Japanese flew up the Derwent during WWII

My father worked with RADAR during the war and he was bombed when he was in WA. Pretty sure it was Geraldton.

The Japanese were all around the country.

Believe we owe so much to the generation who defended our country back then.
Everyone played a part, whether in the services overseas and at home, and in the civilian war effort required for that defence.
Shudder to think what life here would be like if the then attackers had succeeded.
Just my own view on the matter.

Paul

A generation that will never be matched. A couple of months ago The Australian newspaper did a survey and 45% of people 15-30 said they would not join up to fight if Australia was invaded.

We also should own up to the panic within the government and population in the early years of the war. Bomb shelters in Melbourne back yards when they were twice the one-way aircraft flying range from any Japanese held airfield. The bombing of Darwin mass panic and desertion by not only the civil but quite a number of service people is a national disgrace. Hundreds of thousands of military age men flocked to "essential protected jobs" to avoid service and were not caught until conscription was introduced in the middle of the war.

Many studies have shown clearly that a majority volunteer army punches well above the efforts of conscripted men. That is why the AIF, Kiwis and the US Marines were always considered more effective troops than the majority of conscripted standard Commonwealth and American line forces. The weapons are the same, the training is the same, just the underlying motivation has a big influence.

The Japanese did not have, and never would have had, the capacity to make a successful invasion of Australia larger than a few thousand acres on Cape York.. A quiet hour on a single night in Germany in 1944 saw more bombs dropped than in 5 years on Australian soil.

This does not detract from the dedication and sacrifice of hundreds of thousands who signed a blank cheque for their lives whether they finished up, through no fault of their own, behind a Bren Gun on the Kokoda Track or in a cookhouse at Puckapunyal. The conscripted people in the vast majority got stuck into their task and performed well when compared to the volunteer AIF units.

We were not served well with brilliant leadership and only a couple of Australian Generals could be considered outstanding. The junior and middle level officer group produced some of the outstanding young leaders of the war. The Royal Australian Air Force (the 5th largest in the world in 1945) was a dysfunctional shambles throughout with senior officers at each others' throats and hundreds of airmen lost on ridiculous operations. A good but embarrassing read is "Whispering Death" RAAF in WW2.

We can not just cherry pick our history to make us feel good. As the saying goes "Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it".

Just looking at the bombing of Australia statistics.

Not counting Darwin, a total of about 60 tons of bombs fell on numerous targets around the Australian north coast. Broome, Horne Island and Townsville were the main recipients. The vast ,majority did little or no damage but kept people on their toes.

115 tons of bombs fell in the Darwin area during WW2.

To put it in perspective this equates to two 12-aircraft Lancaster squadrons' load on one trip in Europe. Up to 100 British squadrons launched on a single night during the big raid period. Followed by an equal number of American bombers the next day.

71,000 tons were dropped by Germany on the UK.
2,700,000 tons were dropped by the Allies on Europe (mostly Germany
100,000 tons were dropped on Japan plus the equivalent of another 42,000 tons in the two atomic bombs.
 

My grandfather was on the Hobart, then the Sydney and other smaller vessels after the Sydney 

There is a photo of either the Sydney or the Hobart heading south to Tasmania from Sydney (thinking it was the Sydney but have no idea at all) and the ship is leaning way over on a huge angle

Would like to say 45° but was probably 30° or less

I saw this photo as a teenager and asked Grandpa about it

He told me about them heading to Tasmania, they lost, I'm fairly sure it was 5 (may of been 7) people over board, I was horrified to learn the ship didn't even try to stop and look for them

Grandpa said "it was war time, we couldn't stop" never asked or learnt anymore about it

Paul

This is sort of relevant. A story written by my Dad in New Guinea in 1943 about his trip to the Middle East at the start of the war in 1940 (he would have been 21 then). It shows the spirit of the times.

For those who do not know about the HMAS Perth, find out! Easily the most magnificent naval battle fought in Australian history when "HMAS Perth" and USS "Houston" both ran out of ammunition including all their signal star shells and went to the bottom fighting a much larger Japanese fleet in the Battle of Sunda Strait.



 

 

 

One of Perth's few survivors form her sinking went on to become a POW and wrote a book about his time in the Nay and the sinking.

Obviously he survived the War as he wrote the book.

His adventures and miss-adventures in captivity brings the horror and humour of the time to life. 

Damned if I can think of the name of the book.

They certainly were tough and brave men, and women who served as Nurses.

That was Ray Parkin. The three books he wrote are absolutely first class reads and very highly recommended.

"Out of the Smoke" Relates his time on HMAS Perth and the Battle of Sunda Strait leading to his survival and capture.

"Into the Smother" Relates his time in Changi and on the Burma Railway.

"The Sword and the Blossom" Relates his time after being shipped to Japan to become a slave labourer in a coal mine.

Every Australian should read this and absolutely cheap as chips for 3 books in one.