Brilliant level of detail

An event that still defies logic even after 77 years. Bravery, inventiveness, perseverance and skill all contribute to one of the most captivating missions of the war. Easy to see why George Lucas cut segments of The Dam Busters in to Star Wars before the visual effects were completed for the DEATH STAR raid... The odds were the same.

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You'll Learn Something, Guaranteed.

An amazing account of a story we've all heard many times before in film or folklore which crosses the whole breadth of strategic aims to the deeply personal impact on both sides of the mission. There are so many details, first hand recollections and evidence gained from what must have been exhaustive research and yet it is delivered in such an easy to follow format which leaves a deep impression of the sheer bravery, skill and dedication of every single one of those crews, few who were over 25. I learned so much and now look upon the efforts of those crews in a new light to even be able to launch the raid, never mind be successful, as nothing short of miraculous given the constraints at the time. A book I'll definitely return to.

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Magnificent!

Utterly superb account of an almost fictional operation.
Amazing insights into the young men (younger than my two boys now) who have their all for their country.
I did not expect to be brought to tears so often by a war story.
Must read!

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Outstanding

A real history lesson into the ins and outs of a very difficult situation and event of the second world war that made such a difference to the outcome right up to the end of the war. Thank you James for that information.

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An excellent telling of the dambuster raids

James Holland knocks the ball out of the park once again with a fantastic historical telling of the development, people and daring raid to smash the dams. He also does a good job narrating, though a couple of the accents are a bit squiffy.

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More Exciting than a Film

Like many people, I know about the raid on the dams in the Ruhr Valley during WW2. I've read various short articles and watched the 1955 film. If you are British then the Dambusters is part of one's collective historical DNA.

But do you really know the story? Really? Until now, I thought I knew it but having listened to this book (I also have the hardback version) I realise that I was not even close.

Firstly, the book is well narrated by James Holland himself whom at first is perhaps not as good as a 'professional,' but, after a few chapters gets well into his stride. He even gets various accents correct. The pacing and tone is well balanced and adds just the right amount of gravitas to this astonishing story.

Anyway, getting back to the story. And what a story. If someone was to write this as a fictional thing you would probably dismiss this as impossible nonsense. Sir Barnes Wallis comes up with a bonkers plan to knock out dams using a bouncing bomb - something that had never even been considered before - and manages to get enough people interested so as to gather together a squadron of people, develop a brand new bomb, train for something that's never been done before and do it in a few months.

It is frankly an astonishing thing that was achieved. Most of the story is the run up to the actual attack and delves into the politics, the people and the infighting to get this done. I did not know for instance that it was the Royal Navy that actually pushed the bouncing bomb against the staunch resistance from Arthur 'Bomber' Harris who was dead set against it.

Holland seems to also have a talent for bringing out the human aspect of his stories and he most certainly does here. He breaths life and colour into the men who trained, fought and serviced the aircraft. We meet up with their wives and girlfriends and at the end we get a short history of what happened after the raid and after WW2.

Of course the focus is the raid itself. And here is where Holland has utterly nailed it. Because he took his time building up to the raid, laying all the groundwork, by time you get to the starting of the engines you really do start to get emotional. Honestly, I had tears in my eyes at this point. The courage, the skill and the sheer dogged determination of men from the UK, Australia and New Zealand who took to the air heading out across the Channel to fly into the centre of a very well defended Germany is frankly, lump in the throat stuff. And its not just the actual attack on the dam. Getting there is a massive feat itself. These men flew at literally tree top level in a huge bomber all the way across Holland and Germany. They flew under power pylon's. They hit the sea with their aircraft. Two planes perished with all on board hitting power lines.

This is one of the greatest military adventures of all time, if not the greatest.

And at the end what I did like is that James Holland did not belittle the attack like many modern historians have done. He went into great detail as to just how much disruption to Germany the dams caused not least the herculean efforts the Nazis made to repair them which diverted massive amounts of material and people away from other war endeavours and which impacted things as far afield as their ability to fight in Russia and build the Atlantic Wall.

This is a book which is as good as it gets when telling the tale of the Dambusters. And it still cannot convey the majesty of it.

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2 people found this helpful

Excellent book

A quite remarkable and personal insight in to Operation Chastise. Holland brings the raid to life through excellent research and the thoughts and writings of the men and women, from both sides of the conflict, touched by the events that culminated on 16th May 1943. A must read/listen for anyone interested in the subject.

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Excellent

I wish the author had narrated all his other books. He is very clear and puts the right emphasis to his work. Really informative, I listened all through in two sessions. Highly recommend this and all his other books.

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Fantastic detailed account

James goes into the development and politics behind this fascinating part of history with such detail. I couldn’t stop listening. A must get it anyone interested.

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Dambusters

This was a brilliantly told story of the bravery, determination and dedication of 133 617 Squadrons crews. They overcome many obstacles placed before them by beaurocracy, none believers and doubt. And proved them all wrong. There were battles 'behind' the scenes which Barnes Wallis had to confront, and win. The bravery of those Lancaster crews can NOT be denied. Though losses were suffered via totally freakish good fortunes for the Germans. Let's NOT forget the moral boosting effect that this dams raid had in England the next day, 17th May 1943. We desperately needed it. Though one puzzling, even stupid change was issued by Saltbry, stating that the World can could be destroyed by Upkeep! Whereas the Sorpe was a flat can and nothing like the Mohne or Eider dams. Even recconosance photographs showed how impractical an attack by Upkeep would be. Yet the Sorpe was still attacked! Where I believe, one of the alternative dams selected would have served a much better purpose. However, hindsight is a wonderful thing for aiding criticisms. The people involved THEN, dealt with what they believed to be the correct method with what they had to work with at THAT time. It is STILL a bloody fantastic achievement right across the board. A fantastic story told by a fantastic historian. James Holland. How good is that?

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