ABSTRACT
The Japanese raid on Darwin on Thursday 19 February 1942 showed many Australians in their worst light. It was not after all, merely a few bombs dropped on a country town, but a major bombardment of an important Allied base that left almost 250 people dead, and which was carried out by the same task force that only weeks before had devastated Pearl Harbour. The chapter deals with many people and their experiences on the day of the Japanese bombing. One of them was Judge Thomas Wells, whose office was one of the buildings that had been bombed. Judge Wells stayed at his office for only ten minutes, arranging for important records to be locked up and his next call was to the police station where he found what we called 'a certain disorganisation', which others described as total confusion.
