On 19 February 1942, 188 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, bombed the Australian town of Darwin, ships in Darwin Harbour and the town's two airfields in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using them as bases to contest the invasion of Timor and Java during World War II. This was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia.
Darwin was very lightly defended relative to the size of this attack, and the Japanese inflicted heavy losses upon Allied forces at little cost to themselves. The urban areas of Darwin also suffered some damage from the raids and there were a number of civilian casualties. More than half of Darwin's civilian population left the area permanently, before or immediately after the attack.
The two Japanese air raids were the first, and largest, of more than 100 air raids against Australia during 1942–1943. The event happened just four days after the Fall of Singapore, when a combined Commonwealth force surrendered to the Japanese, the largest surrender in British history.
Background
In 1942, Darwin—the capital of the Northern Territory—was a small town with limited civil and military infrastructure. Due to its strategic position in northern Australia, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) had constructed bases near the town in the 1930s and the early years of World War II. Darwin's pre-war population was 5,800.Grose (2009), p. 2
As early as August 1941, Darwin had been a key component in the South Pacific air ferry route designed to avoid routes through the Japanese mandate in the central Pacific for bomber reinforcement of the Philippines. The first flight to use the route occurred when nine B-17D bombers of the 14th Bombardment Squadron (H) left Hawaii on 5 September and passed through Darwin 10–12 September. By October 1941, plans were underway to position fuel and supplies with two ships, including , being chartered and actively engaged in that purpose when war came. By November 1941, Australia had agreed to allow the establishment of training bases, maintenance facilities, munitions storage, communications, and improvement of airfields, including at Darwin, to meet the needs of the B-17 bombers in Australia.
Following the outbreak of the Pacific War in early December 1941, Darwin's defences were strengthened. In line with plans developed before the war, several Australian Army and RAAF units stationed in the town were sent to the Netherlands East Indies (Dutch East Indies; NEI) to strengthen the defences of the islands of Ambon and Timor.Grose (2009), pp. 52–53 An improvised plan for support of the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies was completed in Washington on 20 December 1941 by the US Army General Staff. It envisioned Darwin as the hub of transshipment efforts to supply those forces by landing supplies at Brisbane, shipping overland to Darwin, and onward by air and blockade-running ships. In reality, transport to Darwin by sea was necessary. Supplies and shipping intended both to build the Darwin base and to support the Java and Philippine forces were gathered in Darwin and the vicinity. In the two months before the air raids, all but 2,000 civilians were evacuated from the town. Japanese submarines I-121 and I-123 laid mines off Darwin in January 1942.
By mid-February 1942, Darwin had become an important Allied base for the defence of the NEI. The Japanese had captured Ambon, Borneo and Celebes between December 1941 and early-February 1942. Landings on Timor were scheduled for 20 February, and an invasion of Java was planned to take place shortly afterwards. In order to protect these landings from Allied interference, the Japanese military command decided to conduct a major air raid on Darwin.Coulthard-Clark (2001), p. 204Grose (2009), p. 71 On 10 February a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft overflew the town, and identified an aircraft carrier (actually the seaplane tender ), five destroyers and 21 merchant ships in Darwin Harbour, as well as 30 aircraft at the town's two airfields.Grose (2009), p. 72.
Among the ships in harbour were those returned the morning before the attack from the convoy escorted by involved in the failed effort to reinforce Timor. Houston had departed for Java but left Mauna Loa and the Meigs which had attempted to transport Australian troops to Timor and the US Army transports Portmar and Tulagi which had embarked a US infantry regiment at Darwin.
Prelude
Opposing forces
Despite Darwin's strategic importance to the defence of Australia, the city was poorly defended. The Australian Army's anti-aircraft defences comprised sixteen QF 3.7-inch AA guns and two 3-inch AA guns to counter aircraft flying at high altitude and a small number of Lewis Guns for use against low-flying raiders. The crews of these guns had conducted little recent training due to ammunition shortages.Grose (2009), pp. 49–50 The air forces stationed in and near the town comprised No. 12 Squadron, which was equipped with CAC Wirraway advanced trainers (which had been pressed into service as fighters), and No. 13 Squadron which operated Lockheed Hudson light bombers.Grose (2009), p. 51 Six Hudsons, 3 from No. 2 Squadron and 3 from No. 13 Squadron, also arrived at Darwin on 19 February after having been evacuated from Timor. None of the six Wirraways at Darwin on the day of the raid were serviceable. At the time of the event, there was no functional radar to provide early warning of air raids, and the town's civil defences were dysfunctional.Grose (2009), p. 81 The Lowe Commission, led by Victorian judge Charles Lowe and appointed to investigate the raids shortly after they occurred, was informed that the Australian military estimated that Darwin would have needed 36 heavy anti-aircraft guns and 250 fighter aircraft to defend it against a raid of the scale which occurred on 19 February.Grose (2009), pp. 47–48 In addition to the Australian forces, ten United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Curtiss P-40 Warhawks were passing through Darwin en route to Java on the day of the attack. The P-40 pilots were largely inexperienced in combat.Lewis and Ingman (2013), ch. 7
+ Table of warships & merchant vessels in Darwin harbour on 19 February 1942 Table based on AWM78: 400/2 Darwin Naval Base (HMAS MELVILLE): Reports of Proceedings [war diary] Lewis and Ingman cite several other vessels, including the Karalee, a naval tanker. Tons Ship name Comment Deaths1 9155 HMAHS Manunda Hospital ship 122 7358 Freight transport, sunk 13 6891 Tanker, sunk 24 6683 Troopship, sunk 25 5952 Freight transport, sunk 366 5551 Freight transport, beached, refloated 6 April 17 5436 USAT Mauna Loa Freight transport, sunk 8 4265 Freight transport, beached, refloated 17 April 9 3476 Depot ship 10 3289 Freight transport, 14,000 drums aviation gasoline, damaged 11 2281 Freight transport, beached, refloated 20 February 12 1849 Kelat Coal hulk, sunk 24 February 13 1308 Seaplane tender, damaged 1414 1190 Destroyer, sunk 8815 1060 Sloop 316 1060 Sloop 17 1000 Floating Dock (AD 1001) Floating dock 18 815 Minesweeper 19 815 Minesweeper 20 815 Minesweeper 21 815 Minesweeper 22 768 Boom Defence Vessel 123 768 Boom Defence Vessel 24 768 Boom Defence Vessel 25 553 Boom Defence Vessel 26 550 Oil Fuel Lighter No 1 Lighter 27 525 Boom Gate Vessel 228 480 Coaster 129 448 Boom Defence Vessel 30 420 Minesweeper 31 418 Minesweeper 32 298 Examination vessel 33 292 Tug 34 118 HMAS Kalaroo Lighter 35 117 Karalee Lighter, sank 5 March 36 106 Patrol boat 37 68 HMAS Mako Patrol boat 38 60 HMAS Chinampa Ketch 39 57 HMAS Malanda Lugger 40 55 Patrol boat 41 45 HMAS Winbah Patrol boat 42 45 Yampi Lass Lighter 43 35 Patrol boat 44 34 HMAS Coongoola Patrol boat 45 21 HMAS Arthur Rose Lugger 46 21 HMAS Griffioen Lugger 47 21 HMAS Ibis Lugger 48 21 Mars Lugger 49 21 HMAS Medic Lugger 50 21 Plover Lugger 51 21 HMAS Red Bill Lugger 52 21 HMAS St.Francis Lugger 53 20 HMAS Moruya Lugger 54 19 Lugger, Sunk 55 15 HMAS Kiara Patrol boat 56 15 HMAS Sulituan Ketch 57 12 HMAS Larrakia Examination vessel
A total of 65Lewis and Ingman (2013), p. 275 Allied warships and merchant vessels were in Darwin harbour at the time of the raids. The warships included the United States Navy (USN) destroyer and seaplane tender . The RAN ships in port were the sloops and , corvettes and , auxiliary minesweepers and , patrol boat Coongoola, depot ship , examination vessel , lugger , and four boom-net ships. Several USN and Australian troopships were in the harbour along with a number of merchant vessels of varying sizes. Most of the ships in the harbour were anchored near each other, making them an easy target for air attack. Moreover, no plans had been prepared for how the ships should respond to an air raid.Grose (2009), p. 104
In addition to the vessels in port, the American Army supply ships and Florence D., former Philippine vessels acquired as part of the South West Pacific Area command's permanent Army fleet earlier in February, were near Bathurst Island bound for the Philippines with arms and supplies on the morning of the raid.Grose (2009), p. 78
Darwin was attacked by aircraft flying from aircraft carriers and land bases in the NEI. The main force involved in the raid was the 1st Carrier Air Fleet which was commanded by Vice-Admiral Chūichi Nagumo. This force comprised the aircraft carriers , , , and and a powerful force of escorting surface ships. All four carriers had participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor at the start of the Pacific War. In addition to the carrier-based aircraft, 54 land-based bombers also struck Darwin in a high-level bombing raid nearly two hours after the first one struck at 0956. These comprised 27 G3M "Nell" bombers flying from Ambon and another 27 G4M "Betty" bombers operating from Kendari in Celebes.Grose (2009), p. 132
Air raids
First raid
The four Japanese aircraft carriers launched 188 aircraft on the morning of 19 February. The main objective of their crews was attacking ships and port facilities in Darwin Harbour. Their aircraft comprised 81 Nakajima B5N ("Kate") light bombers, 71 Aichi D3A ("Val") dive bombers, and an escort of 36 Mitsubishi A6M ("Zero") fighters. While the B5N was a purpose-built torpedo bomber, it could instead carry up to of bombs and there is no evidence of torpedoes being used on this occasion; the D3A could carry up to of bombs. All of these aircraft were launched by 8.45 am. This wave was led by Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, who had also commanded the first wave of attackers during the raid on Pearl Harbor.Hiromi (1997)
On their way to Darwin, Zeros shot down a US Navy PBY Catalina and strafed a USAAF C-47 Skytrain on the ground, near Melville Island. At 9.35 am Father McGrath of the Sacred Heart mission on Bathurst Island, who was also an Australian coastwatcher, sent a message using a pedal radio to the Amalgamated Wireless Postal Radio Station at Darwin that a large number of aircraft were flying overhead and proceeding southward. The message was then relayed to the Royal Australian Air Force Operations at 9.37 am. No general alarm was given until about 10 am as the RAAF officers there wrongly judged that the aircraft which had been sighted were the ten USAAF P-40s, which were returning to Darwin at the time after reports of bad weather forced them to abort a flight to Java via Kupang, West Timor. As a result, the air raid sirens at Darwin were not sounded before the raid.Grose (2009), pp. 84–87
Flying escort in a Zero fighter, Petty Officer Yoshikazu Nagahama was separated from his squadron while he was attacking the PBY flying boat and arrived over the city alone ahead of the strike force, which was making a turn to attack from the south. He engaged five US Army Air Force P-40 Warhawk fighters and single-handedly shot down four of them.