Operation Chastise

November 15, 2019
The master of military history takes on Britain's celebrated May 1943 Dam Buster air attack. As his latest skillful history demonstrates, Hastings (Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975, 2018) is still on top of his game, showing once again that the preparations, participants, and consequences of a military action are as fascinating as the fireworks. By the outbreak of World War II, British intelligence had figured out which German targets were most essential to its war effort. Near the top were several dams in the Ruhr valley. Destroying such massive structures required explosives and accuracy beyond current technology, but officials listened when engineer Barnes Wallis proposed a huge bomb that would skip along the water, strike its target, and sink to allow surrounding water to multiply the explosive force. Skeptics abounded, but many leaders cherished fantasies about a dramatic stroke that would bring a quick victory. Wrote one, "if this new weapon is intelligently used...industry in Germany would be so crippled as to have a decisive effect on the duration of the war." Hastings delivers his usual expert account of the preparations, which involved two years of testing and two months of training. Although described as a "crack squadron," the fliers were a mixed group. Some volunteered, but many crews were simply transferred to the unit. Flight leader Guy Gibson was a genuine hero, fearless and keenly appreciated by superiors but not popular with his subordinates. The author's gripping account of the mission features many errors, heroics, and terrible losses. Bombs destroyed two dams, and the survivors returned to universal acclaim. Many historians look unfavorably on the results, but Hastings maintains that the raid was among the most damaging of the war. Sadly, Allied commanders continued their inexplicable habit of not following up successes. Continued conventional bombing would have hampered repair work, but it was absent; the dams were back in operation within months. The author also provides a list of the crew and two clear timelines of significant events. Another Hastings must-read.

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December 9, 2019
Hastings (Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945–1975) recounts the May 1943 British bombing raid that breached the Möhne and Eder dams in Germany’s Rühr Valley, knocking out power stations and unleashing deadly floods, in this thorough, character-driven history. Though Royal Air Force officials recognized the vulnerability and strategic value of Germany’s water supply as early as 1937, Hastings writes, they lacked the firepower to destroy such massive structures. Civilian aircraft engineer Barnes Wallis learned that a relatively small charge could achieve the desired result if it were detonated underwater and close to the target. After experimenting with marbles skipped across the surface of a washtub, he developed “bouncing bombs” that, if released from a low height, could breach the German dams. Nineteen bombers were modified for the mission, and Hastings details the experiences of crewmembers including squadron commander Guy Gibson, whose memoir is one of the book’s key sources. (Only 32 of Operation Chastise’s 130 airmen survived the war.) Hastings skillfully describes the hazards of flying at low altitudes through enemy territory and solemnly accounts for the loss of life caused by the flooding: nearly 2,000 people—many of them female forced laborers from Poland, Russia, and Ukraine—died. Though technical details occasionally slow the narrative’s momentum, military history buffs will prize this definitive account of the RAF mission.

September 1, 2019

Among our most distinguished historians, Hastings here revisits the bombing of Germany's Ruhr dams on May 17, 1943, by the 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, a feat that looms large in the popular imagination and invigorated the war-weary British. The actual damage wasn't that great, but the attack undermined German confidence and led to the diversion of key resources to dam defense, vastly helping the Allies' cause. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2020

Hastings (Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975) gives new consideration to Operation Chastise, an attack on German dams by the Royal Air Force's 617 Squadron in May 1943. This particular attack, a legendary effort aimed at destroying dams in Germany's Ruhr Valley, is considered to be a significant step toward the Allies winning the War. Hastings introduces the primary figures involved in the development and implementation of the attack, such as Commander Guy Penrose Gibson, who are as varied and intriguing as any characters in a historical fiction novel. The author creates a slow buildup to the attack and its aftermath, lauding the heroes involved while dispelling myths about the operation and shedding new insight on the preparation, including the fact that the Royal Air Force identified dams as strategic objects long before 1943. VERDICT Readers of military history will find much to enjoy in this brisk, propulsive read that keeps the pages turning without sacrificing detail.--Brett Rohlwing, Milwaukee P.L.

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.