Australia & France.

[Lou Girardin]

Go for a walk up Queen Street in Auckland. The invasion started in the late 90's and continues today.

I will never admire the French. They are the only nation to have made a military attack on New Zealand during my lifetime.

And do tell us which branch of the French military did this. And exactly which NZ target was hit.

[The_Dover]

I think he's referring to ringpiece and when the frogs decided to give the environmental terrorists a taste of their own.

[Lou Girardin]

The RN could , if it had had to, have dealt with the Japanese fleet. It would have taken unthinkable losses in ships and men, but it wasn't really needed elsewhere . True , the other German battleships remained, and the Italians were not totally knocked out. But the RN had a lot of battleships. And the main naval action in western waters by then was the fight against E boats and U boats, which did not need capital ships. If Japan ever intended its main war aim to be an Australian invasion, it would not have waited so long.

I don't think so. They lost the Repulse and the Prince of Wales without be able to fire a shot at Japanese ships. The Pacific war was a war of carriers, the Poms carriers were too small, too few and their aircraft were either obsolete (Swordfish) or lacked range and payload. Their only advantage was armoured flight decks which protected them against kamikaze attacks later in the war.
They still needed American CAP though.
They woyuld have been cleaned out in the first engagement

[Big Dave]

Ixion, the iron ore and coal reserves and the shipyards at wyalla and various steelworks were on the Japanes acquisition agenda. Phase 2.

[Big Dave]

give the environmental terrorists a taste of their own.

How many people have Greenpeace murdered?

[The_Dover]

They use illegal and dangerous practices against any organisation they disagree with.

A perfect example of ringpiece stupidity and ignorance was the Brent Spar debacle in the North Sea a few years back. I have no respect for their tactics or the bent truth they feed to ignorant hippies.

I don't think any of us really want to damage the environment but those goons are nothing but extremists and unwashed tree huggers.

[Big Dave]

They use illegal and dangerous practices against any organisation they disagree with.

A perfect example of ringpiece stupidity and ignorance was the Brent Spar debacle in the North Sea a few years back. I have no respect for their tactics or the bent truth they feed to ignorant hippies.

I don't think any of us really want to damage the environment but those goons are nothing but extremists and unwashed tree huggers.

Yeah - extremism is extremism - but consider they are also the yin to the oil companies legions of 'legal people' yang.

[Ixion]

I don't think so. They lost the Repulse and the Prince of Wales without be able to fire a shot at Japanese ships. The Pacific war was a war of carriers, the Poms carriers were too small, too few and their aircraft were either obsolete (Swordfish) or lacked range and payload. T,,
They woyuld have been cleaned out in the first engagement

Arguable either way I'll grant. However PoW and Repulse went down to land based planes. Scenario was defense of Australia and NZ, way beyond range of any Jap land based plane (for the populated areas of Australia.)

PoW and Repulse were also a total cockup, but the RN is always good at learning quickly when they do stuff up. They wouldn't make that mistake twice.

Pacific war may have been a carrier war (though Leyte Gulf says "yeah, right"). Because there were great distances with no significant objective to focus action (other than Hawaii, speial case).When there was such a focal point (eg Leyte Gulf) the battleships gave a good account of themselves.

Dealing with an invasion attempt would not be a carrier war. It would be focused on the Australian and NZ littorals. And it would be the Japs who were in danger of land based air attacks. Mussolini's argument. Don't need carriers
when you've got a carrier the size of the Australian continent. And the Japs obviously can't stand out to sea if they're trying to invade.

More pertinently, the Jap battleships were bigger and better than the Brit ones . Bigger even than HMS Vanguard. It would have been expensive and bloody, but the RN have never lacked guts, and have a tradition of fighting and winning as the underdog (The French and Spanish ships at Trafalger were much bigger, better and more numerous than the Brits. We had Nelson).

My own opinion (and obviously, in such a subject, Quot hominae, tot sententiae), if the Japs had managed to overcome the logistics issues (personally, don't think they could), the RN would have beaten them. Though the butchers bill would have been the biggest they ever paid.

Jolly glad the matter never had to be tested. But if it had been , I don't think the Navy would have failed us.

[Lou Girardin]

Leyte gulf was a close run thing due to Spruance's desire for glory and abandoning the invasion force to chase non-existant battleships. The US destoyers scared the Japs enough for them to withdraw and the day was saved.
But all the US invasions during the island hopping campaign were under naval air cover. The USAF carried out strategic missions against the Japanese home islands.
It was significant that the unsinkable Yamato was sunk in under 2 hours by carrier aircraft.

[oldrider]

Jolly glad the matter never had to be tested. But if it had been , I don't think the Navy would have failed us.

Had they failed I (and my family) would have tasted their steel bayonets (and other cruelties) as had many within their areas of occupation, as history has told us.

"You" may never have got to read or write or discuss the subject but "I" would have experienced it!

That is why I feel so strongly in my gratitude towards the American (and the others) forces who drove the Japanese away from our shores. (real or otherwise)

Politics aside the American service personnel around the world who lay down their lives for our freedom deserve more appreciation than this country gives them.(real or otherwise)

Personally I think Hollywood does the biggest disservice to the American people and they are the most destructive of all the "enemies of the American state"! (real or otherwise.)

I have enjoyed reading everybody's inputs and opinions expressed on this thread, it's great that we are free to do so.

Thank you KB. Cheers John.