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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 ...
The 1984 alternate history novel The Bush Soldiers by John Hooker depicts a successful Japanese invasion of Australia and the last-ditch resistance effort made by a handful of Australian and British troops. [28] In John Birmingham's 2004 alternative history novel Designated Targets, Imperial Japan launches an invasion of northern Australia.
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 ...
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 ...
The Japanese did not conduct further submarine attacks against Australia after June 1943, as their submarines were needed to counter Allied offensives elsewhere in the Pacific. [129] A single German submarine, U-862 , operated in the Pacific Ocean during the war, cruising off the Australian coast and New Zealand in December 1944 and January 1945.
1942 Australian propaganda poster used on the homefront. Australia feared invasion by Imperial Japan following the Fall of Singapore. The Australian economy was markedly affected by World War II. [129] Expenditure on war reached 37% of GDP by 1943–4, compared to 4% expenditure in 1939–1940. [130]
Japanese attacks along the Malay Barrier 23 December 1941 – 21 February 1942. After the fall of Singapore, the Australian government and many Australians feared that Japan would invade the Australian mainland. Australia was ill-prepared to counter such an attack.
On 20 January, over 100 Japanese aircraft attacked Rabaul in multiple waves. Eight Wirraways attacked, and in the ensuing fighting three RAAF planes were shot down, two crash-landed, and another was damaged. Six Australian aircrew were killed in action and five wounded. One of the attacking Japanese bombers was shot down by anti-aircraft fire.