Z Special Unit: Secret military commando group to be recognised by Australian War Memorial

ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) ^ | 20th June 2016 | Thomas Orti

[naturalman1975]

Z Special Unit, Australia's secret commando unit during World War II, will be recognised by the Australian War Memorial.

The special military unit, the existence of which was kept secret for decades, was made up of ordinary Australians who ended up being responsible for some of the most heroic acts in World War II.

They were not allowed to discuss their activities with anyone, until now, when they will be recognised in the public ceremony.

John Connor, a historian from the University of New South Wales, said the men in the unit were not necessarily professional soldiers before the war.

"But when Australia came into the war you needed the army expanded and you were calling on people from all walks of life to come in, and they may have had certain skills which enabled them to do these special tasks which they were required to do," he said.

Dr Connor said one of the most famous examples was an operation involving a ship called the Krait, where soldiers had to go behind Japanese lines by boat.

"It was an old battered wooden ship, so no-one would suspect this ship as it was sailing in towards Singapore," he said.

"It got in towards Singapore which was then occupied by the Japanese. People got off the Krait, they canoed into Singapore Harbour and they placed mines on the Japanese merchant ships who were in Singapore Harbour."

[naturalman1975]

Who were Z Special Unit?

For 30 years members of the World War II commando unit were sworn to secrecy

Their heroism during the war was unacknowledged

Over the course of the war MV Krait sank more shipping than any other ship

Only the military's top brass knew of the unit's existence

17 Z Special Unit graves are at Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore

*****

(Speaking as a military historian, I will correct this quoted information from the article - MV Krait sank more enemy shipping than any other Australian ship - the way this was written, it could be interpreted as a claim to a world record).

The article also may give the impression that all of this was secret until now - most of it was, in fact, declassified during the 1960s and 1970s, but many of the men involved still refused to talk about it because their original orders told them they would never be allowed to do so.

I also feel it important to make it clear that Z Special Unit was a multinational force - mostly Australian, but it also had British, Dutch (including Dutch East Indies - Indonesians), New Zealand, and Timorese members, and the US Navy provided covert insertions from submarines on a number of occasions as well.

[yarddog]

There really was something exceptional about our WWII fighting men. Some combination of personal strength, courage and durability came together about that time.

It wasn’t just our soldiers either. Our enemies were also both fierce and brilliant.

[Trod Upon]

Nations comprised of peoples were fighting for their own kith and kin. It is much easier to pull together as one nation and do what is necessary when it is comprised of one people and has one culture. I think the elites believe that watering Western nations down to multicultural cesspools will prevent this, but Rwanda and the Balkans demonstrated that it will just lead to smaller, more localized conflicts between different peoples. Every people needs its own homeland, and it will eventually fight to create one wherever it finds itself without one. Hence the Islamic no-go zones appearing all over Europe. Where peoples are too intermingled to allow this, one people will seek to dominate and assimilate or extinguish the others and create a homeland in that manner. Diversity isn't a nation's strength, it is its eventual undoing. Back to my point: the strength and drive of the WWII generation the world over was its distinct lack of diversity within each of the combatant nations.

[onyx]

PHOTO: Members of Z Special Unit at their base at East Arm, near Darwin. (Australian War Memorial P03924.002)

Dr Connor said one of the most famous examples was an operation involving a ship called the Krait, where soldiers had to go behind Japanese lines by boat.
"It was an old battered wooden ship, so no-one would suspect this ship as it was sailing in towards Singapore."

Australian Z Special Unit commando operatives on board the MV Krait during World War II.


Group portrait of British and Australian Army, Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy members of Z Special Unit on Morotai in September 1945.


Mervyn Fox, who served in WWII with the elite commando squad Z Special Unit, paid a visit to the unit's East Arm base.

= = = = = = = =




God bless these brave men and God hold dear the ones who never came home.





Twenty-three former Z unit members from Australia will attend the ceremony on August 1, as well as 18 widows.


But the Z Special Unit also had recruits from New Zealand, and eight families are travelling from there.


Dr Helliwell said she was still searching for more.

[packrat35]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Krait

[packrat35]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_Special_Unit

[Chode]

Attack Force Z, well done... WELL DONE INDEED!

[Oztrich Boy]

The article also may give the impression that all of this was secret until now - most of it was, in fact, declassified during the 1960s and 1970s,

Hard to keep it a secret after they made Krait a war memorial in 1964 and put this plaque on it.