"The wars were fought for other countries, so yes they fought for a foreigner's rag.'
Oh dear nini8365, it appears you have been duped by your history teachers at school or else you were not listening.
"Between February 1942 and November 1943, during the Pacific War, the Australian mainland, domestic airspace, offshore islands and coastal shipping were attacked at least 97 times by aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force."
While I'm not old enough myself to recall those extensive bombings and deadly wartime attacks on Australia soil I know it happened because my parents recounted those dark days for us young kids.
Below is a brief outline of the 97 assaults by Japanese aircraft on the Australian mainland by our then enemy the Japanese.
Please do feel obliged to further explore and not restrict yourself to this limited summary:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raids_on_Australia,_1942–43
Air raids on Australia, 1942–43
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An Australian gun camera photograph of two Japanese Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" medium bombers during a raid on Darwin in June 1943.
"Fighter Guide Map No. 1B, Darwin Area", March 1944. Produced for air defence purposes by the Royal Australian Air Force. The map includes many of the air fields which were targeted by Japanese aircraft.
Between February 1942 and November 1943, during the Pacific War, the Australian mainland, domestic airspace, offshore islands and coastal shipping were attacked at least 97 times by aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. These attacks came in various forms; from large-scale raids by medium bombers, to torpedo attacks on ships, and to strafing runs by fighters.
In the first and deadliest set of attacks, 242 aircraft hit Darwin on the morning of 19 February 1942. Killing at least 235 people and causing immense damage, the attacks made hundreds of people homeless and resulted in the abandonment of Darwin as a major naval base.
These attacks were opposed by, and often aimed at, units and personnel from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy, United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, British Royal Air Force and Royal Netherlands East Indies Air Force. Japanese aircrews also targeted civil infrastructure, including harbours, civil airfields, railways and fuel tanks. Some civilians were also killed.
Although the main defence was provided by RAAF and Allied fighters, a number of Australian Army anti-aircraft batteries in northern Australia were also involved in dealing with the threat of Japanese air raids.[1]
Contents
[mce-anchorhide]
- 1 Early Japanese air raids
- 2 Attacks on north Queensland, July 1942
- 3 List of attacks by date
- 4 See also
- 5 Notes
- 6 References
- 7 External links
Early Japanese air raids[edit]
The Japanese conducted a series of air raids on Australia during February and March 1942. These raids sought to prevent the Allies from using bases in northern Australia to contest the conquest of the Netherlands East Indies.
The first air raid on Darwin[edit]
Main article: Bombing of Darwin
The explosion of an oil storage tank, hit during the first Japanese air raid on Darwin. In the foreground is HMAS Deloraine, which escaped damage.
The bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942 was both the first and the largest attack mounted by Japan against mainland Australia, when four Japanese aircraft carriers (Akagi, Kaga, Hiryū and Sōryū) launched a total of 188 aircraft from a position in the Timor Sea.[2] These 188 naval aircraft inflicted heavy damage on Darwin and sank eight ships. A raid conducted by 54 land-based army bombers later the same day inflicted further damage on the town and RAAF Base Darwin and resulted in the destruction of 20 military aircraft. Allied casualties were 235 killed and between 300 and 400 wounded, the majority of whom were non-Australian Allied sailors. Only four Japanese aircraft (all navy carrier-borne) were confirmed to have been destroyed by Darwin's defenders.[3]
The attack on Broome[edit]
Main article: Attack on Broome
See also: Western Australian emergency of March 1942
On 3 March 1942, nine Japanese A6M3 Zero fighters attacked the town of Broome, in northern Western Australia. Although Broome was a small town, it had become a significant air base and route of escape for refugees and retreating military personnel, following the Japanese invasion of Java. During the attack, which consisted of strafing runs only by the Zeros, at least 88 Allied civilians and military personnel were killed and 24 aircraft were lost. As Broome was almost undefended, Japanese losses were light, with only a single Zero being shot down over Broome and another one failing to reach its base.[4]
Attacks on north Queensland, July 1942[edit]
Two Australian soldiers searching for fragments of a bomb dropped during the third raid on Townsville.
Japanese naval flying boats conducted four small air raids on the north Queensland towns of Townsville and Mossman in late July 1942. Townsville, which was an important military base, was raided by Japanese Kawanishi H8K1 "Emily" flying boats operating from Rabaul on three nights in late July 1942. On the night of 25/26 July, the town was attacked by two flying boats but did not suffer any damage as the six bombs dropped by these aircraft fell into the sea. Townsville was attacked for the second time in the early hours of 28 July when a single flying boat dropped eight bombs which landed in bushland outside the town. Six P-39 Airacobras unsuccessfully attempted to intercept the Japanese aircraft. The third raid on Townsville occurred in the early hours of 29 July when a single flying boat again attacked the town, dropping seven bombs into the sea and an eighth which fell on an agricultural research station at Oonoonba, damaging a coconut plantation. This aircraft was intercepted by four Airacobras and was damaged. The fourth raid on north Queensland occurred on the night of 31 July when a single flying boat dropped a bomb which exploded near a house outside of Mossman, injuring a child.[5]
List of attacks by date[edit]
1942[edit]
February[edit]
19
Bombing of Darwin
(10:00) Attack by 188 carrier-based aircraft at Darwin, Northern Territory (NT)
(11:55) Attack by 54 land-based high-level bombers at Darwin, NT
Bathurst Island, NT
20
(11:30) Off Cape Londonderry, Western Australia (WA). MV Koolama damaged by a Kawanishi H6K5 flying boat. Attacked again at 13:30 and severely damaged, with injuries to three passengers.
21
Rulhieres Bay, WA (later known as Koolama Bay) Koolama attacked again, no damage or injuries.
March[edit]
3
(09:20) Broome, WA. Attack on Broome: a strafing raid by nine A6M3 Zeros. At least 88 people were killed and 24 Allied aircraft were destroyed. A Sikh pilot of the Royal Indian Air Force Flying Officer Manmohan Singh, in one of the RAF Catalina flying boats died. He was the first Indian casualty on Australian soil.
(~10:30) Carnot Bay, WA. PK-AFV (Pelikaan)—a Douglas DC-3 airliner owned by KLM—was shot down by Zeros returning from the attack on Broome. It crash-landed 50 mi (80 km) north of Broome. Four passengers were killed. Diamonds worth £150,000–300,000 were lost or stolen following the crash.
Wyndham, WA. Strafing attack by Zeroes. No casualties. Koolama, which is in port by this time (see above), sinks as an indirect result of the attack.
Wyndham Airfield, WA[6]
4
Wreckage and passengers from PK-AFV attacked again by a Kawanishi H6K5 flying boat, no damage or casualties.
(14:00) Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
14
Horn Island, Queensland (Qld)[7]
16
(13:30) Darwin RAAF Airfield and Bagot, NT
17
Darwin, NT
18
Horn Island, Qld
19
(11:40) Darwin (Myilly Point and Larrakeyah), NT
20
Broome Airfield, WA. Attack by Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" medium bombers. One civilian killed. Minor damage to airfield.
Derby, WA[8]
22
(00:51) Darwin, NT
22
Katherine, NT[9] (Furthest air raid into the Australian interior – over 200 km from the coast).
23
Darwin, NT
Wyndham, WA (two raids)[6]
28
(12:30) Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
30
(05:40?) Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
30
Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
31
(13:20) Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
(22:19) Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
April[edit]
2
(15:30) Darwin (Harvey St, McMinn St, Shell Oil Tanks), NT
Sattler Airfield, NT
4
(13:48) Darwin Civil Airfield and Parap Hotel, NT
5
(12:29) Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
25
(14:00) Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
27
(12:07) Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
30
Horn Island, QLD
June[edit]
13
(11:52) Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
14
(13:14) Darwin (town area), NT
15
(12:20) Darwin (Larrakeyah to Stokes Hill), NT
16
(12:01) Darwin (town area), NT
26
(20:50) Darwin, NT
July[edit]
7
Horn Island, Qld
25
(20:50) Darwin (town area), NT
26
Townsville, Qld
(21:39–22:54) Darwin (Vesteys Meatworks), NT
27
(22:27) Knuckey's Lagoon, Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
28
(00:45) Darwin RAAF airfield, NT
Townsville, Qld
29
(00:59) Darwin (town area) and Knuckey's Lagoon, NT.
Townsville, Qld
30
(03:58) Darwin (town area) and Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
Horn Island, Qld
Port Hedland, WA.[10]
31
Mossman, Qld[10]
(13:33) Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
August[edit]
1
Horn Island, Qld
21
Wyndham, WA
23
(12:12) Hughes Airfield, NT
24
(21:24) Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
(22:14) Noonamah, NT
25
(00:05) Darwin and Parap, NT
27
(03:45–05:37) Darwin (Botanical Gardens) and Cox Peninsula, NT
28
(03:35) Darwin (Railway Yards and Port Patterson), NT
30
(02:39) Darwin (town area), NT
31
(05:14) Darwin (town area) and Cox Peninsula), NT
September[edit]
25
(03:41) Darwin (town area) and Knuckey's Lagoon, NT
25
(05:48) Darwin (town area and Daly Street Bridge), NT
26
(05:22) Livingstone Airfield, NT
27
(04:56) Bynoe Harbour, NT
(05:44) Darwin (town area) (Frances Bay)
October[edit]
10
Horn Island, Qld
24
(04:42) Batchelor Airfield
(04:52) Pell Airfield
(04:57) Cox Peninsula
(05:12) Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
25
(05:30) Darwin (town area) and Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
26
(04:54) Darwin (town area) and Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
27
(02:20) Darwin (town area) and Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
November[edit]
23
(03:00–04:39) Darwin (town area) and Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
Coomalie Creek Airfield, NT
26
(03:20) Darwin (town area), Strauss Airfield and Hughes Airfield, NT
27
(03:56–04:46) Coomalie Creek, Hughes Airfield and Strauss Airfield, NT
1943[edit]
Two Australian Supermarine Spitfire fighters taking off from Darwin to intercept Japanese raiders in March 1943
January[edit]
20
(22:44–00:15) Searchlight station, AWC Camp, Ironstone, NT
21
(21:54) Darwin (Frances Bay), NT
22
(13:30) HMAS Patricia Cam sunk, near Wessel Islands, NT.
March[edit]
2
(14:34) Coomalie Creek Airfield, NT
15
(11:20) Darwin (oil tanks), NT
May[edit]
HMAS Maroubra sinking after being attacked off Millingimbi on 10 May 1943
2
(10:15) Darwin RAAF Airfield and Darwin Floating Dock, NT
9
Millingimbi, NT
10
Millingimbi, NT. The cutter HMAS Maroubra was sunk.
20
Exmouth Gulf, WA
21
Exmouth Gulf, WA
28
Millingimbi, NT
June[edit]
18
Horn Island, Qld
20
(10:43) Winnellie and Darwin RAAF Airfield, NT
28
(11:07) Vesteys, NT
30
(12:30) Fenton Airfield, NT
July[edit]
6
(12:02) Fenton Airfield, NT
August[edit]
13
(21:45) Fenton Airfield, NT
(23:12) Fenton Airfield and Coomalie Creek Airfield, NT
(23:42) Coomalie Creek Airfield, NT
14
Long Airfield, NT
17
Port Hedland, WA[10]
21
(00:37) Fenton Airfield and Coomalie Creek Airfield, NT
(03:30) Pell Airfield, NT
September[edit]
15
(00:25) Fenton Airfield and Long Airfield, NT
15
Onslow, WA. (The southernmost air raid in Australia.)
16
Exmouth Gulf, WA
18
(03:50) Fenton Airfield and Long Airfield, NT
27
Drysdale River Mission (Kalumburu) airfield, WA. Six fatalities; Father Thomas Gil, the superior of the mission, and five Aboriginal Australians.
November[edit]
10
Coomalie Creek Airfield, NT
12
(03:53–05:30) Parap, Adelaide River and Batchelor Airfield, NT
The Japanese bombing of Darwin, Broome and northern Australia
Merchant vessels Barossa and Neptuna burning in Darwin Harbour near the jetty after receiving direct hits during the first Japanese air raid on 19 February 1942. SS Neptuna later exploded and sank while the Barossa was towed clear of the explosion and was later salvaged. Photograph courtesy of A Oliver and the Australian War Memorial: P02759.011.
During the Second World War, the Japanese flew 64 raids on Darwin and 33 raids on other targets in Northern Australia.
On 19 February 1942, 188 Japanese planes were launched against Darwin, whose harbour was full of Allied ships. It was the largest Japanese attack since Pearl Harbour, 7 December 1941, and followed a reconnaissance flight on 10 February 1942. On that day there were 27 Allied ships in the harbour and approximately 30 aircraft at the Darwin Civil and RAAF airfields.
The USS Houston convoy departed Darwin on 15 February 1942, followed by a Japanese flying boat which later engaged in an air strike. The USS Peary returned to Darwin on 19 February after an encounter with a possible Japanese submarine. On 19 February 1942 there were 46 ships packed into Darwin Harbour.
From the first raid on 19 February 1942 until the last on 12 November 1943, Australia and its allies lost about 900 people, 77 aircraft and several ships. Many military and civilian facilities were destroyed. The Japanese lost about 131 aircraft in total during the attacks.
At the time, there were many rumours alluding to the Australian Government's suppression of information about the bombings - it was thought that reports of casualties were intentionally diminished to maintain national morale.
Local sources estimated that between 900 and 1100 people were killed. For many years, government censorship limited coverage of the event to protect public morale in the southern states of Australia.
What led to the attacks?
During the 1930s, Japan invaded and occupied large parts of China. By 1941 Japan also controlled Indochina (a federation of French colonies and protectorates in South East Asia). In December 1941, Japan bombed the Americans at Pearl Harbour and entered the Second World War. Within ten weeks, Japan controlled Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and the Australian territory of New Britain (Rabaul).
Darwin 1943, members of an RAAF Spitfire squadron race to their planes for an interception flight against Japanese raiders. Photograph courtesy of the Australian War Memorial: 014491.
Darwin, the largest town in the north of Australia, was a key defensive position against an aggressive Japan. Australia developed Darwin's military ports and airfields, built coastal batteries and anti-aircraft guns and steadily enlarged its garrison of troops. Darwin was seen as a key port for the Allied ships, planes and forces defending the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia and East Timor).
Defences were planned, and an anti-submarine boom net was constructed across Darwin Harbour. The net, supported by floatation buoys, was six kilometres long – the longest floating net in the world. Warning of approaching ships or submarines was given by submarine indicator loops that lay on the seabed and ASDIC (sonar) devices fitted to ships.
At the time many Australians believed that the Japanese planned to invade Australia. Many experts today, however, believe that the Japanese plan was to wipe out as much of Australia's and the Allied Forces air and sea defence in order to gain control of the resource rich countries of South East Asia and establish strong defences against any counter-attacks from the USA, Australia and any European powers in the region.
Official evacuation, 16 December 1941–15 February 1942
On 16 December 1941 an official order was issued by the Administrator to evacuate women and children from Darwin. The evacuation was primarily organised by the A.R.P. (Air Raid Precautions) with assistance from Police and Military personnel. Most of the 1066 women and 900 children went by sea, with the first group leaving Darwin on December 19 aboard the Koolinda. The troop carrier Zealandia, USS President Grant, Montoro, and Koolama also evacuated civilians with the last ship sailing on February 15, just before the bombing of Darwin. Others left by plane, road and train.
Civilians were evacuated on short notice, often less than 24 hours notice, and were allowed little luggage. Ships were hot, overcrowded, and short on food and water supplies. They were continually on the watch for enemy mines and, at night, blacked out to avoid detection.
The first attacks, 19 February 1942
Wrecked Lockheed Hudson, February 1942. Photograph courtesy of the Charles Eaton Photographic Collection and Peter Dunn's Australia @ War.
The Japanese first attacked Darwin on the morning of 19 February 1942. This was the first time since European settlement that mainland Australia had been attacked by a foreign enemy.
This first attack (and the one that was to follow later that day) was planned and led by Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese commander responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbour. It was the largest Japanese attack since Pearl Harbour.
The Japanese attacked with around 188 planes that had been launched from Japanese land bases and aircraft carriers in the Timor Sea. The Japanese fighters strafed land targets and shipping. Dive bombers attacked the ships in the harbour, the military and civilian aerodromes and the hospital. The dive bombers were escorted by fighter planes to protect them from Australian and allied planes. Eight ships were sunk and most of the others were damaged by bombs or machine gunfire.
The only air defences the allies had were ten fighter planes that engaged the Japanese planes. Only one allied fighter survived the first attack, with the Japanese suffering only one or two losses.
War correspondent Robert Sherrod, of Time Magazine, in front of the remains of the Darwin Post Office, June 1942. Photograph courtesy of Peter Dunn's Australia @ War.
The first attack lasted approximately forty minutes. The land targets included the Post Office, Telegraph Office, Cable Office and the Postmaster's Residence, where postal workers were killed.
The second attack began an hour after the first ended. Heavy bombers attacked the Royal Australian Air Force Base at Parap and lasted about 25 minutes.
The two raids killed at least 243 Australians and allies. Almost 400 were wounded. Twenty military aircraft were destroyed, eight ships at anchor in the harbour were sunk and most civil and military facilities in Darwin were destroyed.
There is debate over the number of Japanese aircraft shot down during the air raid on 19 February 1942 – some sources report that two aircraft were shot down, while others state four aircraft were destroyed.
Darwin after the first attack
With much of the town destroyed and hundreds of people killed and wounded, Darwin's remaining population feared that the Japanese were about to invade.
There was widespread panic and about half of Darwin's remaining civilian population fled. Many servicemen also left their posts and fled in the confusion and panic. Three days after the attack, 278 servicemen were still missing. The majority of women and children had been evacuated previously under government orders during December 1941 and January 1942.
Order was restored to the town within a few days. The military defences were eventually rebuilt and strengthened.
Although these first two raids were the largest, the Japanese were to undertake many more raids on Darwin and other northern Australian towns over the next 20 months.
The bombing of Broome, 3 March 1942
A Dutch crew from a visiting Dornier Do 24 flying boat in Roebuck Bay being taken into Broome by launch in 1941. AWM 044613
Two weeks after the Darwin bombing, on 3 March 1942, the Western Australian town of Broome suffered Australia's second-worst air raid. The attack killed an estimated seventy people, perhaps as many as one hundred, and injured another forty, as well as eight large aircraft and 16 flying boats, 24 aircraft in total. Another aircraft, a DC3 type, carrying refugees and a parcel of diamonds towards Broome met the departing Japanese flight, and after being extensively damaged, was forced to crash-land in the shallows north of the town.
At that time, Broome was a significant military and civilian staging post for air evacuees from Java, then part of the Dutch East Indies (part of latter day Indonesia), both military and civilian. Evacuees were ferried in Dutch, American and Australian military and civil aircraft, including flying boats of Qantas Empire Airways. In the last two weeks of February, 8,000 mostly Dutch refugees, including many women and children, passed through Broome on their way south.
the town was overflowing with military personnel and refugees. People slept wherever they could while waiting for a flight to continue their journey south.… On one single day, 57 aircraft landed there.
Australia’s War 1939-1945, Air raids, Broome
On the day of the attack, Japanese fighter planes attacked without warning. Nine Mitsubishi Zero fighters arrived over Roebuck Bay at 9.30 am, and promptly destroyed the targets they found. As there were no Allied fighters in the area, the Japanese faced minimal opposition.
Fifteen marine aircraft, mostly Dutch Dorniers and Catalinas, but also some British and US Catalinas, as well as a pair of Australian ‘Empire’ Class flying boats, were burned or sunk at their moorings. At the nearby airstrip, several US B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator heavy bombers were destroyed, as well as a number of twin-engined Douglas DC-3 transports of the Netherlands East Indies Airline (KNILM). Not a single operational aircraft was left in Broome when the Japanese departed at 10.30 am.
The Japanese raid on Broome, Australian War Memorial
Many victims were Dutch women and children packed into flying boats on the harbour either waiting to be unloaded and ferried ashore or waiting to depart for the southern states. Another 30 crew and passengers, mostly military personnel, were lost when an American Liberator bomber was shot down shortly after taking off. The bodies of the Dutch victims, initially buried at Broome, were moved in 1950 to the Perth War Cemetery at Karrakatta
The ‘Flying Boat wreckage Site’ was listed by the Heritage Council of Western Australia and a Conservation Order was published in 2002 as it was not covered by shipwreck legislation. Much of what remains below the seabed is well preserved which is invaluable – as plans and descriptions of the entire Short Empire class Flying Boat were destroyed. The site was managed for many years by the Broome Historical Society and later with the WA Maritime Museum. This has resulted in a detailed archaeological survey, conservation of artefacts, oral history program and a documentary film.
Today, six of the fifteen bombed flying boats are exposed on the mud-flats of Roebuck Bay at low water spring tides opposite the town site of Broome – serving as a reminder of the trauma of war as well as the actions of townspeople and military personnel who engaged in valiant rescue attempts. (WA Museum, The Broome Flying Boats)
Other raids – Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland, 1942–43
Darwin, 1943. Japanese Mitsubishi plane photographed from an RAAF Spitfire during the 58th Japanese air raid on Darwin. Photograph courtesy of the Australian War Memorial: P02822.001.
Japanese planes also flew several reconnaissance missions over Australia until 1944.
The other airport base areas in Townsville, Katherine, Wyndham, Derby and Port Hedland were targeted, with loss of military and civilian lives. In late 1942, three raids were made against Townsville, Queensland, as well as Millingimbi, Northern Territory and four raids on the Exmouth Gulf.
There were three Japanese raids on Townsville between 25 and 29 July 1942. The raids were undertaken with two Emily flying boats (W45 and W46) captained by Asai and Mizukura who dropped 15 bombs of 250 kg near the Townsville wharves where three vessels were berthed, believed to be: the SS Bantam, SS Burwah and the HMAS Swan. The second raid dropped eight bombs near the Garbutt airfield. With warning of the raid, three American anti-aircraft batteries fired 72 rounds.
Given a 30 minute early radar warning prior to the third raid, four American Airacobras from the 8th Fighter Group were able to engage in air combat with the Japanese. A translated Japanese log report (held at the Townsville Aviation Museum) records what happened with the Japanese Emily flying boat
Hit more than 10 times by two Hurricanes. Dropped three bombs near the aerodrome causing three fires, and five more on the city, igniting two more.
Kingo Shoji, pilot log, 29 July 1942)
The Emily dumped seven bombs in Cleveland Bay, between the shore and Magnetic Island.
Nine raids were made on Horn Island. After the bombing of Darwin until 1944 the airstrip at Horn Island was the nearest operational airbase to the Japanese forces in New Guinea. It was used by Allied heavy bombers as the take-off point for attacks and to refuel on their return. In the bombing raid on Horn Island on 14 March 1942 there were eight Mitsubishi G4M1 heavy bombers escorted by twelve A6M2 Zeros of the 4th Kokutai. 9 US Kittyhawks were scrambled at 1145 hours under order of Captain Bob Morrissey, Commanding Officer.
A dog fight persisted for 10 minutes above the Torres Straits. Morrissey shot down a Zero in flames when he fired on it from 200 yards. The Kittyhawks of 2nd Lts. Burtnette and Andrews were both riddled by machine gun fire. They both returned to Horn Island.
Japanese Bombing Raid On Horn Island 14 March 1942
By the end of 1942, there were 5000 troops stationed on Horn Island and a further 2000 on nearby Thursday Island. 190 Australian and Allied personnel were killed in Torres Strait and 124 wounded. (Former gunner Gordon Cameron, President of the 34th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery Association in The Australian, 18 February, 2012 )
In 1997, a Japanese fighter plane, a Mitsubishi Zero shot down in World War II in Torres Strait was found relatively intact near Thursday Island. (Courier Mail, 28 January 1997)
In the final Japanese attack, a raid on Darwin on 12 November 1943, there were no casualties and only minor damage was caused around the town. In all, there were 64 air raids on Darwin.
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