Author:James Holland
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 it. 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 that had never been tried operationally before from 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's concept of the bouncing bomb was green lighted, he hadn't even drawn up his plans for the weapon that was to smash the dams. What followed was an incredible race against time, which, despite numerous setbacks and against huge odds, became one of the most successful and game-changing bombing raids of all time.
In his previous books... Holland combined a lively style with fresh insights based on deep historical research. Those qualities shine through this new account
—— Literary ReviewThough it is such a well-known story, it has never been told in such depth before. James Holland has mastered every detail
—— Daily MailHolland tells the story with gusto and pace... he has truly and brilliantly plugged an enormous gap
—— Mail on SundayPoland's war was so terrible as to almost defy summary ... this book is opinionated, fluid and forceful
—— Oliver Bullough , New StatesmanAn extraordinary experience like nothing ever done before in America that I know of. It’s important. It matters
—— Jan Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial FundQuite simply a beautiful book. Mark Byford has a curious nature and a tender heart. I shall never look at a war memorial again without wondering who was the young man whose name is on a wall
—— Dame Jenni Murray, broadcaster and authorA remarkable story that skilfully knits together heroic family history and the broader sweep of the tragedy of the Vietnam war. So moving and thoughtful, there has been no history of that conflict remotely like this one
Superb ... One of the great mysteries of history is how Europe's great powers could have stumbled into World War I ... This is the single best book I have read on this important topic
—— Fareed ZakariaA meticulously researched, superbly organized, and handsomely written account
—— Military HistoryClark is a masterly historian ... His account vividly reconstructs key decision points while deftly sketching the context driving them ... A magisterial work
—— Wall Street JournalThis compelling examination of the causes of World War I deserves to become the new standard one-volume account of that contentious subject
—— Foreign AffairsA brilliant contribution
—— Times Higher EducationClark is fully alive to the challenges of the subject ... He provides vivid portraits of leading figures ... [He] also gives a rich sense of what contemporaries believed was at stake in the crises leading up to the war
—— Irish TimesIn recent decades, many analysts had tended to put most blame for the disaster [of the First World War] on Germany. Clark strongly renews an older interpretation which sees the statesmen of many countries as blundering blindly together into war
—— Stephen Howe , Independent BOOKS OF THE YEAR
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