New Dambusters book

Kyt · Sep 14, 2008

New Dambusters book ready for take-off

A new book featuring first-hand accounts of the Dambusters raid is to be published.

Bestselling author Max Arthur's new book Dambusters is to be published by Virgin Books on October 2.

The latest work by Mr Arthur, who also wrote the oral history books Forgotten Voices of the Great War, Forgotten Voices of the Second World War and The Last Post, has seen him scour the world to tell the stories of the people who were there.

Former RAF personnel tell of the preparation, practice, organisation and the raid itself and the sense of loss at RAF Scampton when 53 men failed to return.

Mr Arthur said he was honoured to have been able to interview five of the men who took part in the raid.
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"What gets me about the men who I spoke to for this book and those I have met in the past for my other books is their absolute modesty," he said.

Jim Shortland (72), who lectures extensively on the Dambusters and 617 Squadron, said he was looking forward to the publication of Mr Arthur's book.

"He asked me if I had taped any of my conversations with the people I have met over the last 25 years and regrettably I never recorded my interviews," said Mr Shortland, who lives in Sleaford.
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Amazon.co.uk: Dambusters: A Landmark Oral History: Max Arthur: Books

Kyt · Oct 23, 2008

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article4947739.ece

When the idea of targeting the Ruhr dams had first been discussed in 1937, it was abandoned because such massive structures appeared to be impossible to break.

But it was such an audacious, ingenious idea that it proved too attractive to leave alone. By breaching the two massive dams that controlled the water flow along the Ruhr valley, the largest steel manufacturing base in Germany, British scientists believed that the resulting chaos would bring Nazi industrial production to a standstill and seriously disrupt the regime's war preparations.

There were a number of legendary raids made by the Allies during the Second World War. For example in March 1942, a force of 611 British Commandos launched a raid against the shipyards of Saint-Nazaire in northern France, which was codenamed Operation Chariot. They used an old British destroyer packed with explosives to ram the gates of the dry dock, succeeding in preventing its use by the Germans for the rest of the war. Less successful was the famous seaborne raid on Dieppe in August of that year, codenamed Operation Jubilee, which was designed to sieze control of the strategically vital port. It failed dismally, and half of the 6,000 Allied troops involved in the raid were either killed or injured.

Once the decision had been made in February 1943 that a raid against the dams would definitely be made, there was a race against time to form and train a new squadron to carry out the operation by the mid-May deadline.

This, it was calculated, would be the time when the reservoirs were at their fullest, and the pilots could rely on the light of a full moon to help them bomb on target.

Another problem was to establish how much explosive would be required to breach the dams, and then to find a way of placing it accurately on the target. After much research and many meetings it was decided to go ahead using a revolutionary weapon developed for the raid, the 'Bouncing Bomb' invented by the Vickers Armstrong designer, Barnes Wallis. This was a spherical bomb designed to ricochet in a series of decreasing bounces before reaching its target and then to sink 30 feet down the side of the dam before detonating.

The new 617 Squadron formed at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire was made up of hardened aircrews who had served at least one tour of thirty missions and whose flying skills were of the highest order. They would be flying Lancasters, the only aircraft capable of carrying the newly invented bomb, and there was only one man who could command this new squadron, the vastly experienced 24-year-old Wing Commander, Guy Gibson. At the end of his tour with 106 Squadron in March 1943, and ready for some leave with his wife, Gibson was surprised to be offered the task of bringing together a crack bomber squadron and training them for a top-secret mission - for which not even he knew the target.

After intensive low flying at 150 feet at various speeds the aircrews were told that they would now have to fly at 232 mph at the dangerously low height of 60 feet in order that the bomb did not to disintegrate on impact with the water. No altimeter could accurately judge that distance, but an imaginative boffin came up with the idea of having a light fore and aft of the Lancaster, carefully positioned so that the two beams intersected at exactly 60 feet.

Only on the afternoon of the night of the raid 16 May 1943 were the 19 Bomber crews told of their target. There was great relief when they realised that their target was not the formidable battleship, Tirpitz, which was anchored in a Norwegian fjord. The crews were shown models of the Mohne and Eder dams and given their flight paths. Gibson was to recall: “There were 133 young men in that room, rather tousled and a little scruffy, and perhaps a little old-looking in spite of their youth. But now they were experts, beautifully trained, and each one of them knew his job.” Fifty three of those young would be dead by dawn the next day.

That night Gibson led the first attack on the Mohne Dam, but his bomb failed to hit the target. Then, to draw the enemy fire towards himself, he courageously flew alongside the next Lancaster to attack, but this one was hit and crashed. The dam was still standing. The next attack from Flight Lieutenant Martin hit the dam, but did not breach it. Martin then flew alongside Gibson to draw flak from Squadron Leader Young, who again hit the dam. Then Flight Lieutenant Maltby did a perfect attack and caused a breach in the dam 100 yards across, and the water poured into the Ruhr Valley. The Eder dam was next. The first two attacks failed, which left only one last chance for Plt.Off Les Knight, who had the last bomb left in the squadron. All depended on him. He made a precision run at the right height and speed, dropped his bomb, and saw to his relief a great mass of water running down the valley into Kassel.

As there were only five surviving Dambusters for me to speak to, it was also fascinating to be able to listen to taped interviews of other participants, now dead, which had been recorded over the past 40 years. My overriding feeling was that this was a group of quiet and modest men. They would constantly refer to the heroism of the rest of the crew, rather than draw attention to their own.

The psychological impact of the raid on besieged Britain was colossal. It was a huge blow against the Germans which forced Hitler to withdraw thousands of troops from vulnerable positions. As it happens the dams were repaired within months, but it had hurt Hitler and seriously damaged the morale of the Germans.

Dambusters: A Landmark Oral History by Max Arthur
Virgin, £20
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Antipodean Andy · Oct 23, 2008

Will hopefully fly off the shelves and bring the Dambusters to a new generation.

Gage · Jan 6, 2009

I read this a few weeks ago and was very impressed, well worth picking up and reading.

For books in the same style then try these as they are fantastic:-
http://www.forgottenvoices.co.uk/

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