ABSTRACT
The most popular scenario was that the Japanese would not make a frontal attack at Darwin and expose themselves to what little defences there were, but would come ashore in seventy to a hundred amphibious craft somewhere between Wyndham and Daly River. They would then strike inland for a comparatively short distance to sever the vital lines of communication to Darwin, the railway and the north-south road. Once these were secured, the whole Darwin peninsula would be at their mercy and with long-range aircraft operating from one of the airbases in the area they could move down the existing lines of communication and fan out throughout Australia. Darwin, like the Western Australian ports that were bombed soon afterwards, was therefore considered expendable. Even the man who had conceived the idea of the Brisbane Line, General Sir Iven Mackay, was still in command of all land forces in Australia at the time of the raid.
