Scorched Earth: Australia's Secret Plan for Total War Under Japanese Invasion in World War II

by Sue Rosen

In 1942 the threat of Japanese invasion hung over Australia. The men were fighting overseas, fighting on other fronts, and 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 Malaysia and elsewhere in Asia. From draining domestic water tanks to burning crops; arming special citizen squads to evacuating coastal towns, "Total war, total citizen collaboration" was the motto. Only 31 copies of these top secret plans were ever produced, and most were destroyed after the war because they were considered too frightening. Historians had been searching for them for decades, until Sue Rosen came across them unexpectedly in government files.

Genres: Nonfiction, War, World War II, History

288 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2017

Reviews

[Daniel Rex · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a WW2 historical document, this is interesting in a very specific way - it's a presentation of the NSW "Denial of Resources to the Enemy" report and updates released in April 1942 in urgent preparations for a possible Japanese invasion! There are chapter introductions providing brief context and then the raw material, summarised and presented in retro font, mostly fills the book.
Not a flowing read, in fact a bit tedious, but detailed and startling, going through details on the roads to cut (and the Mt Lindsay Highway to Tenterfield is specifically mentioned, and tank traps that I've personally witnessed were build in response to these plans!).
Through different chapters, the roads, boats, resources such as fuel and vehicles are outlined as things to deny the Enemy in every way possible. Specific to NSW, the decision seems to have been to protect from Newcastle to Wollongong, and hamper any progress or attempted outflanking moves by the Japanese attempted invasion from the north. No mention of "the Brisbane line" or "Scorched Earth" but the implication is there!
Fortunately the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway and Kokoda saved us!

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn’t what I expected. Mostly a reprint of the original plan, with a few paragraphs of context at the start of each chapter.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting! I was hoping this book would provide more discussion around the "scorched earth" documents, but the documents are still interesting in themselves. I can't help but wonder how different things would be in the present if Australia were invaded by another nation. The fear and paranoia around maps, for instance, would definitely be useless, with Google Maps at everyone's fingertips

[Sean Patrick Holland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately there isn't much book in this book. Had this been a history and interpretation it might have been quite interesting and enjoyable. But it is simply a copy and paste from the plan, which dives deep into overwhelming minutiae. Sadly a missed opportunity, which just comes off as a tad lazy.

But if you're looking for a how to guide on how to smash, burn, explode, gouge, score, trample, bury, adulterate, crush, sink and mangle various types of equipment, it's a total page turner.