Okay, I saw "Attack Force Z" on television for about the nth time on TV last night. In the credits, the production company thanks the members of the Z Force veterans organization. Does anyone here know anything about the REAL Z Force? Are there any books in publication about them? Thanks.
I looked around for info about "Z force" and actually came up with something. Z force i think was an australian special forces group i think. Although i didn't read much. Go to http://www.gunplot.net/ and you'll find a verticle scroll bar on the left. There will be topics in a bold green and under the topics are links in white. Scroll aways down to the topic in green about WW2. It'll say WW2 section. then there will be some white links under the topic. The Z force link is there just look for it [This message has been edited by Ron (edited 07 January 2001).]
There seems to be about 6 pages of info there. I printed them out and will go over them at my leisure. Many Thanks!!! Ed Bohne
Going to be really pedantic here, everyone . . There was of course another Force Z - The Capital Ships 'Prince of Wales' and 'Repulse', thrown away to Japanese air attack off Singapore on December 10th, 1941. To find out more, there's a really fascinating website ; - www.forcez-survivors.org.uk Take a look !
Just shows what different things mean to different nations ! I'd be interested to know something of the background/actions etc of 'your' Force Z ..
I also only knew of the British Force Z that was slightly shot up by the Japanese. What the devil was it thinking it was doing anyway? Sailing to Tokyo to do some gunboat diplomacy? Seems a little like it anyway.
Books have been written about this ( eg 'The Hunting of Force Z' by Richard Hough ) but my knowledge is sketchy. I do know that it was a classic British 'c*ck-up' and a cause of tremendous national humiliation at the time. Two fine ships and many brave men's lives squandered to Japanese airpower. I'd still like to know about the 'other' Force Z ! I think I saw the movie on TV some years ago ( was it the one with, who ? Jan-Michael Vincent or someone ? )
I believe the British "Z" Force was trying to intercept a reported invasion force heading for Singapore. But before they could get close, land based planes took them out. Even though Pearl Harbor had just happened anti-aircraft weapons were grossly insufficient...and fighter cover wasn't used yet...(and i doubt they would have been able to get it anyway) They sortied because they were threatened by invasion and force Z was the only force they had to counter it. It was a huge risk for them to try and avoid being observed and intercept the enemy force. To bad they were spotted...i wonder what would have happened if they made it? [ 01 July 2002, 01:35 PM: Message edited by: Ron ]
Nothing because the invasion force had landed before they even knew war had broken out. The landings in Malaya happened even earlier, or at least not much later, than the attack on Pearl Harbour.
Well gents-Force Z was basically the equivalent of Delta Force. Anyway, the blokes from Force Z were trying to get behind Japanese lines and sabotage communications and military buildup. They were basically trained to expend all ammunition and then get extracted by friendly forces. The other Force Z was a crying shame.
Got it ! I've just looked at the 'Gunplot' website referred to above. Fascinating stuff. The Australian Z Force is very little known in the UK.
If I am not mistaken, Z Force was not solely Australian, but I'm not certain if it was British or Americans who also took part in it. I do know that elements of the SBS operated in the Pacific Theatre. BTW there was also a Television series about this topic, Australian of course
I guess I should have read the article first: "Although most of its members were Australian, there were also British, New Zealanders, Dutch, French, Malays, Canadians, Americans, Indonesians and Chinese"
