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Thursday, November 30, 2006

3rd Japanese Midget Sub Found

Here's my take on the vibe in Australia in 1942:
Holy shit.

That's the vibe, as I imagine it. Why? Well, in 1942 Australians were still technically British and Churchill was demanding that Australian troops be sent to defend India while the Japanese moved farther and father south towards Australia. Thankfully the Aussies essentially flipped Churchill the bird and sent troops into the islands north of Australia. With some help from the US (and not much help from the British), Australia kept the Japanese at bay until the end of the war. What many people don't know is how close the Japanese got to a full-scale invasion of mainland Australia. One person who definitely did not realise that or, more likely, chose to ignore it, was Winston Churchill. If you have not guessed, I think that the American inflation of this man's character is unfounded and that his treatment of Australia and Ireland set him far below the bar of the ideal leader.

Back to the topic at hand:

1942 - Darwin Bombed
On 19 February Darwin suffered the first attack on mainland Australia. In less than two years following, the Japanese led 97 raids on Northern Australia. By this time, MacArthur's headquarters was in Australia, and the Aussies were doing a good chink of the Allied fighting in that part of the world.

1942 - Sydney Harbour Breached

Now the moment you have all been waiting for... three Japanese midget subs enter Sydney Harbour. There was a net set up and that caught one - so the guys in that sub killed themselves by blowing up the sub. The second fired two torpedoes: one struck the Kuttabull, killing 19 Australian and 2 British sailors, the second torpedo aground and failed to detonate. This sub disappeared for over 60 years. The third sub was discovered before entering the harbour. Depth charges disabled the vessel and the sailors onboard shot themselves.

A combination of the first and third subs is on view at the war memorial in Canberra. They mish-mashed the recovered subs into something that makes you not want to ever get into one. What happened to the second one? It was lost... until last week.

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