Dam Busters cover art

Dam Busters

The Race to Smash the Dams, 1943

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Dam Busters

By: James Holland
Narrated by: James Holland
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About this listen

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 them. 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 which had never been tried operationally before at 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' concept of the bouncing bomb was green lighted, he hadn't even drawn up his plans for the weapon that was the smash the dams. What followed was an incredible race against time, which, despite numerous set-backs and against huge odds, became one of the most successful and game-changing bombing raids of all time.

 Military World Thought-Provoking Inspiring War Aviation Air Force

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All stars
Most relevant
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.

Excellent book

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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'.

How did Britain win WW2?

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A typically detailed James Holland retelling of the Dambusters story - and what am amazing story it was. A secret weapon, daring low-level attack and spectacular success. We all know the bones of the story, this book puts on the flesh, the muscle, the brains and a smart RAF uniform. Really good listen. Only grumble is that James isn't the best narrator.

Detailed account of this amazing raid

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tuis is a brilliant book that makes you appreciate what they did, why they did it and the effects of what they did from both sides, not to mention the level of detail of it all which is exemplary

makes you appreciate what they did

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Great story; told with real flair and great use of detail that adds to a sense of being there. Nice to have the author narrating but couldn't the producers have done something about James Holland's habit of pronouncing "th" as "v"? By the end the the recording it was making me a bit twitchy. So only three stars for the performance but overall a good yarn told by someone who writes popular history well

Well written and immersive but "wiv" one caveat

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