1942: Australia’s Greatest Peril – Bob Wurth
I love history. I love finding out about periods of history I know little about, and I really enjoy reading a well written, informative history book that keeps you reading and never goes dry. The problem with so many history books is that they are often so full of names and dates that it is easy to lose track. As a visual reader, I need to be able to picture places, people and events in my head and I can only do that when I can keep track of them.
Bob Wurth’s 1942:Australia’s Greatest Peril falls into that category for me of an accessible history. It covers the events of the title year, when Japan was contemplating invading Australia as a part of its Pacific expansion. There has been much debate as to whether Japan ever intended to invade. Wurth, who is clearly a Japanese speaker, has spent a long time chasing up documents, interviews and quotes to try and settle the debate. The argument in this book suggests that indeed, Japan did contemplate invasion, but due mainly to the fact that the Japanese Army and the Japanese Navy were almost as much at war with one another as Japan was with the USA, the invasion never happened.
The book, however, covers a great deal of the war in the Pacific of 1942 beyond this. It provides excellent context, albeit skipping over certain events like the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Coral Sea quite quickly. He spends a lot of time talking about the completely futile midget submarine programme which was little more than wasted suicide. And he talks about how close the Japanese did actually come through both the bombing of Darwin and the entry into Sydney Harbour. I was ashamed to say that although this is a part of my own country’s history, I had no idea. I had no idea that the bombing of Darwin was not just a one off incident, but a protracted campaign over the course of a year or more. I had no idea that midget subs made it into Sydney harbour. And I had no idea that Australia had even been considered a target during the war.
The book is written in a pithy, easy to understand manner. Although there are a lot of Japanese names to remember, the author doesn’t give so many that you can’t keep up with them. He also gives each character something of a personality, which also makes visualisation easier. And by keeping the events simple, he creates a chain which provides a good clear explanation as to how far the Japanese got, and why they were eventually defeated.
After finishing 1942 I now want to read more on those incidents I never knew about – The Battle of the Kokoda Trail, MacArthur coming to Australia and the politics behind that, and the Battles of Midway and The Coral Sea. I am glad to finally know something about the period – I have spent so much time reading about the war in Europe that it is good to redress the balance. And perhaps that is the secret of a good history book – it ends, leaving you hankering to learn more and heading back to the library to satiate that feeling.
The official website of the book with more information is quite interesting also.
Rating: 8/10
ISBN: 978-1-4050-3860-7
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Year: 2008
Date Finished: 22nd December 2008
Pages: 433
