We still commemorate 19 February 1942 here in Darwin. Second to ANZAC Day.
Along with the JAAF contingent, the Imperial Navy task group that had attacked Pearl Harbour came by, dropping a greater tonnage on Darwin than they had at Pearl.
The RAAF had no fighters in place. There were half a dozen USAAF P-40's enroute to the East Indies and a handful of Hudsons and Catalinas that didn't get off the ground.
The air raid sirens didn't sound until the bombs were already falling. A radio warning from the mission on Melville Island did not register with those in command.
It was the first and largest raid on Australia with an official death toll around 236.
The air base, port and town were flattened.
And the censors saw to it that no one heard about it at the time.
And the fighters were Zero's.