Western Australian emergency of March 1944
The Allies of World War II rapidly reinforced the military units located in Western Australia to defend against the possibility that Japanese warships would attack the cities of Fremantle and Perth. This redeployment began on 8 March after concerns were raised about the purpose of Japanese warship movements near the Netherlands East Indies. In reality, these warships were undertaking a patrol while awaiting a small raiding force to return from attacking ships in the central Indian Ocean. Intensive patrols by the Allied militaries did not detect any Japanese warships off Western Australia.
About Western Australian emergency of March 1944 in brief
The Allies of World War II rapidly reinforced the military units located in the state of Western Australia to defend against the possibility that Japanese warships would attack the cities of Fremantle and Perth. This redeployment began on 8 March after concerns were raised about the purpose of Japanese warship movements near the Netherlands East Indies, and ended on 20 March, after it was concluded that an attack was unlikely. In February 1944, the Allies became alarmed that the movement of the main Japanese fleet to Singapore could be a precursor to raids in the Indian Ocean, including against Western Australia. In reality, these warships were undertaking a patrol while awaiting a small raiding force to return from attacking ships in the central Indian Ocean. In response to the perceived threat, the Allied military units stationed in Western Australia were placed on alert, and reinforcements were dispatched. Intensive patrols by the Allied militaries did not detect any Japanese warships off Western Australia, and most units were stood down on 12 March. The Australian Government and local civilians regarded the geographically isolated Perth–Fremantle area as being vulnerable to attack. The Fremantle submarine base was established in March 1942, and eventually became the US Navy’s second-largest submarine base after Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. In March 1943 Australian Prime Minister John Curtin noted as part of a message to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the port was vulnerable to bombardment by Japanese warships or aircraft flying from aircraft carriers. By early 1944 the forces assigned to the region’s defence had been reduced from their peak strength, but several anti-aircraft and coastal defence batteries were located in and near Perth and Fremantle to protect the cities from attack.
Over the course of the war, 154 submarines made 341 combat patrols from the port. The number of air units in the Western Australia area in 1944 was less than half of the number in 1941. In the event of attack, the Australian Army’s III Corps would assume overall control of the region. No Japanese attack on the region eventuated, though several small towns in the north of Western Australian were bombed. In April 1944 the Allies strengthened the British Eastern Fleet in the Central Indian Ocean and transferred two British light cruisers from the Mediterranean as well as several US Navy warships from the Pacific to the Pacific. In May 1944 the Allied Eastern Fleet withdrew from its base at Truk, Central Asia. In August 1944 the Combined Imperial Navy’s main striking force, the Combined Pacific Fleet, withdrew from the Central Pacific and withdrew its light cruiser force from the Atlantic as well. In November 1944 the Australian and U.S. Navy’s Patrol Patrol Wing 10 augmented the Australian forces and conducted long-range patrols with Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats. In December 1944 the Royal Australian Air Force provided air defence with CAC Boomerang fighters, No. 14 Squadron patrolled off the Western Australian coast using Bristol Beaufort bombers and No 25 Squadron operated Vultee Vengeance dive bombers. In January 1945, the Royal Navy began transferring submarines there in mid-1944.
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This page is based on the article Western Australian emergency of March 1944 published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
