The shelling of Port Gregory took place on 28 January 1943 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The attack was conducted by the Japanese submarine ''I-165'', under the command of Lieutenant Commander Tatenosuke Tosu, as a part of attempts to divert Allied attention away from the evacuation of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands. None of the 10 shells fired at

Port Gregory Gregory (Port Gregory until 1967) is a small town and fishing port located northwest of the mouth of the Hutt River, in the Mid West region of Western Australia. At the 2016 census, Gregory had a population of 64 in 83 dwellings. Most of the ...

caused any damage, and the attack was not noticed by the Allied naval authorities until a radio signal sent by Tosu was intercepted and decoded a week later.

Purpose

During the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

Japanese submarines occasionally operated off

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. In early 1943, the major Japanese headquarters directed their forces to make small attacks on Allied positions, in an attempt to divert attention away from the planned evacuation of Guadalcanal,

Operation Ke was the largely successful withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, concluding the Guadalcanal Campaign of . The operation took place between 14 January and 7 February 1943, and involved both Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial ...

. In mid-January, the commander of the Japanese Southwest Area Fleet ordered ''I-165'' to attack Allied shipping off north-western Australia. As part of the fleet's contribution to diversionary operations, ''I-165'' was also directed to bombard a coastal Australian town. It is likely that the busy port of

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

was the original target for the bombardment. ''I-165'' sailed from

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

in the occupied

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

on 21 January 1943. (Another Japanese submarine, ''I-166'', was ordered to conduct a similar mission against the

Cocos Islands ) , anthem = "''Advance Australia Fair''" , song_type = , song = , image_map = Australia on the globe (Cocos (Keeling) Islands special) (Southeast Asia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands , map_caption = ...

The attack

On the evening of 27 January, ''I-165'', arrived just north of Geraldton. While preparing for the attack, the crew of ''I-165'' sighted three aircraft and a surface vessel that Tosu believed was a destroyer. Consequently, Tosu decided to postpone the bombardment, and to withdraw further north, temporarily. While running on the surface, the submarine passed within of what was identified as a destroyer, without being noticed. The following evening, just after midnight, ''I-165'' surfaced off

. From a range of , her crew fired about 10 rounds from the submarine's 100 mm (3.9-inch) Type 88 deck gun, at a derelict crayfish cannery, which they had misidentified as an ammunition factory. None of the shells caused any damage. Tosu did not attempt to observe the results of the bombardment, and resumed patrolling off the coast of Western Australia. Two Australian coastwatchers stationed near Port Gregory noticed gunfire at night on 28 January, but neither observed any shells landing. Allied naval authorities only learned of the attack when the submarine's battle report radio signal was intercepted and decoded a week later. ''I-165'' returned to Surabaya on 16 February without having sunk any Allied ships during her patrol. Australian naval historian David Stevens noted that, in terms of its objective as a diversion, the bombardment was "an abject failure". Within Allied naval circles, it was regarded as a "graphic example of the poor planning and inadequate doctrine so common in the Japanese submarine force". The attack on Port Gregory was one of three submarine shellings on Australian towns and cities, the other two being the attacks on

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in June 1942.

References

Citations

Works consulted

*{{cite journal, last1=Stevens, first1=David, title=Forgotten assault, journal=Wartime, date=2002, issue=18, pages=46–47, issn=1328-2727 Conflicts in 1943 1943 in Australia

Battles and conflicts without fatalities 1940s in Western Australia