Darwin Spitfires: The Real Battle for Australia

Using war diaries, combat reports, and other official correspondence and records, this fast-paced narrative reconstructs in detail the prolonged air battle in defense of Darwin, Australia: the only sustained and intensive direct assault on the continent during the entirety of World War II. In 1943, a small band of inexperienced Australian and British fighter pilots fought against a formidably skilled and proficient Japanese opponent, and this account of the little-known campaigns in northwestern Australia discusses the 10 major conflicts that took place, plugging a huge gap in the literature of Australian military history. Because many Australians are unfamiliar with these attacks to the mainland territory, this enlightening account recovers an important aspect of this nation’s history.