S.R.D. Technical Handbook: Weapons and Equipment of Z Special Unit

By C A Brown

Popularly known today as "Z Special Unit", or by the wartime cover names of Inter-Allied Services Department and Services Reconnaissance Department, Special Operations Australia, was the Special Operations section of the US-led Allied Intelligence Bureau in the Pacific Theatre during the Second World War. SOA conducted special and field intelligence operations into the Japanese-held areas to Australia's north. Some of these operations were stunning successes while others were tragic failures. Throughout the War in the Pacific, the specially-selected operatives of SOA proved themselves many times over on operations in the jungles and on the beaches of modern-day Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. The "Z" Men were the best of the best, an elite force, prepared by some of the toughest training available and backed up by the best technology of the day. This book reproduces the SRD Technical Handbook, which was a top secret equipment supply catalogue published for internal use within SRD in February, 1945. While many of the items in the handbook are British SOE "special stores" shipped over from London, a great deal of developmental and experimental work was done by SRD's Technical Directorate at its technical research station at Mount Martha on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. A flick through these pages will show unusual items such as folding midget motorbikes, silenced pistols and machine guns, knuckle-knives, mini-submarines, booby trap devices and more. In fact, it contains just about everything a WWII-era commando or a spy required to successfully complete a secret mission. Lavishly illustrated with original wartime photographs, plans and diagrams, many never before seen publicly, the S.R.D. Technical Handbook is timely evidence that mankind is never as ingenious as he is during time of war.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1478175745
• ISBN13: 9781478175742
• Release Date: July 2012
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 294 Pages
• Weight: 1.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 0.7" x 7.0"