23 February 1942. Darwin, Australia.
The Australian port had become one of the most important hubs of supplies running between Australia and the Dutch East Indies. The feeling around the town was it was becoming more American by the day. The airfield was awash with P40s, A20s, A24s, B17s, even some LB24s. Many of the aircraft were transiting towards the main airfields in Java, but pursuit squadrons were on constant alert.
There had been another Pearl Harbour type attack against Surabaya, which seemed to include the involvement of possibly four Japanese aircraft carriers. Unlike Pearl Harbour, not everything had gone Japan’s way. The radar had provided early warning and the Japanese aircraft had been met with strong resistance. Claims about how many aircraft had been shot down, most likely massively overestimated, gave the allies a boost. The fact was that KM Java had been sunk, and USS Houston, HMS Exeter and HMAS Perth had all suffered some damage. Three destroyers (USS Paul Jones, HMS Jupiter, KM Kortenaer) had also been sunk, and three others were damaged.
A number of other civilian ships were sunk or damaged, and the port installation had also been degraded. The local airfields had also been attacked, and some aircraft had been destroyed on the ground. The Japanese aircraft carriers had managed to avoid being spotted either by aerial reconnaissance or submarine sighting, and had presumably retired from the area. The effect on the ABDAfloat Combined Striking Force had been catastrophic. With thoughts of offensive action having to be put on hold.
Darwin’s role had become all the more important with the damage done to Surabaya. The constant stream of American reinforcements arrived at the larger Australian ports, spent some time training, then would be fed into Darwin, either overland or by coastal traffic. From Darwin they were sent to the on-going battle on Celebes, or to reinforce Java or other East Indies islands.
The Australian Brigades on Ambon and Timor had to be maintained and some coastal shipping had been diverted to Papua New Guinea where they were being used to evacuate the Australian troops from New Britain. Brigadier Stanley Savage’s 17 Brigade had given a good account of themselves defending Rabaul. The evacuation shipping took the Australians to Lae initially. They would then be shipped back to Australia, the sick having priority.
There had been discussions about reinforcing the 1st Independent Company that was looking after the defence of Vila (New Hebrides), Tulagi (Guadalcanal), Buka Passage (Bougainville), and Lorengau (Manus Island). There had been no word from the detachment on New Ireland and all were posted missing. Reinforcing the forward air observation line, unless with large forces, would likely mean that if the Japanese did move on these places, it would mean the death or capture of the Australians, without any clear gain.
As much as the Intelligence services could gather, it was believed that the defence of Rabaul had gutted the Japanese infantry force sent to capture it. It was therefore believed that the Japanese were having to consolidate their gain there, while waiting for reinforcements to move further into the Solomon Islands. Some kind of radio traffic suggested that the Japanese were worried that the Australian 17 Brigade might attempt to retake Rabaul. Delaying the Japanese expansion was a decent result, but once they were able to establish air bases, it would be difficult to stop them.
The voices of American troops were heard as another vehicle convoy approached the docks. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of 147th Field Artillery Regiment (South Dakota National Guard), 1st Bn 148th FAR (Idaho NG) had initially been designated to protect Darwin. The possibility of an invasion of Australia was highly unlikely, and the Texan National Guard (2nd Bn 131st FAR) at Kendari had provided the American press with a positive story. Major-General Julian Barnes had agreed to release the two battalions to reinforce the Texans on Celebes. Under the designation of 26th US Field Artillery Brigade (CO Colonel Albert Searle), along with two Australian Infantry Battalions moving from Timor, these reinforcements would hopefully keep Kendari out of Japanese hands, protecting Java.