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Japan's success in the early months of the Pacific War led elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy to propose invading Australia. In December 1941 the Navy proposed including an invasion of Northern Australia as one of Japan's "stage two" war objectives after South-East Asia was conquered.
Attacks on continental Australia during World War II were relatively rare due to Australia's geographic position. However, axis surface raiders and submarines periodically attacked shipping in the Australian coastal waters from late 1940 to early 1945. Japanese aircraft bombed towns and airfields in Northern Australia on 97 occasions during ...
Japanese propaganda was produced at the time to spread the idea of invasion or bombing of southern Australian cities. [12] Authorities were attempting to allay fears a month before the Darwin bombings. [13] The events surrounding the bombings and response by authorities in northern Australia were referred to as "Japanese Scare" tactics. [14] [15]
The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, [4] on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. [5] On that day, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, 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 ...
In February 1944, the Combined Fleet, the Imperial Japanese Navy's main striking force, withdrew from its base at Truk in the Central Pacific to Palau and Singapore. The appearance of a powerful naval force at Singapore alarmed the Allies, as it was feared that these ships would conduct raids into the Indian Ocean and against Western Australia. [9]
Australia entered World War II on 3 September 1939, following the government's acceptance of the United Kingdom's declaration of war on Nazi Germany. Australia later entered into a state of war with other members of the Axis powers , including the Kingdom of Italy on 11 June 1940, [ 1 ] and the Empire of Japan on 9 December 1941. [ 2 ]
The explosion of the MV Neptuna, 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 ...
Operation FS was the Imperial Japanese plan to invade and occupy Fiji, American Samoa, Samoa, and New Caledonia in the South Pacific during the Pacific conflict of World War II. The operation was set to be executed in July or August 1942 following Operation MO , Operation RY , and Operation MI .