RAIDS ON DARWIN RECALLED

Southland Times, Issue 25797, 8 October 1945, Page 8

RAIDS ON DARWIN RECALLED

Fifth Columnists Thought To Have Been Active

CANBERRA, October 6

Fifth column activity by Japanese who later disappeared without a trace almost certainly led to the disastrous raid on Darwin on February 19, 1942. This is the conclusion of Mr Justice Lowe, whose report on the raids was released in the House of Representatives today. Mr Justice Lowe says that the evidence at the inquiry he conducted disclosed that meteorological balloons whose purpose was to indicate upper air movements to assist accurate bombing were found near Darwin aerodrome. At Port Moresby investigations showed that the release of similar balloons was almost certainly due to the Japanese. Morse messages in Japanese were detected, both outwardly and inwardly, towards a point in the direction of Darwin. The disappearance from Darwin at the outbreak of the war of certain Japanese not since traced raised the suspicion that there was fifth column activity in the neighbourhood of the town which might not have been unassociated with the raids.

Mr Justice Lowe says that extraordinary confusion and panic, resulting from a desperate effort to abandon the town, reigned in Darwin after the first raids on February 19, 1942. He attributed the panic to the lack of effective leadership after the raids.