I'd Like To Get Peoples' Opinions
RyoOhki
Join Date: 2003-01-26 Member: 12789Members
Join Date: 2003-01-26 Member: 12789Members
in Discussions
<div class="IPBDescription">On Japanese invasion plans for Australia</div> Disclaimer: This is completely informal. None of this will be published anywhere.
Recently I completed a rather large university assignment on the topic of "Japanese invasion plans for Australia during World War 2". The people who I spoke to about it were quite interested, and as Australians they tended to have an opinion about what plans the Japanese did have. So I got to thinking; what do people across the world think about this subject. And what better place to start than in the NS forums, this cornucopia of multi-ethnicities.
To summerise: voice your opinions in this thread about Japanese invasion plans for Australia during World War II. You may also discuss Japanese invasion plans for the United States / India as well if you so please. Be as simple or as detailed as you wish.
Recently I completed a rather large university assignment on the topic of "Japanese invasion plans for Australia during World War 2". The people who I spoke to about it were quite interested, and as Australians they tended to have an opinion about what plans the Japanese did have. So I got to thinking; what do people across the world think about this subject. And what better place to start than in the NS forums, this cornucopia of multi-ethnicities.
To summerise: voice your opinions in this thread about Japanese invasion plans for Australia during World War II. You may also discuss Japanese invasion plans for the United States / India as well if you so please. Be as simple or as detailed as you wish.
Comments
What would they do with all that land? Their heads would explode at the mere thought.
What would they do with all that land? Their heads would explode at the mere thought. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
lol
I think that japan would have taken Australia without a doubt. They didn't encompass it in their immediate plans though, because they wanted to be sure that once they got the land [not hard at all, and it still isn't.. stupid australian defense <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->].. they could keep it. They needed to get rid of threats around them, like America [Britain couldn't have helped].
In short: Australia was definitely on the menu, but they had bigger fish to fry.
Japan was highly expansionistic and nationalistic at the time, afaik. So... I think we'd have ended being conquered by Japan eventually, but only because we were there, so to speak. I don't think Australia was an especially juicy target. We'd have lost to Japan's forces, too, no question - mostly because the bulk of our armed forces were on the other side of the world fighting England's battles for her (the Australian armed forces have a very good track record for arse kicking). Although, I suspect that Japan was simply stronger at the time <i>anyway</i>; newly industiralised, highly disciplined, and well equipped.
But I don't think that, at any time, Japan viewed us as a threat needing to be neutralised, a particularly soft target to be exploited, or an especially valuable property to possess. Throughout history, the Australian leadership has always been paranoid of invasion, so I'm always skeptical about whether any countries out there have ever genuinely wanted to attack us.
Australia is always a good target.. if somebody tried to invade us, China, or even one of the smaller nations.. we have no adequate defenses. It'd take a while for them to fully take us over [australia is quite the large <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> We also have an extensive farming system, so a significant part of our country would be self-sufficient].. But they'd take over with little to no military losses. We have a hell of a lot of land, ~20 million people.. I'd say that's a lot of free space. So so so so SO underpopulated, it's not funny <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Populate or perish, gogo menzies
Anyway, what kind of opinion are you searching? Strategically, Japan would've had no problem invading Australia thanks to its extensive and thus very hard to defend coastline. Seeing that Australia was part of the Allies and would have thus posed a possible source of dissent in what the Empire regarded as its domain, the step was inevitable. Then again, it wouldn't have made sense to invade until peace had been enforced in China and Indonesia as the extensive area of the continent would've required a significant troop deployment to be able to quell the inevitable riots effectively.
On a more serious note, they would probably have gone down through indonesia, occupying those islands one by one before launching to australia. Makes more sense to have a base of operations close to the frontline.
When I was researching my assignment, I ran into an interesting study by the head historian at the Australian War Memorial. He went around to major universities in Australia and asked students and academics if they thought the Japanese were planning to invade Australia in 1942. Overwhelmingly the response he got was "Yes". That's certainly what I believed when I started the assignment, due to what had been taught to me in high school.
As the university semester progressed I talked to quite a few people around campus, and inevitably the subject of "So what are you doing this semester" came up, and just about everyone I spoke to was very interested in the Japanese invasion plan topic. Again, their opinion overwhelmingly was that the Japanese were going to invade.
So by coming into the forums and throwing this question open I wanted to see what everyone believes was going to happen in 1942. Do people in Europe and the US think that Japan was going to invade Australia in 1942? What do other Australians who post in the forums think? Are there any Japanese members here who could voice their thoughts?