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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