Japanese hold a part of Australia

Australia would redeploy it's forces to destroy the lodgement, regardless of the wishes of the US and Britain. If the US gives us any shit about it we can deny them the use of Australian bases, food and other resources they need to prosecute their own war. We are not without power and importance in the Pacific in 1942.

And because Australia is so important it's a good reason for the Japanese to invade in the first place. It's also a good reason for the Americans to send all the forces that they put into the Solomons into getting the Japanese out of Australia.

If by a miracle the Japanese occupy the whole of Australia in 1942. I can see the Americans not bothering with the Solomons Campaign and concentrating on the drive across the Central Pacific.

And the British invade Australia in the second half of 1945 instead of the projected amphibious landing in Malaya. The British Eastern Fleet would be reinforced by the ships of the British Pacific Fleet and its fleet train.
 
Australia would redeploy it's forces to destroy the lodgement, regardless of the wishes of the US and Britain. If the US gives us any shit about it we can deny them the use of Australian bases, food and other resources they need to prosecute their own war. We are not without power and importance in the Pacific in 1942.

GIVE THAT MAN A CIGAR.

That's what I have been saying all along. If the Japanese manage to occupy Darwin, expelling them becomes Australia's only priority. The US will have to assist for the reasons Rian stated and if the British want to salvage even a shred of what little credibility they have left with the Australians, they will have to help out as well.

The best analogy I can think of is if the Japanese somehow managed to occupy Oahu (yes I know highly unlikely) not only would it have serious and obvious effects on how the US fights the war in the Pacific but until that little problem is taken care of, you pretty much forget about the whole "Europe First" thing.

I realize the Japanese had no chance what so ever of winning but IMWO the one thing they could have done to contribute to larger Axis "grand strategy" (yes I realize there was no Axis grand strategy but I can't think of a better term at the moment) would have been sow discontent and discord among the Allies and mess with Allied grand strategy. Occupying a slice of northern Australia could have done that to some extent. Does it win the war for the Axis? Probably not but it sure makes things difficult and probably creates some pretty massive butterflies for the post-war relations.
 

Pangur

Donor
Zheng He, how do you discord coming from this? It would be a no brainer for the allies to put dislodging the Japanese out of the NT top of the to do list. Any Japanese troops, aircraft or ship dedicated to the exercise can't be somewhere else so other campaigns would be easier for the Allies. Equally I would discount allied attacks and even landings else where along the supply chain as part of the defeating the invaders. As for post, the butterflies would be many and large
 
Zheng He, how do you discord coming from this? It would be a no brainer for the allies to put dislodging the Japanese out of the NT top of the to do list. Any Japanese troops, aircraft or ship dedicated to the exercise can't be somewhere else so other campaigns would be easier for the Allies. Equally I would discount allied attacks and even landings else where along the supply chain as part of the defeating the invaders. As for post, the butterflies would be many and large

The point, IMO, was that if the Japanese invade or attack NT the idea of an "allies" becomes more vague. Australia's top priority is keeping its countrymen safe, not all of the Allies.
 
If haven't read the links, but I hope that you were right about this aspect of a Japanese invasion of northern Australia. Unfortunately, it's not what happened its what the Australian people think happened.

I hope that what I wrote about the Japanese propaganda machine would be countered by the Australian propaganda machine showing the Aboriginals heroic resistance against the Japanese invader.

If it's the other way round and the white Australians think that the Aboriginals did resist (but again regardless of whether they actually did or not) its less prejudice towards them. They might get an improvement in their civil rights and some of their land back sooner.

Most likely the Japanese propaganda machine would forget to mention the sub-human stone age Aboriginals until they read about the brave and patriotic and thoroughly modern Aboriginals in the Aussie propaganda releases. The Japanese in general and the militarists driving the war in particular were chock full of their own racial prejudices and tended to forget all about all of those they regarded as 'marginal' peoples even as they made three-quarters hearted efforts to draw the majority populations in believing in their Co-Prosperity Sphere notion.
 
The Australian Army in 1942

This is a consolidation of my earlier posts about the Australian Army in 1942. It is intended to show that Australia was weakly defended in the first half of 1942, which gave the Japanese a window of opportunity for a successful invasion. Most of the information comes from the Australian Encyclopaedia.

Deployment in Far East in December 1941

Malaya - 2 Brigades of the 8th Australian Division (22nd and 27th Brigades)
Ambon & Timor - 1 Brigade of the 8th Australian Division
Rabul - 2/22nd Battalion
Naru & Ocean Island - A small artillery detachment
Solomons, New Ireland & Admiralties -1st Independent Company
New Caledonia - 3rd Independent Company

Australia - 8 Divisions as follows:
1st Armoured Division with 12 tanks
1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions of the Militia - they became the 1st and 2nd Motorised Divisions in March 1942
1st to 5th Divisions of the Militia

The Militia divisions were up to strength in men, but they did not have their full strength of weapons and equipment. Furthermore they were badly trained and organised.

The 2/40th Battalion was sent to Timor and the 2/2nd Independent Company was sent to Portuguese Timor.

Reinforcements in the First Quarter of 1942

46,000 men of 6th and 7th Australian Divisions (less 1 Brigade in Ceylon)
63,000 men of AIF who had not left Australia
33,000 men in US 41st Division and some USAAF men

Combined with the 114,000 men of the Militia there was a grand total of 256,000 soldiers in Australia by the end of March 1942. Which is more than the Japanese would be able to send. However, the British had 90,000 men in Malaya at the start of the Pacific War IIRC and received 45,000 reinforcements before it surrendered. Furthermore the Japanese were the best at Jungle warfare at this stage of the war. I'm sure they could have learnt how to survive and fight in deserts if they needed to.

Also the Japanese were able to occupy the Dutch East Indies, which had a population of 70 million in 1940 and Australia only had 7 million. So although it is a huge place they should be able to keep the civil population pacified.

Organisation on 9th April 1942

Land Headquarters
First Army

I Corps (South Queensland) - 4 Divisions (3rd Division, 5th Division, 7th Division and 1st Motor Division)
II Corps (New South Wales) - 3 Divisions (1st Division, 2nd Division and 10th Division)

Second Army (New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania) - 2 Divisions (2nd Motor Division and US 41st Division, plus Tasmania Force)

III Corps (Western Australia) - 4th Division

Northern Territory Force - 19th Brigade Group (of the 6th Division) and the Northern Territory Lines of Communication Area

Land Headquarters Reserve - One Division (1st Armoured Division, plus 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion and 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion)

Land Headquarters Troops - which may have included the Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and New Guinea Line of Communication Areas

New Guinea Force - 30th Australian Brigade. Joined by 14th Australian Brigade on 14th May.

AIF (Overseas) - 2 Divisions (16th and 17th Brigades of the 6th Division in Ceylon from mid-March to early July 1942 and 9th Division in the Middle East until February 1943).

Therefore there was a total of 11 divisions in Australia on this date consisting of one armoured, 2 motor and 8 infantry divisions (1st to 5th, 7th, 10th and US 41st).

Although 12 infantry divisions (8 Militia and 4 A.I.F) were formed the maximum strength was 10 divisions. The 8th Division was destroyed by March 1942; the 10th existed between April and August 1942; and the 12th Division only existed for the first 15 days of January 1943. In early 1943 the Australian Army converted 6 divisions from motorised infantry to "jungle" divisions and they were not disbanded until the end of the Pacific War. The other 3 infantry divisions were disbanded between April 1944 and May 1945.

The A.I.F. had the following un-brigaded units: 4 pioneer battalions; 8 machine gun battalions; the Parachute Battalion; the Papua Infantry Battalion; 4 New Guinea infantry battalions; the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion; the garrison battalions; and 8 independent companies (later named commando squadrons).

Australian Armoured Forces

In May 1942 the armoured formations of the Australian Army consisted of:

1 Armoured Division (1st and 2nd Armoured Brigades plus divisional troops)
1 Motor Division - formerly the 1st Cavalry Division (1st and 2nd Motor Brigades plus division troops)
2 Motor Division - formerly the 2nd Cavalry Division (6 armoured brigade and 3 motor brigade, plus divisional troops)
3 Armoured Tank Brigade (1st, 2nd and 3rd Tank Battalions)

At the end of February 1942 there were only 12 tanks in Australia (2 British Medium Tanks built in the 1920s and 10 Light Tanks Mk VI delivered in 1937). However, between then and the end of the year 1,200 tanks were supplied by the US and 300 by the UK so that there were about 1,500 tanks in Australia at the end of 1942. This allowed the 1st and 2nd Motor Divisions to be converted into the 3rd and 2nd Armoured divisions respectively. However, a shortage of manpower forced a reduction in the size of the Armoured Corps to the following by August 1943:

1st Armoured Division (1st Armoured Brigade, 3rd Motor Brigade and divisional troops)
3rd Armoured Division (2nd Armoured Brigade and Divisional troops)
4th Armoured Brigade (1st Tank Battalion, 2/6th, 2/8th and 2/9th Armoured Regiments)
2nd and 3rd Tank Battalion Groups

Further reductions became necessary during 1943 and 1944, and by 1945 the Australian Armoured Corps had shrunk to 5 armoured regiments and one reconnaissance squadron. At the time there were also the 2/6th, 2/7th and 2/9th Cavalry (Commando) regiments, originally named Divisional Cavalry regiments.

Australian AFV Production and AFV Imports to Australia

This is the history of Australian tank production in World War II courtesy of Jane's World War II Tanks and Armoured Fighting Vehicles by Leland Ness

A handful of Vickers Medium Tanks had been purchased in the 1930s, but these were worn out by 1939. 10 Light Tanks Mk VIA were ordered in the Spring of 1936 and delivered in late 1937. A follow up order for 24 Light Tanks Mk VIB was placed on their arrival, but this was cancelled shortly after. About 5,000 Universal Carriers were built in Australia 1940-44. These were the only tanks in Australia until March 1942.

According to Ness the General Staff requirement for the AC-1 Sentinel was drawn up in November 1940 and the prototype appeared in January 1942, but only 66 Sentinel tanks were built. That is 22 between August and December 1942 and 44 between January and July 1943. However, the Australians also built 15 LP armoured cars in 1939; 245 Dingo scout cars 1942-43; 238 Rover light armoured cars 1942-43; and 5,661 Universal Carriers 1940-43.

The loss of the Dutch East Indies in March 1942 resulted in the diversion of 50 M3 light tanks and 148 Marmont-Herrington CTLS light tanks to Australia, which were taken over by the Royal Australian Armoured Corps (RAAC). The CTLS machines were only good for training, but the M3 light tanks complemented 10 that the RAAC had already received from the US for familiarisation, which came from the Australian allocation of British Lend Lease and 315 M3 light tanks (270 in 1942 and 45 in 1943) were received from this source. This source also provided 777 M3 Lee/Grant medium tanks which were delivered between March/April 1942 and the end of that year. The Australians also received British built Matilda infantry tanks which arrived from April 1942 and 304 were on strength by the end of the year and in 1944 they bought New Zealand's 33 Matilda close support tanks.

The source also says that the Americans sent 503 M3A1 scout cars, but does not give the dates. At least 97 British Staghound armoured cars were received in 1944 and the Canadians sent 171 scout cars.
 
Last edited:
Other things to think about include Australians in the UK or European theatre, not necessarily in Australian service. Surely there would be several tens of thousand. They'd be demanding to be sent home.

NZ would likely feel that they'd have to bring their main forces, such as they are, back to NZ and maybe for deployment to Australia. That reduces forces in the Western Desert for the Empire.

Lastly, we do not quite know what the political effects would be in the dominions and Britain of Japanese occupation of any "British" land. Loads of British people people had family in Australia and the connections between the main body of migrants from the 19th century were still there.
 
The 9th Australian Division did not began to depart for home until January 1943. If the Japanese invade the Australian mainland, those guys are coming home as soon as possible, no question about it.
 
The 9th Australian Division did not began to depart for home until January 1943. If the Japanese invade the Australian mainland, those guys are coming home as soon as possible, no question about it.

When I was doing my research for this it said that the Australian Government asked for the 9th Division back in the middle of 1942. If the request had been granted it would not have taken part in the 1st Alamein, Alam Halfa and 2nd El Alamein battles.

The 6th and 7th Australian Divisions had been removed from the Middle East before the Gazala battles. The absence of these divisions must have contributed to Rommel's victory.
 
Top