War+in+the+Pacific

War in the Pacific The war was not only being fought in Europe by the Australians but also in the Pacific. A significant date in the period between 1939-1945 is Sunday 7th December 1941. This date marks the Japanese attack without warning on the US Naval base at Pearl Harbour. The aftermath of this cowardice attack left the US Navy almost completely annihilated. Only four of its aircraft carriers were out of the harbour when the attack occurred. Two Days later on the 9th of December 1941 after England declared war on Japan, Australia's new Prime Minister John Curtain did so also. Click on the Powerpoint presentation below to see scenes from the movie Pearl Harbour. This will give you some idea of the severity of the Japanese attack on the US naval base. Once you have gained an insight into this historical event go to the discussion page and complete the task. media type="youtube" key="94S647bxFwk" height="228" width="329"media type="youtube" key="d-eK9XXB3ro" height="226" width="321" SCENE 1 SCENE 2

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The war closer to home
When Japan entered the war in December 1941, Australia felt more threatened than ever. Many would feel comfortable in saying that Prime Minister John Curtin made some crucial decisions that allowed Australia to properly defend herself. Curtin announced on the 27th December 1941 that "Australia looks to America, free of any pangs to our traditional links of kinship with the United Kingdom". This was the first time that Australia looked to America instead of Britain for support. Why did Curtin make this decision? Firstly, England had its interests in Europe in terms of defense and it was becoming evident that Britain was developing an inability to defend its empire in Asia and the Pacific. Curtin needed to make some decisions that would benefit Australia if they were to be attacked. The British had its main navy base on the island of Singapore in the Malay Peninsula. 130,000 British troops consisting of Indian and British forces and the Australian 8th division. After the attack on Pearl Harbour, the Japanese were advancing down the Malay Peninsula and by the end of January 1942, Singapore had fallen to the Japanese. This brough great fear to the Australian people knowing that the Japanese were advancing rapidly. On the 15th of February the British surrendered to the Japanese and as a result 15,000 Australian troops became prisoners of war.

Darwin is bombed........ Click on the link below. It will take you to a government website with detailed inormation of the attack. Answer the questions below in your workbooks based on the information you will have read. The bombing of Darwin Questions 1. On what date was Japan bombed? 2. How many allied ships were docked in the harbour the day it was attacked? 3.When was the last Japanese raid? 4. What was the final number of people lost during these raids? 5. How many aircrafts did the Japanese lose in the air attacks? 6. Why did the Australian government hide from the Australia people the real number of people that had died in the air raids? 7. Why did the Japanese choose to attack Darwin? LIst 3 reasons. 8.What was done to protect Darwin from submarine attacks? 9.During the time of the attacks, what did people think Japan's intentions were? Today, what do experts believe? 10. What occurred on the 16th February 1942?