Text 36801, 68 rader
Skriven 2006-08-16 13:43:09 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
  Kommentar till text 36588 av Carol Shenkenberger (6:757/1)
Ärende: Darwin vs Dossche
=========================
12 Aug 06 10:42, Carol Shenkenberger wrote to Ward Dossche:

 >> WD> Was Darwin ever attacked?

Hell yes.

 >> WD> Was the Australian mainland ever attacked?

Hell yes.

 >> Now I feel like a ditz!  Yes, pretty sure.

 WD>> Well, then you consider the Japanese attack on the Aleutians also an
 WD>> a on mainland US?

 CS> Umm, no, I consider the attack on Darwin to have been more
 CS> 'affecting' on the OZ people than the Aleutians or Hawaii.

It was in reality, more affecting the military posts there. Darwin was the
closest military port and air field to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia,
etc.) Come to find out after more research that there were more than 900
people killed in the 60 raids on Darwin's military outposts. The Aussie
gun implacemnts only downed 147 Japanese aircraft during those raids.

 CS> It was their 'mainland' even if a remote spot to their main
 CS> population base of it.

Since Darwin is in fact located on the Aussie mainland, although remote,
it was built up before and during the war as a launch point for protecting
Australia from the Japanese.

The first two raids on Darwin 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, allah Pearl Harbor.

Meanwhile, the Australian anti-aircraft guns destroyed only four aircraft
and reported four other probable kills.

 CS> We kinda need an OZ person in here on this one.  I've just visited
 CS> but can only surmise from what I heard there and monuments I saw.

Check your email.

 WD>>
 WD>> ..."almost akin to Pearl Harbor" ... so, how many capital ships were
 WD>> d or severely damaged? How many servicemen killed?

 CS> Conseiderably less died in Darwin than in Pearl.  The discussion is
 CS> how much it may have affected the OZ people when it happened.  It was
 CS> almost their '9/11' at the time I think but remote enough many may
 CS> not recall unless they lived then through it, how the folks of the
 CS> times felt.

There were more Japanese raids on cities in northern Australia;
Townsville, Katherine, Wyndham, Derby and Port Hedland were targeted, with
loss of military and civilian lives.

The Western Australian town of Broome was undefended when attacked on
March 3, 1942. The attack killed seventy people and injured another forty.
In the final Japanese attack, a raid on Darwin on November 12, 1943, there
were no casualties and only minor damage was caused around the town.

               R\%/itt


--- Twit(t) Filter v2.1 (C) 2000
 * Origin: SATX Alamo Area Net * South * Texas, USA * (1:397/22)