The Bombing of Darwin

 

War in the Pacific Begins.

The Pacific War began when Japan began an all out attack on China in 1937.   The rest of the world largely ignored their invasion of large chunks of China.  America put a restriction of iron, steel, and fuel over Japan for invading China. 
Unable to lift the restrictions by diplomatic means, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941.  Thus the war expanded to include the United States of America.
War in Australia
On the 19th of February 1942, four of the six Japanese aircraft carriers that had attacked Pearl Harbour launched a major air strike against Australia when they attacked Darwin.  The Japanese aircraft carriers involved were Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu. 

They launched their attack 200 miles (333km) Northwest from Darwin’s shore.  The First raid consisted of 71 medium bombers, 81 dive-bombers and 36 fighters.  Led by commander responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbour ten weeks earlier.  

The commander was Mitsuo Fuchida.  There is however some controversy over the exact number and type of enemy aircraft used, possibly due to the Australian Governments secrecy at the time.  The Japanese aircraft flew over Bathurst Island and Missionaries based there reported the sighting to Darwin, but the RAAF (Royal Australia Air Force) refused to act.  

  The Aircraft arrived over Darwin at about 10 am.  The Medium bombers started to bomb the town and harbour.  The dive-bombers escorted by fighters hit the military and civilian aerodromes as well as the harbour.  

          Darwin would have been without any air defences if 10 Kitty hawks from the US 33rd Pursuit Squadron had not been delayed in Darwin.  But the Japanese made short work of them, suffering minor losses.
Their attack lasted 40 minutes and much damage was done.  The second raid started an hour later and consisted of G3M2’s Nell/Tina and G4M1’s Betty bombers.  Both these aircraft were heavy bombers.  The bombers had no fighter escorts.  They also had no resistance in the air.  They concentrated on bombing the airfields of Darwin.  The second raid lasted for 20 to 25 minutes.  The two raids had caused a lot of confusion, damage and loss of life.  The anti-aircraft guns destroyed four aircraft and four probable (probably destroyed.)

  The Aftermath.   

        At the time of the raid, forty-five ships were in the harbour.  Ten were sunk and numerous others were damaged.  Fifteen aircraft were destroyed including nine of the ten Kitty hawks that bravely fought against the enemy.

          The Post and telegraph offices were destroyed along with a Police Station, Barracks, Cable office, Government offices, RAAF hospital, Recreational Hall, and Equipment stores.  Many houses were destroyed.  The hospital was also damaged.  The Darwin Harbour and RAAF base were hit the hardest.  
The Japanese killed 253 people and wounded roughly 400.  In the first two raids the Japanese used 242 planes.  They dropped approximately 114 620 kilograms of ordinance consisting of at least 683 separate bombs and countless machine gun shells.  At Pearl Harbour, by contrast, they used 350 planes dropping only 271 bombs and torpedoes with an all up weight of about 146 400 kilograms.  
  Sergeant Hajimi Toyoshima crashed his zero fighter on Australian soil and became the first Japanese prisoner of war to be captured on the Australian mainland.  

Some of the ships sunk during the war were “The Meigs”, an ammunition and equipment carrier for the second and fourth pioneer regiments of the Australian army, weighing  12 568 tonnes.  It was the largest ship sunk.  It was an easy target, since 'she' was 430 feet (103 metres) long.
The 'Mauna Loa', another ship that was sunk, weighed 5,432 tonnes.  Only two bombs sank it.  Eight others were sunk while two others sunk outside the harbour.  

Scared of invasion, the people of Darwin flooded south.  Half of Darwin’s population fled, even the servicemen ran.  Three days after the attack 278 servicemen who were not killed or wounded were still missing.  The civilians left in cars, trucks, motorcycles or on foot.

          There were many more raids on Darwin and other towns.  Those towns included Townsville, Katherine, Wyndham, Derby, Broome and Port Headland.  Broome suffered the second worst attack on the 3rd of March, when 70 people were killed and 24 injured.  Australia also lost 24 aircraft.  Other remote places also attacked were a small island called Millingimbi, East of Darwin and Horn Island in the Torres Strait.

Darwin was without any air defences until the 17th of March, when the United States 49th fighter group of Kitty hawks arrived.

In all, 64 raids were flown against Australia.  Starting on the 19th of February 1942, until the 12th of November 1943, numerous other reconnaissance missions were flown.  Throughout the raids the allies lost about 900 persons and 77 aircraft.  The Japanese lost about 131 aircraft in total while fighting Australia.   

   Many risked their lives so Australia could be a free country.  To those who died RIP.  

                             

 

Other Student Web Pages

Orford Primary School Home Page

The F-16

By Matthew Montgomerie & Andrew Whittaker