Dam Busters: The Race to Smash the Dams, 1943

I had the extreme pleasure of hearing James Holland's talk about this book at the Borders Book Festival earlier in 2012. If knowledge, passion and enthusiasm was a sport, James would be on the top step of the podium. A fascinating yet brief introduction into a truly heroic effort to smash the dams.

This audio book was the next obvious step and I'm delighted to say it carries the same passion as the brief hour at the Book Festival.

A fascinating story of magnificent triumph over overwhelming adversity that changed the face of WWII. I had an inkling that these men were made of something 'a bit special', but I had no idea just how much the odds were stacked against this mission.

James Holland brings the fascinating story to life in this book. So much so, on more than one occasion, I found myself sitting in the car park at work transfixed when I really should have been in the office getting on with some work!!

Just brilliant.

This book proved fascinating. I had read much around the subject before, but his detailed explanation of both background and characters involved really brought this to life, as no pure factual account could.



He also really got over his enthusiasm for the subject!



Recommended.

Really great story well-written, but I was driven mad by the author narrating it, as he has a tendency to say 'wiv' instead of with and many other 'th's end up as either v or ff. I listened, gripped even through my gritted teeth, as the story was so good. I'm sure he's a great historian, but Mr Holland is not my favourite reader.

One of the most interesting and dramatic stories of the war, this is a very thorough and interesting book. It's always a bonus to hear a book read by the author, well done Mr Holland. There is a narrator's error about an hour into the book which didn't bode well but I don't notice any others after that.

This is obviously an amazing wartime event and the book itself is very well researched and written by James Holland, who clearly understand his subject. It is, however, rather let down by the narration. Great author that he is, James doesn't do so well in narrating the story. Audio books should be easy to listen to but I frequently found myself annoyed by how fast it was being read and how the narrator was "snatching" his words at times. This expertly written book would have received a 5 star review if it had been read by someone with more skill at narration.

The title doesn't reveal that because of Government Departmental disagreements and Ministry delays a whole year passed between Barnes Wallis designing the bouncing bomb, and when it was used on this raid! I was humbled by the dedication of those young RAF crews who defended Britain and attacked the enemy during the war, with such a grim statistic of the likelyhood of surving those raids, being so poor. 56 crew in 8 Lancasters failed to return from that mission. Such a heavy loss. Such destruction of natural resources, for the short term gain of causing great inconvenience. Was it worth it? Without detracting from Guy Gibson's leadership, himself only 24 years of age at the time, so sad that nobody remembers the names of the 56 who died that night, or those that returned. They were such brave men. This book should be an official dedication to 617 Squadron. We have those men to thank for the Britian of my childhood in the 1950's. One cannot bear to imagine the world today had Hitler succeeded. James Holland your book is a must have, 'lest we forget'.

I was unsure if this was going to drag on a little due to its length, but it didn't. I've seen the film as most people have and wanted to know more. It showed how amazing it was, that it actually took place and the heroism and sacrifice that was made. There's too much detail to take in, in one read and will need to read it again. Fortunately it's all written and read to make it a joy. Definitely a buy.

Having seen the film on release and a number of times since I grew up with this daring raid, and to have a book that goes in to such detail about the rest of the crews, their lives sadly most of them short, really brought home to me in later life the true cost, of this life long interest. Having even stood in the middle of the two towers of the dam, looked up the valley and wondered how did they do it.



This well constructed book to me was well worth it, to add to my understanding.

I eventually listened to this book every evening to fall asleep...great for that purpose but the narrative is quite monotone and boring. Too bad as it is a great story