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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.
'Grose's compassionate, honest and vivid account ... deserves to be widely read.'-Sun-Herald
The bombing of Darwin on 19 February 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 under-armed and unprepared soldiers and civilians who faced their toughest test on home soil.
About the Author
Peter Grose is a former publisher at Secker + Warburg, founder of Curtis Brown Australia, and was until recently the chairman of ACP (UK).He is the author of A Very Rude Awakening published by Allen + Unwin in 2007.
Awards
Winner, Chief Minister's Northern Territory History Book Award, 2010
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Comments about An Awkward Truth:
The story indicated that the Administrator was an isolated man at the top, but he had a considerable range of support staff who get very little mention. However, ican understand the fear experienced by the civil population.
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Comments about An Awkward Truth:
This is the hidden history of Australia, the history we weren't taught at school and which our kids still aren't taught.
In recent years, we've heard about the midget submarines in Sydney Harbour, but how many of us had heard of the bombing of Darwin?
I was, quite honestly, very skeptical when i first read about the bombing. I couldn't imagine how i had studied WWII in secondary school and been told nothing whatsoever about the direct attacks on Australia.
If you want a brutally honest, warts and all, account of this bombing, and its aftermath, this is the book to read. The reactions of the civilians and the military are telling, and the behaviour of some of those in charge is truly shocking.
Essential reading for those who want to know the real history of Australia.
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| Introduction | p. xi |
| 'Big flight of planes . . . Very high' | p. 1 |
| A very sinful people | p. 10 |
| Horribly strained relations | p. 21 |
| One suitcase, one small calico bag | p. 41 |
| No place and no time for argument | p. 52 |
| The judge sums up | p. 63 |
| Convoy for Koepang to return to Darwin | p. 72 |
| 'Zeroes! Zeroes! Zeroes!' | p. 82 |
| QQQ QQQ QQQ de VZDN | p. 95 |
| Between the raids: Can anyone drive? | p. 118 |
| The second raid: Chinese whispers | p. 132 |
| Things go badly wrong | p. 151 |
| The military takes over | p. 162 |
| Telling the world | p. 112 |
| Not many dead | p. 188 |
| Post mortem | p. 194 |
| Epilogue: Whatever happened to . . .? | p. 210 |
| Evacuation notice | p. 211 |
| Report of the Lowe Commission | p. 221 |
| Acknowledgements | p. 238 |
| Notes | p. 244 |
| Bibliography | p. 250 |
| Index | p. 252 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9781742376073
ISBN-10: 174237607X
Audience:
General
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 276
Published: 1st February 2011
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Dimensions (cm): 19.8 x 12.8
x 2.3
Weight (kg): 0.249
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