An Awkward Truth

Download or read book An Awkward Truth written by Peter Grose and published by Allen & Unwin Australia. This book was released on 2011 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The compelling and very human story of the first foreign assault on Australian soil since settlement?the attack on Darwin by the Japanese in February, 1942 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, mateship, 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 ten weeks earlier. There was a difference: they dropped more bombs on Darwin, killed more civilians in Darwin, and sank more ships in Darwin than in Pearl Harbor. It remains the single deadliest event in Australian history. Yet the story has remained in the shadows. Absorbing, spirited, and fast-paced, An Awkward Truth is a compelling and revealing story of the day war first came to Australia, and of the underarmed and unprepared soldiers and civilians who faced their toughest test on home soil.