Bombing of Darwin
Image taken from wikipedia.org
In late 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy began their conquest of the Pacific islands. They struck targets at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and northern Australia. This attack became known as the largest attack ever mounted against mainland Australia. More bombs were dropped on Darwin than during the entire attack on Pearl Harbor. The main objective of the attack was to psychologically cripple Australia to submit to Japanese expansion.
Four Aircraft carriers launched more than 200 bombers to attack the city of Darwin, which was very lightly defended. Most of Australia’s air forces were in Europe aiding the British in their fight against Germany. The only functional aircraft were obsolete planes that were poorly armed. At 9:58 AM in the morning, the first Japanese planes began bombing. By the end of the attack, hundreds of civilians and military personnel were dead. Eight ships were sunk.
This attack was only one in the first of a series of bombings on Northern Australia. Darwin was evacuated, yet many other areas of Australia would see bombings for the next two years. The carriers that launched the planes on Darwin, were sunk during the Battle of Midway. Every year in Australia, a memorial is held for the victims of the attack.
