Bombing of Darwin

Air raids on Darwin, February 1942
Part of World War II, Pacific War
Darwin 42.jpg
The explosion of the Neptuna, carrying depth charges, and hit during the first Japanese air raid on Darwin, 19 February 1942. In the foreground is HMAS Deloraine, which escaped damage.
Date 19 February 1942
Location Darwin, Australia
Result Decisive Japanese victory
Belligerents
Flag of Australia.svg Australia
US flag 48 stars.svg United States		 Flag of Japan Empire of Japan
Commanders
Flag of Australia David V. J. Blake Flag of Japan Chuichi Nagumo
Strength
30 planes 242 planes
Casualties and losses
251 killed
23 planes destroyed
10 ships sunk		 one aircrew confirmed killed, several missing in action,
six airmen taken prisoner;
six Japanese aircraft confirmed destroyed,
four probably destroyed.[1]
Battle for Australia
Air raids – Darwin – Broome – Coral Sea – Naval attacks – Sydney & Newcastle – Kokoda – Milne Bay
 
South West Pacific theatre
Philippines 1941–42 – Dutch East Indies 1941–42 – Portuguese Timor – Australia – New Guinea – Philippines 1944–45 – Borneo 1945

The Japanese air raids on Darwin, Australia, on 19 February 1942 were the largest attacks ever mounted by a foreign power against Australia. They were also a significant action in the Pacific campaign of World War II and represented a psychological blow to the Australian population, several weeks after hostilities with Japan had begun. The raids were the first of about 100 air raids against Australia during 1942–43.

This event is often called the "Pearl Harbor of Australia". Although it was a less significant target,[2] a greater number of bombs were dropped on Darwin than were used in the attack on Pearl Harbor. As was the case at Pearl Harbor, the Australian town was unprepared, and although it came under attack from the air another 58 times in 1942 and 1943, the raids on 19 February were massive and devastating by comparison.

At the time, Darwin had a population of about 2,000 — the normal civilian population of about 5,000 had been reduced by evacuation. It was a strategically-placed naval port and airbase, and there were about 15,000 Allied soldiers in the area.

Contents

The forces

Most of the attacking planes came from the four aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Carrier Division 1 (Akagi and Kaga) and Carrier Division 2 (Hiryū and Sōryū). Land-based heavy bombers were also involved. The Japanese launched two waves of planes, comprising 242 bombers and fighters.

Darwin was poorly covered by anti-aircraft guns, there being only light automatic weapons and none of 20 mm or greater calibre[3]. The only operational Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fighter squadrons were in Europe, North Africa or the Middle East. The only modern fighters based in Darwin were 11 P-40s from the US Army Air Force's 33rd Pursuit Squadron. There were a few lightly armed or obsolete training (five unserviceable Wirraways) and patrol (six Hudson) aircraft belonging to the RAAF. An experimental radar station was not yet operational.

The attacks

The SS Neptuna explodes at Stokes Hill Wharf. In front of the explosion is HMAS Vigilant which is undertaking rescue work. In the centre background the floating dry dock holding the corvette HMAS Katoomba. In the foreground is the damaged SS Zealandia.

The first wave of 188 Japanese planes, led by naval Commander Mitsuo Fuchida took off at 8:45 a.m. At about 9:15 a.m., it was - although this is disputed by Robert Rayner in the book Darwin Fortress - spotted by an Australian Coastwatcher on Melville Island, then by Father John McGrath, a Catholic priest conducting missionary work on Bathurst Island.[4] The latter would send the 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 9:37 a.m. However, 11 US P-40E Kittyhawk fighters and an LB-30 Liberator had just departed Darwin and the Australian duty officer assumed this was the same formation. The warnings were not acted upon, so as at Pearl Harbor two months earlier, Darwin's final chance to make last-minute preparations for the impending raid slipped away.

A USN Catalina aircraft near Bathurst Island was pounced upon by nine of the Zero fighters, and the plane was caught fire although it defended itself. Its pilot Lieutenant Tom Moorer managed to crash land upon the sea and the crew were picked up by a passing freighter, the Florence D. However, it was later attacked and sunk, although Moorer and most of his crew survived to be later picked up on land. Another nearby ship, the Don Isidro, was also sunk.

Fuchida later wrote of the raid:[5]

“ [T]he job to be done seemed hardly worthy of the Nagumo Force. The harbour, it is true, was crowded with all kinds of ships, but a single pier and a few waterfront buildings appeared to be the only port installations. The airfield on the outskirts of the town, though fairly large, had no more than two or three small hangars, and in all there were only twenty-odd planes of various types scattered about the field. No planes were in the air. A few attempted to take off as we came over but were quickly shot down, and the rest were destroyed where they stood. Anti-aircraft fire was intense but largely ineffectual, and we quickly accomplished our objectives. ”
An aerial photograph of vessels burning in Darwin Harbour taken by a Japanese airman during the first raid.

In fact, the Japanese encountered five of the USAAF P-40s, which had recently returned from an aborted mission over Timor and were still carrying drop tanks — with both numbers and surprise on their side, Japanese fighters shot down all of the US planes, except one piloted by Lt Robert Ostreicher.

A total of 81 Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers then attacked shipping — at least 45 vessels — in the harbour, while 71 Aichi D3A "Val" dive-bombers, escorted by 36 Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter planes attacked Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) bases, civil airfields, and a hospital. Ostreicher shot down two Vals, and managed to survive the attack, but no Allied planes successfully took off, and all were destroyed or rendered unable to fly after the first attack. By about 10:40 a.m. the first wave of Japanese planes had left the area.

Just before midday, there was a high altitude attack by land-based bombers, concentrated on the Darwin RAAF Airfield: 27 Mitsubishi G3M "Nell" bombers flew from Ambon and 27 Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" from Kendari, Sulawesi. This second raid lasted for 20–25 minutes.

In spite of Fuchida's assessment of the anti-aircraft fire as "largely ineffectual"[6], the lack of armour and self-sealing fuel tanks in many Japanese planes, as well as the prolonged low-level strafing runs carried out, made pilots and planes exceptionally vulnerable to ground fire. Most Australian sources say that four Japanese planes were destroyed in Australian airspace.

Casualties, damage and consequences

A sunken ship and burnt-out wharf in Darwin Harbour following the attack (AWM 027334)

According to official figures, 243 civilians and military personnel were killed on 19 February, most of them on the ships which were sunk.[7] Over 400 people were wounded and 200 of these were seriously injured.

Eight ships were sunk in Darwin Harbour:

Among the ships damaged but not destroyed was a hospital ship, AHS Manunda.[11]

The USAAF lost ten P-40s, one B-24 bomber, and three C-45 transport planes. The US Navy lost three PBY Catalina flying boats, and moorers outside the harbour. The RAAF lost six Lockheed Hudsons.

The air raids caused chaos in Darwin, with most essential services including water and electricity being badly damaged or destroyed.[12] Fears of an imminent invasion spread and there was a wave of refugees, as half of the town's civilian population fled. There were reports of looting, with Provost Marshals being among the accused.[13] According to official figures, 278 RAAF servicemen were considered to have deserted as a result of the raids, although it has been argued that the 'desertions' were mostly the result of ambiguous orders given to RAAF ground staff after the attacks.[14] Following the second Japanese air raid, the local RAAF wing commander Sturt Griffith:

“ "... summoned his senior administrative officer, Squadron Leader Swan, and gave a verbal order that all airmen were to move half a mile down the main road and then half a mile inland. At this vague rendezvous point ... arrangements would be made to feed them. The order led to utter chaos. In being passed by word of mouth from one section to another, sometimes with officers present and sometimes not, it became garbled to the extent it was unrecognisable against the original. In its ultimate form it was interpreted, especially by those desiring such an interpretation, of an impending order for immediate and general evacuation of the area. Highly exaggerated rumours of an impending Japanese invasion had already reached the base from the town and spread quickly among those wanting to believe them. In the absence of restraint, men gathered their belongings" and abandoned their stations.[15] ”

While the Northwest area staff could see what was happening and issued countermanding orders, "the damage was done and hundreds of men were already beyond recall."[16]

The Australian army faced difficulty controlling its own troops from looting private property including "furniture, refrigerators, stoves, pianos, clothes [and] even children's toys" due to the breakdown of law and order after the bombing and the ensuing chaos.[17] Many civilian refugees never returned, or did not return for many years, and in the post-war years some claimed that land they owned in Darwin had been expropriated by government bodies in their absence.

Further Japanese raids

After the massive 19 February 1942 Japanese raid, the Northern Territory and parts of Western Australia's north were bombed 62 more times between 4 March 1942 and 12 November 1943.[18] One of the heaviest attacks took place on 16 June 1942 when a large Japanese force set fire to the oil fuel tanks around the harbour and inflicted severe damage to the vacant banks, stores and railway yards. The Allied navies largely abandoned the naval base at Darwin after the initial 19 February attack, dispersing most of their forces to Brisbane, Fremantle and other smaller ports. Conversely, Allied air commanders launched a major build-up in the Darwin area, building more airfields and deploying many squadrons.

The four IJN aircraft carriers (Akagi, Kaga, Hiryū and Sōryū) that participated in the Bombing of Darwin were sunk during the Battle of Midway in June 1942.

A memorial ceremony is held every year on 19 February at the Cenotaph in Darwin. It starts at 9:58am, the precise time of the first attack.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.vrb.gov.au/dvapublications/CLIK-darwin-42-45.pdf
  2. ↑ Lockwood, Douglas (1992 (reprint)). Australia's Pearl Harbour. Darwin 1942.. Melbourne: Penguin Books. pp. Pages xiii and 5. ISBN 10987654321. 
  3. ↑ Tom Hall Darwin 1942 Australia's Darkest Hour, pages 104–105, Methuen 1980.
  4. ↑ Lockwood, op. cit., p. 23.
  5. ↑ "Japanese Air Raids on Darwin". cites this to the book Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan, referenced below.
  6. ↑ Lockwood, op. cit., p. 84.
  7. ↑ Tom Lewis (2003). A War at Home: A comprehensive guide to the first Japanese attacks on Darwin. Tall Stories, Darwin. pp. 63–71.
  8. ↑ Mauna Loa was formerly known as the West Conob, a steel hulled, single propellor ship, built in 1919 at San Pedro, California and owned by the Matson Navigation Line. (Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, "West Conob" Access date: September 14, 2007.)
  9. ↑ British Motorist was 145 m (440 ft) in length. It was refuelling the Peary at the time of the attack. (Darwin Dive Centre, 2007, "WWII Wrecks" Access date: September 14, 2007.)
  10. ↑ Kelat was built in Stockton, England in 1881, as an iron-hulled sailing ship. Formerly the Norwegian merchant ship SV Hovding. (NT Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts, 2007, "Wreck of the Kelat". Access date: September 14, 2007.
  11. ↑ Smith, A.E. (May 1992) [1991]. Three Minutes of Time — the torpedoing of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur (Second Printing ed.). Miami: Tasman Press. pp. p.19. ISBN 0-646-07631-0. 
  12. ↑ Lockwood, op. cit., p. 143.
  13. ↑ Lockwood, op. cit, p. 159.
  14. ↑ Lockwood, op. cit., pp. 143–146.
  15. ↑ Lockwood, op. cit., pp. 143–44.
  16. ↑ Lockwood, op. cit., p. 144.
  17. ↑ Lockwood, op. cit., p. 169.
  18. ↑ Lewis, op. cit..

References

External links

Location of Darwin on Australian continent