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Dam Busters James Holland 9780593066768 Books

Download As PDF : Dam Busters James Holland 9780593066768 Books

Dam Busters James Holland 9780593066768 Books

This is one of the most incredible stories of the Second World War. In 1942, a mostly self-educated engineer named Barnes Wallis came up with an extraordinary idea for smashing some of Germany’s most important hydroelectric dams along the Ruhr River. Impervious to any explosive ordinance that existed at the time, Wallis believed that the dams could be breached by a bouncing bomb that would skip across the surface of the reservoir, stopping just short of the dam wall, sink to the correct depth and explode, with the water serving to intensify the force of the blast. Once the idea was approved, only about nine weeks were available for the theory to be refined, the bombs designed, tested and fabricated, the aircraft modified and twenty crews trained to fly at tree top level, at night, through enemy occupied territory and drop bombs with pinpoint accuracy. Amazingly, they succeeded.

The story is well told with an easy, readable style, finishing with the exciting recounting of the raid itself where nearly half of the attacking force was lost. Mr. Holland also does a fine job of describing the initial bureaucratic difficulties in getting the idea approved and the rigorous training programme that the mission required. I would have preferred to see more detail about the development of the bomb, with clearer explanations of the decision to move from spherical to cylindrical shape (The testing of an oblate spheroid prototype is not mentioned at all) and the difficulties in designing a casing sufficiently strong to survive the initial impact with the water surface.

Despite these omissions, this is a fine work and will remain the definitive history of these most astonishing events.


Tags : ,James Holland,Dam Busters,Bantam Press (10 May 2012),0593066766

Dam Busters James Holland 9780593066768 Books Reviews

The Bouncing bomb and the attack on the dams had a major impact on Nazi Germany's war production. The rush to repair to the Möhne, Sorpe and Eder dams and the damage caused by the flooding, pulled material and workers from all over Nazi-held territories. On D-day, the Atlantic Wall was incomplete due to lack of material and workers. The Nazi's fielded few tanks on for the battle of Kursk due to lack of steel. Wallis' Tallboy and Grandslam bombs attacked V1, V2 and V3 sites, preventing their use against British civilians and Allied soldiers. Sir Barnes deserves much more credit than he has been given.

Also read "Bouncing-Bomb Man The Science of Sir Barnes Wallis" by Iain Murray, Murray goes into more detail about the various works and inventions of Sir Barnes.
This book covers the infamous 'Dams Raid' by 617 Squadron, Royal Air Force, of the 16 May 1943; it is a raid that goes down in history as a combination of science, technology and just sheer determination in the end, to achieve the mission.

Author Paul Brickhill wrote the original story about 617 Squadron back in 1951, however he was a very clinical writer and covered the history of how 617 Squadron came into operational 'being' and then moved on to cover their other exploits post the dams raids.

James Holland focuses his work purely on the raids on the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe Dams on the night of 16 May 1943; he takes the reader from the concept of the idea of destroying a dam, that will in effect flood out and destroy industrial work shops and capability to the diversion of effort to repair and attempt to rectify a problem, which in turn will affect an enemies' capability at a crucial time during a major conflict. This work narrows down Paul Brickhill's earlier work by focusing more on the human side of the endeavour. Brickhill was very clinical in describing the work of Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the 'bouncing bomb' and ultimately, the men who crewed the 19 Avro Lancasters that flew the mission. 617 Squadron achieved greatness from the dam's raid, but actually 'crashed and burned' in their next mission after that. Wing Commander Guy Gibson, who led the raid was posted out after the dam's effort and was replaced by a new CO. The story of Gibson's raising of 617 Squadron and leading it on this mission in the space of about 2 months is astounding. Tragically, Gibson , who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his leadership and courage in this raid, was later killed while flying a mission over Germany later in the war.

I was moved by this work on the Dam Busters, as it focused more on the human side of the Second World War; something that a great many authors leave out of their work. Readers tend to see soldiers, sailors and airmen as 'mechanical robots' who performed their feats relentlessly, without let up. This work comes in on a different slant and allows the reader to see the tension, stress and sometimes despair of people who engage in warfare. For example; Guy Gibson was given the job of raising and commanding a raid that was like no other conceived before, he went about this task to the complete detriment of his personal life, well-being and health (he flew the raid suffering excruciating agony from gout), after the raid he took the personal responsibility of writing to the next-of-kin of all the men who had been killed. By the time of the Dams raid, he was suffering acute physical and mental exhaustion.

Many of the men described in this work are seen in their various sides-the efficient, military professional and the family man, or the young ardent 'soon-to-be-married' man, with hopes of a future and so forth that had their future cruelly ended by being blown to small pieces either in the sky, or on some lonely hillside in a foreign land.

Author James Holland conveys these various miseries very well in this work that is supported by extensive research and sources that had since been released from wartime security classifications; something that the earlier work was constrained by.

In summary, a very well written and researched account of possibly one of the most audacious raids of the Second World War; rich in detail and with a sense of triumph, coupled with the eventual heartbreak that going off to war evokes on many service personnel. Well done, James Holland...!
One of the original Dambusters, Joe McCarthy, was my Officer Commanding, during flight training with the RCAF, during the fifties, when the original DAMBUSTER book by Paul Brickhilll came out. This first book presented a smoothly functioning operation that moved decisively towards success, a story reflected in the film.
Holland's book reveal the chaotic path the entire concept followed, from beginning to end. 617 Squadron was not the film version. In reality the crews hardly knew each other,being thrown together a few weeks before the raid. The actual weapon was not tested until the last minute. An amazing story of men and machines, who faced almost insurmountable challenges to attain success, suffering staggering loses.
I flew the Lancaster and can hardly imagine flying into Europe at 50 feet, or less, at night, let alone have unfriendly people shooting at you from all directions.
Amazing story - Great book!
This is one of the most incredible stories of the Second World War. In 1942, a mostly self-educated engineer named Barnes Wallis came up with an extraordinary idea for smashing some of Germany’s most important hydroelectric dams along the Ruhr River. Impervious to any explosive ordinance that existed at the time, Wallis believed that the dams could be breached by a bouncing bomb that would skip across the surface of the reservoir, stopping just short of the dam wall, sink to the correct depth and explode, with the water serving to intensify the force of the blast. Once the idea was approved, only about nine weeks were available for the theory to be refined, the bombs designed, tested and fabricated, the aircraft modified and twenty crews trained to fly at tree top level, at night, through enemy occupied territory and drop bombs with pinpoint accuracy. Amazingly, they succeeded.

The story is well told with an easy, readable style, finishing with the exciting recounting of the raid itself where nearly half of the attacking force was lost. Mr. Holland also does a fine job of describing the initial bureaucratic difficulties in getting the idea approved and the rigorous training programme that the mission required. I would have preferred to see more detail about the development of the bomb, with clearer explanations of the decision to move from spherical to cylindrical shape (The testing of an oblate spheroid prototype is not mentioned at all) and the difficulties in designing a casing sufficiently strong to survive the initial impact with the water surface.

Despite these omissions, this is a fine work and will remain the definitive history of these most astonishing events.