"Darwin was a battle Australia would rather forget, yet the Japanese attack on 19 February 1942 was the first foreign assault on Australian soil since 1788. The raid was bigger than the first wave that attacked Pearl Harbor. Hundreds of Australians were killed. The police station and police barracks were totally destroyed, the hospital wrecked, the administration building shattered. And the people of Darwin abandoned their town leaving it to looters and a few dogged defenders with single-shot .303 rifles and a few anti-aircraft batteries. 'In an awkward truth' Peter Grose tells the real story of the attack and takes us into the lives of the people who were there."--Provided by publisher.