An Awkward Truth

The bombing of Darwin on February 19, 1942 is the battle Australia tries to forget. Although there was much to be proud of that day--courage, determination, and improvisation--the dark side of the story lingers: looting, desertion, and a calamitous failure of Australian leadership. The Japanese struck with the same carrier-borne force that devastated Pearl Harbor only 10 weeks earlier. There was a difference: they dropped more bombs on Darwin, killed more civilians, and sank more ships than in Pearl Harbor. It remains the single deadliest event in Australian history. Absorbing, spirited, and fast-paced, this is a story of the day war first came to Australia, and of the soldiers and civilians who faced their toughest test on home soil.