SUBMARINE RAID ON SYDNEY

Southland Times, Issue 24759, 2 June 1942, Page 5

SUBMARINE RAID ON SYDNEY

ATTEMPT BY JAPANESE FAILS (United Press Association —Telegraph Copyright) (Rec. 1.10 a.m.) SYDNEY, June 1. Japanese midget submarines attempted to raid Sydney just before midnight last night, but the attempt was completely unsuccessful. Three midget submarines are believed to have been sunk, according to a communique issued by Allied headquarters, two by depth-charges and one by gun-fire. Damage was limited to an old ferry vessel. When the gunfire was first heard everyone in the city thought the defences were at practice, but they soon realized there was an enemy attack when they saw the searchlights and heard the pom-poms and heavier guns firin*. When the big guns opened fire their shells straddled the submarines, which were seen by the searchlights to be midget vessels. The depth-charges raised columns of water 100 feet in height. The firing continued for the remainder of the night. It is not known if the submarines were of the type used in the attack on Pearl Harbour. The vessels destroyed in Pearl Harbour were 55 feet in length and cigarshaped. They carried two men.

The official communique covering the attack gives little detail of the time of the attempted raid or of the precise location. Neither were details of the type of enemy midget submarine given. Residents in the harbour front suburbs heard a loud explosion and immediately the harbour was illuminated from all sides by strong searchlights. Residences were shaken by the concussion of exploding depth-charges and ferry travellers and residents were startled by bursts of light calibre gunfire. A GRANDSTAND VIEW Passengers on a passing ferry steamer had a grandstand view as searchlight beams flooded the horbour and immediately there came sharp cracking bursts of small calibre guns and then the deeper crash of the heavier guns. Tracer bullets flew across the surface of the water. Into the concentrated beams came the periscope and upper portion of the conning-tower of a submarine, which was under observation from the ferry for fully a minute, the periscope showing grey against the silver sheen of the illuminated water. Only brief and guarded accounts have been published of the probable destruction of three Japanese midget submarines which attempted to attack shipping at Sydney, but the news of the raid has created considerable excitement and its implications are strongly in the public mind, states the special correspondent of the New Zealand Press Association. When the news vendors this afternoon first called: “Three enemy midget submarines sunk at Sydney” the public was incredulous. Many people regarded the newsboys’ cries as a hoax to sell their papers.

The operation was described by an Allied headquarters communique as completely unsuccessful. Whether the force of submarines was greater than the three believed destroyed has not been revealed.

Late editions of this afternoon’s papers draw attention to the fact that the midget submarines must, have been launched from a mother ship off the coast. The type used at Pearl Harbour attack had a range of only 150 or 200 miles.

The general public’s early attitude of “It can’t happen here” quickly vanished and was replaced by satisfaction that the counter-measures against the attackers proved adequate. Japanese attacks along the east coast of Australia, even on Sydney, have been anticipated. These reports of Japanese submarine activities offer additional evidence of the enemy’s determination to disrupt shipping supplies between the United States and Australia. SIGNIFICANT TARGETS The targets chosen for recent consistent night bombing raids by Allied aircraft have been significant. Enemy shipping at Dilli (Portuguese Timor) and Rabaul (New Britain) and aerodromes at Koepang (Dutch Timor), Lae (New Guinea) and Tulagi (Solomons) have been attacked on recent nights. All these bases must play an important part in any enemy southward offensive drive designed to take either Port Moresby or occupy the eastern island chain—Solomons, Hebrides and New Caledonia. Whatever part the midget underwater marauders were designed to play, they failed completely. The Australian defences were not found unprepared.