Attack on Broome

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Attack on Broome
Part of World War II, Pacific War

May 1941. Several months before the attack on Broome, personnel from a Royal Netherlands Navy Air Service Dornier Do 24 are transported by launch in Roebuck Bay, Broome.
Date March 3, 1942
Location Broome, Australia
Result Japanese victory
Combatants
Australia
Netherlands
United States		 Empire of Japan
Commanders
Clifford Gibson Zenjiro Miyano
Strength
light weapons nine fighter aircraft
Casualties
88 killed (official toll)
22 planes destroyed		 one aircrew confirmed killed,
two aircraft lost.
Battle for Australia
Air raids – Darwin – Broome – Coral Sea –
Naval attacks – Sydney & Newcastle –
Kokoda – Milne Bay

The town of Broome, Western Australia was attacked by Japanese fighter planes on March 3, 1942, during World War II. At least 88 people were killed.

Although Broome was a small pearling port at the time, it was a major transit point for Dutch aircraft on route from the Netherlands East Indies to major Australian cities. As a result, it was on a line of flight for refugees and retreating military personnel, following the Japanese invasion of Java. During a two-week period in February-March 1942, more than 8,000 refugees from the Dutch East Indies passed through Broome.[1] As result, many refugees and Allied personnel were in Broome on March 3 and it had become a significant air base.

Contents

[edit] The attack

Lt Zenjiro Miyano of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, led nine Mitsubishi Zeroes and a Mitsubishi C5M2 reconnaissance plane from their base at Kupang, Timor in the attack, on the morning of March 3. From about 9.20am, the Zeroes made strafing attacks on a flying boat anchorage at Roebuck Bay and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base at Broome Airfield. No bombs were dropped, although some were reported, perhaps due to the Zero pilots releasing their drop tanks. The raid lasted an hour.

The Japanese fighters destroyed at least 22 Allied aircraft. These included an airborne U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) B-24 Liberator, full of wounded personnel — more than 30 died when it crashed in the sea off Broome. The Allies also lost 15 flying boats at anchorage; many Dutch refugees were on board and the exact number and identities of those killed is unknown.

The aircraft destroyed included: eight Catalinas belonging to the Royal Netherlands Navy Air Service (MLD), U.S. Navy and British Royal Air Force; two Short Empires belonging to the RAAF and QANTAS, and five Dornier Do 24s belonging to the MLD. At the airfield the Japanese fighters destroyed two B-17 Flying Fortress E belonging to the USAAF, two Lockheed Hudsons belonging to the RAAF and a Lockheed Lodestar belonging to the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL).

A KLM DC-3 airliner, PK-AFV, carrying refugees from Bandung, was also shot down, 80 km north of Broome, with the loss of four lives and diamonds worth £150,000-300,000

There were no Allied fighter planes based in Broome at the time. The Zeroes encountered some light arms fire from the ground. One Zero pilot, Warrant Officer Osamu Kudo, was killed by ground fire from a KNIL pilot, First Lieutenant Gus Winckel, using a 7.9 mm machine gun he had removed from his Lodestar. Winckel balanced the weapon on his shoulder, and sustained burns to his left forearm, when it touched the barrel of the gun after firing. Another Zero ran out of fuel and ditched while returning to his base, although the pilot survived.

[edit] Aftermath

Following the attack, an RAAF officer, P/O Frank Russell who had been on one of the flying boats during the raid, wrote of

...a scene of ghastly devastation! Our flying boats all over the place were sending up huge clouds of black smoke. Burning petrol in sinister patches floated all over the sea... All around us there fell a ceaseless stream of tracer bullets. Several of the Dutch Dorniers had been full of women and kids, waiting to take off to...safety."

Two U.S. servicemen, Sgts Melvin Donoho and Willard J. Beatty managed to swim about 16 km (10 mi) from the crashed B-24 to shore, a journey which took them more than 36 hours, although Beatty died soon afterwards.

Japanese aircraft later made several smaller attacks on the Broome area. On March 20, Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" heavy bombers made a high altitude attack on the airfield.[2]&[3] One civilian was killed and there was some crater damage. The last attack was in August 1943.[4]

[edit] References

  • Mervyn W. Prime, 1992, Broome's one day war : the story of the Japanese raid on Broome, 3 March 1942 Broome: Shire of Broome (for Broome Historical Society)
  • Mervyn W, Prime , n.d., WA's Pearl Harbour - The Japanese Raid on Broome Bull Creek WA (Royal Australian Air Force Association Aviation Museum)

[edit] External links

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