Or the advanced skin cancers we have biologically engineered here by harnessing the sun's energy that makes you die a slow painful death bit the survived that to bad a lesser thing happens in two city's tho
my local beach down the lower side of the west coast is home to some gun sites and an observation tower next to a naval base, www.google.com/amp/s/heritagedetection.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/the-battle-of-point-peron/amp/
Admiral Yamamoto once said, "You could never invade Australia, there would be an Emu behind every blade of grass. Like, those things are mean. Have you seen how hard Emus can kick? Forget that. Hawaii sounds so much nicer."
Grant Reichel and they will peck Ur eyes out even thru thick glasses & don't think U can squint to protect those little delicious orbs, Ur 1 eye remaining can watch it's twin getting swallowed down the long neck & then 'Bam' it's gone too & don't forget about da Red & Grey Kangaroos if U want to talk about a 'good' kicking 😋 from Mud living in Western Australia 😎
As an Australian and a bit of a history buff, I have studied our involvement in WW2, but have never heard of this snippet of history. Thanks so much Mark, as always a gem of history.
During his time in the Australian army in the early 1970s, my brother spent some time surveying the country around Cape York. He once told me they found 2 or 3 cache sites containing Japanese equipment; cooking utensils and ammunition, .
Yes exactly. Not many people know that the graziers got together and were able to heard enough of them together to form what would become known as 'The Brisbane line" lol. This is why they never dared to invade. Of course this is all hush hush now to protect our tourist industry. I am a big fan of all drop bear information hehe.
Until the mid 70's the territories that made up what's now called Papua New Guinea were a part of Australia, so Japan genuinely invaded Australia during WW2.
I know of a guy who captured a Japanese soldier on a beach in northwest Western Australia. He was originally in artillery but was wounded in Libya and after recovering from wounds, he was sent to Exmouth on coast watch duties and patrolled beaches at night. His patrol spotted a signal torch flashing just a few hundred metres up the beach and stormed down to capture a Japanese soldier.
After WW2, it was found that the Japanese had better maps of Northern Australia than what the Australians had. The maps were used for a few years after the war until they were replaced with new maps .
Robert Lamborn No your full of shit. Australia had been mapped by colonist 200 years earlier, with the help of people who had been here for over 70 thousand years. Infact Japanese maps of Australia were wrong and had major errors in most of them. They had never been here or step foot in here so how could they map it out?
Old fellas in the Torres Strait islands used to talk about pre-war Japanese pearl diving mates visiting their islands off submarines and collecting fresh vegetables.
There were confirmed Japanese radio posts on Australian soil. My grandfather was involved in an operation to remove one on the NSW coast. He was in military intelligence, based in Brisbane. He also was at Cowra after the Japanese POW's escaped.
I heard from locals that a Japanese aircraft made an emergency landing in Broome. Both Japanese pilots survived and 'occupied' Broome for few days as all the local population was evacuated at that time. The Australian tried to keep it quiet - same as with the bombing of Darwin when all the news about that event were censored and the Australians living down south had no clue about it.
Aussies know how to fight, I would not want to be any nation going up against them. Small population yes, but their military is about the best trained in the entire world and they are tough bloody people. Erwin Rommel once said to Hitler “if I had to take hell in a fight, I would use the Australians to take it, and New Zealanders to keep it.”
Very redolent of Operation Jaywick the Australian / British commando attack on Japanese occupied Singapore in September 1943. The Krait - a Japanese coastal fishing boat - was sailed from Australia to Singapore. The commandos of Z Special Unit then paddled canoes over 50km on the night of the attack, blowing up 7 Japanese ships in Singapore harbour - stunning the Japanese who never suspected a raid could come from Australia.
Old Jim Bowditch , also a former editor of the NT news . . was a member of Z force & he lived directly across from us in Wagaman , Darwin area . . he used to come over with wine glass in hand to half heartedly complain about all the noise we used to make with tuning dirt bikes & whatnot but always looked quietly pleased The remains of the old Z force commando base can still be seen in the mangroves about 300 meters to the left of the Berrimah boat ramp in Darwin harbour
unbeknown to the japanese raiding officer , there was no major sea port at Australia's NW shores..so he resorted to collecting valuables..he commandeered branches and made sure this was filmed on his 8 mm camera. The thought passed his mind that the godlike emperor liked plants and flowers, and maybe he could be awarded an audition with the emperor. Mission a success.
A fellow I knew, Lt. Bob Chapman (now deceased), was 2nd in command of the Krait, but not during Operation Jaywick. Krait was involved in some 80 or so secret missions with alternating crews.
Should be titled, "Japanese bombing of Australia." I'm sure they had no idea attacking the USA and Australia would prove to anger rather than frighten. We had to jump from island to island to reach you Aussies, but never forget we'll always have your six. Any ocean, any country. Cheers from my neck of the woods.
The Japanese Prime Minister, General Hideki Tojo, explained why the Japanese never seriously considered invading Australia in an interview before his execution in 1948. The Imperial Japanese Army could make no substantive move against Australia in WW2 simply because it was overstretched by its own success and ran out of manpower. Most of its fighting divisions were in fact tied down in China fighting the Chinese.
More Australian content please! I have complete faith Mr Felton can enlighten us with some lesser known actions that deserve to be heard. Lest We Forget.
I have some of the Japanese "Invasion money", my grandfather left it to me, he served in New Guinea with the 2/5 Battalion, I don't know how he came to have it, whether he captured it himself or traded for it.
so they tried to search for a secret military base in Western Australia with a small group of men aimlessly wandering around for 2 hours on the first day and half a day on the second day then went home? did they realised how large the place is?
To add some extra info. There was a Dutch base at Ambon that was converted into a POW camp, after being overrun by the Japanese. Today on the site a CWG cemetery beautifully manicured with huge trees. There are Australian, British, Indian and Dutch servicemen buried there. I enjoy your videos Mark, keep up the good work. WW2 has many more stories to tell that we will never know about.
My grandfather swore he witnessed a Japanese submarine landing here in Australia. Cannot confirm or ask any questions about it now as he has passed away
Greetings and congratulations in the success of your channel, all well deserved. You provide an inspiration to everyone thinking of putting out historical content.
My grandfather Tom Marsland was CME of the Western Australia Government Railways (and later Commissioner). He said they’d mined most of the major rail lines and bridges in the event of an invasion. The WAGR provided a lot of support during the war. The Midland workshops were used for major repairs and maintenance for the navy.
Enjoying this new Pacific content immensely. The Japanese fought with automaton-like morale. It's hard to comprehend the level of dedication these men had. Thanks for another great one, Dr. Felton.
My grandfather Mark who was then Captain Later Colonel of British Indian Army/Pakistan Army, was POW under Japanese in WW2 and in Malaya/Borneo/Singapore and was rescued by Australians at the end of the War 1945!
That is indeed the latitude where all our nastiest animals live. Also very dangerous coastline. If they invaded there, most would have died long before they saw an Aussie slouch hat. I almost wish they had.
@@Pikkabuu An emu will disembowel you in you upset it. This is not an exaggeration. Snakes and smaller biters, thirst, heat and vast distance would have cleaned them up first. You don't realize until you go to these places and camp a night to realize just how much strife you would be in.
@Joshua Ngau Ajang Water full of box jellyfish and blue ringed octopus not to mention boat sized white pointers. It is beautiful but there is very little there that wont bite you in the ass in some way or other lol.
Northern Australia is guarded by killer salt water crocodiles, killer sea snakes, killer spiders, killer heat, ticks, snarky emus and bugger all of value....
I worked throughout the Northern Territory and i remember being told by the locals that there were always stories of a downed Japanese Zero just north of Hayes Creek on the Stuart Highway. South of Darwin, the owner of the roadhouse used to go out looking for it.
On 14 May 1943, the 2/3rd Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur was en route from Sydney to Cairns when she was sunk by a Japanese submarine south of Moreton Island, off the Queensland coast (in Australia.) From the 332 people on board, only 64 survived. Moreton Island developed into the major component of the World War Two coastal defences of Brisbane. In 1939, the island had just the Cowan Battery, one of only two forts protecting Brisbane. During the war, the island was the Examination Battery and War Signal Station for the port of Brisbane. Japanese submarine activity off Brisbane was first reported on 24 March 1942, when a RAAF No.23 Squadron Wirraway from Archerfield dropped two bombs on a submarine off Stradbroke Island. The passenger ship Canberra reported the sighting of Japanese submarine I-29 off Moreton Island on 4 June 1942. On 8 March 1943, the corvette HMAS Wagga (2,000 tons) depth-charged a submarine off Southport. The decision was made to emplace another battery on the Pacific Ocean side of Moreton Island to cover the South Passage. One of the sunken Japanese subs was discovered a couple of years ago in the mouth of the Brisbane River.
Always a pleasure to see another video from you. Now and then I already know the barebones of the event the video is talking about but you've always added that extra bit of info I didn't know, thus learning something new. Great work as always.
G'day Mark, Thank you for presenting this little known Japanese operation. Yes, there was a large amount of fear of invasion which resulted in the controversy of the so-called 'Brisbane Line'. Which was, allegedly, where Australian and allied forces would withdraw to if the Japanese invaded the north coast. Oddly, still debated to this day, the term 'Brisbane Line' was first coined by Doug MacArthur in a press conference and, like most of his pronouncements, was totally wrong. Our research has gained us documents that prove the Japanese had no intention of mounting any kind of serious invasion of Australia. With their forces split thinly over a huge area, they just didn't have the numbers nor the supply routes that would have to be in place to support such a venture. Of course civilians were not aware of this and ignoring MacArthur's origin of the concept, politicians tried to make capital out of this yarn to discredit Prime Minister Curtin. Some also tried to pin the ‘Line’ to General Sir Thomas Blamey who endured a greater level of adverse controversy ⎯ MacArthur and his staff consistently strove to present ‘Big Mac’ as he who could do no wrong and this was enthusiastically accepted by nearly all Australians. Operations like the one in this excellent video only go to prove the levels of ignorance and lack of intelligence the Japanese had on Australia in general; suggesting support for the fact that the IJF were not contemplating any large campaign against Australia on home soil. Even today, this simple comment will stir up anger by a faction of historians, families of WW2 veterans and others who swear the Brisbane Line was a 'real' thing. In reality it was just another loopy aside from MacArthur that the press picked up and ran with, big time. All this is truly weird when you consider that MacArthur was handed over control of Australia's press and radio censorship by PM Curtin; although a former journalist; he admitted having zero military knowledge. The long term result is that much of the press clippings and radio broadcast copies we have now from that time get a significant amount of Australian domestic wartime history wrong. So it is easy to see why the raid you detail in this video is virtually unknown today. Cheers BH
Really enjoyed this video. I am so impressed with the level of detail, right down to the names of the sergeants. I think it's interesting to compare the Japanese reconnaissance to Operation Jaywick, the raid on Singapore harbour, with the raiders also travelling in a small fishing boat. I remember back in the 1980's the Australian Army had a historical unit investigating possible Japanese landings in far north Queensland in 1942. I had a long conversation with a Warrant Officer Class 2 who had found reports of a damaged troop transport landing by accident, dropping off the surviving members of an infantry company. I wish I'd kept better notes on what he had to say. Your video has inspired me to see what I can find out, and if I can confirm it, I'll let you know.
Your last statement has to be wrong. I was in Australia for a couple of years around 1970. During that time, two independent Japanese soldiers in different parts of Northern Queensland presented themselves to the authorities. Both of them were astonished to learn that Japan had _surrendered in 1945;_ something which was incomprehensible to them, because it contradicted the Samurai code. Japanese soldiers were coming out of the Cape York area jungle quite regularly back then. Many were convinced that the war had not ended.
Those pine tree commandos made an appearance in the movie 1941 when they invaded Slim Pickins' Christmas tree farm looking for "Hariwood". They were gonna bomb John Wayne's house!
I watch these religiously with my friends that play WW2 games. Company of Heroes 2 and Foxhole. We are from all over NY. CA. OH. Canada, Germany, Finland, Russia, China, and Argentina. Its awesome no mater where on the planet we all share this history ! Happy to see your channel growing ! This is the best history channel iv ever found!. - love Michael
Outstanding-thankyou for this! Strictly speaking, your title refers to invasion/ incursion on Australia "proper". At that time, Papua was counted as Australian territory and was invaded by the Japanese in 1942. The fact that PNG was "domestic" territory meant that Australianmilitia units could be deployed there in order to defend the area. The Militia were essentially part -time reservists who were formed in order to defend Australian territory- as opposed to the AIF ( Aust Imperial Force) who were regulars sent to fight overseas. ( =outside Australain territory)
Good video. I didn't know THAT. :) There were those in the Japanese High Command who would have LIKED to invade Australia, but lacked the ships. Also, the Imperial Japanese Army was fixated on conquering China and facing off the Soviets, so were extremely reluctant to cut loose units for use elsewhere. The Australian Army had specialised units patrolling northern Australia, where they found conditions to be extraordinarily harsh. Swamp, almost no roads, crocodiles, hordes of mosquitoes, crushing heat and humidity, etc.. Reportedly, they did find a few suspicious ex-campsites that MIGHT have been Japanese. Nothing further ever came of this, so it is generally held that, if there were Japanese infiltrators, either they did not stay long or else the local conditions basically "swallowed them up".
Thanks for the interesting video with another event that I had never heard of before. The coastline is so long that I'm not surprised that this happened though,
At the time, Papua New Guinea was an Australian territory and determinedly invaded by the Japanese Imperial Army. PNG is within a couple of kilometres of the northern-most Torres Strait islands of Queensland. The concern of the Australian public was hardly unjustified, as the introduction implies. That is especially so given the bulk of Australia’s premier troops were still engaged in North Africa and Syria, in theatres a third the way around the planet, and PNG had to be defended initially by undertrained and under-equipped citizen militia. It was only the resolute decision of the Australian government to repatriate its troops, against the wishes of Churchill, and the intervention of the US Navy that offered any real obstacle to the Japanese.
I never understand how people fail to understand this. Papua was under Australian administration since 1902 and New Guinea - a German Colony - was assigned to Australia as a Protectorate by the League of Nations in 1920. The Japanese invasion of this territory was the reason why the militia - reserved for home defense only - were deployed to PNG and were the initial forces that confronted the Japanese in the Owen Stanley Ranges around Kokoda. PNG only gained independence from Australia in 1975.
Mark Felton, I love these videos, they remind me of the awesome WWII documentaries I used to watch on the History Channel in the '90s, before the programming went to shit.
Japan had pretty big plans. There was a genuine belief of a Japanese threat of invasion of South Africa, but it subsided after the battle for Madagascar was concluded. There were numerous sightings of Japanese submarine periscopes in Durban harbour.
Dingoes and crocodiles would've played havoc with their long supply lines, and funnel web spiders and king brown snakes would've decimated their forward troops. Our drop bears and yowies would've slowly worn down their main forces (if they'd ever actually managed to make an inroad/beachead.) A few shellfish and blowfish on the coast would probably have distracted then enough for Australia to have led a white shark counter attack regardless?
Great video but worth mentioning that PNG was Australian territory. That's why the Citizens Militia Force was deployed there, it was considered home soil.
Interesting story. When i was living in WA, there was a news story of the buried remains of two "asiatic" skeletons found at the northern end of Garden Island, near Fremantle. A japanese helmet was also found near the bodies. Freo would be of great interest to the Japanese as it housed the largest submarine base in the southern hemisphere.
Yo im from kupang, funny story the dutch colony there point the guns to java while japanese just landed from east timor and cycle down with bicycle to kupang. Its pretty far imo cos its mostly mountain road going 650-700kms Speaking of which if you visit kupang if you go to kolbano in the afternoon you can see lights from darwin.
There’s an old Veterans hospital in Perth, built around the time of the war. In the basement, one of the tunnels has thick reinforced concrete walls designed Incase Japanese bombers reached Perth and bombed it. They’re some very sturdy walls.
And with the passage of time, we now see more Australians in Japan than anyone ever would have expected. I'm Australian, have lived in Japan for 18 years, my wife and daughter are Japanese...the utter absurdity of war looking back.
That was a very risky mission, the whole squad could have been wiped out by Australia's wildlife.
Or the advanced skin cancers we have biologically engineered here by harnessing the sun's energy that makes you die a slow painful death bit the survived that to bad a lesser thing happens in two city's tho
Im from western australia and yea they woulda been wasting their time. not much on that coast line lol
Erdoğan is going to invade Australia and NZ 😂
I'm from Iceland, so...... I'd melt.
We would kick him in the balls and send him packing.
my local beach down the lower side of the west coast is home to some gun sites and an observation tower next to a naval base, www.google.com/amp/s/heritagedetection.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/the-battle-of-point-peron/amp/
Amazing beaches mate.
What r you talking about.
They did! We drive Toyotas Mazdas and Nissans!
Admiral Yamamoto once said, "You could never invade Australia, there would be an Emu behind every blade of grass. Like, those things are mean. Have you seen how hard Emus can kick? Forget that. Hawaii sounds so much nicer."
Grant Reichel and they will peck Ur eyes out even thru thick glasses & don't think U can squint to protect those little delicious orbs, Ur 1 eye remaining can watch it's twin getting swallowed down the long neck & then 'Bam' it's gone too & don't forget about da Red & Grey Kangaroos if U want to talk about a 'good' kicking 😋 from Mud living in Western Australia 😎
Grant Reichel that's good
“When one such nation cannot defeat something in their own territory,the nation cannot be conquered”
The Great Emu War...proves him right!
th-cam.com/video/5lbO2BnV3Ak/w-d-xo.html
The emu's were no threat by then , the Oz army had upped them for the rent during the earlier emu wars
A commando unit named "The Pine Trees". I'm sorry but this doesn't inspire fear in my heart.
Which was the point. It was subterfuge. "The Death Commandoes" is bit obvious.
They could have called it 'fluffy bunny' to more effect yes.
As an Australian and a bit of a history buff, I have studied our involvement in WW2, but have never heard of this snippet of history. Thanks so much Mark, as always a gem of history.
Many thanks
Japan wanted to capture the Fosters brewery until they realized that it was a crap beer with great marketing.
So they stormed the office of the marketing department instead.
Hahahaha
Good call
Fosters...Australian for "PISS"
@Carding Dalisay Fosters is now brewed in the U.S. Recall the "Oil Can" when it was brewed in Australia.
I just find the whole thing hilarious. No one can invade the outback.
It's the outback..
During his time in the Australian army in the early 1970s, my brother spent some time surveying the country around Cape York. He once told me they found 2 or 3 cache sites containing Japanese equipment; cooking utensils and ammunition, .
The reason they didn't invade Australia was because if they went too close they would go upside down and fall into space.
This is also why so many freeze-dried Australians fall from the sky here in the northern hemisphere, where there is strong gravity.
Butternut Gosh also Australia had Emus and New Zealand had Bob Semple
The Battleship Yamato suffered the same fate.... th-cam.com/video/g3ZT3WPBWZI/w-d-xo.html How to make one!
The wasted their time they should have called your Mom and Dad and asked them !
that's right!
Lucky they weren't eaten alive by drop bears.
Yes exactly. Not many people know that the graziers got together and were able to heard enough of them together to form what would become known as 'The Brisbane line" lol. This is why they never dared to invade. Of course this is all hush hush now to protect our tourist industry. I am a big fan of all drop bear information hehe.
The Japanese bombed Darwin multiple times and sent minisubs into Sydney Harbour.
True, but this event was the only confirmed presence of Japanese foot soldiers on Australian soil.
Yes true. They did not put troops onto Australian soil and in this case they did.
Why did they want Australia?
Also shelled Sydney , with minimal effect.
aw... dem cute!
Until the mid 70's the territories that made up what's now called Papua New Guinea were a part of Australia, so Japan genuinely invaded Australia during WW2.
I was working in the North West in 1971 and heard reports of buried caches of Japanese light arms being found on some of the beaches.
Damn straight, Skippy. Word has it that Japanese intelligence had every intention of invading until they tried Vegemite.
Japan: we invaded Australia
Australia: Well, yes but actually no.
I know of a guy who captured a Japanese soldier on a beach in northwest Western Australia. He was originally in artillery but was wounded in Libya and after recovering from wounds, he was sent to Exmouth on coast watch duties and patrolled beaches at night. His patrol spotted a signal torch flashing just a few hundred metres up the beach and stormed down to capture a Japanese soldier.
After WW2, it was found that the Japanese had better maps of Northern Australia than what the Australians had. The maps were used for a few years after the war until they were replaced with new maps .
So who made those maps?
@@topcat8804 Me
Source?
Robert Lamborn No your full of shit. Australia had been mapped by colonist 200 years earlier, with the help of people who had been here for over 70 thousand years. Infact Japanese maps of Australia were wrong and had major errors in most of them. They had never been here or step foot in here so how could they map it out?
Robert Lamborn of course the Japanse Made better maps than the Australians they’re Japanese for a reason
you are bringing to light little known facts about events that took place during the Pacific campaign. Thank you for the effort you are putting forth
Worked in NW Australia in the late 60's. There were many claims of finding buried dumps of Japanese arms along the beaches.
Old fellas in the Torres Strait islands used to talk about pre-war Japanese pearl diving mates visiting their islands off submarines and collecting fresh vegetables.
They took 600 empty beer cans from each camp site as souvenirs..
There were confirmed Japanese radio posts on Australian soil. My grandfather was involved in an operation to remove one on the NSW coast. He was in military intelligence, based in Brisbane. He also was at Cowra after the Japanese POW's escaped.
I heard from locals that a Japanese aircraft made an emergency landing in Broome. Both Japanese pilots survived and 'occupied' Broome for few days as all the local population was evacuated at that time. The Australian tried to keep it quiet - same as with the bombing of Darwin when all the news about that event were censored and the Australians living down south had no clue about it.
There was a major invasion of Australia, PNG was a territory at the time and was invaded with the full intent to take it's capital Port Moresby
Aussies know how to fight, I would not want to be any nation going up against them. Small population yes, but their military is about the best trained in the entire world and they are tough bloody people. Erwin Rommel once said to Hitler “if I had to take hell in a fight, I would use the Australians to take it, and New Zealanders to keep it.”
Do we know what happened to the submarine that was bombed
Once they found out about the Bob Semple's tank they didn't go any were near Australia.
Yes another mark Felton show
I’m hooked on this
and as always, an excellent informative video...
@@confusedwolf7157 hhy
Just wish he would sort the audio out! Really interesting videos but sound quality could do with a bump :)
Very redolent of Operation Jaywick the Australian / British commando attack on Japanese occupied Singapore in September 1943. The Krait - a Japanese coastal fishing boat - was sailed from Australia to Singapore. The commandos of Z Special Unit then paddled canoes over 50km on the night of the attack, blowing up 7 Japanese ships in Singapore harbour - stunning the Japanese who never suspected a raid could come from Australia.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
Aw heck. Too late.
Old Jim Bowditch , also a former editor of the NT news . . was a member of Z force & he lived directly across from us in Wagaman , Darwin area . . he used to come over with wine glass in hand to half heartedly complain about all the noise we used to make with tuning dirt bikes & whatnot but always looked quietly pleased
The remains of the old Z force commando base can still be seen in the mangroves about 300 meters to the left of the Berrimah boat ramp in Darwin harbour
unbeknown to the japanese raiding officer , there was no major sea port at Australia's NW shores..so he resorted to collecting valuables..he commandeered branches and made sure this was filmed on his 8 mm camera. The thought passed his mind that the godlike emperor liked plants and flowers, and maybe he could be awarded an audition with the emperor. Mission a success.
A fellow I knew, Lt. Bob Chapman (now deceased), was 2nd in command of the Krait, but not during Operation Jaywick. Krait was involved in some 80 or so secret missions with alternating crews.
Should be titled, "Japanese bombing of Australia." I'm sure they had no idea attacking the USA and Australia would prove to anger rather than frighten. We had to jump from island to island to reach you Aussies, but never forget we'll always have your six. Any ocean, any country.
Cheers from my neck of the woods.
The Japanese Prime Minister, General Hideki Tojo, explained why the Japanese never seriously considered invading Australia in an interview before his execution in 1948. The Imperial Japanese Army could make no substantive move against Australia in WW2 simply because it was overstretched by its own success and ran out of manpower. Most of its fighting divisions were in fact tied down in China fighting the Chinese.
More Australian content please! I have complete faith Mr Felton can enlighten us with some lesser known actions that deserve to be heard.
Lest We Forget.
At one camp site, they came across an Emu, a Kangaroo and an Aussie having a beer party.
It seems crocs weren't invited. Sad
I have some of the Japanese "Invasion money", my grandfather left it to me, he served in New Guinea with the 2/5 Battalion, I don't know how he came to have it, whether he captured it himself or traded for it.
Or he could've picked it off the trash. In the Philippines it was worth nothing. My grandmother had a suitcase of that 'shit'.
so they tried to search for a secret military base in Western Australia with a small group of men aimlessly wandering around for 2 hours on the first day and half a day on the second day then went home? did they realised how large the place is?
Mark the USA and Aussie’s built a large airforce base there but construction commenced in June 44,yep 5 months after the recon
Wow all that effort just to see crocodiles in their habitat
To add some extra info. There was a Dutch base at Ambon that was converted into a POW camp, after being overrun by the Japanese. Today on the site a CWG cemetery beautifully manicured with huge trees. There are Australian, British, Indian and Dutch servicemen buried there. I enjoy your videos Mark, keep up the good work. WW2 has many more stories to tell that we will never know about.
They may have invaded Australia, but they still never had the courage to invade New Zealand. Bob Semple was just too powerful.
They probably heard about the Bob Semple tank and decided to run away, just in case.
cresta2000ESP or all the emus waiting for them
@@ThinkGeek_ Shh, let me enjoy the likes once xd
My grandfather swore he witnessed a Japanese submarine landing here in Australia. Cannot confirm or ask any questions about it now as he has passed away
Greetings and congratulations in the success of your channel, all well deserved. You provide an inspiration to everyone thinking of putting out historical content.
Short - to the point - no bullshit. Me likes.
venator0405 when reinhard heydrich says youre doing good, you are
@@dr3yfusz No, you are doing quite the opposite
Nasty avatar
Good to see some people still can get upset by a jpeg on TH-cam. Next time, just don't.
My grandfather Tom Marsland was CME of the Western Australia Government Railways (and later Commissioner). He said they’d mined most of the major rail lines and bridges in the event of an invasion. The WAGR provided a lot of support during the war. The Midland workshops were used for major repairs and maintenance for the navy.
Enjoying this new Pacific content immensely. The Japanese fought with automaton-like morale. It's hard to comprehend the level of dedication these men had. Thanks for another great one, Dr. Felton.
My grandfather Mark who was then Captain Later Colonel of British Indian Army/Pakistan Army, was POW under Japanese in WW2 and in Malaya/Borneo/Singapore and was rescued by Australians at the end of the War 1945!
Japan: Herro! Anyone here-o?
Australia: No mate :/
Japan: Okay I now go home :(
They later tried invading in the 80s.
Through the Gold Coast real estate market
I bet their trip was something like the movie King Kong,
Man Eating insects everywhere.
That is indeed the latitude where all our nastiest animals live. Also very dangerous coastline. If they invaded there, most would have died long before they saw an Aussie slouch hat. I almost wish they had.
The Australian West and North coasts had very little to offer any hostile forces. Only a fool would imagine sending a WW2 army through there.
Sort of an equivalent to the Russian Winter , The Aussie Summer would make it impossible
The Australian natrual defense force will chew them up...Literally
Don't tell me that Emus also bite and not just kick!
STEVE IRWIN HAS JOINED THE CHAT
I was wondering if they might have been eaten.
@@Pikkabuu An emu will disembowel you in you upset it. This is not an exaggeration. Snakes and smaller biters, thirst, heat and vast distance would have cleaned them up first. You don't realize until you go to these places and camp a night to realize just how much strife you would be in.
@Joshua Ngau Ajang Water full of box jellyfish and blue ringed octopus not to mention boat sized white pointers. It is beautiful but there is very little there that wont bite you in the ass in some way or other lol.
They turned back when they saw the "Fuck Off. We Are Full" sign the (white) Australians had planted on the shore!
Northern Australia is guarded by killer salt water crocodiles, killer sea snakes, killer spiders, killer heat, ticks, snarky emus and bugger all of value....
Im addicted to your videos .
Thank you for your hard work .
Keep it up
that was never going to happen the aussies are far too tough on their own ground and its full of mad British and Irishmen
And in Mid 2019....a Japanese brewer (Asahi) has now taken over Carlton United Brewery (CUB) demonstrating pretty impressive patience.
Japan intended to invade & occupy Australia.
They had already printed occupational currency.
Loved it!! Another great video full of information I had never heard of. Thank you Dr. Felton.
I worked throughout the Northern Territory and i remember being told by the locals that there were always stories of a downed Japanese Zero just north of Hayes Creek on the Stuart Highway. South of Darwin, the owner of the roadhouse used to go out looking for it.
Thank you, I had not heard of this event.
Soooooo, what was the point of it all???
They rocked up, looked around for a bit, and just left???
On 14 May 1943, the 2/3rd Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur was en route from Sydney to Cairns when she was sunk by a Japanese submarine south of Moreton Island, off the Queensland coast (in Australia.) From the 332 people on board, only 64 survived. Moreton
Island developed into the major component of the World War Two coastal defences of Brisbane. In 1939, the island had just the Cowan Battery, one of only two forts protecting Brisbane. During the war, the island was the Examination Battery and War Signal Station for the port of Brisbane. Japanese submarine activity off Brisbane was first reported on 24 March 1942, when a RAAF No.23 Squadron Wirraway from Archerfield dropped two bombs on a submarine off Stradbroke Island. The passenger ship Canberra reported the sighting of Japanese submarine I-29 off Moreton Island on 4 June 1942. On 8 March 1943, the corvette HMAS Wagga (2,000 tons) depth-charged a submarine off Southport. The decision was made to emplace another battery on the Pacific Ocean side of Moreton Island to cover the South Passage. One of the sunken Japanese subs was discovered a couple of years ago in the mouth of the Brisbane River.
Always a pleasure to see another video from you. Now and then I already know the barebones of the event the video is talking about but you've always added that extra bit of info I didn't know, thus learning something new. Great work as always.
Is that an enemy boat? No just a fisherman with his own air support.
G'day Mark, Thank you for presenting this little known Japanese operation. Yes, there was a large amount of fear of invasion which resulted in the controversy of the so-called 'Brisbane Line'. Which was, allegedly, where Australian and allied forces would withdraw to if the Japanese invaded the north coast. Oddly, still debated to this day, the term 'Brisbane Line' was first coined by Doug MacArthur in a press conference and, like most of his pronouncements, was totally wrong. Our research has gained us documents that prove the Japanese had no intention of mounting any kind of serious invasion of Australia. With their forces split thinly over a huge area, they just didn't have the numbers nor the supply routes that would have to be in place to support such a venture.
Of course civilians were not aware of this and ignoring MacArthur's origin of the concept, politicians tried to make capital out of this yarn to discredit Prime Minister Curtin. Some also tried to pin the ‘Line’ to General Sir Thomas Blamey who endured a greater level of adverse controversy ⎯ MacArthur and his staff consistently strove to present ‘Big Mac’ as he who could do no wrong and this was enthusiastically accepted by nearly all Australians.
Operations like the one in this excellent video only go to prove the levels of ignorance and lack of intelligence the Japanese had on Australia in general; suggesting support for the fact that the IJF were not contemplating any large campaign against Australia on home soil. Even today, this simple comment will stir up anger by a faction of historians, families of WW2 veterans and others who swear the Brisbane Line was a 'real' thing. In reality it was just another loopy aside from MacArthur that the press picked up and ran with, big time. All this is truly weird when you consider that MacArthur was handed over control of Australia's press and radio censorship by PM Curtin; although a former journalist; he admitted having zero military knowledge. The long term result is that much of the press clippings and radio broadcast copies we have now from that time get a significant amount of Australian domestic wartime history wrong. So it is easy to see why the raid you detail in this video is virtually unknown today. Cheers BH
Really enjoyed this video. I am so impressed with the level of detail, right down to the names of the sergeants. I think it's interesting to compare the Japanese reconnaissance to Operation Jaywick, the raid on Singapore harbour, with the raiders also travelling in a small fishing boat.
I remember back in the 1980's the Australian Army had a historical unit investigating possible Japanese landings in far north Queensland in 1942. I had a long conversation with a Warrant Officer Class 2 who had found reports of a damaged troop transport landing by accident, dropping off the surviving members of an infantry company. I wish I'd kept better notes on what he had to say. Your video has inspired me to see what I can find out, and if I can confirm it, I'll let you know.
I’d not heard of this before mark. Interesting.
Great content, keep up the non bias work
Your last statement has to be wrong. I was in Australia for a couple of years around 1970. During that time, two independent Japanese soldiers in different parts of Northern Queensland presented themselves to the authorities. Both of them were astonished to learn that Japan had _surrendered in 1945;_ something which was incomprehensible to them, because it contradicted the Samurai code. Japanese soldiers were coming out of the Cape York area jungle quite regularly back then. Many were convinced that the war had not ended.
In all honesty Australia had been fighting in Africa and the pacific so we could be invaded but Australia itself is a death trap 😁😂
Those pine tree commandos made an appearance in the movie 1941 when they invaded Slim Pickins' Christmas tree farm looking for "Hariwood". They were gonna bomb John Wayne's house!
Al Swann:- John Wayne had a "hit order" placed on him by Hitler. A prime target for Axis forces!
I watch these religiously with my friends that play WW2 games. Company of Heroes 2 and Foxhole. We are from all over NY. CA. OH. Canada, Germany, Finland, Russia, China, and Argentina. Its awesome no mater where on the planet we all share this history ! Happy to see your channel growing ! This is the best history channel iv ever found!.
- love
Michael
Outstanding-thankyou for this! Strictly speaking, your title refers to invasion/ incursion on Australia "proper". At that time, Papua was counted as Australian territory and was invaded by the Japanese in 1942. The fact that PNG was "domestic" territory meant that Australianmilitia units could be deployed there in order to defend the area. The Militia were essentially part -time reservists who were formed in order to defend Australian territory- as opposed to the AIF ( Aust Imperial Force) who were regulars sent to fight overseas. ( =outside Australain territory)
The cool thing about this channel is that he covers a lot of off-mainstream topics that are interesting.
Good video. I didn't know THAT. :)
There were those in the Japanese High Command who would have LIKED to invade Australia, but lacked the ships. Also, the Imperial Japanese Army was fixated on conquering China and facing off the Soviets, so were extremely reluctant to cut loose units for use elsewhere.
The Australian Army had specialised units patrolling northern Australia, where they found conditions to be extraordinarily harsh. Swamp, almost no roads, crocodiles, hordes of mosquitoes, crushing heat and humidity, etc.. Reportedly, they did find a few suspicious ex-campsites that MIGHT have been Japanese. Nothing further ever came of this, so it is generally held that, if there were Japanese infiltrators, either they did not stay long or else the local conditions basically "swallowed them up".
As an Australian I found myself laughing at the Japanese ignorance. What were they expecting to find in far north Western Australia?
Always a thumbs-up for great content.
Thanks for the interesting video with another event that I had never heard of before. The coastline is so long that I'm not surprised that this happened though,
The Bob Semple Tank would have single handedly stopped any Japanese invasion of Australia.
At the time, Papua New Guinea was an Australian territory and determinedly invaded by the Japanese Imperial Army.
PNG is within a couple of kilometres of the northern-most Torres Strait islands of Queensland.
The concern of the Australian public was hardly unjustified, as the introduction implies.
That is especially so given the bulk of Australia’s premier troops were still engaged in North Africa and Syria, in theatres a third the way around the planet, and PNG had to be defended initially by undertrained and under-equipped citizen militia.
It was only the resolute decision of the Australian government to repatriate its troops, against the wishes of Churchill, and the intervention of the US Navy that offered any real obstacle to the Japanese.
I never understand how people fail to understand this. Papua was under Australian administration since 1902 and New Guinea - a German Colony - was assigned to Australia as a Protectorate by the League of Nations in 1920. The Japanese invasion of this territory was the reason why the militia - reserved for home defense only - were deployed to PNG and were the initial forces that confronted the Japanese in the Owen Stanley Ranges around Kokoda. PNG only gained independence from Australia in 1975.
If they had no intention of invading Australia why did they have the currency printed up ready to use. I have personally seen it
Mark Felton, I love these videos, they remind me of the awesome WWII documentaries I used to watch on the History Channel in the '90s, before the programming went to shit.
LOL funny to see ur channel growing im subscribed since 3000subs
I’m here about as long, well deserved increase in subs imo 👍🏼
Same
Same, I'm glad mark's growing
Japan had pretty big plans. There was a genuine belief of a Japanese threat of invasion of South Africa, but it subsided after the battle for Madagascar was concluded. There were numerous sightings of Japanese submarine periscopes in Durban harbour.
Dingoes and crocodiles would've played havoc with their long supply lines, and funnel web spiders and king brown snakes would've decimated their forward troops. Our drop bears and yowies would've slowly worn down their main forces (if they'd ever actually managed to make an inroad/beachead.) A few shellfish and blowfish on the coast would probably have distracted then enough for Australia to have led a white shark counter attack regardless?
Haha great job Mark already at 104k subs, i’ve been here since 2000 subs didn’t even notice you grew so fast!
Mark Felton is basically the real history channel
As with many of your videos, not something I was previously aware of, great work as ever!
Fascinating! Recommend Australian documentary on Kokoda trail!
Great video but worth mentioning that PNG was Australian territory. That's why the Citizens Militia Force was deployed there, it was considered home soil.
Interesting story. When i was living in WA, there was a news story of the buried remains of two "asiatic" skeletons found at the northern end of Garden Island, near Fremantle. A japanese helmet was also found near the bodies. Freo would be of great interest to the Japanese as it housed the largest submarine base in the southern hemisphere.
Yo im from kupang, funny story the dutch colony there point the guns to java while japanese just landed from east timor and cycle down with bicycle to kupang. Its pretty far imo cos its mostly mountain road going 650-700kms
Speaking of which if you visit kupang if you go to kolbano in the afternoon you can see lights from darwin.
There was also a Japanese bombing of Miallo, near Port Douglas - north of Cairns.
You better read the book “ The secret history of Yeppoon “
Brilliant work, Dr Felton, from Australia.
Technically the did invade, PNG was an Australian territory in the same way the NT and ACT is.
There’s an old Veterans hospital in Perth, built around the time of the war. In the basement, one of the tunnels has thick reinforced concrete walls designed Incase Japanese bombers reached Perth and bombed it. They’re some very sturdy walls.
5:24 Imagine being on smoko and seeing this
And with the passage of time, we now see more Australians in Japan than anyone ever would have expected. I'm Australian, have lived in Japan for 18 years, my wife and daughter are Japanese...the utter absurdity of war looking back.
Thanks for taking time to make these videos..