Thanks JayB & Bazz,

Fascinating ! We came close, didn't we ? When I was a kid, I found a tobacco tin of my dad's with Japanese money in it, printed in English, ready for distribution once they had invaded. Probably everybody had that sort of thing then.

The first Japanese prisoner captured on Australian soil was bailed up by an Aboriginal bloke on Melville Island. I think he was an airman shot down while bombing the Missions there.

If the Japs had invaded, they might have occupied Broome, and then Port Hedland (they bombed both towns) - that way they could have menaced all shipping coming across the Indian Ocean, and isolated Perth. Again, they wouldn't have tried to invade the rest of Australia from there - two thousand miles of desert ? Hardly.

We forget too that German ships were off the western and southern coasts, sinking ships even just outside Port Phillip heads.

Thanks again,

Joe

Interesting times . The US owned Philippines and George VI owned most of the rest including Gibraltar , Malta and Cyprus against the German invasions. He also owned the old German empire because they don't speak English ( but neither do Australians or Yanks ).

This article has little to do with History... the writer is merely expressing his beliefs... anti American beliefs.

Incidentally , As I come from an old Rabaul family , whom were evacuated from , chased out or killed by the Japanese.. I would be surprised if there was even One (1) active Sailor in Rabaul pre-war....... not quote 'the naval base of Rabaul'

There was one Australian Battalion ,some NGVR Soldiers and an RAAF Squadron.... that's it....

I agree with the author's hypothesis.

The real story of the Pacific War is that the Japanese lost it right at the start, when they botched the attack on Pearl Harbor by missing the US carriers, which of course weren't there. Their operations in New Guinea and further east were necessary to shore up their eastern flank in Southeast Asia. Darwin was bombed (to great effect given the panic than then ensued) but other raids - including the high profile midget submarine attack in Sydney Harbour and the shelling of Sydney's eastern suburbs from a submarine off the coast - were pinpricks.

Coral Sea prevented further effective Japanese land operations in Papua and New Guinea and isolated Japanese forces in Guadalcanal. It also showed Tokyo clearly where the limits of his military projection lay.

True, if Coral Sea had gone the other way, then Australia itself would possibly have faced more effective enemy action, including, possibly, landings by raiding forces (think Dieppe as an example). The frenzy over full-scale invasion was useful - as the author of the piece notes - as an Australian home front propaganda tool. Militarily, for the Japanese, it was a no-brainer. If troops had been withdrawn from China to contribute to the forces that would have been needed to invade Australia, the Russians despite their supply and manpower problems in the European war might have entered the Pacific War rather earlier than they did, in August 1945. The Japanese would have lost the war earlier. But like many things, that didn't happen.

On the other point - Australia as a traditional source of imperial levies for powerful empires, first the British and then the Americans - I also have to agree with the author. The first half of the 20th century was not the time for truly independent military and foreign policies - on population alone, leaving aside other issues. But it is time now, and Australia should take a far more independent defence position.

Scribe: The first half of the 20th century was not the time for truly independent military and foreign policies - on population alone, leaving aside other issues. But it is time now, and Australia should take a far more independent defence position.

You are right, of course, but I feel it's still too early in our history to take a fully independent stand. At a population of 25 million & a Total Military force of about 65 thousand, (Not sure of the latest figures) Australia couldn't defend it's self against Indonesia, if they decided to take North Western Australia. There was talk, many years ago, that this part of Australia belonged to them.

Morsby's occupation would have effectively cut Australia off from the Indian Ocean. All shipping would have had to go the long way around. Cape York would have been occupied, cutting off any traffic through the Torres Straights & then Darwin would have been easily occupied. That's about as far as they would have needed to go to protect their Oil interest in South East Asia.

After Coral Sea , Fletcher the US commander sailed to Pearl Harbor without telling the Aust commander went off to Darwin . Next day the Yanks thanked the Aust .

"Having already committed a battalion to Malaysia to support resistance to the Konfrontasi policy of Indonesia’s Sukarno government, the logical next step for Menzies was to look to Vietnam. He did this with the support of his Cold War warrior and minister for external affairs, Paul Hasluck. They decided to send an Australian battalion to South Vietnam, partly to ensure continued American interest in the region.

A series of negotiations took place between Australian, American and Vietnamese representatives to secure acceptance of the Australian troops. The South Vietnamese government and the American ambassador in Saigon, Maxwell Taylor, were initially reluctant to receive more foreign troops. It seemed that the necessary South Vietnamese invitation wasn’t going to be forthcoming.

Fortunately for Menzies, the South Vietnamese government was persuaded to accept the Australian offer. A formal request was given just before Menzies made his speech in Parliament.
By this time it was late evening on Thursday, April 29. The Labor opposition leader, Arthur Calwell, and his deputy, Gough Whitlam, had already left Canberra for their home electorates. As many members of both sides had departed Canberra, Menzies made his announcement to a near-empty House of Representatives."
_ N Ferns , Monash Uni.

Does Commander in Chief Donald J Trump need the arstralians?