T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
planes. From Darwin the party was flown inland to entrain for Mel-
bourne.
Air Order of Battle in Australia
The prospect General MacArthur faced in Australia was none too
heartening. Japanese conquest of the Netherlands East Indies had
placed enemy bombers within easy range of northwestern Australia,
where Darwin had been under recurrent attack for almost a month.
The occupation of Rabaul in January had been followed by air
attacks on Australian posts along the upper coast of eastern New
Guinea, and there on the night of 7/8 March Japanese landing parties
had moved ashore to occupy Lae and Salamaua on the Huon Gulf.
This move brought the enemy within 2 0 0 miles by air of Port
Moresby, chief Australian outpost in New Guinea, which had experi-
enced its first air attack early in February and would soon be the
victim of repeated raids staged through Lae and Salamaua. Fortu-
nately, the land approaches to Port Moresby were guarded by well-
nigh impenetrable jungles and the alpine reaches of the Owen Stanley
Mountains. Even so, when the enemy infantry pushed inland toward
the Australian mining center of Wau, 150miles above Port Moresby,
some saw in the move a step toward Port Moresby itself. Allied intel-
ligence dismissed the idea, but no one discounted the serious threat
of an amphibious assault designed to give the Japanese complete con-
trol of New Guinea.
A conquest of New Guinea would have removed the last land
barrier guarding the northern approaches to Australia. Though the
Japanese plan of war had not included an invasion of Australia,'*
Allied planners now were forced to accept such an eventuality as not
only possible but even perhaps probable. Early in March, the Austra-
lian chiefs of staff concluded that an attempt on Port Moresby might
be expected before the end of the month and an effort to occupy
Darwin early in April.13 In Washington one, though not all, of the
advisory committees of the Combined Chiefs of Staff felt that the
enemy might attempt a t least the occupation of such points on
the mainland as Darwin, Wyndham, and perhaps Town~ville.'~And so
once again, as so frequently during that winter and spring, the ques-
tion of a reallocation of forces had come under consideration. As
stated by the joint planners, there were three choices: ( I ) to send
strong reinforcements to the Pacific at the cost of sacrificing the hope
408