A great book covering two lesser known covert operations in the South West Pacific, detailing the build up, people involved as well as the actual operation.
An interesting look into special ops when covert and special operations were in their infancy.
Its good to see some of the previously classified operations are coming out into the public world for everyone to see the bravery of the people involved.

Gavin Mortimer https://gavinmortimer.com is a historian and the author of more than 15 books. The book Z Special Unit: The Elite Allied World War II Guerrilla Force was published in 2022.

I received an ARC of this book through https://www.netgalley.com with the expectation of delivering a fair and honest review. I categorize this book as G.

In this book Mortimer tells the story of the SOE in Australia during WWII. This Z Special Unit has not appeared often in the annals of WWII. For two years the unit’s teams made clandestine attacks on Japanese shipping by canoe. They were landed by boat or parachuted onto islands behind the lines to lead locals against the Japanese. Their lethal adversaries were not just the Japanese but the jungle itself. Many of their missions, both successful and unsuccessful, are described.

I enjoyed the 7 hours I spent reading this 361-page volume of WWII history. If you are interested in the Pacific Theater of Operations during WWII, particularly special operation units, you will enjoy this book. The chosen cover art is simple, but does depict the unit well. I give this novel a rating of 4 out of 5.

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This was a fascinating book on one of the lesser known commando units of World War 2. I thoroughly enjoyed the glimpses of each of the men mentioned in this book.

A little-known Special Forces unit born in England but based in Australia, is totally enthralling to the reader who is after the real detail of SF operations and not the film version that most of us see. To have a concept that sprang from those military personnel who were in Singapore when the Japanese invasion occurred in late 1941 and early 42 that evolved into the first successful attack on Japanese shipping with Singapore harbour later in 1942, is a story that could not have been envisaged by a fictional writer. The individuals involved came from all walks of life, some with extensive military connections others drafted from civilian life, however, they all passed exhaustive combat training and gave their all to the Mission. To think that these men could devise a scheme that would culminate in then entering Singapore Harbour in kayaks, attaching limpet mines to the sides of ships under the noses of the Japanese is almost beyond belief. The Japanese could not believe it either especially as the members of Z-Force all escaped and eventually returned to Australia.
The second, similar Z-Force operation in 1945 was conceived using an innovative one-man submersible boat for each of the infiltrators was doomed from the beginning due to equipment failures, bad luck and the necessity to open fire on a Japanese patrol boat that caused the main part of the Mission to be called off. After a series of mishaps, betrayal by Indonesian natives, the whole force of over 20 men were killed or captured with those captured being executed.
A grim but amazing book that describes a real-life SF action that beat any fictional story.

Elite Guerilla Force

An exciting, breathtaking, story of a special force of Guerilla fighters under command of the British S.O.E. led by courageous men such as Ivan Lyon, Donald Davidson and Francis Chester among others.

This group's 81 operations took them from dangerous Pacific seas facing the fierce Japanese to the swamps of Borneo and the Jungles of New Guinea. They faced such perils as man eating crocodiles, venomous snakes, deadly tropical diseases and natives with poison darts. If caught by the enemy the Z troop soldiers often had their heads cut off.

Some of the more prominent attempted operations were Jaywick, Rimau, and Python. Jaywick was a success the other two not so much. In the Rimau operation it never took place and none of the operatives were recovered. Many operations were successful and other's were not. Men were captured, killed and lost but a few escaped.

I was interested in the metal submersible canoes they called "Black Beauties". In these canoes the operator used water bottles to breath and could place mines on the ships while underwater.

Another interesting story I found was when the Semut operation recruited the Dayaks who terrorized the Japanese with blow darts and cut off their heads if caught to fight with them against the Japanese. They offered the natives medical care and that insured their loyalty to the Z troop.

These were some of the most unlikely soldiers with great courage and fortitude who wished to win the war for the allies. The whole book was an interesting era in history and keep me reading which usually does not happen with a nonfiction book. It was a great read and I learned so much. I would recommend this book.

Thanks to Gavin Mortimer for researching and writing a great book, to Osprey Publishing for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me to read and review.

I found this book to be informative with details of the Allied Special Forces Unit which revealed just how brutal war can be. I received an e-book from NetGalley in return for an unbiased review.

Free ARC from Net Galley

As retired special forces I thought I knew what this was but this was new material for me. Very, very well done with the level of detail, Not only did they fight the enemy but they also had to fight the land much like we did in Afghanistan. I am very confident you will like this book