Download or read book Return of the Dambusters What 617 Squadron Did Next written by John Nichol and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2015-07-02 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Previously published as After the Flood. Former RAF Tornado Navigator and Gulf War veteran John Nichol sets out on a personal journey to discover what happened to 617 Squadron after the flood.
Download or read book Dambusters written by Max Arthur and published by Random House. This book was released on 2009-05-27 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the night of 16-17 May 1943, nineteen Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron headed for Germany. Their mission, for which they had been trained under a cloak of absolute secrecy, was to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley and in doing so cripple the Nazi industrial war effort. It was to become one of the most famous raids of WW2. For the first time, acclaimed oral historian Max Arthur has gathered together the voices of the 'Dambusters', including Guy Gibson, commander of the mission and Barnes Wallis, who developed the iconic Bouncing Bomb. These voices tell of the hard training and sheer bravery that went into this legendary mission. We also hear from the German civilians who suffered the attack, who speak of the devastation that was wrought in their lives. This was a raid like no other, and in this extraordinary collection Max Arthur has created an enduring record of a unique event in British military history.
Download or read book Chastise written by Max Hastings and published by Collins. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A masterly history of the Dambusters raid from bestselling and critically acclaimed Max Hastings. Operation Chastise, the overnight destruction of the Möhne and Eder dams in north-west Germany by the RAF's 617 Squadron, was an epic that has passed into Britain's national legend. Max Hastings grew up embracing the story, the classic 1955 movie and the memory of Guy Gibson, the 24-year-old wing-commander who won the VC leading the raid. In the 21st Century, however, Hastings urges that we should review the Dambusters in much more complex shades. The aircrew's heroism was wholly authentic, as was the brilliance of Barnes Wallis, who invented the 'bouncing bombs'. But commanders who promised their young fliers that success could shorten the war fantasised wildly. What Germans call the Möhnekatastrophe imposed on the Nazi war machine temporary disruption, rather than a crippling blow. Hastings vividly describes the evolution of Wallis' bomb, and of the squadron which broke the dams at the cost of devastating losses. But he also portrays in harrowing detail those swept away by the torrents. Some 1,400 civilians perished in the biblical floods that swept through the Möhne valley, more than half of them Russian and Polish women, slave labourers under Hitler. Ironically, Air Marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris gained much of the credit, though he opposed Chastise as a distraction from his city-burning blitz. He also made what the author describes as the operation's biggest mistake - the failure to launch a conventional attack on the Nazis' huge post-raid repair operation, which could have transformed the impact of the dam breaches upon Ruhr industry. Chastise offers a fascinating retake on legend by a master of the art. Hastings sets the dams raid in the big picture of the bomber offensive and of the Second World War, with moving portraits of the young airmen, so many of whom died; of Barnes Wallis; the monstrous Harris; the tragic Guy Gibson, together with superb narrative of the action of one of the most extraordinary episodes in British history.
Download or read book Return of the Dambusters written by John Nichol and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the RAF’s 617 Squadron during World War II, from bombing Nazi battleships to attempts on the lives of Hitler & Mussolini, and more. The Dambusters had another nickname—they were the “Suicide Squadron,” and these daring flyers were the go-to forces for dangerous precision attacks. They dropped the largest bombs ever built on Hitler’s prize battleship, Tirpitz, as well as rocket sites and secret weapon establishments; they were involved in attempts on the lives of enemy leaders, including Hitler and Mussolini; and they created a false fleet on D-Day, which fooled the Germans, among other crucial missions. but they also suffered brutal losses, with seventy-five percent of 617 Squadron killed in action by the end of the war. In this awe-inspiring book, John Nichol—himself a former RAF flight lieutenant—retraces the path of 617 Squadron’s most dangerous sorties, the ones largely lost to history. With the sensitivity of a fellow soldier, Nichol gains unprecedented access to the surviving Dambusters, whose moving personal stories add depth to this impressively researched history. The result is a tense, poignant story of courage by men who braved death time and time again in the name of freedom. Praise for Return of the Dambusters “A truly epic tale of courage and sacrifice—an intensely moving epitaph to the men of Bomber Command.” —Andy McNab, bestselling author of Bravo Two Zero “A straightforward account considers all sides to these precise missions.” —Kirkus Reviews “This is both an exciting book and a saddening one . . . a tale of victory, in the end, magnificently told in lip-biting detail.” —The Daily Mail (UK) “Drawing on interviews with survivors, as well as archive material . . . the book is [a] story of human suffering in the air and on the ground.” —The Times (UK)/
Download or read book The Dambusters Raid written by John Sweetman and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2002 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book 617 written by Tim Bouquet and published by Orion. This book was released on 2012-12-27 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inside story of today's Dambusters, 617 Squadron RAF, at war in Afghanistan. In May 1943, 617 Squadron RAF executed one of the most daring operations in military history as bombers mounted a raid against hydro-electric dams in Germany. 617 Squadron became a Second World War legend. Nearly 70 years later, in April 2011, a new generation of elite flyers, now flying supersonic Tornado GR4 bombers, was deployed to Afghanistan - their mission: to provide close air support to troops on the ground. Tim Bouquet was given unprecedented access to 617's pre-deployment training and blistering tour in Afghanistan. From dramatic air strikes to the life-and-death search for IEDs and low-flying shows of force designed to drive insurgents from civilian cover, he tracked every mission - and the skill, resilience, banter and exceptional airmanship that saw 617 through.
Download or read book Dam Busters written by Steve Darlow and published by Fighting High. This book was released on 2013-01-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the nineteen aircrews of No.617 Squadron who carried out the May 1943 attack on dams that were viewed as essential to Germany's war efforts. Of the 56 airmen, 53 were killed and 3 were captured. Their stories are told through family archives, official documents, flying logbooks, and witness recollections.
Download or read book The Complete Dambusters written by Charles Foster and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2018-05-08 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book From Journey s End to The Dam Busters written by Roland Wales and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2016-09-30 with total page 632 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Dam Busters written by Ted Barris and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-09-11 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Dam Busters written by James Holland and published by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.. This book was released on 2013-11-04 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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
Download or read book After the Flood written by John Nichol and published by Clipper Audio. This book was released on 2016-01-02 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Return of the Dambusters written by John Nichol and published by William Collins. This book was released on 2016-06-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Previously published as 'After the Flood') Former RAF Tornado Navigator and Gulf War veteran John Nichol sets out on a personal journey to discover what happened to 617 Squadron after the flood. RAF 617 Squadron's destruction of the dams at the heart of the Ruhr made them heroes and celebrities of their time. But this elite squadron was also called upon for a hundred more of the most secret and dangerous specialist precision attacks. As bestselling author John Nichol discovers, 617 would drop the largest bombs ever built on battleships, railway bridges, secret weapon establishments, rockets sites and U-boat construction pens. They were involved in attempts on the lives of enemy leaders, both Hitler and Mussolini, created a 'false fleet' on D-day which fooled the Germans, and knocked out a German super gun which would have rained 600 shells an hour on London. Of the 77 men who made it home from dams raid, only 45 survived to see the victory for which they fought - as 617's reputation called them into action again and again.
Download or read book The Dambusters written by John Sweetman and published by Little Brown GBR. This book was released on 2003 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Guy Gibson written by Geoff Simpson and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2013-08-19 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new assessment of the life of one of the most famous and controversial airmen of the Second World War, this book covers Guy Gibson's sometimes troubled upbringing and the impact on him of his time at St Edward's School, Oxford. In particular, the story of his career in the RAF is relayed, including his stunning leadership achievement in creating No 617 Squadron and leading its attack on the dams of western Germany. The much-discussed circumstances of his unnecessary death and the theories, which have grown up around it are examined, as well as his legacy—he remains a great British hero almost 70 years after his death in a world utterly different to the one he knew.
Download or read book Failed to Return written by Keith C. Ogilvie and published by Heritage House Publishing Co. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling look at sixteen stories of Canadians killed and missing in the line of duty while serving in the Royal Air Force Bomber Command, one of the most dangerous assignments in the Second World War. Royal Air Force Bomber Command was one of the most dangerous divisions for Allies serving in the Second World War. Despite the risks, the opportunity to fly was seen as exciting and glamorous, attracting a steady stream of young volunteers. Of the some 125,000 aircrew who served in Bomber Command, 45% were killed in action. Nearly 10,000 Canadians were among those who perished. Failed to Return tells sixteen stories of Canadian flyers who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Many of the stories in this book are heroic, like those of two Canadian participants in the famous Dambusters raid, or brave, like those captured as prisoners of war, while others are simply tragic, describing staggering losses where entire aircrafts and crew disappeared without a trace. At its core, Failed to Return presents these individual accounts as an illumination of, and memorial to, the unique lives that lay behind the dreadful statistics.
Download or read book Operation Chastise written by Max Hastings and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
