Australia's secret plan for total war under Japanese invasion in World War II

The extraordinary new book by Sue Rosen

Hidden for 75 years, the top secret government documents outlining preparations for the event of a Japanese invasion of Australia in 1942 have finally been discovered. They reveal an extraordinarily comprehensive plan to thwart Japanese troops, and a population that would go to great lengths to avoid being enslaved.

In 1942 the threat of Japanese invasion hung over Australia. The men were away overseas, fighting on other fronts, and civilians were left unprotected at home.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Japanese advance south, Prime Minister Curtin ordered state governments to prepare. From January 1942, a team frantically pulled together secret plans for a 'scorched earth' strategy. The goal was to prevent the Japanese from seizing resources for their war machine as they landed, and capturing Australians as slaves as they had done in Malaya and elsewhere in Asia.

From draining domestic water tanks to sinking dinghies and burning crops, from training special citizen squads to evacuating coastal towns, 'Total war, total citizen collaboration' was the motto. Today these plans vividly evoke the fraught atmosphere of the year Australia was threatened with invasion.

After the war these top secret plans were forgotten. This is the first time they have ever been made public.

“This is a treasure trove, a gold mine, a Christmas-every-day cornucopia of rich Australian history, particularly Second World War history. Arguments over the "Brisbane Line"  are settled here. Now we have the detailed plans for the "scorched earth"tactic that might follow a Japanese invasion of Australia. We know that Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra were to be defended at all costs: too bad if you lived in Darwin, Perth, Adelaide or Hobart, still worse if you lived in Alice Springs or Townsville. Outside the big four cities, Australians could expect evacuation if all else looked like failing. The detail is mind-boggling: how to sabotage water supplies; how to wreck a car; a safe walking route from Grafton to Glen Innes; how to "trip: a tank with a crowbar. Read and wonder!”

— Peter Grose, author of An Awkward Truth and A Very Rude Awakening

 

Scorched Earth in the media

• The Australian - Inquirer - Saturday May 20, 2017 - click here
• The Australian - National Affairs - Saturday May 20, 2017 - click here
• Wartime plans to defend Sydney at all costs have been discovered - Channel 7 - Saturday May 20, 2017 - click here
• Secret government plans published in book - Sue Rosen interviewed on RN Breakfast, Thursday May 25 - click here
• Australia's Scorched Earth Plan - Maynard - click here
• Revealed: Top secret government documents outlining preparations in the event of a Japanese invasion of Australia in 1942 - Booktopia Blog - click here

"My Mother was 10 years old in 1942, living in Harris Street Mascot. She remembers her father building an underground bunker in the backyard, paper covering the windows to keep light in at night, and street signs taken down to hinder spies. She was also sent to live with an aunt in Dubbo for a couple of months, but returned after feeling homesick."

—Linda Slinger. 3 August 2017