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The RAF's dam buster raid of May 16th and 17th, 1943 is one of the most famous stories of the Second World War. The author narrates its planning, dramatic execution and aftermath and draws on a superb selection of color and black and white photographs. He lists the Lancasters and crews that flew in the raid, and what became of them.
National Bestseller Foreword by Peter Mansbridge “Barris tells the jaw-dropping story of a night that changed the war.” —The Globe and Mail It was a night that changed the Second World War. The secret air raid against the hydroelectric dams of Germany’s Ruhr River took years to plan, involved an untried bomb and included the best aircrewmen RAF Bomber Command could muster—many of them Canadian. The attack marked the first time the Allies tactically took the war inside Nazi Germany. It was a military operation that became legendary. On May 16, 1943, nineteen Lancaster bombers carrying 133 airmen took off on a night sortie code-named Operation Chastise. Hand-picked and specially trained, the Lancaster crews flew at treetop level to the industrial heartland of the Third Reich and their targets—the Ruhr River dams, whose massive water reservoirs powered Nazi Germany’s military-industrial complex. Each Lancaster carried an explosive, which when released just sixty feet over the reservoirs, bounced like a skipping stone to the dam, sank and exploded. The raiders breached two dams and damaged a third. The resulting torrent devastated enemy power plants, factories and infrastructure a hundred miles downstream. Every airmen on the raid understood that the odds of survival were low. Of the nineteen outbound bombers, eight did not return. Operation Chastise cost the lives of fifty-three airmen, including fourteen Canadians. Of the sixteen RCAF men who survived, seven received military decorations. Based on interviews, personal accounts, flight logs, maps and photographs of the Canadians involved, Dam Busters recounts the dramatic story of these young Commonwealth bomber crews tasked with a high-risk mission against an enemy prepared to defend the Fatherland to the death.
The story of the British-made bombs, Upkeep and Highball, successfully dropped on Nazi dams “has never been told in such depth before” (Daily Mail, UK). The night of May 16, 1943: Nineteen specially adapted Lancaster bombers take off from an RAF airfield in Lincolnshire, England, each with a huge nine-thousand-pound cylindrical bomb strapped underneath it. Their mission: to destroy three hydroelectric dams that power the Third Reich’s war machine. It was a suicide mission from the outset. First the men had to fly extremely low, at night, and in tight formation over miles of enemy-occupied territory. Then they had to drop with pinpoint precision a complicated spinning cylindrical bomb that had never before been used operationally. More than that, the entire operation had to be put together in less than ten weeks in order to hit the dams when water levels were still high enough for the bombs to be effective. The visionary aviation engineer Barnes Wallis hadn’t even drawn up plans for his concept when the bouncing bomb was green-lighted. What followed was an incredible race against time that, despite numerous setbacks, became one of the most successful and significant bombing raids of all time. “Holland has delved into the new trove” of declassified documents “to shed light on this weapons program, the politics of its development and the eventual mission” (The Wall Street Journal). “An impeccably researched work in the style of a fast-paced techno-thriller.” —Publishers Weekly “Extremely detailed but never dull . . . Holland offers a definitive, nuts-and-bolts history.” —Kirkus Reviews “A well-written study of engineering and invention operating under great pressure. . . . For all World War II history buffs.” —Library Journal, starred review
The raid on the great dams of western Germany by Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron in May 1943 is one of the best known, most widely told stories of the Second World War. Led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, each Lancaster in the nineteen-strong force was equipped with the revolutionary bouncing bomb designed by the inventor Barnes Wallis. Two of the three main dams were breached and the unleashed floodwaters inundated the Ruhr valley below, killing thousands andcausing German industry to grind to a halt. In later years the strategic impact of the raid was deemed to be less than was thought at the time, but the fillip it gave to civilian an d Service moral in wartime Britain was incalculable.The Dam Busters Story is a short but authoritative narrative account of the RAF’s famous dam buster raid, supported by a superb selection of colour and black and white photographs. Jonathan Falconer’s narrative covers the development of the bouncing bomb, the planning of the raid, its dramatic execution and aftermath. An appendix provides a definitive listing of all the Lancasters and crews that flew in the raid, and their fates.
Best Nonfiction of 2020 -- Kirkus Reviews One of the most lauded historians of our time returns to the Second World War in this magnificent retelling of the awe-inspiring raid on German dams conducted by the Royal Army Force’s 617 Squadron. The attack on Nazi Germany’s dams on May 17, 1943, was one of the most remarkable feats in military history. The absurdly young men of the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron set forth in cold blood and darkness, without benefit of electronic aids, to fly lumbering heavy bombers straight and level towards a target at a height above the water less than the length of a bowling alley. Yet this story—and the later wartime experience of the 617 Squadron—has never been told in full. Max Hastings takes us back to the May 1943 raid to reveal how the truth of that night is considerably different from the popularized account most people know. The RAF had identified the Ruhr dams as strategic objectives as far back as 1938; in those five years Wing Commander Guy Gibson formed and trained the 617 Squadron. Hastings observes that while the dropping of Wallis’s mines provided the dramatic climax, only two of the eight aircraft lost came down over the dams—the rest were shot down on the flight to, or back from, the mission. And while the 617 Squadron’s valor is indisputable, the ultimate industrial damage caused by the dam raid was actually rather modest. In 1943, these brave men caught the imagination of the world and uplifted the weary spirits of the British people. Their achievement unnerved the Nazi high command, and caused them to expend large resources on dam defenses—making the mission a success. An example of Churchill’s “military theatre” at its best, what 617 Squadron did was an extraordinary and heroic achievement, and a triumph of British ingenuity and technology—a story to be told for generations to come. Operation Chastise includes three 8-page black-and-white photo inserts and 6 maps.
On 16 May 1943, nineteen Lancaster aircraft from the RAF's 617 Squadron set off to attack the great dams in the industrial heart of Germany. Flying at a height of 60ft, they dropped a series of bombs which bounced across the water and destroyed two of their targets, thereby creating a legend. The one-off operation combined an audacious method of attack, technically brilliant flying and visually spectacular results. But while the story of Operation Chastise is well known, most of the 133 'Dambusters' who took part in the Dams Raid have until now been just names on a list. They came from all parts of the UK and the Commonwealth and beyond, and each of them was someone's son or brother, someone's husband or father. This is the first book to present their individual stories and celebrate their skill, heroism and, for many, sacrifice.
From Journey's End to The Dam Busters by Roland Wales Pdf
Kingston playwright R.C. Sherriff came to fame with his First World War drama Journeys End, which was based on his own experiences as a young officer on the Western Front. Its success made him a household name and opened the door to a highly lucrative career as a novelist, playwright and screenwriter in Hollywood and in Britain. Many of his movies The Invisible Man, Goodbye Mr Chips, The Four Feathers Odd Man Out, Quartet, and, of course, The Dam Busters are still well known, but the man behind them much less so. This book rediscovers Sherriff using his own words his letters, diaries, published and unpublished manuscripts to shed light on a man who ironically gained his greatest success from the trench warfare he found so difficult to bear.
The most audacious bombing raid in history is explained in amazing detail within this text. It includes the complex design and testing of Barnes Wallis theories, including dummy runs across English and Scottish lakes and lochs.
The famous dams raid in May 1943 was made possible only by the fusion of cutting-edge technology with the raw courage of a hand-picked squadron of RAF airmen. The incredible bouncing bomb, used to devastating effect by 617 Squadron on the Ruhr dams, was the vanguard of a whole train of technical developments that made this and other precision raids possible. Using the Haynes Manual approach, Iain Murray describes the technology behind the bouncing bomb as well as the heavily modified Lancasters that were used to deliver the weapons.
Holden's Performance by award-winning author Murray Bail is the story of Holden Shadbolt, a guileless and matter-of-fact innocent as he passes through the cities and landscape of Australia. His reassuring silent presence and photographic memory make him useful to men of power and women who appear to need his protection. He is surrounded by larger than life figures whose exploits and adventures Holden follows—ex-Corporal Frank 'Bloodnut' McBee, the scrap dealer who woos his mother; his uncle Vern, a shortsighted proofreader who likes facts and eating newspaper with is breakfast cereal; and the crippled artist Harriet, whose twists and curves appeal to Holden as he holds to his own unswervingly straight lines.
The Dambusters by John Sweetman,David Coward,Gary Johnstone Pdf
The Dambusters' mission is of enduring fascination and appeal. The breaching of the dams in Germany's industrial heartland was to have a pivotal effect on the outcome of World War II. This book, accompanying a TV series of the same name, reveals the scientist behind the 'bouncing bomb' and re-enacts the mission.
Author : Max Hastings Publisher : Quarto Publishing Group USA Page : 410 pages File Size : 44,9 Mb Release : 2013-09-15 Category : History ISBN : 9781610588638
This award-winning classic of WWII military history chronicles the Royal Air Force’s bombing campaign against Germany. RAF Bomber Command’s air offensive against the cities of Nazi Germany was one of the most epic campaigns of World War II. The struggle began meekly in 1939 with only a few aircraft—Whitleys, Hampdens, and Wellingtons—flying blindly through the night on their ill-conceived bombing runs. It ended six years later with 1,600 Lancasters, Halifaxes, and Mosquitoes, equipped with the best of British wartime technology, blazing whole German cities in a single night. In Bomber Command, originally published to critical acclaim in the UK, famed British military historian Sir Max Hastings offers a captivating analysis of the strategy and decision-making behind one of World War II’s most violent episodes. With firsthand descriptions of the experiences of aircrew from 1939 to 1945—based on one hundred interviews with veterans—and a harrowing narrative of the experiences of Germans on the ground during the September 1944 bombing of Darmstadt, Bomber Command is widely recognized as a classic account of one of the bloodiest campaigns in World War II history. Winner of the Somerset Maugham Prize
Most famous for the dambusting raid in the darkest days of the Second World War, the No 617 Sqn were a vastly experienced crew, yet little has been written about the unit's later operations. Formed in 1943 and trained to learn new and unused bombing techniques, the squadron pioneered various experimental weapons throughout the entirety of the war, using both Mosquitoes and Mustangs in addition to standard and non-standard Lancasters. It was also the first and only squadron to use certain equipment and weapons (22,000 lb Tallboy bomb, for example) in combat. Covering the complete history of the No 617 Squadron, including before, during, and after the Dambusters Raid, this study draws on previously unpublished information to explain the men, aircraft, weapons and operations of this experimental squadron. Color plates of the planes and uniforms bring this history to life, including a never-before seen squadron badge which was rejected and never made it onto the uniforms of the squadron.
