Download or read book Awkward Truth written by Peter Grose and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2011 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The compelling and very human story of the first foreign assault on Australian soil since settlement - the attack on Darwin by the Japanese in February, 1942.

Download or read book Darwin 1942 written by Timothy Hall and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-06-05 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 19 February 1942 the Japanese air force bombed Darwin. Whilst this fact is well known, very few people know exactly what happened. Timothy Hall was the first writer to be given acess to all the official reports of the time and as a result he has been able to reveal exactly what happened on that dreadful day – a day which Sir Paul Hasluck (17th Governor-General of Australia) later described as ‘a day of national shame’. The sequence of events in Darwin that day certainly did not reflect the military honour that the War Cabinet wanted people to believe. On the contrary, for what really happened was a combination of chaos, panic and, in many cases, cowardice on an unprecented scale.

Download or read book Darwin 1942 written by Bob Alford and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-02-23 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the devastating raids on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, lightning advances by Japanese forces throughout the Pacific and the Far East, and a desperate battle by the Allied command in the Dutch East Indies, it became evident that an attack on Australia was more a matter of 'when' and not 'if'. On 19 February, just eleven weeks after the attacks on Pearl Harbor and two weeks after the fall of Singapore, the same Japanese battle group that had attacked Hawaii was ordered to attack the ill-prepared and under-defended Australian port of Darwin. Publishing 75 years after this little-known yet devastating attack, this fully illustrated study details what happened on that dramatic day in 1942 with the help of contemporary photographs, maps, and profiles of the commanders and machines involved in the assault.

Download or read book Australia Under Attack written by Douglas Lockwood and published by New Holland Publishers. This book was released on 2022-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first ever attack on Australia by a foreign power occurred at Darwin on 19th February 1942. At the time of the raid, Douglas Lockwood was a correspondent for the Melbourne Herald in Darwin.

Download or read book Darwin 1942 written by Timothy Hall and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-06-05 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 19 February 1942 the Japanese air force bombed Darwin. Whilst this fact is well known, very few people know exactly what happened. Timothy Hall was the first writer to be given acess to all the official reports of the time and as a result he has been able to reveal exactly what happened on that dreadful day – a day which Sir Paul Hasluck (17th Governor-General of Australia) later described as ‘a day of national shame’. The sequence of events in Darwin that day certainly did not reflect the military honour that the War Cabinet wanted people to believe. On the contrary, for what really happened was a combination of chaos, panic and, in many cases, cowardice on an unprecented scale.

Download or read book The Empire Strikes South written by Tom Lewis and published by . This book was released on 2017-04 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Very few Australians today know of the fierce air battles fought across the Top End of Australia in World War II. For more than two years Japanese aircraft crossed the coast and bombed relentlessly. Savage dogfights were fought between the legendary Zero fighter and Allied Kittyhawks and Spitfires. Big twin-engine Betty bombers rained down blast and fire upon airfields and towns, even penetrating as far inland as Katherine, some 300 kilometres from the coast. Nearly 200 Japanese aircrew died in the onslaught. This book lists all of their names and describes all of the combat missions - and reveals for the first time that the number of combat flights, aircraft shot down, and aircrew who died is far higher than previously thought. Scores of aircraft were downed in combat operations ranging from Exmouth to Townsville, with the majority of action taking place in the Northern Territory. This new extensive research shows the number of air raids was higher than the previously suggested figure of 64, with 78 raids on the Territory alone, while 209 enemy combat flights were carried out across Northern Australia. 187 Japanese airmen died when their aircraft were brought down. In many cases their bodies lie in remote sites across the vast bush and coastal waters of the north. Many of the wrecks have never been found. The Empire Strikes South describes all of the aircraft used, and gives an insight into the world of fighter pilots and aircrew. With a full range of new colur graphics by renowned illustrator Michael Claringbould, this significant new research reveals a battle for Australia that has been previously unknown.

Download or read book Darwin Bombed written by Tom Lewis and published by . This book was released on 2020-02-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Japanese attack on Darwin on 19 February 1942 stunned the nation and has been a topic of much folklore and speculation ever since. Indeed, it was incredible that the powerful Japanese aircraft carriers that decimated the American Pearl Harbor fleet base in December 1941 turned their attention to tiny Darwin just weeks later. Such was the strength and ferocity of the Japanese attack that some 236 people were killed, eight large ships were sunk, 30 aircraft destroyed and parts of Darwin were left in ruins. It was the deadliest single attack ever suffered on Australian soil.However, Darwin was a victim of its own geography, being close to the Netherlands East Indies which the Japanese were then in the process of seizing. Darwin's harbour and airfield were of great strategic value and Allied forces utilising these facilities threatened the Japanese operations. Since 2013 the Bombing of Darwin Day, 19 February, has been commemorated as a National Day of Observance, the third such national date behind Anzac Day and Remembrance Day. Hence the need for educational materials has never been greater. Darwin Bombed! is a fully illustrated guide for school children of all ages.Dr Tom Lewis is a long time Darwin resident and one of Australia's foremost military historians. A high school teacher and former naval officer, he is the author of 14 books.

Download or read book Australia s Pearl Harbour written by Douglas Lockwood and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the Japanese attack on Darwin in 1942, first published in 1966 and reissued in the 'Australian War Classics' series. Also examines the royal commission reports which revealed Darwin's civil and military authorities to have been disastrously unprepared. The author has also written 'I, The Aboriginal' (1962). Includes an index.

Download or read book Eagles Over Darwin written by Tom Lewis and published by . This book was released on 2020-11 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1942, the air defense of the northern Australian frontier town Darwin was operated by airmen from the United States.That year was very nearly the end of Australia as a country. To those men the present nation owes a debt.A massive Japanese attack on Darwin on 19 February had left the town and its air base in ruins. An understrength squadron of USAAC P-40E Warhawks fought a gallant defense but was all but wiped out.Northern Australia was now at the mercy of Imperial Japanese Navy Betty bombers and Zero fighters whose crews were both skilled and experienced. However, help was on the way. The 49th Fighter Group was the first such group formed in the US to be sent overseas after the start of the Pacific War. Its destination was Darwin.From modest beginnings on make-shift airstrips, the 49th FG entered combat with its feared Japanese adversaries. Its P-40E Warhawks were poor interceptors but were rugged, reliable and well-armed. Unable to dogfight the highly manoeuvrable Zeros, the American pilots resorted to dive and zoom tactics more suited to their heavier fighters.Over several months the 49th FG pilots fought a brave and innovative campaign against a stronger enemy that did much to safeguard Australia in its darkest hour. Today lonely and long forgotten airfields still bear the name of American pilots who made the ultimate sacrifice.This is their story.

Download or read book Carrier Attack Darwin 1942 written by Tom Lewis and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the Pacific war began it was a case of "when not if" Darwin would be attacked. But nobody could have predicted the extraordinary scale and ferocity of the 19 February 1942 raid. A massive strike force, blooded at Pearl Harbor just weeks before, hit Darwin in the biggest Japanese air attack ever in the South Pacific. Since then, generations of Australians have been drawn to the stories and folklore of the Darwin action. But facts have blurred and mythology has thrived. What of the warning that never happened? What of the ghost ship actually sunk in the Atlantic a year earlier? Did a fighter pilot contrive a false combat record? Did the authorities cover up the raid? Why do Australians know so little about it? This is the book that tests these many Darwin myths and reveals new information: another ship sunk; the actual intent and nature of the attack; the precise extent of the Japanese losses. The Darwin raid is usually portrayed as a wholesale disaster for the Allies, and a day full of military ineptitude. Carrier Attack shows the defenders were alert and fought with purpose. Arguably it was the Japanese that wasted much of their attacking strength, and in this way the Darwin defenders avoided a much larger catastrophe. Carrier Attack provides a timely and fresh analysis of the raid. Most importantly, it draws on specially translated Japanese sources. About the AuthorsDr Tom Lewis OAM is the award-winning author of 11 books. A long time resident of Darwin, he is the current Director of the Darwin Military Museum. In 2012 he was a major participant in the 70th anniversary of the Darwin raid, which included a multi-million dollar re-development of the Museum. Tom is a former naval of cer whoseservice included a combat deployment to Baghdad. Peter Ingman is the grandson of an original Gallipoli Anzac who lived in 1930s Darwin. He has been a regular visitor to the Northern Territory since the 1980s when his father worked there as a surgeon. With a background as a business executive, he has a longinterest in Australian military history. Peter currently manages an Adelaide-based publishing company.

Download or read book Australia Remembers the Bombing of Darwin written by Doctor Tom Lewis and published by . This book was released on 2022-02-02 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM. The story of the biggest air raid in Australia's history - the bombing of Darwin February, 1942. All young Australians should know the story of how our own nation was at war in World War II. Dr Tom Lewis OAM brings to life the history of the hundreds of air attacks Australians endured at the hands of the Japanese forces. Following on from his success with previous forensic accounts for adults, Australia Remembers 4: The Bombing of Darwin 1942 brings young readers all the essential facts. Read how Zero fighters battled American Kittyhawks; Betty bombers rained destruction from the skies, and Allied defenders battled bravely to defend Australia.

Download or read book Awkward Truth written by Peter Grose and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Darwin was a battle Australia would rather forget, yet the Japanese attack on 16 February 1942 was the first foreign assault on Australian soil since 1788. The raid was bigger than the first wave that attacked Pearl Harbor. Hundreds of Australians were killed. The police station and police barracks were totally destroyed, the hospital wrecked, the administration building shattered. And the people of Darwin abandoned their town leaving it to looters and a few dogged defenders with single-shot .303 rifles and a few anti-aircraft batteries. Peter Grose tells the real story of the attack and takes us into the lives of the people who were there.

Download or read book Air Force Combat Units of World War II written by Maurer Maurer and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1961 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Japanese Blitz on Darwin written by John Thompson-Gray and published by Publicious Pty Limited. This book was released on 2011 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New evidence explains Australia's most infamous day. The Imperial Japanese Navy bombers that attacked Pearl Harbour on December 7th 1941 blitzed Darwin on February 19th 1942. As Australia defended her mainland for the first time the only Ally standing with her was the United States of America. On that day, Americans and Australians were forged as Cousins-in-Arms. Darwin's airfield, town and harbour were repeatedly bombed leaving a trail of human tragedy. Typical of the many heroes were Wing Commander Archie Tindal RAAF Base, Lieutenant Robert Oestreicher Kittyhawk Ace, Jack Mullholland Anti-Aircraft Gunner, Matron Clara Schumack hospital ship and Coxswain John Waldie life-saver. The writer weaves historical facts into story lines with real time action sequences. Where the story varies from historic opinion, forensic reasons are revealed for differing views, and the reader's judgement is invited. Examples are the role of spies, withholding the air raid warning, attacked hospitals, interpretation of information and subtleties of the Japanese attack plan. Action-thriller Japanese Blitz on Darwin, by Cambridge Short Story scholar John Thompson-Gray is a story of the first Darwin Defenders and those who bombed and strafed them.

Download or read book Direct Hit written by Brett Bowden and published by Rosenberg Publishing. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On Thursday February 19 1942 at 9.58 am 188 Japanese fighters, bombers and dive bombers launched the first of more than 60 air raids on Darwin. Although most Australians know there were bombing raids, the impact and devastation is not always realised. Many of the injured and killed were civilians. The direct hit on the Darwin Post Office and adjoining Telegraph buildings was a devastating blow to Darwin and Australia's lines of communication. The Overland Telegraph met the undersea cable which linked Australia to the rest of the world in Darwin. Using primary source material we are shown the bravery and resourcefulness of PMG staff and other civilians, working in the most difficult conditions. Using a salvaged Morse key and sounder from the badly damaged store attached to the Post Office, a hook up into the Overland Telegraph was improvised and news of the attack was tapped out.

Download or read book An Awkward Truth written by Peter Grose and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2009-02-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The compelling and very human story of the first foreign assault on Australian soil since settlement - the attack on Darwin by the Japanese in February, 1942.

Download or read book P 40E Warhawk vs A6M2 Zero sen written by Peter Ingman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-06-25 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The P-40E Warhawk is often viewed as one of the less successful American fighter designs of World War II, but in 1942 the aircraft was all that was available to the USAAC in-theatre. Units equipped with the aircraft were duly forced into combat against the deadly A6M2 Zero-sen, which had already earned itself a near-mythical reputation following its exploits over China and Pearl Harbor. During an eight-month period in 1942, an extended air campaign was fought out between the two fighters for air superiority over the Javanese and then northern Australian skies. During this time, the P-40Es and the Zero-sens regularly clashed without interference from other fighter types. In respect to losses, the Japanese 'won' these engagements, for many more P-40Es were shot down than Zero-sens. However, the American Warhawks provided a potent deterrent that forced the IJNAF to attack from high altitudes, where crews' bombing efficiency was much poorer. Fully illustrated throughout, and supported by rare and previously unpublished photographs, this book draws on both American and Japanese sources to tell the full story of the clashes between these iconic two fighters in Darwin and the East Indies.