An Awkward Truth: The Bombing of Darwin, February 1942 - Softcover

Grose, Peter

4.03

165 ratings by Goodreads

9781741756432: An Awkward Truth: The Bombing of Darwin, February 1942

Softcover

ISBN 10: 174175643X ISBN 13: 9781741756432

Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 2009

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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
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.

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About the Author:

Peter Grose is the author of A Very Rude Awakening.

Review:

"Grose's compassionate, honest and vivid account . . . deserves to be widely read." —Sun-Herald

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