Dam Busters: The Race to Smash the Dams, 1943

(Paperback)

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The dramatic retelling of one of the most daring, extraordinary and outrageous raids of WW2 by one of the UK's most talented young historians The night of May 16th, 1943. Nineteen specially adapted Lancaster bombers take off from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, each with a huge 9,000lb cylindrical bomb strapped underneath it. Their mission- to destroy three dams deep within the German heartland, which provide the lifeblood to the industries supplying the Third Reich's war machine. From the outset it was an almost impossible task, a suicide mission- to fly low and at night in formationover many miles of enemy-occupied territory at the very limit of the Lancasters' capacity, and drop a new weapon that had never been tried operationally before from a precise height of just sixty feet from the water at some of the most heavily defended targets in Germany. More than that, the entire operation had to be put together in less than ten weeks. When visionary aviation engineer Barnes Wallis's concept of the bouncing bomb was green lighted, he hadn't even drawn up his plans for the weapon that was to smash the dams. What followed was an incredible race against time, which, despite numerous setbacks and against huge odds, became one of the most successful and game-changing bombing raids of all time.

Reviews

In his previous books... Holland combined a lively style with fresh insights based on deep historical research. Those qualities shine through this new account * Literary Review *
Though it is such a well-known story, it has never been told in such depth before. James Holland has mastered every detail * Daily Mail *
Holland tells the story with gusto and pace... he has truly and brilliantly plugged an enormous gap * Mail on Sunday *

Author Bio

James Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including Battle of Britain, Dam Busters, Burma '44 and, most recently, Big Week, he has also written nine works of historical fiction, including the Jack Tanner novels. He is currently writing an acclaimed three-volume new history of the Second World War, The War in the West. He has presented - and written - many television programmes and series for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic, History and Discovery Channels. He is also co-founder of the Chalke Valley History Festival and co-founder of WarGen.org, an online Second World War resource site, and presents the Chalk Valley History Hit podcast. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he also has a weekly podcast with Al Murray, We Have Ways of Making You Talk- Al Murray and James Holland Talk World War II. He can be found on Twitter as @James1940.