Air Raids on Australia

"Between February 1942 and November 1943, during the Pacific War, the Australian mainland, domestic airspace, offshore islands and coastal shipping were attacked at least 97 times by aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. These attacks came in various forms, from large scale raids by heavy bombers, to torpedo attacks on ships, to strafing runs by fighter planes.

In the first—and deadliest—attacks, 242 planes hit Darwin on the morning of 19 February 1942, killing at least 243 people, causing immense damage, making hundreds of people homeless and causing the abandonment of Darwin as a major naval base."

I took this info from here. I have been researching all the raids that occurred in NT during 1942, and the amount is much larger than I expected. Luckily the raids never reached Melbourne.

Japanese Mitsubishi GM4 "Betty" Bomber during a raid on Darwin, June 1943.

Joe.

"Kairyu" : Japanese Midget Subs

During WW2 the Japanese developed a small, two manned, submarine. These were intended for local defense against the prospective invasion that confronted Japan in 1945. The "Kairyu" weighed just over 19 tonnes, and were around 17 meters long. The diameter of the sub was 1.5 meters, making it a very tight squeeze for the two-man crew. The subs were built to house two 45cm torpedoes on either side, and were also fitted with an internal warhead, for employment on suicide missions. Propulsion of the sub was by an 80 horsepower electric motor, this allowed for a submerged speed of 10 knots, and a surface speed of 7.5 knots.
























Drawings of the plans of the Japanese "Kaiten" and "Kairyu" subs.

These subs were used on the 31st of May 1943 attacks of Sydney Harbor. This attack involved both larger subs, and the mini "Kairyu" and "Kaiten" (A one manned version of the sub), and were responsible for shelling around the harbour and eastern suburbs of Sydney.















"Kairyu" in production at Kure Naval Base, Japan, 19 October 1945.

Joe.

Japanese Occupation Money

I recently stumbled across an interesting fact about Japanese Occupation during WW2. The Japanese government produced occupation currencies to use in different countries of occupation, and amongst these was an alteration to the Imperial Pound to be used in the proposed Occupation/Invasion of our land, Australia. The Japanese produced notes such as Guilders, Pesos, Dollars, and Pounds. These notes were used by the Japanese forces when situated in another country during the war.










These notes are generally refereed to as Japanese Invasion Money (JIM). The JIM pound was issued utilising the Australian pound as the basic monetary unit, and was developed to maintain economic stability within the occupied country. The Japanese government would usually print these notes prior to invasion, and with the Pound already printed for use in Australian mandated territories throughout British Oceania, the currency for the invasion of Australia was already in place. Anyway, thought you might find this interesting, and for all you collectors out there, check eBay!

Joe.