The Sinking of the Prince of Wales & Repulse (1941-The End Of The Battleship Era) PDF
Preview The Sinking of the Prince of Wales & Repulse (1941-The End Of The Battleship Era)
"In all the war, I never received a more direct shock...
As I turned over and twisted in bed the full horror of the news sank in upon me.
There were no British or American ships in the Indian Ocean or the Pacific except the American survivors of Pearl Harbor, who were hastening back to California.
Across this vast expanse of waters, Japan was supreme, and we everywhere were weak and naked''.
Winston Churchill - December 1941.
On Wednesday 10th December 1941, the third day of the war with Japan, two formidable and battle tested Royal Navy warships known as 'Force Z' were attacked and sunk in only a few hours while cruising off the Malayan Coast in the waters of the South China Sea. They were operating without any kind of Air Support (despite objections by both the Australian and British Air Staff which the RN Fleet Commander overruled as being unnecessary) and with a minimal RN/RAN escort group present of 4 lightly armed Destroyers.
They were detected and trailed by a Japanese Submarine and afterwards by a long range Japanese Reconisance Aircraft, neither of whom Force Z had any knowledge of, before a well planned air attack was undertaken by two separate waves of Japanese Naval and Army Air Force Twin Engined Torpedo and level Bombers from their bases in Indochina (now Vietnam). By the time that the RN Fleet had decided to request Australian Fighters as escort from the Airfields in Singapore it was already too late. 840 Officers and Ratings failed to survive the loss of both Warships, some of whom earlier that same year were celebrating their role in sinking the KMS Bismarck. In comparison Japanese Naval Losses were only 18 killed.
Taking full advantage of British Second World War documents as well as accessing the Japanese Official History and associated records held in Tokyo, the authors recreate for the reader not only what happened on that sunny morning off Malaya, but also what it was like for the seamen and airmen involved. They also comprehensively dispose of several long standing myths to explain what happened in those confused hours, and address the uncertainty, controversy and strong emotions that surround the sinkings to this day.
Originally published 1977 under the title of Battleship, this is the 2014 Expanded Paperback reissue as a digital version by Pen & Sword who have recently reissued all of this authors earlier and later books as expanded versions (usually meaning more photographs in these then in the original releases).
Illustrated with 32 pictures.
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