Scorched Earth Read online

  ‘This is a treasure trove, a gold mine, a Christmas-every-day cornucopia of rich Australian history, particularly Second World War history. Arguments over the “Brisbane Line” are settled here. Now we have the detailed plans for the “scorched earth” tactic that might follow a Japanese invasion of Australia. We know that Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra were to be defended at all costs: too bad if you lived in Darwin, Perth, Adelaide or Hobart, still worse if you lived in Alice Springs or Townsville. Outside the big four cities, Australians could expect evacuation if all else looked like failing. The detail is mind-boggling: how to sabotage water supplies; how to wreck a car; a safe walking route from Grafton to Glen Innes; how to “trip” a tank with a crowbar. Read … and wonder!’

  PETER GROSE, AUTHOR OF AN AWKWARD TRUTH AND A VERY RUDE AWAKENING

  First published in 2017

  Copyright © Sue Rosen 2017

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

  Allen & Unwin

  83 Alexander Street

  Crows Nest NSW 2065

  Australia

  Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100

  Email: [email protected]

  Web: www.allenandunwin.com

  Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available from the National Library of Australia

  www.trove.nla.gov.au

  ISBN 9781925575149

  eISBN 9781760638009

  Set by Midland Typesetters, Australia

  Cover design: Lewis Csizmazia

  Cover photographs: The Australian Women's Weekly, cover, 14 March 1942; Japanese air force poster (detail of planes), Getty Images

  CONTENTS

  Preface

  Table of Organisation

  Timeline

  Abbreviations

  Introduction: 1942—Imperilled Australia!

  1 Total War—and Total Citizen Collaboration

  2 The Scorched Earth Code

  3 The General Citizen Code

  4 The General Industry Code

  5 Jetties and Wharves

  6 Watercraft

  7 Petroleum, Oil and Lubricant Supplies

  8 Motor Transport

  9 Motor Repair Equipment

  10 Coal Mines

  11 Public Utility Services

  12 Organisation of Scorched Earth Support Squads

  Notes

  Acknowledgements

  Photo Credits

  Commissioner E.H.F. Swain

  PREFACE

  One of my favourite places is the reading room of State Records New South Wales in western Sydney, where one can make the most unexpected and delightful discoveries. As a historian and heritage consultant, I’ve spent entire weeks there, poring over old files, photos, maps and surveyor’s sketches. In January 2012, I was researching the Murray River Red Gum forests of southern New South Wales for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service when I called up Forestry Commission file 3/5944. It turned out to have nothing to do with Red Gum forests, but instead detailed the ‘Wartime Activities of the Forestry Commission’ by a subcommittee headed by NSW Forestry Commissioner E.H.F. Swain. Glancing through the first few pages, I read phrases such as ‘Total War’ and ‘Battle Stations for All’ and ‘Defence in Depth’. As I read on, it dawned on me that I had found buried treasure. These somewhat tatty, yellowing papers detailed plans for implementing in New South Wales the ‘scorched earth’ policy adopted in 1942 by the Curtin government amid fears of an imminent Japanese invasion.

  To say I was distracted is an understatement—it was a wonderful find, the kind that sets your heart racing. I could not and did not let it go. As soon as I had time to spare, I revisited the file and began seeking references to ‘scorched earth’ elsewhere. Although, the Scorched Earth Code (or, as it became known, the ‘Denial of Resources to the Enemy’ policy) was a federal initiative, very little on the policy can be found in National Archives using ‘scorched earth’ as a search term.

  On closer investigation, I also realised that the Forestry file was incomplete, but I was fortunate to track down missing policy components, in State Records’ Premier’s Department files at 8/2147, via correspondence between Premier William McKell and Commissioner Swain. While the Scorched Earth Code presented here is complete, other related correspondence may exist in the archives of other departments such as the NSW Department of Main Roads, who were required to implement aspects of the policy.

  The original documents are foolscap, typewritten roneoed sheets. They set out the rationale for the Scorched Earth Code and detail the procedure for implementation. To help readers share the experience and excitement of encountering, secret wartime documents from a crisis point in our history, they have been rekeyed in Courier typeface, following the original styling and punctuation as closely as possible. The code is presented in order of priority as set out in the original document. To add context, I have included a timeline, and a brief introduction to each section.

  TIMELINE 1

  1941

  7 December: Japanese aircraft stage surprise attack on US Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, bringing the United States into World War II

  8 December: Immediately prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese troops land on the north-east coasts of Malaya and Thailand; United Kingdom declares war on Japan

  9 December: Australia declares war on Japan

  12 December: Australian men are called up for home defence service

  12 December: A small Australian force is sent to support Dutch and Portuguese troops on Timor, 500 km from Australia

  22 December: After the Japanese invasion of Luzon, US troops en route to the Philippines are diverted to Australia and arrive in Brisbane

  25 December: Hong Kong surrenders to the Japanese

  27 December: Australian Prime Minister John Curtin declares that Australia ‘looks to America’ for its defence

  1942

  January 1942: ABDA (American-British-Dutch-Australian) forces are ordered to hold the so-called Malay Barrier, from the Malay peninsula to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)

  10 January: Japanese occupy Kuala Lumpur

  19 January: British North Borneo surrenders to the Japanese

  23 January: Japanese seize Rabaul, the capital of Australian-controlled New Guinea

  24 January: War Cabinet begins discussing a ‘scorched earth’ policy in event of a Japanese invasion

  25 January: Army Minister Frank Forde orders military commanders in all threatened areas to implement a scorched earth policy if local forces are forced to withdraw

  27 January: NSW Forestry Commissioner E.H.F. Swain submits a ‘scorched earth’ proposal to NSW Premier William McKell

  30 January: British and Commonwealth forces withdraw from Malaya to Singapore. Japanese troops land in Dutch East Indies. Japanese planes shoot down a Qantas flying boat en route from Darwin to Timor.

  31 January: The Australian workforce is mobilised under Manpower Regulations, which conscript people to work in particular industries and occupations to assist the war effort

  1 February: Australian and Dutch troops are captured by Japanese forces on Ambon, Dutch East Indies

  3 February: Japanese aircraft make their first raid on Port Moresby

  15 February: Allied forces
in Singapore surrender to the Japanese; almost 15,000 Australians, mostly from 8th Division, are taken prisoner

  16 February: Curtin refers to the coming ‘Battle of Australia’. The Scorched Earth subcommittee of the NSW State War Effort Co-ordination Committee meets for the first time in Sydney under Swain’s chairmanship

  17 February: Curtin defies British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and stops Australian troops returning from the Middle East from being diverted to Burma

  19 February: Japanese planes bomb Darwin; official death toll 243. Invasion is thought to be imminent. Between this date and November 1943, northern Australia is subjected to another 63 air raids, though most cause minimal or no damage

  20–24 February: Japanese invade Timor

  27 February: The NSW Scorched Earth subcommittee presents its initial report; details are to be refined over the next few weeks by industry and military experts

  3 March: Japanese aircraft bomb Broome; 70–100 killed, 40 injured

  9 March: Java surrenders to the Japanese

  16 March: US General Douglas MacArthur, having fled the Philippines, arrives in Australia; one month later, MacArthur is formally appointed Supreme Allied Commander South-West Pacific Area. Some Australians find the US presence reassuring; others fear it will make Australia more of a target

  6 April: The US 41st Infantry Division arrives in Australia

  16 April: The NSW Scorched Earth subcommittee awaits military endorsement of draft denial codes for civilians and industry

  4–8 May: The Battle of the Coral Sea prevents a Japanese landing at Port Moresby

  29 May: At 3 am, a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft circles Sydney Harbour

  31 May: Japanese mini-subs enter Sydney Harbour and are fired on by USS Chicago; 21 people are killed when a ferry is torpedoed at Circular Quay

  4–7 June: The US cripples Japanese naval power in the Battle of Midway, destroying four of Japan’s six remaining aircraft carriers

  8 June: Suburbs of Sydney and Newcastle are shelled by Japanese submarines

  30 July: The War Cabinet issues a formal directive to guide planning for total denial of resources to the enemy and focusing on northern Australia

  August 1942–February 1943: US and Japanese forces struggle on Guadalcanal; for the Japanese, this fight supersedes a planned attack on Port Moresby

  17–25 September: Having reached ridges within sight of Port Moresby, Japanese forces on the Kokoda Trail are ordered to withdraw to New Guinea’s north coast

  23 November: The NSW government endorses a final Scorched Earth Code and associated policy documents.

  1943

  11 June: Curtin announces that Australia is no longer at risk of invasion

  ABBREVIATIONS

  AASC Australian Army Service Corps

  ARP Air Raid Precautions

  BIPOD Bulk Issue Petrol and Oil Depot

  Capt. Captain

  CCC Citizen [also Civil] Collaboration Column

  CCCC Committee of Citizen Collaboration Columns

  Col. Colonel

  Comds Commands

  COR Commonwealth Oil Refinery

  CSR Co. Colonial Sugar Refinery Company

  E in C Engineer in Chief

  HMA His Majesty’s Australian

  HP horsepower

  HQ headquarters

  I&SCSN Co. Illawarra & South Coast Steamship Navigation Company

  Lt lieutenant

  L of C area Line of Communication area, a military district

  NCSN Co. North Coast Steamship Navigation Company

  NES National Emergency Services

  NRMA National Roads and Motorists’ Association

  Ops operations

  PMG Postmaster-General, Postmaster-General’s Department

  POL petroleum, oil, lubricants

  PWD Public Works Department

  QM quartermaster

  RAC(A) Royal Automobile Club (of Australia)

  RAE Royal Australian Engineers

  RAN Royal Australian Navy

  SESS Scorched Earth Support Squad

  SO staff officer

  SWECC State War Effort Co-ordination Committee

  VDC Volunteer Defence Corps

  The devastating Japanese attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941 marked the start of a long-anticipated conflict in the greater Pacific. The United States declared war on Japan; its allies Great Britain and Australia soon followed suit. As Japanese forces swept through Malaya and into the Philippines and Indonesia (then the Dutch East Indies), fears grew that they would also invade Australia.1 Although Japanese commanders did discuss such a move in early 1942, they decided to focus first on securing the resource-rich islands to Australia’s north and then to isolate Australia by capturing New Caledonia, Fiji and other islands in the Pacific.

  Australians, of course, were not privy to Japanese plans. To them, an invasion appeared all too likely. Given the stunning speed of Japanese advances, failing to prepare for an invasion would have been foolish. That belief was reinforced when Japan seized the British naval bastion of Singapore in February 1942, sinking two British warships and capturing 118,000 British, Indian and Australian troops. Over the next several months, fears of invasion surged as Japanese aircraft bombed Darwin, Broome and Townsville, mini-subs entered Sydney Harbour, and the eastern suburbs of Sydney and Newcastle were shelled by submarines lying offshore. The immense length of Australia’s coastline and the fact that most of the country’s troops were serving overseas convinced many people that if an invasion was indeed being planned, preventing it would be impossible.

  Wherever the Japanese invaded Asia, they plundered local resources from forests to oil fields and used locals and captured troops as slave labour. The Curtin government was determined that this would never happen in Australia. It advocated a scorched earth policy that would deprive the enemy of every resource that might aid its war effort. The initial focus was on military assets, such as air strips, munitions dumps and fuel depots, but the policy was soon extended to civil resources. By early 1942, the government had asked the states to draw up ‘Scorched Earth’ schemes (the name was later toned down to ‘Denial of Resources to the Enemy’) to come into effect in the event of an invasion.2 These plans did not signal defeatism. John Curtin assured state Premiers they were ‘part of the general defence scheme and are not in any way inconsistent with the government’s resolve to defend Australia to the limit of our capacity’.3

  In making their preparations, the states were to keep in mind that—as the New South Wales code put it—‘There is plenty of Australia from which we could evacuate without danger of defeat … There are places in Australia from which we must not retreat. These are Sydney and Newcastle, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra.’ Each state was divided into rural areas that could be abandoned to an advancing enemy, and urban and industrial centres to be held at all costs. If rural and remote areas were attacked or occupied, their residents would evacuate in stages to ever larger towns. In their wake, ‘a TOTAL denial policy will be implemented, i.e., the complete and total removal or destruction of everything likely to maintain or assist the enemy in his operations’. In the ‘fortress’ cities, however, there would be no evacuation. Here, ‘a PARTIAL denial policy will be implemented, i.e., certain essential services to enable the population to live will be left intact, together with food supplies. All other services, utilities, vehicles, materials and everything likely to be of assistance to the enemy in his operations will be removed to a safe area or totally destroyed.’4 Denial was not to be compromised by a desire to recover resources later, since the enemy ‘will almost certainly himself destroy anything of value in his retreat’.5

  All states prepared evacuation and denial plans, but the NSW Code was the first and the most comprehensive. This was partly because the state held almost half the country’s population,6 its largest harbour and many of its most valuable resources—and partly because of the energy of Premier William McKell
and his Scorched Earth point man, E.H.F. (Harold) Swain. In late January 1942, Swain, the state Forestry Commissioner, submitted to McKell a document titled ‘Total War! … And Total Citizen Collaboration’ (reproduced in Chapter 1). Impressed, McKell asked Swain to establish and chair a subcommittee of the NSW State War Effort Co-ordination Committee; its job would be to plan a scorched earth policy for the state in line with the Commonwealth’s recent directive.7 The subcommittee had two other members: Police Inspector A.H. Standen, and Colonel J.J.L. McCall, representing the Base Commandant, Eastern Command.8 Their first meetings were held on 16 and 17 February 1942.

  On 19 February, Darwin was attacked by 188 Japanese aircraft. The official death count was 243, though it was almost certainly higher than that.9 It was widely believed that an invasion of northern Australia was only weeks away, and that an invasion of the east coast would follow. Worried citizens began preparing for a fight. The Volunteer Defence Corps, a part-time ‘home guard’ force, extended membership to men in reserved occupations, who had previously been exempt or barred from military enlistment. By December 1942, the VDC had 100,000 men. They focused on their local areas, protecting key installations and preparing roadblocks. They trained in marksmanship and guerrilla tactics, often with improvised weapons. Civilians around the country acted as volunteer air observers and practised air raid precautions. In Ku-ring-gai shire, north of Sydney, over a thousand residents formed a ‘People’s Army’ and trained in guerrilla tactics. The popular novelist Ion Idriess, a World War I veteran and an early advocate of such training, wrote a series of manuals called The Australian Guerrilla, with titles like Shoot to Kill, Guerrilla Tactics and Trapping the Jap.10

  Impelled by the mounting public alarm, Swain’s subcommittee completed a basic Scorched Earth Code (reproduced as Chapter 2) in just six weeks. Its aims were:

  • To prevent the enemy living on the country, and using our property against us.

  • To force him to use his own precious shipping. To deplete his own country of supplies, to sustain and maintain his own armies.