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Squiz Shortcuts - Victory in the Pacific Day
How Australia helped defeat Japan in WWII
This year marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific Day, when the Japanese Imperial Army surrendered to the Allied Forces in WWII. Australia played a big role in the Pacific theatre of the war, which came to a swift end following the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll cover:
the events leading up to VP Day
Australia’s part in them
and why it’s especially meaningful for us…
Squiz the Shortcut
It seems like WWII history buffs are having their moment to shine…
They sure are… You might’ve seen the 80th anniversary commemorations for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the news recently. Those 2 events led up to what we’re looking back on in this Shortcut, Victory in the Pacific Day, or VP Day.
When was VP Day?
On 15 August 1945. And you might see it referred to as Victory over Japan, or VJ Day, in the UK, US and New Zealand - but here it’s always been known as VP Day.
Got it… Why is it significant?
It was a big day for Australia because it meant that after 4 years of being at war with Japan in the Pacific, our service men and women could finally come home.
How many Aussies were deployed at the time?
Around 200,000 Aussies were serving throughout the region in the Navy, Army and Air Force when the Japanese surrendered. In total, nearly 1 million Australians served in WWII, including here at home and in Europe.
Who fought with us?
When it came to combat with the Japanese, we didn’t do it alone. Allied troops from the US, UK, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa all fought against their advancing forces.
Time for some WWII basics… When did Australia enter the war?
We became involved when Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939. Our troops were initially sent to fight in Europe, the Mediterranean, and North Africa, but Japan’s ambitions in our region to create a huge Pacific Empire posed a constant threat… The Allies sent troops to Malaya (which we know as Malaysia) in February of 1941 to head them off.
How did that go?
That was a successful move - for a while. But later that year, things ramped up when Japan carried out a surprise bombing raid on a US naval base at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, causing a huge amount of damage to America’s Pacific fleet and destroying half of its aircraft stationed there.
I’ve heard of that one…
It was a pivotal event in the war… At least 8 US battleships were bombed, 180 planes were destroyed, and more than 2,400 Americans were killed. The attack brought them directly into the war. The US declared war on Japan the next day, and Britain joined them, which meant Australia and New Zealand were at war with Japan too. But attacking the US wasn’t the only advance the Japanese were making…
Where else did they strike?
The day after targeting Pearl Harbor, Japanese troops launched an attack on allied soldiers in Malaya, starting months of battles which eventually forced the Allies back into Singapore. By February 1942, the Japanese had defeated the Allies there and taken more than 140,000 of our troops prisoner - including approximately 15,000 Australians.
What happened to the prisoners?
You might’ve heard of the Burma ‘death’ railway and the Changi prison camp, which was designed for 600 prisoners but eventually held 60,000… The men were held in horrific conditions and forced to carry out hard manual labour like building a railway from Burma to Thailand. Thousands of them died.
It sounds like the Japanese were getting closer to our shores…
They were… World War II brought war to Australia’s doorstep in a way we’d never experienced before, or since. After the victories we mentioned in Southeast Asia over the Allies in 1941 and ‘42, Japan was growing bolder.
How close did they get to Australia?
Close enough to launch direct attacks on our northern towns of Broome and Darwin, and they also infiltrated Sydney Harbour.
Very close then. Tell me what happened…
The Japanese carried out a series of air raids on Darwin which began on 19 February, 1942. They were led by the same captain of the Pearl Harbor attack, and the first and most destructive one involved 188 planes dropping bombs on the city. They didn’t just hit military targets, they also bombed ships in the harbour, the port, the airport, town centre, public buildings, houses and telegraph lines.
Were people killed?
Yes… At least 235 people died, many of them civilians, and hundreds more were wounded. And it wasn’t the last of the attacks - Darwin was hit by 64 air raids from that date until November of 1943. But the first one remains the most significant attack on Australia by a foreign nation. And around a month later, Broome was targeted.
What happened in Broome?
Japanese planes bombed the airfield and boats in Roebuck Bay, in March 1942, killing nearly 90 people and destroying 24 allied planes. It brought home to us just how exposed Northern Australia is. But the Japanese didn’t just have the north in their sights…
Tell me about the Sydney attack…
On the night of 31 May, 1942, 3 mini Japanese submarines, called midget submarines, got into Sydney Harbour undetected. They torpedoed and sank a naval ship, HMAS Kuttabul, which left 27 sailors dead.
What was the fate of those subs?
Two were destroyed, but the third one was only discovered off the coast of Sydney’s Northern Beaches in 2006… At the time, the surprise attack led to an immediate renewed focus on defending ourselves - we built forts around the coastline, air raid shelters, anti-aircraft batteries, and we deployed our own mini subs to guard the harbour.
What was happening in the Pacific around this time?
As well as defending our own shores, Aussie troops were playing a big part in fighting the Japanese in New Guinea, Bougainville, Borneo, and in the Philippines. Some major battles played out in what is now PNG, because if the Japanese got a good foothold there, it would better their chances of invading Australia and taking control of other territory in the Pacific.
Would I have heard of any of those battles?
Very possibly… That’s where the fight for the Kokoda Track comes in. It was a hard-going jungle route with steep mountains and high humidity, where Aussies fought side by side with the local Papuan and New Guineans to fend off the Japanese between July and November 1942. Many of the locals helped with carrying supplies and wounded soldiers along the track - they were a big part of our eventual success, and became known as ‘the Fuzzy Wuzzy angels’.
So we won that one?
We sure did… There were heavy losses on both sides but the win was key to the war’s ultimate outcome because the Japanese never got that strategic foothold in Papua they wanted. And by the time 1945 rolled around, Japan’s forces were significantly weakened and the Allies were weighing up whether to mount an offensive on Japanese soil.
How did things come to an end?
By that stage, nearly 40,000 Australians had died in combat or in prisoner of war camps… The high Allied death toll and the expense of a land invasion of Japan were factors in the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945. The Americans were looking for a quick surrender, and they got it.
Another unprecedented moment in history…
Yes… The world hadn’t seen destruction on that scale before, and hasn’t since… What led up to it was that Japan was experiencing severe military and economic strain. As we mentioned, their navy and air force were significantly weakened, and their homeland increasingly vulnerable to bombing. And that’s what happened…
What was the toll from the bombs?
The population of Hiroshima at the time was approximately 350,000 people, and it’s thought that 140,000 were killed as a result of the atomic bomb being dropped by US forces there on 6 August 1945. In Nagasaki, 74,000 people were killed after they were bombed on 9 August…
How long did it take the Japanese to surrender?
It took their leaders 6 days to decide what to do. But on 15 August, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's acceptance of the Allied surrender terms. That surrender was confirmed in a formal ceremony on the 2nd of September aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. And when it was done, US General Douglas MacArthur famously said: “Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended. A great victory has been won”...
Was Australia represented?
We sure were… A dozen Royal Australian Navy ships travelled there for it - part of a 250-strong armada of allied ships in the bay to witness the proceedings. And back at home, Prime Minister Ben Chifley called it a “glorious moment,” and Aussies celebrated in the streets, ready to welcome their loved ones home…
What’s happening to mark the anniversary?
On the night the war ended, a single searchlight from Sydney’s Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park pointed skyward to signify the arrival of peace. To commemorate the 80th anniversary, a single searchlight beam will be turned on again, and there will be commemoration services held around the country. Check your local RSL for details…
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Onto our Recommendations
Looking: This exhibition of photos relating to VP Day that the Australian War Memorial is displaying until the 12th of October - but if you can’t make it to Canberra, you can have a look at a selection of them on their website.
Watching: The BBC’s Antiques Roadshow has made a special episode to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VP Day. They’ve uncovered some rare keepsakes and mementos as they always do, but this one includes things like a chess set hand carved by a British soldier during his time as a prisoner of war on the Burma railway.
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