Bombing of Darwin

Bombing of Darwin
Part of the Pacific War
The explosion of MV Neptuna, filled with TNT and ammunition, hit during the first Japanese air raid on Australia's mainland, at Darwin on 19 February 1942. In the foreground is HMAS Deloraine, which escaped damage.
Date 19 February 1942; 82 years ago (1942-02-19) Location Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia 12°28′30″S 130°51′00″E / 12.47500°S 130.85000°E / -12.47500; 130.85000 Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
Australia  United States	Japan
Commanders and leaders
David V. J. Blake Frederick Scherger	Chuichi Nagumo Mitsuo Fuchida
Strength
31 aircraft 18 antiaircraft guns 1 destroyer 1 seaplane tender 2 sloops 4 minesweepers/corvettes 4 boom defence vessels 9 merchant ships/transports 1 hospital ship 23 auxiliary vessels 12 pearling luggers	242 aircraft (188 carrier-based aircraft; 54 land-based medium bomber aircraft) 4 aircraft carriers 2 heavy cruisers 1 light cruiser 7 destroyers 3 submarines
Casualties and losses
236 killed[1][2] 300–400 wounded 30 aircraft destroyed[1] 11 vessels sunk 3 vessels grounded 25 ships damaged	Four carrier aircraft lost 2 killed[3] 1 POW 34 carrier aircraft damaged[1]
class=notpageimage| Location within Northern Territory Show map of Northern Territory Bombing of Darwin (Australia) Show map of Australia Bombing of Darwin (Pacific Ocean) Show map of Pacific Ocean

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 during World War II.

Darwin was lightly defended relative to the size of the attack, and the Japanese inflicted heavy losses upon Allied forces at little cost to themselves. The urban areas of Darwin also suffered some damage from the raids and there were a number of civilian casualties. More than half of Darwin's civilian population left the area permanently, before or immediately after the attack.^[6][7]

The two Japanese air raids were the first, and largest, of more than 100 air raids against Australia during 1942–1943. The event happened just four days after the Fall of Singapore, when a combined Commonwealth force surrendered to the Japanese, the largest surrender in British history.