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| commander2 = Chuichi Nagumo | strength1 = 31 aircraft 18 A/A Guns 1 Destroyer 1 Seaplane Tender 2 Sloops 4 Minesweeper/Corvettes 4 Boom Defence Vessels 9 Merchant ships/Transports 1 Hospital Ship 23 Auxiliary vessels 12 Pearling luggers | strength2 = 242 aircraft 4 Aircraft Carriers 2 Heavy cruisers 1 Light Cruiser 7 Destroyers 3 Submarines| casualties1 = 235 killed〔 300–400 wounded 30 aircraft destroyed〔 8 vessels sunk 3 vessels grounded 25 ships damaged | casualties2 = 2 killed 1 PoW 4 aircraft destroyed〔〔 | campaignbox = }} The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was both the first and the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On this day, 242 Japanese aircraft attacked ships in Darwin's harbour and the town's two airfields in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using them as bases to contest the invasions of Timor and Java. The town was only lightly defended and the Japanese inflicted heavy losses upon the 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. The raids were the first and largest of almost 100 air raids against Australia during 1942–43. ==Background== In 1942, Darwin was a small town with limited civil and military infrastructure. Due to its strategic position in northern Australia, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) had constructed bases near the town in the 1930s and the early years of World War II. Darwin's pre-war population was 5,800.〔Grose (2009), p. 2〕 As early as August 1941 Darwin had been a key in the South Pacific air ferry route designed to avoid routes through the Japanese mandate in the central Pacific for bomber reinforcement of the Philippines. The first flight to use the route occurred when nine B-17D bombers of the 14th Bombardment Squadron (H) left Hawaii on 5 September and passed through Darwin 10–12 September. By October 1941 plans were underway to position fuel and supplies with two ships, including , being chartered and actively engaged in that purpose when war came. By November 1941 Australia had agreed to allow the establishment of training bases, maintenance facilities, munitions storage, communications, and improvement of airfields, including at Darwin, to meet the needs of the B-17 bombers in Australia. Following the outbreak of the Pacific War in early December 1941, Darwin's defences were strengthened. In line with plans developed before the war, several Australian Army and RAAF units stationed in the town were sent to the Dutch East Indies (DEI) to strengthen the defences of the islands of Ambon and Timor.〔〔Grose (2009), pp. 52–53〕 The improvised plan for support of the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies that was completed in Washington on 20 December 1941 by the U.S. Army General Staff envisioned Darwin as the hub of transshipment efforts to supply those forces by landing supplies at Brisbane, overland shipment to Darwin, and then onward by air and blockade running ships. The reality was transport to Darwin by sea was necessary and thus supplies and shipping intended both to build the Darwin base and to support both the Java and Philippine forces were gathered in Darwin and the vicinity. In the two months before the air raids, all but 2,000 civilians were evacuated from the town.〔 Japanese submarines I-121 and I-123 laid mines off Darwin in January 1942.〔 By mid-February 1942 Darwin had become an important Allied base for the defence of the DEI. The Japanese had captured Ambon, Borneo, and Celebes between December 1941 and early-February 1942. Landings on Timor were scheduled for 20 February, and an invasion of Java was planned to take place shortly afterwards. In order to protect these landings from Allied interference, the Japanese military command decided to conduct a major air raid on Darwin.〔Coulthard-Clark (2001), p. 204〕〔Grose (2009), p. 71〕 On 10 February a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft overflew the town, and identified an aircraft carrier (actually the seaplane tender ), five destroyers, and 21 merchant ships in Darwin Harbour, as well as 30 aircraft at the town's two airfields.〔Grose (2009), p. 72〕 Among the ships in harbour were those returned the morning before the attack from the convoy escorted by involved in the failed effort to reinforce Timor. ''Houston'' had departed for Java but left ''Mauna Loa'' and the ''Meigs'' which had attempted to transport Australian troops to Timor and the U.S. Army transports ''Portmar'' and ''Tulagi'' which had embarked a U. S. infantry regiment at Darwin. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bombing of Darwin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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