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Dam Busters: The True Story of the Inventors and Airmen Who Led the Devastating Raid to Smash the German Dams in 1943

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The story of the British-made bombs, Upkeep and Highball, successfully dropped on Nazi dams “has never been told in such depth before” (Daily Mail, UK). The night of May 16, 1943: Nineteen specially adapted Lancaster bombers take off from an RAF airfield in Lincolnshire, England, each with a huge nine-thousand- pound cylindrical bomb strapped underneath it. Their mission: to destroy three hydroelectric dams that power the Third Reich’s war machine. It was a suicide mission from the outset. First the men had to fly extremely low, at night, and in tight formation over miles of enemy-occupied territory. Then they had to drop with pinpoint precision a complicated spinning cylindrical bomb that had never before been used operationally. More than that, the entire operation had to be put together in less than ten weeks in order to hit the dams when water levels were still high enough for the bombs to be effective. The visionary aviation engineer Barnes Wallis hadn’t even drawn up plans for his concept when the bouncing bomb was green-lighted. What followed was an incredible race against time that, despite numerous setbacks, became one of the most successful and significant bombing raids of all time. “Holland has delved into the new trove” of declassified documents “to shed light on this weapons program, the politics of its development and the eventual mission” (The Wall Street Journal). “An impeccably researched work in the style of a fast-paced techno-thriller.” —Publishers Weekly “Extremely detailed but never dull . . . Holland offers a definitive, nuts-and-bolts history.” —Kirkus Reviews “A well- written study of engineering and invention operating under great pressure. . . . For all World War II history buffs.” —Library Journal, starred review Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atlantic Monthly Press (November 4, 2013)


Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 4, 2013


Language ‏ : ‎ English


File size ‏ : ‎ 24086 KB


Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled


Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported


Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled


X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled


Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • An Incredible Mission in WWII
"Damn Buster" by James Holland is an outstanding recounting of a remarkable moment in history. Holland's narrative prowess turns the story into a captivating page-turner, skillfully unraveling the incredible saga of the team behind the daring Dam Busters mission. The book vividly portrays the challenges faced in creating, testing, and preparing both aircraft and crews for this unprecedented undertaking. Through Holland's engaging storytelling, readers are immersed in a tale of courage, patriotism, ingenuity, and perseverance. The book not only serves as an informative historical account but also as a testament to the extraordinary human spirit in the face of adversity. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2024 by Natalia Camargo
    • Dam Good
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. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2016 by Illuminatus
    • Gripping Account of the Dambuster's Raid
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...! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2014 by Bomb Man58
    • Excellent book
James Holland weaves a great story from the designers to the commanders and the pilots who flew the mission. I couldn't put the book down.
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2023 by Justin Choi
    • A wonderful gift for WW2 survivors
Bought for a WW2 era survivor living in Italy. He’d grown up beside an airfield during the Battle of Britain, & knew the stories, but not with the clarity and technical context of this excellent effort. Should be a part of any WW2 library.
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2023 by Professional Ed Resource
    • way to detailed for me
Way too detailed for me. I'm not interested in the life from womb to tomb of some of the characters. I skipped a lot of pages and probably missed some interesting stuff but just couldn't keep reading as the author tediously droned on and on about someones's unimportant childhood.
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2019 by Kindle Customer
    • Good read
I read Dam Busters and found it very interesting. I agree with some of the other reviewers that there was to much personal relationship material. That Guy Gibson was the ideal commander for this mission goes without question. What I really found interesting was the coverage of what happened, as far as is known, to each aircraft and later to each member of the force that survived the raid. I also found it interesting the coverage of how far reaching damage the raid caused the German war effort, that is something that is rarely mentioned in books dealing with air operations. Also what the Germans had to do to repair the dams and what effect that had on building Hitler's Atlantic Wall, its no wonder Rommel had a fit when he inspected it. One interesting point is that the squadron kept the name Dam Busters yet never took out another dam but did do a job on some of the U-boat pens and the Tirpitz with the Tall Boy bombs. Good read overall. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2015 by Uncle Don

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