Max Hastings - Operation Chastise: The RAFs Most Brilliant Attack of World War II
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- Book:Operation Chastise: The RAFs Most Brilliant Attack of World War II
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Operation Chastise: The RAFs Most Brilliant Attack of World War II: summary, description and annotation
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Best Nonfiction of 2020 -- Kirkus Reviews
One of the most lauded historians of our time returns to the Second World War in this magnificent retelling of the awe-inspiring raid on German dams conducted by the Royal Army Forces 617 Squadron.
The attack on Nazi Germanys dams on May 17, 1943, was one of the most remarkable feats in military history. The absurdly young men of the Royal Air Forces 617 Squadron set forth in cold blood and darkness, without benefit of electronic aids, to fly lumbering heavy bombers straight and level towards a target at a height above the water less than the length of a bowling alley. Yet this storyand the later wartime experience of the 617 Squadronhas never been told in full.
Max Hastings takes us back to the May 1943 raid to reveal how the truth of that night is considerably different from the popularized account most people know. The RAF had identified the Ruhr dams as strategic objectives as far back as 1938; in those five years Wing Commander Guy Gibson formed and trained the 617 Squadron. Hastings observes that while the dropping of Walliss mines provided the dramatic climax, only two of the eight aircraft lost came down over the damsthe rest were shot down on the flight to, or back from, the mission. And while the 617 Squadrons valor is indisputable, the ultimate industrial damage caused by the dam raid was actually rather modest.
In 1943, these brave men caught the imagination of the world and uplifted the weary spirits of the British people. Their achievement unnerved the Nazi high command, and caused them to expend large resources on dam defensesmaking the mission a success. An example of Churchills military theatre at its best, what 617 Squadron did was an extraordinary and heroic achievement, and a triumph of British ingenuity and technologya story to be told for generations to come.
Operation Chastise includes three 8-page black-and-white photo inserts and 6 maps.
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![Bar Wing Commander Guy P. Gibson VC DSO - Enemy Coast Ahead [Illustrated Edition]](/uploads/posts/book/180257/thumbs/bar-wing-commander-guy-p-gibson-vc-dso-enemy.jpg)
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In memory of the aircrew who achieved the almost impossible on the night of 16/17 May 1943;
and of the men, women and children on both sides who perished
Boffin/bofin/n.chiefly Br. informal, a scientific expert; esp. one involved in technological research [origin unknown]
Longmans Dictionary of the English Language
It is proposed to use this weapon... against a large dam in Germany which, if breached, will have serious consequences in the neighbouring industrial area... The operation... will not, it is thought, prove particularly dangerous, but it will undoubtedly require skilled crews... Some training will no doubt be necessary.
Air Vice-Marshal Robert Oxland, Bomber Command HQ, to Air Vice-Marshal Ralph Cochrane, AOC 5 Group, on 17 March 1943
One thing, said Dim, if we do go and attack... one of us might possibly get a posthumous VC.
Who wants that? said Taffy.
Not me, said one of the boys. All I want is a Peace and Victory Medal.
Most of us agreed.
Guy Gibson, Enemy Coast Ahead
After Hollywood mogul Daryl Zanuck was shown the movie The Dam Busters in 1955, he demanded disbelievingly, Is that a true story? Yes, he was told. Then why doesnt it say so?
The Mhne, the Eder and the Sorpe.
Barnes and Molly Wallis in 1925. (Estate of Mary Stopes-Roe)
The Wallis home in Effingham, Surrey. (Cambridge University Library/MS Vickers)
Wallis in his study with an assistant. (Cambridge University Library/MS Vickers)
1940 cartoon showing the Wallis-designed Wellington bomber.
The scaled-down model of the Mhne at Nant-y-Gro in Powys, eight minutes after a test explosion in 1942. (The National Archives/AVIA 10/369)
Recording apparatus attached to scale-model dam at Watford. (The National Archives/DSIR 27/43)
Test explosion at Nant-y-Gro. (The National Archives/AVIA 10/369)
Cherwell, Portal, Pound and Churchill watching a display of anti-aircraft gunnery, June 1941. (Imperial War Museum/H 10306)
Air Vice Marshal the Hon. R.A. Cochrane. (Imperial War Museum/CH 14564); Sir Charles Craven. (Cambridge University Library/MS Vickers); Sir Norman Bottomley. (National Portrait Gallery, London/Howard Coster); Arthur Collins; Air Marshal Sir John Linnell. (Imperial War Museum/CM 5259); Gp. Capt. F. W. Winterbotham. (Barry James Gilmore/Fairfax Media/Getty Images)
Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris. (Imperial War Museum/CH 13020)
Harris with his wife Jill and daughter Jackie. (Leonard McCombe/Picture Post/Getty Images)
Avro Lancaster ED932 (G-George) being flown by Guy Gibson during tests at Reculver. (Imperial War Museum/FLM 2343)
An Upkeep bounces onto the seafront during tests at Reculver. (Imperial War Museum/FLM 2343)
Tests at Reculver. (Imperial War Museum/FLM 2360; FLM 2362; FLM 2363)
Melvin Young in the victorious 1938 Oxford Boat Race crew. (The Times/News Licensing)
Youngs miraculous October 1940 Atlantic rescue. (Trinity College Oxford, with help from Arthur G. Thorning)
Young with his rescuers captain. (Trinity College Oxford, with help from Arthur G. Thorning)
Melvin and Priscilla Young. (Trinity College Oxford, with help from Arthur G. Thorning)
John Hoppy Hopgood. (Hopgood family)
Hopgood with his sister Marna and his mother. (Hopgood family)
Hopgood with Marna. (Hopgood family)
Aircrew of 106 Squadron. (Imperial War Museum/HU 91941)
Henry Maudslay at Eton. (Maudslay family)
Maudslay as squadron leader. (Lincolnshire County Council Archives)
Guy Gibson and his wife Eve. (Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy)
Gibson in 1944. (Imperial War Museum/CH 13618)
Gibson with Nigger. (Associated Newspapers/Rota/Shutterstock)
Gibson, Spafford, Hutchison, Deering and Taetum at Scampton. (CNP Collection/Alamy)
Bill Astell and his family on a pre-war outing in Derbyshire. (Ray Hepner)
Gibson with Dave Maltby. (CNP Collection/Alamy)
Australian crew members on leave in London after the raid. (Imperial War Museum/CH 9942)
F/Lt. Bill Astell. (Lincolnshire County Council Archives)
F/Lt. Joe McCarthy and his crew. (CNP Collection/Alamy)
P/O John Fraser at his wedding, a week before Chastise. (Cavendish Press)
F/Lt. David Shannon. (Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty)
F/Lt. Les Munro.
The aircrew who took part in Operation Chastise. (Imperial War Museum/CH 11049)
Lancaster taking off from Scampton for Chastise. (Imperial War Museum/CH 18006)
Wreck of a 617 Squadron Lancaster on a Dutch beach. (The National Archives/AIR 20/4367)
Harris and Cochrane at the debriefing of Gibsons crew. (CNP Collection/Alamy)
WAAF intelligence officer Fay Gillon with survivors of the raid, including Maltby, Munro, Trevor-Roper and Shannon. (Fay Gillon)
King George VI at Scampton, with Gibson and Whitworth. (CNP Collection/Alamy)
Some of the survivors of the raid: Sutherland, Kellow, OBrien, Hobday, Johnson, Knight, Grayston.
Fred Tees, sole survivor of C-Charlies crash. (Tees family)
Letter from Gibson to Teess mother, informing her that her son is missing in action. (Tees family)
Flooding in Neheim after the raid. (Werner Buehner)
Victims of the flood in Frndenberg.
Women attempting to salvage household goods after the Mhnekatastrophe.
Albert Speer assessing the damage at the Mhne. (akg-images/Alamy)
Reconstruction work on the Mhne. (Werner Buehner)
Harris with his wife and daughter after the war. (Imperial War Museum)
Barnes Wallis at Teddington during the filming of The Dam Busters. (SWNS)
Wallis with Michael Redgrave, who played him in The Dam Busters. (Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy)
Marshal of the RAF Field-Marshal
Air Chief Marshal (ACM) General
Air Marshal (AM) Lieutenant-General
Air Vice-Marshal (AVM) Major-General
Air Commodore (A/C) Brigadier
Group-Captain (Gp. Capt.) Colonel
Wing-Commander (W/Cdr.) Lieutenant-Colonel
Squadron-Leader (S/Ldr.) Major
Flight-Lieutenant (F/Lt.) Captain
Flying Officer (F/O) Lieutenant
Pilot Officer (P/O) Subaltern
Flight-Sergeant (F/Sgt.) Warrant Officer
Sergeant (Sgt.) Sergeant
Corporal (Cpl.) Corporal
Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Lance-Corporal
Aircraftman (AC) Private
Air Officer Commanding (AOC)
Ranks attributed to personnel mentioned in the text are those held at the time of incidents or conversations described.
AOC Air Officer Commanding
ATS Auxiliary Territorial Service; womens branch of the army
CAS Chief of the Air Staff; head of the RAF
C-in-C Commander-in-Chief
CO Squadron commanding officer
Gee Electronic navigation aid, detecting a grid of radio signals transmitted from the UK, fitted to all Bomber Command aircraft but jammed by the Germans over continental Europe
HCU Heavy Conversion Unit
IFF Identification Friend or Foe: electronic radar-pulse identification device fitted to all British aircraft
MAP Ministry of Aircraft Production
MEW Ministry of Economic Warfare
OTU Operational Training Unit
RAAF Royal Australian Air Force
RAFVR Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
RCAF Royal Canadian Air Force
RNZAF Royal New Zealand Air Force
SASO Senior Air Staff Officer; comparable to an army or divisional commanders chief of staff
USAAF United States Army Air Force
WAAF Womens Auxiliary Air Force; thus a woman serving at an RAF station would be described as a Waaf
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