Sydney was a city totally unprepared for war. This is not Sydney as it is now, this is Sydney as it was then. There's trouble on its way, a rude awakening is just around the corner.
Spy Pilot Susumi Ito faced death, he believed, when ordered to overfly Pearl Harbor the morning after the attack, to assess damage. The Americans would be waiting for him, and angry. Luckily for him, his mother-sub captain received orders overnight to chase and sink the US Aircraft Carrier Enterprise. Ito thus avoided the risky reconnaissance flight.
Ideas like the Kaiten method, in which men aboard a torpedo smashed themselves against an enemy, were forerunners of the sophisticated midget subs that attacked Pearl Harbor and Sydney Harbour.
"They're all dead. All of them. After we attacked Sydney I got a transfer and left the submarine. 90% of the crew remained, while 10% were transferred. Those who remained in the submarine all got killed two months later. Those transferred were also killed aboard their next submarine. No one is still alive." - Susumi Ito
Japanese forces attacked Darwin and Northern Australia with the same task force used at Pearl Harbor just ten weeks earlier. The Japanese dropped more bombs in the Australian attack and sank more ships than they did at Pearl Harbor.
One of the three midgets to attack Sydney and the only one to fire its torpedoes and leave the harbour, M24 was fired on with a WW1 Vickers machine gun when finally sighted. No damage was sustained by the submarine. Of the two torpedoes eventually fired, neither hit their target, the American Cruiser USS Chicago. One torpedo sank an old wooden ferry killing 22 sailors. The other torpedo failed to arm and ran aground harmlessly without exploding.
What were they thinking? The attack strategy, planning, execution and the aftermath are explained in military terms and clearly illustrated. The many failures are graphically reconstructed with unprecedented accuracy and insight.
An inspired narrative draws on expert interviews plus brilliant CG visuals to take us back for a detailed understanding of what really did happen all those years ago. |
Planning a permanent exhibition to mark the Japanese attack on Sydney
Not even one mention of a European king or queen. This is our own exotic Australian history told in a way that will rival the celebrated immersive Atelier des Lumières (“Light Workshop”) in Paris. Stay tuned for further developments Spy Pilot Susumi Ito comments on suicide missions
This is what Mr Ito told me in 2011: "I agree with the view that they were brave young men. I want you to note that the crewmembers of the midget submarines were the very people who devised the attack method in which they could not expect to return alive. In the Japanese Navy, one who submitted a new idea was the first to carry it out and prove its merit. It was the Navy tradition. It was the case not only with the midget submarines but also with the ideas like the Kaiten method, in which men aboard a torpedo smashed themselves against an enemy. This method was an idea proposed by a young officer, who went off in a torpedo before anyone else. In regards with the midget submarines, it was also a young officer who proposed the idea. He trained himself on a midget submarine and he was one of those who went off when the method was first used in the Pearl Harbor attack, which inspired more and more men to volunteer for the submarine missions. It's not easy to do what those men did. They acted like so to protect Japan. In order for Japan, a country with low productivity, to fight a war against countries with a high productivity like Britain and the USA, they had no alternative. Without doubt, they acted with unthinkable bravery. If I had to do the same … I would have been ordered to do so. But would I be brave enough to put forward a proposal and carry it out? I don't know.
The two-man midget subs that attacked Sydney were a sophisticated secret weapon. Plans were for the crews to return safely, but few really expected they would.
Why Japan attacked Australia
The lead-up to WW2, the attacks on Northern Australia and Sydney Harbour in 1942 and the aftermath to the action explained in a seven minute clip. Click on any of the pics. 
Hear what Japanese spy-pilot Susumi Ito says about Japanese attitudes towards Australians at that time, and how that negative and erroneous view changed. In Japanese eyes, Australians became 'a noble-minded people'.
Two of the three midgets failed to successfully fire any torpedoes. Both two-man crews died, one by scuttling their trapped submarine with its demolition charge and one crew suicided as their crippled submarine was being destroyed by depth charges.
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"The Japanese view of Australia had been that it was a land of convicts, but that view changed completely to that Australians
were a noble-minded people, at least amongst those heard what happened." Spy Pilot Susumo Ito
were a noble-minded people, at least amongst those heard what happened." Spy Pilot Susumo Ito
A task force of 500 men in five huge I-class submarines assembled off the coast. Two carried a floatplane in a waterproof hangar. Three carried a midget submarine strapped to the rear deck.
The control room on the midget subs was terribly cramped. Two men worked in a confined space less than two metres long and two metres in diameter.
The first midget to enter the harbour collided with a channel marker, then backed up and became hopelessly tangled in the incomplete boom net. The bow rose to the surface.
"Yes, it's a submarine alright!", the Australians agreed after arguing for two hours, not wanting to believe it.
To avoid certain capture, the Japanese crew used the scuttling charge to destroy the submarine and themselves. And then the real trouble started.
Cmdr. Shane Moore RAN (retired) discusses the design problems of the battery-powered midgets and reveals why they were so deadly, particularly to the brave young crews who manned them.
Japanese Spy Pilot Susumo Ito, who flew multiple undetected reconnaissance missions over Sydney, gives a candid view from the other side in this conflict.
Uncovered archival footage provides a never-before-seen perspective, with expert eye-witness commentary.
Government-approved forensic dives on the off-limit wreck of the long-missing third midget submarine bring some closure to a long-standing mystery. Indisputable hard-evidence has excited marine archaeologists but does it go far enough?
The DVD brings together years of work in an engaging, entertaining and very re-watchable video.
The Japanese Type 97 Oxygen-powered torpedo was a game changer. Had it worked properly, and been on target, it might
have caused far more damage in Sydney than it did. Of six torpedoes in total carried by the midgets, two were fired. Two were stuck in their tube, and two blew up along with their submarine shortly after entering the harbour.
have caused far more damage in Sydney than it did. Of six torpedoes in total carried by the midgets, two were fired. Two were stuck in their tube, and two blew up along with their submarine shortly after entering the harbour.
