Carrier Attack Darwin 1942: The Complete Guide to Australia's Own Pearl Harbor 0987151932, 9780987151933

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Carrier Attack DARWIN 1942 The Complete Guide to Australia's own Pearl Harbor

Carrier Attack Darwin 1942 The Complete Guide to Australia's own Pearl Harbor

Dr Tom Lewis &Peter Ingman

Avonmore Books

Carrier Attack Darwin 1942 The (omplete Guide to Australia~ own Pearl Harbor First published 2013 Avonmore Books PO Box 217 Kent Town South Australia 5071 Australia Phone: (61 8) 8431 9780 www.avonmorebooks.com.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author:

Lewis, Tom, 1958-, author.

Title:

Carrier attack - Darwin 1942 : the complete guide to Australia's own Pearl Harbor / Dr Tom Lewis, Peter Ingman.

ISBN

9780987151933 (pbk.)

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Subjects:

World War, 1939-1945--Casualties--Northern Territory. World War, 1939-1945--Northern Territory--Darwin. World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, Japanese. World War, 1939-1945-- Participation, Australian. Darwin (N.T.)--History--Bombardment, 1942. Darwin (N.T.)--History--1939-1945.

Other Authors/Contributors: Ingman, Peter, 1971-, author. Dewey Number: 940.5400994295 Desktop Publishing by Diane Bricknell

© 2013 Avonmore Books

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This book is dedicated to all of those who experienced the raid, especially Gunner Jack Mulholland who passed away in 2012 before this book was published

Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 11 Explanatory Notes ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 1. Overview ................................................................................................................................. 17 Chapter 2. The road to Pearl Harbor and the relevance of Darwin .................................... 25 Chapter 3. The carriers - Japan's new strike weapon ................................................................41 Chapter 4. Race for an island: Timor and Darwin .................................................................... .59 Chapter 5. The Bomber attack ............................................................................................................. 81 Chapter 6. Zero attack ............................................................................................................................. 95 Chapter 7. Allied aircraft operations ............................................................................................. 109 Chapter 8. The Bathurst Island Warning ...................................................................................... 127 Chapter 9. The Darwin Airfields ....................................................................................................... 131 Chapter 10. The Fight in the Harbour I ......................................................................................... 147 Stokes Hill Wharf: Neptuna and Barossa .............................................................................. 149 Major RAN ships: Platypus, the sloops and corvettes ...................................................... 156 Chapter 11. The Fight in the Harbour II ........................................................................................ 165 United States Navy at Darwin : Peary and Preston ............................................................. 165 Chapter 12. The Fight in the Harbour III ..................................................................................... 179 Merchant Ships ............................................................................................................................. 179 Hospital Ship Manunda .............................................................................................................. 187 Miscellaneous Smaller Vessels ................................................................................................. 191 Chapter 13. The Fight in the Harbour IV ..................................................................................... 197 Boom Defence Squadron ........................,................................................................................. 197 Flying Boat Camilla and Launches ......................................................................................... 202 Chapter 14. The Army's AA Guns ..................................................................................................... 207 Chapter 15. The Philippine Blockade Runners: ....................................................................... 221 Chapter 16. The Second Raid ............................................................................................................ 233 Chapter 17. Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 239 Appendix 1. Aircraft Profiles ............................................................................................................. 25 1 Appendix 2. Ship Profiles (selected) .............................................................................................. 265 Appendix 3. Ships Present in Darwin Harbour 19th February 1942 .............................. 275 Appendix 4. Allied Aircraft Losses Darwin 19th February 1942 ...................................... 279 Appendix 5. Constable Law's Damage Report .......................................................................... 280 Appendix 6. Pearl Harbor and Darwin - a comparison ........................................................ 284 Appendix 7. Trouble on the Darwin wharves ............................................................................ 289 Appendix 8. Myth: The Gribble radio warning ......................................................................... 292 Appendix 9. Myth: The Heroic Robert Oestreicher ................................................................. 296 Appendix 10. Myth: Death Toll Cover-up .................................................................................... 305 Appendix 11. Myth: The Raid was Concealed ........................................................................... 31 5 Appendix 12. Myth: A Prelude to Invasion ................................................................................. 324 Appendix 13. Myth: the Japanese pilots insulted their victims ....................................... 327 Appendix 14. Myth: The Ghost Ship Benjamin Franklin ...................................................... 330 Appendix 15. Finding the Peary ...................................................................................................... 331 Appendix 16. Darwin Tides ................................................................................................................ 333 Appendix 17. Darwin Sites of Significance - What Remains Today? .............................. 337 References .................................................................................................................................................. 349 Index ............................................................................................................................................................ 362

CARRIER ATTACK

Introduction ((No single incident in my life has affected me more than that raid, a disaster ofa magnitude and ferocity that is hard to describe:' Commander Herb Kriloff (USN, retired)

t was not surprising that Darwin was attacked on 19 February 1942. But it was the ferocity of the attack that was so shocking, and this has led to the raid having a peculiar enduring interest for Australians. The very fact that, after many weeks of intense warfare in the Pacific, it was the lonely outpost of Darwin that received the attention of the mighty Pearl Harbor attackers is striking. As no invasion followed, what was the reason for this? Was Darwin really of such vital strategic importance?

I

For historians the Darwin story also contains a unique peculiarity. A very short time after the raid, a Royal Commission under Justice Lowe was appointed to investigate all aspects of the raid, including the preparedness and actions of both the services and civilians. It was remarkable that the commission began hearings in Darwin just two weeks after the assault. Witnesses were filmed but assured their statements would remain secret. Adding to the tense atmosphere, during long hours the hearings were often interrupted by air raid warnings. After several days it was re-convened in Melbourne. The transcripts of evidence run to almost 1,000 pages, and represent an invaluable historical resource. For writers the Lowe transcripts are a ready source of high drama. There are dozens of colourful characters, from Generals and Air Vice-Marshals to humble sailors and labourers. Each of these witnesses had their own particular circumstances, and there are petty intrigues galore. When crafted by skilled writers, the Lowe evidence can be turned into something akin to a sweeping historic novel, played out against the background of a great and violent event. In this way the Darwin raid stories have become part of Australian folklore. However, there is a danger that the Lowe transcripts create the impression that all aspects of the Darwin raid are perfectly recorded and readily accessible. The respected Professor Alan Powell, in his 1988 work The Shadow's Edge, says as much: "The tale of the raids on Darwin that day has been twice told at length, by Lockwood with acumen, by Hall with hyperbole, and needs no general retelling:' Powell is referring to Douglas Lockwood's Australia's Pearl Harbor (1966) and Timothy Hall's Darwin 1942 (1980). Lockwood did not have access to the Lowe transcripts, but knew the general contents. His is also a first-hand account as he was present during the raid, and he had the benefit of interviewing many Page 11

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eyewitnesses. Hall wrote with full access to the transcripts, as well as drawing heavily on Lockwood. In Hall's category can also be added the recent work by Peter Grose: An Awkward Truth (2009). All of these books have appealed to mainstream readers and appear to have sold widely. We have been researching in areas akin to, and including, the Darwin raids for many years. Author Lewis penned a work on the Japanese submarine sunk outside the harbour in 1997, later re-issued as Darwin Submarine /-124, and a bestselling "tourist" publication entitled A War at Home in 1999. He is also the author of many articles on the raids, and actively researched aspects such as the harbour ship and aircraft wrecks for Wrecks in Darwin Waters (1991). Together we wrote Zero Hour in Broome about the nine Zero fighter raid in March 1942 which killed 86 people - another chapter of Australian history which has remained outside of the country's consciousness. But even as well-versed as we became in the story, many aspects of the Darwin attacks struck us both as puzzling. All of the timelines given couldn't be right they ranged from 40 minutes to well over an hour. Many accounts portray the air above the harbour as full of aircraft for a long time - but why would this be so, given that 152 out of the 188 enemy machines were bombers, which once they'd delivered their ordnance should depart? Were two warnings given by radio - and both ignored? That sounded strange. Even recent works have repeated gross errors: for example, we are told the Benjamin Franklin was attacked in the harbour, when a quick Google search shows this "ghost ship" was actually a Norwegian vessel sunk a year before in the Atlantic. The Australian Official Histories also contain various inaccuracies and inconsistencies. This book is an attempt to provide a much-needed factual guide to the raid drawing on all sources now available. It is an analysis and explanation of events from a military point of view. As such, it is a different approach to the works above which rely more on personal experiences. Much new material has been examined, the most important of which has been Japanese sources. These provide a fresh new perspective to the subject, free of an Australian-centric approach. Indeed, from a Japanese wartime point of view there are several aspects of the Darwin raid that made it a highly significant achievement. There are a myriad of civilian subjects and characters which are outside the scope of this analysis. These include the stories of Administrator Abbott, Judge Wells, the wharflabourers, the North Australian Workers Union, the police, the Air Raid Precautions organisation; the evacuation of thousands of people, mainly women and children, from the towns of tl1e north once the Japanese entered the war; looting of property after the first raids; and the fate of the indigenous population during the war. These subjects are important and complex in their own way. We Page 12

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did not feel we could do them justice by including them as a corollary of a military analysis. The civilian aspects alone are worthy of their own specialised study. The authors are grateful to a large number of persons who have assisted with this work. Probably no one person has done as much for wartime research in the Northern Territory as Bob Alford. A long-time resident of Darwin, Bob now resides in Thailand. Bob spent many years engaged in military history research in Darwin, most of it focused on aviation. After a career in the RAAF, he was the Historian for the Aviation Historical Society of the Northern Territory (AHSNT), which operates the Darwin aviation museum. Among the exhibits there are pilot Toyoshima's Zero, which crashed on Melville Island after the first raid. The historic RAAF water tower/control tower is also preserved there. Bob also worked as a heritage consultant. He has personally visited and investigated almost every known wartime air crash site in the area, and his second edition of Darwin's Air War is a vital reference work to anyone seeking to understand the air war which began on 15 February with a combat action between a Japanese aircraft and an American fighter outside Darwin. The air war continued for two years, and Bob's work is the most comprehensive account of it available. Scores of Northern Territory government signs explaining historic wartime sites were drafted by Bob, and in this way he continues to educate many thousands of tourists every year. During his work in the 1980s and 1990s Bob was fortunate to meet and correspond with many important veterans. In this way he has been an invaluable living link to the Likes of P-40 pilot Bob McMahon. He has contributed in an invaluable way on many of the aviation aspects of the work; provided insights into other thematic areas, and been an honest critic. We are immensely grateful for his help, although any errors which we have made are ours alone. By 2012 when we finished this work there were precious few Darwin veterans still alive. The authors have been privileged to have been in contact with two veterans in particular: Jack Mulholland, who was an army AA gunner, and Herb Kriloff, an American naval officer. While both men lived long and rich lives, the Darwin raid had a special impact and both penned their own memoirs. Jack passed away in 2012. Other people whom we thank (in alphabetical order) include: Craig Bellamy, Gordon Birkett, John Bradford, Ron and Pat Lewis, Darwin Military Museum Curator Simon Loveday in Japan, John Perryman at the SeaPower CentreAustralia; Alan Powell at Charles Darwin University, Phil Vabre, Owen Veale, Dr Peter Williams, and Haruki Yoshida. Dr Tom Lewis Peter Ingman Darwin, September 2012 Page 13

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Explanatory Notes

T

he text of this book contains historical anecdotes and language, reported verbatim, which readers of today may find offensive. Rather than change what people are reported to have said, the authors have, in the cause of historical accuracy, left those terms as given. The authors acknowledge that many recent publications correctly refer to Japanese aircraft by either their type number (e.g. Type 99 Carrier Bomber or Type 97 Carrier Attack Aircraft) or the abbreviated Japanese name (e.g. "kanbaku" for the carrier dive bombers or "kanko" for tlle carrier torpedo / level bombers). We have taken the decision to instead use the system of Allied Code names, simply because these are likely to be more widely recognised. The manufacturer's designation will also be used in connection with these code names (e.g. D3A "Yal" and B5N "Kate"). It is acknowledged tllat this is not historically correct, as those code names were not allocated until several months after the Darwin raid. No disrespect to the Japanese is meant by tlus choice. It has been made given tlle likely market for the book. One exception is tlle "Zero" fighter. We use the term "Zero" because it is more widely known than the "Zeke" code name. Where noted, the citation of Senshi Sosho means the translation of Chapter Nine of B6eichO B6ei J(ensht1jo Senshishitsu [Military history Department, National Institute of Defense Studies, the Defense Agency] ed. Ran'in Bengaru-wan h6men kaigun shink6 sakusen [The Dutch East Indies and Bengal Bay Area: Naval Advance Operations]. Yol. 26. Tokyo: Asagumo Shinbunsha, 1969. Translated by Haruld Yoshida with assistance by Darwin Military Museum historian Dr Peter Williams. Measurements are given in their original specification, including tons instead of tonnes for ships. Miles are specified where that measurement was originally used; kilometres otherwise. Japanese altitude was in metres and airspeed was in kmph; this has been converted, unless quoting verbatim accounts, to the everyday world-wide use of altitude in feet and airspeed in miles per hour and kilometres per hour. Readers may wish to refer to Appendices 1 and 2 for notes and technical data on aircraft types and a selection of the ships relevant to the story. The aircraft profiles have been made as accurate as possible, but given limited (or conflicting) sources and/or the need for interpretation from black and white photos, these should be treated as reasonable representations and do not claim to be a perfect historic guide. Likewise, the specifications should be relied on for comparative purposes only. Page 15

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Photo and caption describing direct hit on the Darwin Post Office,from the Chicago Tribune. (Alford Collection)

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Chapter 1. Overview - the battle in brief A t nearly 1000 on Thursday 19 February 1942, sailors on more than 60 ships fiin Darwin Harbour, as well as soldiers and civilians in the town, sighted masses of aircraft flying towards them. Many observers thought they were Allied machines, because the aircraft were approaching from the south-east - the very opposite direction from where an attack was expected to come. This momentary misconception was quickly dispelled when the oncoming aircraft began their raid. There were 179 Imperial Japanese Navy machines overhead - another nine were already engaged at the other end of the harbour - armed with guns and bombs, and they had been launched from four aircraft carriers less than 200 miles away. They were the experienced warriors who had destroyed Pearl Harbor two and a half months previously. Now, in one of their commander's words, they were "the sledgehammer to crack an egg'; and they set about their work in deadly earnest. A squadron of American P-40 fighters was present over Darwin that day, but the inexperienced pilots were no match for their elite Japanese counterparts. They fought bravely, but within minutes all but one had been swept from the skies. The Japanese level bombers were able to go about their business unhindered, bombing in perfect formations from 10,000 feet. Their main targets were the harbour installations and shipping, but some patterns of bombs hit the city area. Quickly following were swarms of divebombers, which lined up targets among the ships - two American warships received particular attention. At the same time strafers and divebombers descended on the two aerodromes. On ships and on land the defenders were alert and fought back with purpose - the anti-aircraft gunners opened fire even before the first bombs hit. Machinegunners fired at aircraft that came close enough. Ships frantically tried to raise anchors and get up enough boiler pressure to avoid being a stationary target. For 20 minutes the fight raged in a constant roar of zooming aircraft engines, gunfire, falling bombs, explosions, air raid sirens and the screams of those hit. The waters of the harbour were soon covered with small boats and burning oil. The ships that had been hit were burning fiercely while their crews fought desperately to save their charges or abandon them to sinking. All the while fire from the antiaircraft sites scattered around the town joined in with a steady thumping rhythm as the crews sought to change their aim and get a clear shot at their tormentors. Pagel?

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Then the aircraft flew away, with only a few having fallen to the guns of the Allied defenders. Hundreds of those gallant men, and some of the town's women, were dead, with the wounded accounting for many hundreds more. A little willie later the ammunition ship Neptuna blew up at the main wharf with a mighty explosion that sent a mushroom cloud of smoke high into the air. Then at noon 54 Japanese bombers, which had taken off from airfields in the Celebes, dropped hundreds of more bombs. Darwin was left to an afternoon of rescue, repair and - in some people's minds resignation that this was it: invasion would soon follow, and like Singapore a few days previously, the northern Australian outpost of Allied forces would soon fall to the invading Japanese. By the standards of the Pacific War, this was a very significant air attack. It would remain the largest air attack ever conducted by the Japanese in the South West Pacific during the entire war. Eventual counts were to establish around 235 dead: half of those were American or in American service, with the biggest loss of life being from the now-sunk destroyer USS Peary, which alone had seen 88 lives lost. In the aftermath several accusations of unpreparedness and inefficiency were made towards the civilian and military forces of the north. These accusations were keenly felt by the proud Australian services. Were they justified? There are many other questions to be answered. Why was the attack so massive? What were the Japanese hoping to achieve? Were they successful? The last might seem a moot question, but new analysis of Japanese tactics and capabilities shows they might have under-achieved at Darwin. From a contemporary perspective, we also ask what the Australian public knows and understands of the raid. In the following pages all of these questions and more will be answered. *

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RMOSA

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PACIFIC OCEAN

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INDIAN OCEAN

Darwin and the South-East Asian region in 1941. By March 1942 virtually the entire area, excepting the Australian land mass, was under Japanese control.

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Shipping lane to / from Torres Strait - Thursday Island

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civilian airstrip (selected)

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rdllway station

Darwin and environs, including Bathurst and Melville Island. Note the name "Stuart Highway" was /lot in use until 1943. In February 1942 the road could not be relied on in all seasons. It was much improved during the war.

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Map ofDarwin, circa 1942.

Page 22

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