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Scorched earth : Australia's secret plan for total war under Japanese invasion in World War II / edited by Sue Rosen.

Scorched earth : Australia's secret plan for total war under Japanese invasion in World War II / edited by Sue Rosen.
Catalogue Information
Field name Details
ISBN 9781925575149 (paperback)
1925575144
Title Scorched earth : Australia's secret plan for total war under Japanese invasion in World War II / edited by Sue Rosen.
Other title Australia's secret plan for total war under Japanese invasion in World War II
Australia's secret plan for total war under Japanese invasion in World War Two
Publisher and/or associated date/s Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2017.
©2017
Description xix, 284 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), maps, portrait, facsimiles ; 24 cm.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary In 1942 the threat of Japanese invasion hung over Australia. The men were away overseas, fighting on other fronts, and civilians were left unprotected at home. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Japanese advance south, Prime Minister Curtin ordered state governments to prepare. From January 1942, a team frantically pulled together secret plans for a ‘scorched earth’ strategy. The goal was to prevent the Japanese from seizing resources for their war machine as they landed, and capturing Australians as slaves as they had done in Malaya and elsewhere in Asia. From draining domestic water tanks to sinking dinghies and burning crops, from training special citizen squads to evacuating coastal towns, ‘Total war, total citizen collaboration’ was the motto. Today these plans vividly evoke the fraught atmosphere of the year Australia was threatened with invasion. After the war these top secret plans were forgotten. This is the first time they have ever been made public.
Subjects Military campaigns
Military planning -- Australia
Australia -- History, Military -- 1939-1945
Australia -- Politics and government -- 1939-1945
Other Authors &/or Associated Persons Rosen, Sue, 1956 - (editor.)
Call number 2017.226
Catalogue Information 100068188 Beginning of record . Catalogue Information 100068188 Top of page .
Item Information
Barcode Shelf Location Collection Volume Ref. Status Due Date
A0088063X 2017.226
General Collection   . Available to Museum Staff .  
. Catalogue Record 100068188 ItemInfo Beginning of record . Catalogue Record 100068188 ItemInfo Top of page .