japanese airmen.
Did you know?
n On February 10, the Japanese sent a Mitsubishi
C5M reconnaissance aircraft of the 3rd Kokutai,
based at Ambon, over Darwin. It spotted 27 ships
in the harbour and about 30 aircraft at the Darwin
Civil and RAAF airfields.
n Police officer E. A. McNab wrote that “one bomb
burst near by. It made a crater 25ft (about 7.6m) and
14ft (about 4.2m) deep. I was bomb shocked and had
some ribs broken and was spitting blood, but I can
remember getting around after the others.” He then
helped attend to the wounded and went to the police
quarters where he dug out mangled bodies.
n On January 5, 1942, Berlin radio reports said
Darwin had been twice attacked by Japanese
planes. Australian army minister Frank Forde
said the Axis (Germans) were making false
announcements in the hope that
denials would include useful information.
n The Japanese dropped 683 bombs on Darwin in
February 1942, far more than the 271 dropped on
Pearl Harbour. The Darwin raid killed more civilians
and sunk more ships than the Pearl Harbor raid.
But larger bombs were used in Pearl Harbor to
destroy bigger ships.
n A report found poor leadership and discipline
after the bombing raids led to drunkness, looting
and unauthorised actions by servicemen, including
soldiers advising residents to flee the town. This
saw a stream of cars, cyclists and pedestrians
heading south past the Adelaide River in scenes
reminiscent of images of European war refugees.
n Eight days after the attack, the HMAS Manunda
which had been in Darwin during the bombing,
berthed in Fremantle, where chief officer Tom Minto
heard prime minister Curtin announce that Darwin
had been bombed, injuring 35 people. “Funny thing,”
he thought. “We had 200 wounded on the Manunda.”
Curtin also said “the results of the raid were not such
as to give any satisfaction to the enemy”. “Well, the
enemy must have been very hard to
please,” Minto said.
rescuesThe crew of hospital ship HMAS Manunda manned a motor life-boat and picked up more than 30 badly wounded and burnt men. Other boats picked up others, who were taken to the Manunda. The second run of attacks hit the Neptuna, which later blew up, fired on the Zealandia and sank the oiler British Motorist. Dive-bombers then arrived while boats were attempting to pick up more survivors. The Manunda suffered a near miss, which killed four on board and inflicted severe damage.
Official responseThe Australian government announced only 17 people had been killed. The government was concerned about the effect of the bombing on national morale, as Singapore had fallen to the Japanese four days earlier.
DamageDarwin’s police barracks, police station, government offices, post office, telegraph office, cable office and post
master’s residence were destroyed.The government house, Civil Hospital and three private residences were extensively damaged. Twenty aircraft,
along with hangars, huts and a hospital were damaged or destroyed at the Royal Australian Air Force Station.
EvacuationIn late 1941 about 15,000 military personnel were stationed in and around
Darwin. About 2000 of the town’s pre-war population of 5000 also remained,
among them 1066 women and 969 children. By January 1942, 750 women
and children had been shipped out, and
others were evacuated as ships became
available. About 380 people were evacuated by plane. But the exodus on
the afternoon of February 19, 1942, won
Darwin the title of “the town that ran away” after hundreds of survivors fled
south in what was dubbed the Adelaide
River Stakes, fearing an invasion.
USS PearyAmerican destroyer USS Peary was sunk, with 80 crew lost and 13
wounded, after five Japanese bombs hit the engine room and galley.
Rumoured to have had gold bullion and US dollars on board, several
diving teams attempted to recover the wreck. It was salvaged in
1959, amid controversy, by Japanese company Fujita.
Mrs Hilda Abbott was the wife of the Northern Territory administrator Aubrey Abbott. In September 1942 she wrote:“I shall never forget the first Jap air raid on Darwin — the cheque I was writing when the sirens went; the scream of bombs and the cries of the injured; the crash of concrete that killed our poor little laundry maid; the roar of planes and guns; the bullets that sprayed round as we
lay in a bed of zinnias; the scramble to shelter down a cliff face.”Darwin town clerk Mr C. Crowley recorded an account of the bombing in his diary: “On that unforgettable morning, 72 bombers and lighters swept out of a clear sky, wave after wave, and for nearly three hours bombed and strafed well-nigh at will, such defence as there was being quickly overwhelmed or outmatched.”
Witnesses
The USS Peary ablaze and sinking after being bombed
Anti-aircraft gunners defending Darwin in 1942
A ship lying on its side in Darwin Harbour after the raids
The sinking of a merchant ship,
in a still from movie footage
Father McGrath’s radio hut on Bathurst Island
The Neptuna (loaded
with mines) which soon
exploded and The Barossa
on fire and sinking
Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter
Civilians leaving Darwin after the raids
Aichi ‘Val’ Dive-bomber D3A1
B5N Kate bomber from the first wave
An Australian Wirraway and an American Warhawk destroyed at the RAAF base
G4M1 Betty bomber
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