Japanese Attack on Sydney - Pacific War #30 Animated DOCUMENTARY

Kings and Generals' historical animated documentary series covering the Pacific War week by week continues with another video in the series. Last week, we covered Admiral Yamamoto's plan to strike Dutch Harbor and invade the first territory in North America: the Aleutian Islands. This episode will deal with the Japanese attack on Sydney Harbor in June of 1942.

#Documentary #PacificWar #WorldWar

[jlvfr]

6 months into the war, and we see radar operators ignoring warnings and radio intercepts being discarded. Truly a stunning level of command incompetence...

[Raptor]

It truly is incredible how many warnings and reports were delivered, and in such variety, and yet ignored, dismissed, not acted upon, or countermanded by those in charge. Absolutely astounding.

[jarrodbright]

Unsurprisingly for anyone familiar with this series so far, Muirhead-Gould was a British (not Australian) Rear-Admiral who was in charge of the Sydney naval defense. He also had prior experience with submarine attacks following the sinking of the HMS Royal Oak in 1939 (where he was tasked with identifying how submarine attacks on a port could be prevented) before he was sent to Sydney.

Regular Australian civilians living in Sydney were sure after the Russian ship was attacked that a submarine attack was imminent, but Muirhead-Gould not only didn't prepare but hosted a party with the naval officers in the city... then finally turned up drunk to chastise the defenders for having found the submarines.

Needless to say the Australian navy officers thought very little of the man.

[bevanml]

As an Australian, this attack carried a lot of significance for my country. If the Japanese takeover over Timor and northern New Guinea was not scary enough, the attack on Sydney Harbour really put the fear up our backsides! Thank you so much Kings and Generals for covering this little known chapter of World War II!

[petergray]

Captain Howard D. Bode had one of the most spectacularly self destructive careers of any US Navy officer during WW2. Even before the war he had a reputation among subordinates for petty authoritarianism, earning the nicknames "Captain Bligh" and "King Bode". Coupled with this were apparent bad luck joined with poor judgement. In command of the battleship USS Oklahoma 7 December 1941, Bode and several subordinates were ashore in Honolulu when the Japanese air attack began, and his ship was sunk before he could return. Transferred to the USS Chicago, Bode's command was rated at the bottom of all Pacific Fleet heavy cruisers in engineering performance and combat readiness. This was compounded by his disheveled performance at Sydney, and finally destroyed his career with his poor performance at the Battle of Savo Island. Despite grave errors committed by commanding Allied admirals during that battle, Bode and another captain were singled out and censured for the defeat. As a result, Bode committed suicide in Panama on 19 April 1943.

[SpottoBotto]

The Japanese attacks along Australia's east coast is one of the least know aspects of the pacific war. The amount of ships sunk along the coast as far south as the NSW/VIC border is incredible. Heavy fortifications were built a not only around Sydney, but also Wollongong and Newcastle to protect our vital steel industry. Both Sydney and Newcastle were shelled by Japanese submarines

[richier]

Two of the Submarines were reconstructed and combined into 1 and it's on display at the Australian War Memorial. The third submarine is a declared war grave in a secret wreck site on the south coast of New South Wales

[damonwright]

I had no idea this attack even happened. Considering how it went for both sides, I'm betting their respective militaries wish it hadn't happened either.

[samfricker]

Fun fact, two of the three Midget submarines that undertook this attack were on display at the Australian War Memorial, though you wouldn't know it because the two halves were put together to provide an example of a complete (although damaged) version of the midget submarine.

[GhostCountries]

I think this incident was lost to a lot of people outside this region! Thank you for highlighting this!

[MichaelSmith-ijut]

As a midget, I'm grateful to be seeing this finally getting some coverage

[williamromine]

My father was a merchant marine seaman during the war in the Pacific campaign. He served primarily on tankers, which surprisingly were much cleaner than general cargo ships. Luckily, none of his ships were torpedoed, but he said the fear of that never left from the time the ship left Pearl Harbor. I've always been proud of him. He could have spent the war in California because he worked for a defense plant, and was exempt from the draft. That was truly the "greatest generation".

[chellybub]

I have seen this submarine with my own eyes. If any of you get the chance to visit Australia, head down to Canberra and visit the War Memorial. There is a lot of history packed into that place and I encourage all of you to make the effort, you won't be disappointed. Lest we forget 💜

[Jon.A.Scholt]

Good thing the officers on duty on their ships took decisive action; the senior commanders (Bode and Gould) who arrived on scene after the fact chastising those who were there at the time were totally incompetent, not to mention plastered. "Great" example of leadership

[FM_]

One if the best "Battlestations Pacific" missions

[daisygowanditchburn]

Interesting of you to mention the scouting of Wellington and Auckland harbours by the submarines. Here in Auckland there is a story/rumour about how a Japanese Submarines was seen stuck on the Manukau Harbour's sand bar during the war. Potentially that is related to those scouting missions.

For those without any context. Auckland has two harbours, the eastern Waitemata and the western Manukau which together define the Auckland Isthmus. The Waitemata is the main harbour with the larger port and is where the centre of the city and the naval base is located. The Manukau is the larger of the two and once had a significant port. However, the sand bar at the mouth of the Manukau is incredibly treacherous and has taken many lives over the years. Including the infamous sinking of the HMS Orpheus which remains NZs worst ship wreck to this day.

Of the two harbours, the Manukau was less protected, so would have seemed the best approach for scouting, aside from the natural protection offered by the sand bar. So perhaps those old stories are true, though whether the truth will ever be known for sure is anyone's guess.

[johnkennett]

Excellent video, first time I have seen anything detailed on this attack. My mother and her one year old daughter, not knowing what the hell was going on, but hearing sirens and war planes overhead, crouched under the kitchen table for hours. My father was away in the RAAF. By the way, Bungan Head where one of the subs sank is actually north of Sydney heads. Also, the guy who rowed out to check the strange dark object on Sow and Pigs shoal, was, of course, rowing with his back to the object. He was absolutely gobsmacked when he turned around and saw the sub 20 metres away.

[paulceglinski]

Kings and Generals, whenever you release a new video, my spirits soar. Been following this series since the start. Every video speaks of quality. Excellent production and narration. Outstanding job again! Cheers.

[russellmoore]

M24 was found in 2006 off the northern beaches of Sydney near Long Reef, off Bungan Head. Which is north not south of the harbour entrance as was falsely shown in this video's map.

One of my uncles was honeymooning near Balmoral that night and was high up on a hill overlooking the harbour, and he often talked about the commotion that was going on down in the harbour with search lights and boats rushing about, and muffled explosions being heard. That night was a wake up call for the residents of Sydney.

[dunkenbronuts]

Love this series so far!!! Love your videos Kings and Generals. Keep up the good work!!!