"Australia" - Bombing of Darwin

We went to the movie "Australia" Monday night. One of the key scenes was the WWII Japanese bombing of Darwin, the largest town in the north of Australia. I was asked if the portrayal was historically accurate. It looked overly dramatized to me, so I looked it up on the web. I was shocked!

The attack portrayed in the movie, occurred on 19 Feb 1942. I was just one year old at the time, but growing up in Australia, I certainly learned that the Japanese had attacked Australia at Darwin. It was historically important, since it was the first time that a foriegn power had invaded Australian shores, since it's settlement in 1788. What I did not know was that the Australian government had censored reports of the severity of the Darwin event(s) in order to prevent panic, or morale problems, among the Australian populace in the southern states.

For example...there were two separate attacks on Darwin on 19 Feb 1942. Between that date and 12 Nov 1943, the Japanese conducted 64 separate raids on Darwin. Who knew? I had no idea.

On 19 Feb 1942, 188 Japanese planes were launched against Darwin. There were 27 allied ships in the harbor...8 were sunk, the rest were badly damaged. It was the largest Japanese air attack since Pearl Harbor. The first two raids killed 243 Australians and allies...400 were wounded. 10 Australian fighter pilots managed to get airborne to mount a defense, but only one survived the first attack.

Local sources estimate that between 900 and 1,100 people were killed and many more injured during the 64 Japanese attacks. The Japanese reportedly lost 131 aircraft during these engagements.

What I did know about the history of Japanese attacks on Australia, was that Japanese midget submarines shelled Sydney Harbour during WWII, but that was more symbolic than militarily effective. What I did not know was that there were serious Japanese attacks much further south than I had ever imagined.

Two weeks after the first attacks on Darwin, the west coast town of Broome was bombed. That was Australia's second worst air-raid. Again...who knew? That attack killed 70 people and wounded another 40. Other Australian towns hit by the Japanese were Townsville (3 times), Katherine, Wyndham, Derby, Port Hedland, Exmouth Gulf, Millingimbi and Horn Island.

So the movie was historically accurate.

I do recall my uncles (mother's brothers) telling war stories one time. One of them was stationed up north near Exmouth Gulf. He said that he and a companion saw two Japanese sailors on a beach one night. It was well known that the Japanese were conducting reconaissance from submarines along the coast. They watched them for a while, then shot them. They said that they never reported the incident, because such events created more trouble than they were worth for enlisted personnel. The military tried to cover them up.