On 19 February 1942, World War II was brought to the shores of Australia when the Japanese dropped bombs over Darwin. On this day 235 people, both armed forces personnel and civilians, lost their lives. Eleven ships were sunk, many more damaged, and 30 aircraft destroyed. The main wharf was cut in two, and the Post Office levelled , killing many civilian workers. Over the next 21 months, Darwin, Adelaide River, Katherine, Milingimbi in Arnhem Land, and many other targets across the Top End were attacked over 200 times.
At the time Australian had no idea what the Japanese intentions towards Australia were. For decades they had feared invasion, and Prime Minister Curtin predicted that Australians faced a 'Battle for Australia', but was that the case?
Not according to Peter Stanley, Professor at UNSW, Canberra at the Australian Defence Force academy, Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and Society, who argues that this was a pre-emptive strike by the Japanese to immobilise Darwin as a staging post against the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, including Portuguese Timor.
Despite the "Brisbane Line" and other 'scorched earth' scenarios, Australia was then and remains today unconquerable - why else, do you think, I chose to come here? ☺ -, so relax and enjoy the movie 'Tomorrow, when the war began'.
