Dambusters: A Landmark Oral History

Description

The Dambusters raid is an unforgettable event in British military history and has passed into legend. On 16 May 1943, nineteen Lancaster bomber crews gathered in the dusk at RAF Scampton. Their brief was to fly at night across occupied Europe and drop specially designed 'bouncing' bombs at a mere 60 feet above water to destroy three crucial and heavily defended dams deep in the German industrial heartland. Bestselling author Max Arthur has collected together first-hand accounts of the mission and the painstaking preparation that went into it. As well as the sheer bravery of the raid, Arthur also manages to capture the sense of loss when 56 men lost their lives. With contributions ranging from RAF air and ground crew to German civilians who witnessed the raid, this landmark oral history collection paints a moving and personal picture of one of the most famous operations of the Second World War.

Max Arthur served with the RAF and has written several bestselling oral history books including Forgotten Voices of the Great War and Forgotten Voices of the Second World War. He writes for the Independent and gives lectures on strategy and leadership.

May well rival his seminal Forgotten Voices of The Great War ... hard to put down ... His precis of the complex story of how the scientist Barnes Wallis overcame all the obstacles to breaching the Dams, in which British bureaucracy proved as daunting as German efficiency, is a masterpiece of concise storytelling * Sunday Express * What a story. And I do not believe that it has ever been better told * Stephen Fry, from the foreword * Not only can Arthur make people talk; he also doesn't flinch from what he hears * Sunday Express * A gripping tale capturing the exhilaration of the expedition, while contrasting the sense of loss of 56 men of Bomber Command. A thrilling read for anyone with a nose for a good true tale * News of the World *