War Came To Australia

War Came To Australia

"Keeping Tojo High". This anti-aircraft gun and crew at Darwin have accounted for several Japanese planes. The gun is one of a battery which has been particularly successful during raids on Darwin and surrounding country. By B3/77

WAR CAME TO AUSTRALIA

0N the morning of February 15, 11942, shortly after midnight, a convoy of ships with a naval escort slipped out of Darwin harbour carrying reinforcements of men and material for the forces in Timor. When half-way across the Timor Sea the following day a silver Japanese plane appeared high in the sky. The warships immediately opened fire but the harm was done. It was a reconnaissance plane.

Later the same morning the convoy was heavily bombed by 44 Japanese aircraft. An escorting cruiser maintained a tremendous rate of anti-aircraft fire as the ships zigzagged to escape the bombs. Many near misses were registered but when the sky cleared of both bombers and shell bursts the convoy was still moving intact.

When approaching Timor on February 17 the convoy about-turned and steamed due south for Darwin, having been ordered to do so by General Sir Archibald Wavell's headquarters in Java. There was some evidence of a trap having been set by an enemy naval squadron.

just after noon on February 18 the convoy nosed its way back into Darwin harbour. In the town there were many who pondered at the portents of its return, but little did they suspect the horror which was to descend on Darwin on the morrow.

February 19 dawned a sunny day with a few clouds drifting slowly across the sky. The sea was calm and limpid with a slight haze clinging to the water on the horizon. Darwin lay bathed in the moist humidity of a tropical morning during the rainy season, quite oblivious of the fact that 17 Japanese bombers, 54 dive bombers and 18 Zero fighters were converging steadily on the town. All around the waters of the blue harbour ships lay awaiting discharge or sailing orders. The town continued its normal existence. Some soldiers were at their posts and others were engaged on defence work, while civilians carried on their ordinary daily business.

So suddenly did the Japanese air fleet appear that Darwin was completely surprised. The alarm on the main battery position near the heart of Darwin brought gunners rushing to their guns-some half clothed, others naked-from their showers and quarters. Approaching the town from the south-east 17 silver Japanese bombers appeared flying in formation at nearly 20,000 feet.

The town was ringed and marked by flashes as the anti-aircraft guns opened fire on the droning bombers. Woolly black bursts showed below and behind them as Darwin moved towards the centre of their bomb sights. Over their target they let their bombs go. The whistle of the falling bombs reached a shrill crescendo culminating in a terrific blast, as they fell among buildings along the foreshore of Darwin. Wreckage was thrown skywards, walls tumbled in and dust and smoke rose from the devastated area.

For the first time bombs had fallen on Australian soil. For the first time Australians had been killed in their own homes by act of war. War had at last really come to Australia. Simultaneously with the release of the bombs from a high level, the dive bombers and Zero fighters made their appearance.

Almost out of ammunition, two American planes carried on an uneven fight with the enemy to the north of the town. Another seven American fighters endeavoured to take off, eager to close with the enemy, but not one managed to reach more than 1,000 feet. Enemy Zero fighters, with the advantage of height, picked them off as they struggled for altitude.

One American Major had reached only 250 feet when he was forced to bail out. He was too close to the ground for his parachute to open and was killed instantly. Four of the American pilots lost their lives in the vain attempt to get into the air and fight.

Once all Allied air resistance was crushed, the enemy had the harbour at their mercy. The militia anti-aircraft gunners stood to their guns, and crews which had never done a shoot with full charge ammunition before got away as many as 100 rounds in the crowded 50 minutes of the first raid. The bravery and devotion to duty of those gunners has become legend.

All around the harbour men fought back at the enemy with their light automatic machine-guns. The U.S. destroyer Peary struggled to free her moorings as her gunners -engaged the enemy aircraft, while two Australian corvettes steamed back and forth around the harbour, zigzagging to upset the aim of the dive bombers. One by one the dive bombers picked off the ships in the harbour.

The first bomb to fall on Australia-a 1,000-pounder-scored a direct hit on the wharf, killing 20 labourers. Together with near misses the blast deft a section of the wharf right out of the water, cutting off the seaward portion from the land. Oil from a nearby punctured oil pipe drained into the sea. It caught fire and in addition to the two ships beside the wharf was soon blazing fiercely. One after another the remaining ships in the harbour were sunk. A dive bomber would select its target, come right down to mast height and release its bombs, which struck home in a sheet of flame. Burning oil from an oil tanker spread over the water of the harbour, adding to the -holocaust. Men drowned because they could not swim in the heavy oil. Men burnt because they could not escape the flames.

As soon as the dive bombers had dropped one load on the doomed ships, they circled above the town, machine-gunning as they went, to gain height for another attack ... and another, until at last their bombs were exhausted.

With her guns blazing, the Peary fought an uneven battle. A bomb caught her on the stern, and flames shot up immediately. Gallantly she carried on, still firing while drifting around the harbour sinking by the stem. One last glimpse of her revealed the silhouette of an anti-aircraft gun on the foredeck with the head and shoulders of the American manning it standing out behind the shield, still firing stubbornly while the water lapped around the base of the gun. When the Peary went at last, she sank with two-thirds of her complement.

The hospital ship Manunda was hit by a bomb and suffered a near miss, but it was probable the bombs were intended for the still fighting Peary drifting past close by.

For 5o minutes the attack continued. In four of the ships of the ill-destined convoy which had returned the previous day was the full equipment of the troops disembarked that night. It was lost when the transports were sent to the bottom along with most of the other ships in the harbour.

Dive bombers also concentrated on the nearby civil airport and R.A.A.F. aerodrome.

Hangars were dive-bombed and went up in flames, while Zero fighters flew back and forth at only 50 feet, machine-gunning the big R.A.A.F. station. One R.A.A.F. wing commander manned a Lewis gun on top of his slit trench in defiance of the enemy, but was killed by a cannon shell. Other brave men died in like fashion that day in Darwin.

It was io a.m. when the first bomb fell on Darwin and the raid continued until about 10-50- When at last the skies cleared a stunned town had a short respite. Alongside the wharf a ship was burning fiercely and flames were licking from the blazing oil on the waters of the harbour. Not long after the departure of the last Japanese bomber the ship blew up with a terrific explosion which shook every house in the town. Pieces of debris hurtled hundreds of feet into the air. Any man on board who had survived the bombing perished immediately.

Men were trapped on the end of the pier surrounded by the flames from the burning ships and the oil-laden water. Many had dived desperately into the blazing oil in an attempt to escape the terrific heat, but most perished almost immediately. The fate of the remainder was sealed by the explosion.

Under a pall of smoke from the burning harbour the town took stock of the damage. People emerged from their air-raid shelters, numbed and bewildered by the suddenness and intensity of the attack. Along the foreshore the post office and the police station were among the buildings reduced to rubble. There were many craters pitting the area overlooking the jetty, but most of the damage had been inflicted on the harbour, its installations and the ships that were sheltering within the boom.

There were some civilian casualties, including women. The harbour suffered most and provided nearly all the death roll. After the first raid a few civilians left the town and headed south along the overland road. Most remained and were still in the town when the alarm was again sounded at noon.

Flying in over the area from opposite directions and at a great height, two formations each of 27 Japanese bombers bombed what remained of the installations at the R.A.A.F. aerodrome. Hangars and other installations were still burning fiercely from the first raid.

The Japanese suffered some losses in the two raids, successes being scored by the gallant anti-aircraft gunners and the doomed fighter pilots. Two Japanese bombers were shot down, three Zero fighters shared the same fate and there were five "probables" which were not likely to return to their base or aircraft carrier. One of the dive bombers shot down received a direct hit while flying over the harbour at low level. There was an explosion and the machine just disintegrated in mid-air. It was impossible to determine who scored the hit.

And so the night of February ig descended, on Darwin. All night sailors and others were drifting up from the foreshore seeking the hospital where doctors toiled manfully in an effort to handle all their patients . . . men in bloodstained bandages, some clad only in pyjamas, some still carrying life jackets, some nursing terrible burns.

In the days that followed Australians and Americans toiled side by side to ensure that the tables would be turned should the air fleets of Nippon again venture over our northern shores.

Two weeks elapsed before enemy planes were again over Darwin. Eight Zero fighters appeared on March 4 and machine-gunned and cannoned aerodrome installations and the town itself. On March 16, 14 heavy bombers dropped 100 anti-personnel bombs on the Darwin area and followed this up on March ig with 6o bombs of all sizes dropped by seven heavy bombers. Apart from anti-aircraft fire, no opposition was offered the enemy during these raids. However the anti-aircraft fire was forcing him higher and higher until he never approached at less than 20,000 feet.

While these sporadic raids continued, strenuous efforts had been made to prepare the way for a strong American fighter force to take up the struggle in the area. Constructional work was pushed through with great speed by American engineers. Meanwhile American fighter aircraft were beginning to arrive in Australia in greater numbers. With the hard spade work completed, Kittyhawk fighters took the air over Darwin on March 22 and shot down one of three enemy Zeros which paid the garrison a visit, probably on reconnaissance. It was the beginning of the end of enemy air superiority over Darwin. Thereafter Japanese bombers and fighters lost more and more heavily with each raid and were forced higher and higher.

On Anzac Day (April 25) 24 Japanese bombers and nine fighters were over. Of these 11 were shot down with a twelfth registered as a probable. Two days later 26 machines paid a visit and seven remained.

A maze of figures could be quoted of raid numbers, enemy aircraft lost, their types, our small losses and anti-aircraft successes, but they all add up to one result. The Allies now hold overwhelming air superiority over Darwin.

While the American fighter pilots were defending Darwin, Australian bomber pilots carried the war to the Japanese in Timor and other islands. Unescorted by fighters, their attacks were very different from those of the Japanese, inasmuch as they were made at daringly low levels. On one occasion an Australian pilot diving on a ship just cleared his target at mast height. His bombs fell down the funnel of the ship, sinking it immediately. But so low was the Australian bomber that the blast of the bursting bombs destroyed it also.

And so the battle of Darwin progressed through the pleasant sunny months of the dry season. Each day the sun rose upon a Darwin utterly foreign to the town it had known for so long. The long, macadamized streets, lined with buildings characterized by iron roofs, fibro-cement, and high supports, were peopled only by a few men in uniform going quietly about their duty.

That is Darwin to-day ... a few trucks where once there had been many motor cars, a few soldiers where there had been many civilians, a town almost deserted and peaceful in its very quietness. But the air of quiet is not to be mistaken, for Darwin has become the foremost point of an area ready for any type of war. It is a town ready to combat and repel invasion.

A description of Darwin to-day would be incomplete without reference to the picture shows screened in that area. Programmes begin shortly after dusk each night in different areas. Vehicles arrive from miles around and discharge American and Australian soldiers and airmen. The navy is also in attendance with a truck load or two of white-shirted ratings. Every man carries his own seating accommodation, be it so,-p box, stretcher, stool, cane chair or armchair'. Seated in the open in the clear tropical night, the men far from home watch the entertainment. Often Rogers and Astaire lose the attention of the audience as searchlights sweep the sky until they locate one of our returning bombers.

The Darwin of to-day bears many similar features to the Tobruk of a year ago; there is not the blood and weariness of trench warfare in Darwin, but there is the isolation, the bombing and the cameraderie which marked the defence of Tobruk. In that Libyan garrison, they bound the English and Australian defenders together. In Darwin, they unite the Australians and Americans. "VX115"

IT was a lonely little searchlight location on the coast and it was lonelier still in the hours after midnight.

Sapper Murkatroyd paced up and down on guard. Balaclava and scarf kept out most of the westerly which whistled around the tents, but not even these gifts from Sapper Murkatroyd's maiden aunt could blunt the keenness of the wind.

Now Sapper Murkatroyd, or "Murky" as the detachment knew him, was a good sapper. He was never A.W.L., was conscientious to an amazing degree, and it was rumoured that he would be promoted in the very near future.

In fact, as a sapper, Murky was the N.C.O.' s dream. So we find him on guard and, ever mindful of his duty, he was just on his way down to the generating sets to give them their hourly warm up.

A few minor adjustments, the self-starter was pressed, and the motor whirred into life. Murky quickly ran over the engines, let them run for the requisite io minutes, and then switched them off. Picking up his rifle once more he was just about to move back to the tent lines when something white in the paddock alongside the set arrested his attention.

Being a good sapper, he immediately adopted the prone position as laid down in S.A.T., Vol. 1, and even remembered to keep his heels down. At first he thought the white object was a cow-or a parachute. Yes. That was it. A parachute. But then, he reflected, no plane had come over that way for the last hour. It must be a cow or a tent-fly broken loose in the wind. Or a cow. Or a parachute. Yes. That was it. A parachute.

Murky remembered now-he read it in the papers-how the Nazis were using gliders which had no engine and therefore did not betray their presence.

Yes, he decided finally, it was either a parachute or a cow. Next thing to do was to notify the detachment commander, Corporal "Dickie" Boyd. Murky, emulating the proverbial snake in the grass, wormed his way back to the tent lines and located the D.C.'s tent, different from the rest in that it had a water drain dug around it (labour by courtesy of defaulters, C.B.-ites, and fatigue squads) and proceeded to rouse the corporal.

The tale was poured into the D.C.'s sleepy ear and the proviso added that it was a parachutist or a cow. Together they proceeded to the tent of Lieutenant Bamfield, the section commander. He did not need waking, and listened intently to the story.

He crept to the fence with the others in close attendance and climbed through. Corporal Boyd and Sapper Murkatroyd stayed at the fence, straining eyes and ears.

As if it were listening with them, the wind dropped for a minute that seemed hours. Suddenly the stillness was shattered by a loud splash and a string of oaths.

Lieutenant Bamfield climbed back through the fence dripping from head to foot.

"Cow?" they chorused.

"Bull," he replied.

"NX 172946"

IT was lunch-time - the period between 1300 and 1400 hours which all of us in Darwin regarded as the unofficial zero hour-and sure enough the alert began to wail. Once more the yellow-bellies had decided to pay us a visit.

Soon after, the general alarm sounded and those of us who hadn't finished our "tucker" cursed the Jap for picking on our meal time for his raids.

The boys filed out to the trenches one by one, dragging their gear on as they went.

All ears were straining to hear the first throb of the engines, and eyes scanned the sky over the coast to the north-west-the direction from which the enemy raiders never failed to appear.

"I can hear 'em," yells someone, and that uncontrollable tingling of excitement runs through your body as you hear the first beat of the even throbbing engines, so different from our own machines. There's no doubt about it now! It's the Japs right enough.

"There they are," screams the corp., who is the most keen-sighted soldier of the unit and always picks them out long before the rest of us.

All eyes turned to where the corporal's finger pointed and there they were-seven of them. We were disappointed at first. It seemed an insult to send only seven bombers over Darwin, so we settled down for a quiet time.

They were flying in their usual perfect V formation with the sun glistening on their fuselage, turning them into dazzling silver demons of the sky.

This day, Saturday, April 4, the raiders appeared to be flying at a lower altitude than usual. The screaming zoom of our Kittyhawks could be heard as they attacked the escorting Zeros up above the bombers.

Our eyes were still pinned to the bombers as they kept on in a south-easterly direction. They then turned at right angles and as they did the boom of our heavy ack-ack guns shook the ground.

The first burst of flack could be seen exploding right through the centre of the formation. We yelled madly.

A second burst opened up right under the enemy machines and then the plane on the right flank started trailing smoke and began to drop back.

This was a sight we had never seen before and it was a sight never to be forgotten.

The bomber on the left flank then trailed smoke and as the one on the right flank fell back still farther out of the formation, the bomber next to him burst into flames.

The first machine to trail smoke rolled over on its back and began its death-dive, writing its own funeral notice in the sky with a spiral of smoke as it wound round and round directly under the remainder of the formation.

What a sight! The Jap bomber screaming down, leaving this white trail of smoke etched against a perfectly blue Australian sky, was only half-way to its doom when a second machine began to lose height.

At this time no bombs had fallen and the remaining four planes (a third had dropped behind) were almost overhead.

Before we took to our trenches the spinning skywriter had almost reached the ground-when there was a terrific explosion and the aircraft burst apart in the air.

We dived for cover as the remain ing bombers came over, still holding their broken formation. The bombs dropped harmlessly in the bush and as the last rumble died away we all jumped out again to see only three planes above us.

The ack-ack had ceased firing, as the Kittys were now among the bombers, breaking them up.

So many things were happening that one didn't know where to look.

To the right of us two Kittys had intercepted one of the bombers which was scooting off in the opposite direction to home - anywhere to get away from the Allied fighters. He was shot down on the other side of the harbour.

Behind our back we heard another scream of a falling plane and turned just in time to see still another bomber come crashing down into the sea.

A white speck opened out, high up in the sky-a parachute, the first we had sighted. In another fraction of a second there was a burst of orange-coloured flame, a small puff of smoke and the parachute was no more. Apparently it had caught fire from the burning bomber.

We turned again to see Kittys and Zeros zooming in and out of the smoke clouds with the sudden bursts of their machine-guns drowning the roar of the engines.

The Zero pilots went mad that day when they realized the destruction that had been caused to their bombers. One of them dived down and headed for an airfield at terrific speed, flying at tree-top level.

At first we thought it was a Kitty returning for more gas and we were astounded to hear the rat-tat-tat of its machine-guns as it approached its objective.

Immediately following this came the roar of our light ack-ack. The sound of the machine-guns died out, the boom of the ack-ack faded and the roar of the Zero's engine suddenly ceased. Our guns got him with their first burst. It was just one more Jap that didn't get home that day.

Full of excitement, we jumped in the car and made for the spot where we saw the first bomber fall.

When it exploded in mid-air, the tail portion landed in the sea about a quarter of a mile from the main body, which crashed on to the edge of the rocks a few miles from town. It was the first enemy bomber to be brought down on Australian soil.

Some of our chaps were already in the water up to their waists, turning the remains of the plane over.

It was camouflaged in a green and buff combination which made it hard for us, to understand why the Jap bombers always look silver, whether the sun is shining or not.

These twin-engined Mitsubishis closely resemble our Hudson medium bombers but they are not so squat in the body and are minus the twin tail.

The bodies of two Jap airmen from the raider were already being buried in Australian earth. They had the same fate as the men who were brought down in the dive bombers on that memorable February 19 when war first came to Australia.

Out of the seven enemy raiders which came over on that day not one returned to its base.

They have been over since, in greater formations, but never once have they flown at that same level. They keep to the "safety" of altitudes far out of reach of our ack-ack, But now our fighters are getting amongst them, no matter at what height they fly.

We have certainly witnessed some unforgettable sights in Darwin, especially that on February 19, and we have gained greater victories in the air since April 4. But nothing will surpass the thrilling sight of those bombers screaming down. It will for ever be imprinted on the minds of those fortunate enough to see it.

"N274057"