The Australian Coastwatchers brought the tide of Japanese invasive successes to a shuddering halt, when two watchmen spotted and reported an impending invasion fleet of 5,500 Japanese troops. The Coastwatchers' observation was pivotal as it precipitated the Battle of the Coral Sea of May 1942, and stopped the invasion of Port Moresby. United States Admiral, William F. (Bull) Halsey would later state that “the Coastwatchers saved Guadacanal, and Guadacanal saved the South Pacific”.
In early 1941, ten months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Australian government set up the unpublished “Malay Barrier” and deployed a series of “Bird” defence forces on the islands north of Australia - the Sparrow Force on Timor, Gull Force on Ambon and Lark Force at Rabaul.
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